Scuba in Nassau and Freeport!

[ABQrobin]

We just booked the Carnival Dream for Feb 25-Mar 5th and will be stopping in Freeport and Nassau.  Hubby wants to dive at both if possible.  I have done some research and it looks like Stuart Cove's is the best option at Nassau, and Freeport has a few options.   Anyone have recent experience with either place?  

thanks

[uamchris]

I've dove with Stuart Cove multiple times and have had great experiences each time.  I last dove with them in November and I'm diving again with them next week. 
A couple of tips with them:
- Book online. There's a slight discount.
- They are very helpful with making sure you make your cruise departure time, but they are located an hour from the port, so only book if you have enough time.  Their port pickup time for the afternoon dive is 11:45am and we've always made it back by 5:30pm, but I've seen some people getting nervous if they had a boarding time at 5:30 or 5:45pm.  I've only dove with them if my boarding time was 6:00pm or later and I've never had any worries.

- Once you've booked, message them on WhatsApp and let them know your timeline.  Communication is key.  Their WhatsApp number is 242-422-5022.

- I don't remember what their morning dive times are, but contact them before you book if you're concerned about the timeline for a morning dive.

In Freeport, I recommend Sunn Odyssey Divers.  Contact them before you book to ensure that they have availability.  They're very accommodating, especially if you're the first person to book for that boat.  They actually shifted the boat plan by an hour, so they could match our cruise schedule.  Then just offered that time to everyone else that booked after us.

Hope this is helpful.

[ABQrobin]

Thanks! 

Our port time in Nassau is 7am, and they say at Stuarts Cove that the bus pickup is 7:15am so he will have to make a run for it.  

 

Sunn Odyssey sounds good, we are e-mailing them today.  Thanks.  

[ABQrobin]

Update.... we just realized that our port times may not work with any of them as our ship, Carnival Dream, is departing from Galveston so Central time zone.  I don't think they change to eastern zone so we may be arriving an hour late for every dive op.  This STINKS.

[ABQrobin]

Looking for DIVERS for Freeport on Feb 28th.  We may be able to dive at Sunn Odyssey divers but it would be great to have a few more people to guarantee.  Anybody????

[mac66]

Stewart's Cove is the dive op the cruise lines use. They wouldn't take outside reservations when I was there so I booked through the ship. The diving was good, the seas were rough which took a long time to get to the dive sites and traffic was bad going back to the ship.

 

It is a cattle boat operation.  They put the 6 of us on a boat with 20 others.  But the diving was pretty good.

 

They had to hold the ship for us because we were late getting back.

 

Book through the ship if offered. I wouldn't go otherwise. 

Edited December 18, 2022 by mac66

[ABQrobin]

On 12/18/2022 at 6:28 AM, mac66 said:

Stewart's Cove is the dive op the cruise lines use. They wouldn't take outside reservations when I was there so I booked through the ship. The diving was good, the seas were rough which took a long time to get to the dive sites and traffic was bad going back to the ship.

 

It is a cattle boat operation.  They put the 6 of us on a boat with 20 others.  But the diving was pretty good.

 

They had to hold the ship for us because we were late getting back.

 

Book through the ship if offered. I wouldn't go otherwise. 

No diving at all offered on our cruise for either destinations.  That sucks.

[mac66]

4 hours ago, ABQrobin said:

No diving at all offered on our cruise for either destinations.  That sucks.

 

Just for the fact that the dive sites are on the other side of the island I don't think I would risk trying to dive outside the cruise ship. In fact I called around and no dive shop would take my reservation because of that. All said "book through the ship".  Most of the dive boats go out in the morning before you could get there off a cruise ship. Would never make it there and back for an afternoon dive.     As it was, we got back 15 mins after the gang plank was closed.