scuba diving in Nassau

[Lori1035]

My husband and I will be cruising on the 1/23 Wonder. My husband wants info on the diving in Nassau. Does anyone know which company Disney contracts with for this excursion? Or has anyone booked a dive on their own? If so, who did you use? Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Lori

 

[t2simon]

My DH booked his own excursion on our Nov 2001 Wonder cruise. He used Stuart's Cove: http://www.stuartcove.com They came highly recommeded by several people he dives with who are highly experienced. I believe DCL uses Divers Haven (at least they did when we went). My DH didn't really want to use them because he hadn't heard much feedback about them. Good thing too. The ship excursion went out on one side of the island, and the water was so rough that they had to cancel the second dive. Stuarts took them on the other side of the island and they had awesome visibility. Additionally, they were diving near a snorkeling boat. The boat dropped bait over, and about 20 black tipped reef sharks showed up. They got a free shark dive as a bonus! DH thought that was great!

Hope this helps!!!

 

[Lori1035]

Terri, thanks for the info. Now that you mention it, my brother-in-law was on the Disney cruise 11/01 and dived using the Disney excursion. He said the water was very rough and he could only go down on 1 of the 2 dives. My husband had been looking at the Stuart Cove's website and I'm glad to here your husband had a good experience with them. Do you know if he went on the AM or PM dive? I can't remember what time the ship docks at Nassau to know if he could make the 8AM pick up by Stuart Cove's.

Lori

 

[Mike Bartenhagen]

I spent a week diving with Stuart Cove's last year they are a very good operation. The trip from the docks to Stuart Cove's is across the island so it takes a while to get there. I have heard the diving on the side of the island that the crusie excurtions go in is not very good.

 

[hydster]

and while it was OK it sure wasnt great! It was sold as a 2 tank dive but the day of the dive they informed us that it would only be a 1 tank dive and they did take some $$ off for the tour. We walked to a dive boat (in fairly great shape) and they gave us all our eqpuiment. We rode in the boat out about 20 min from the ship to where there was a group of people snorkeling and we got in. It was disappointing to us because we went down 10 feet. Big deal! We stayed down for about an hour at that depth and while we did alot of fish and the divemaster fed them so they would come around us we both felt it was a waste of time and money. I saw the same fish constantly and 10 feet wasnt enough depth to really see anything worth noting! They claimed that the reason we couldnt go on the 2nd dive was because of a cold front coming in and it was too windy and the waves were too high (which they may have been but it was still disappointing to only go down 10 feet). Would I do that dive with DCL again? Probably not just because we had some friends who happened to be in Nassau the same time we were and they went on a deeper dive on the same day we did although not really deep much deeper than 10 feet. They did 2 tank dives and did fine with them. I understand that this was beyond Disney's control and I dont blame them for what happened and they did reduce the rate but it was still very disappointing! I would book my own scuba if I went again. You can also get really good recommendations at www.scubadiving.com and ask some of the people on the boards for recommendations. They are VERY DEDICATED divers on those boards and you will be able to find SOMEONE who could direct you as well as those on the board here who have done it.

Heidi

 

[t2simon]

Lori, I just asked my DH. He said that He had to do the PM dive because we didn't get in time for the early pick-up. He said that the reason the DCL dives were so bad was that Divers Haven takes them out on the "windward" side while Stuart's goes on the "leeward" side (I think those are the terms).

Anyway, one of the divemasters out of the shop that DH uses was the one that recommended Stuarts, and DH said they were tops and he would definitely use them again.

Hope your trip is great!!!!

 

[Lori1035]

Thanks to everyone for the advice! I've passed the info on to my DH and he is going to book with Stuart Cove's today for the PM dive.

Lori

 

[Mike Bartenhagen]

Lori,

I am not sure what your plans are but the Stuart Cove operation is a pretty neat place. It was part of the set for the movie Flipper. There is a nice public beach not very far from the operation where you could spend the afternoon while you husband was diving. You should make sure that he is using Stuart Cove's transportation if possible. The week that we were there we stayed out by SC's and we would ride the public bus into town at night. Sometimes the buses were full and people had to wait until the next bus came which could be a long time.

Mike