Nassau diving

[crock921]

how is it?

I am an expereinced wreck diver in the Great Lakes and Florida keys. I have also dove with Jack's in Kona.

 

I am going on a 7N Eastern in Jan and was debating between diving Nassau or St Thomas. Since I have never seen the island of St. T, I think I have decided on diving Nassau. Is it worth it? Any good wrecks or reefs? If so, and rec. charters? Thanks for your help!

[bruce-r]

The length of time you are in port will greatly affect whether you can arrange a dive trip. If you get to port too late in the morning, you will miss being able to go on the morning trip with anyone except the ship's excursion. Being an advanced diver, I don't think you'd be really satisfied doing the typical cruise dive excursion.

 

There are several wrecks of note in St. Thomas and more choices of independent dive operators than there is close to where the ships dock in the Bahamas. You might want to reconsider where you plan on diving. If you get to St. Thomas at a decently early time, you can do a 2 tank morning trip and still have the afternoon for "sight seeing".

[robtulipe]

I have gone diving everytime I have been on a cruise stop in St. Thomas. Most cruise ships tours are with Underwater Safaris who are located at Havensight where most ships dock. You actually take a short walk to their shop there to do the paper work and then to head of pier to board either of their two dive boats. Even the one time we docked at Crown Bay they brought their boat there to pick the divers up. Price using the ship's tour booking was reasonable, Last time 2 dives trip was $89 which included all equipment but not dive suit or skin.These could be rented if wanted. I brought my own skin so don't know this rental cost.

Most trips are to nearby Buck Is. which has a nice reef on the south side of where boat moors and a small freighter wreck on the north side. I have done almost 200 dives world wide but enjoy diving this location thus do not mind doing it again. It is not like diving the Bianco C in Greneda or the wrecks of Bermuda but is a nice, easy relaxing dive. You are back by noon or so and still have the afternnon to shop or tour. Island tour can be done easily in two hours or so. You will find shopping or touring in the PM less crowded since most cruise passengers do this in the AM.

I am assuming you will be in port a full day.

[crock921]

i think we are in port until 4 or something, so i will have to check it out. as far as experience, yeah, I am certifed up to rescue diver at this point, and training for my divemaster qualifications.

 

so what i am hearing is st.t over nassau be far..is that right?

[bruce-r]

so what i am hearing is st.t over nassau be far..is that right?

I think so. I think that in Nassau it is harder to arrange your own dives as there are considerably fewer dive operators located close enough to were the ships dock.

[deepstops]

Dive Dive Dive and Nassau Scuba Centre have closed their doors and I think Stuart Cove's is the only operator left.

That being said, I've dove Nassau a number of times and greatly enjoy the diving there. They have a number wrecks they've positioned at the edge of the wall so we typically drop to 100' or so on the wall and work our way back up to the wreck. Viz is usually gin clear 100+' and there's lots of reef sharks around typically. Stuart Cove's has nitrox as well.

[logic8482]

I am having trouble booking a dive in Nassau because we are only in port from 10 - 4pm and I can only find Stuart Cove and Bahama Divers, both of which don't offer a trip in them timeframe we have.

 

Has anyone dove through Carnival in Nassau? On their website they claim to offer a 2 tank dive but I can't currently book it. I am wondering if it is usually contracted thru Stuart or Bahama or someone independent.

 

I am trying to figure out a way to dive during this port but so far no luck!

 

Thanks

[w&k]

IMO, of the two, St. Thomas would be the far, far better choice.

 

To be quite honest, if my only options for diving were St. Thomas and Nassau, I'd do a different trip.

 

In Nassau, Stuart's Cove seems to have a lock on the cruise ships - we dove wet rocks with them as a RCCL shorex off the Sovereign last year. If you can get in on the shark dive, that would be cool.

 

I seem to remember someone posting about another dive op in Nassau a few months ago, but the review was not good. Sorry, but I don't remember the name.

 

Have a great trip, and let us know if you find anything out. We're heading out on the Sovereign again in about three weeks, and I might bring my mask for CocoCay.

 

Wendy

 

Review of Stuart's Cove in Nassau

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=277392

[bruce-r]

To be quite honest, if my only options for diving were St. Thomas and Nassau, I'd do a different trip.

I thought the same thing, but gave the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps the OP didn't plan the trip and is just going along to be with someone special.

[crock921]

don't get me wrong, this is not a diving trip, it is a 7 day cruise. I am not even travelling with a dive buddy. I was just thinking about diving at one of the ports. If neither port is worth diving though, I will just skip it. There is no point in disappointing myself or wasting my time if it is not a worthwhile dive.

[Joby]

Hi daddymac, I am not a terribly experienced diver. We have been certified for 30 years, dove some in the first 4 years after certification, had a long dry spell and then back in the water 5 years ago.

 

However, my sister (not a diver and only a very new snorkeler) and I only snorkeled with Bahama Divers in October 2005 and it was not a good experience. IMHO-- I would NEVER snorkel with them, let alone dive with them.

 

We have done 2 daysails in St. Thomas and snorkeled on both of them. We had a great time! Certainly not diving, but we were in the water and saw lots of neat things PLUS had the benefit of sailing, lunch, drinks and great company.

 

May be an alternative to only diving at either Nassau or St. Thomas???

[Hilary]

We dove in St. Thomas a couple of years ago and had a great time. I'd recommend that you contact Blue Water Divers or Admiralty Dive and see what they have to offer. Both pick you up literally right in front of where the cruiseships dock, and both run good ops. When we went with Blue Water, I requested diving the Navy Barges and that's where they took us! :) There are far better wrecks in St. Thomas than Navy Barges, but it was fun to swim through what was left of them for our first dive, then dive a gorgeous shallow reef for our second. Blue Water's website has some great descriptions of the local wrecks and what your options might be. Check it out.