Nassau diving - summary of the CC boards

[w&k]

Fellow divers –

 

We will be doing Nassau again from the Sovereign of the Seas in mid-September, so I have tried to put together a short summary of previous diving advice for Nassau from what I found at Cruise Critic both here and on the Bahamas tour board.

 

Please forgive any mistakes of interpretation or omission.

 

 

sea-jay – DiveDiveDive – pickup at dock at noon, return at 5:30. Wall at Tongue of the Ocean + reef, 8 divers.

 

Cruisinbb – Nassau Dive Center ‘not a cattle boat’

 

Zukid – Nassau Dive Center 7 times ‘only way to go’

 

Cook_n – Stuart’s Cove, large boats ~20, but very organized and will use them again

 

Sportsterjohn – shark feed with Stuart’s Cove was a blast

 

Alschmid – RCCL Explorer (12-6 port) vendor was Nassau Scuba Center – trip got back at 5:30

 

Searanger – DiveDiveDive ($70), pickup at fountain at 12:15, dove movie sets and reef

 

BillBlues – Stuart’s cove

 

Scubagirrl (Nassau native) – Stuart’s cove for best diving

 

***Posted pricing Aug 2004 ***

 

Nassau Dive Center – $80 for refundable/walkup, $75 pre-booked, pre-paid non-refundable. 8:00 am pickup at pier. Now official RCCL – RCCL shorex price $75

 

DiveDiveDive – 8 am pickup just off pier, $80.

 

Stuart’s Cove - advance $78, walk-up $88 8:00 am pickup just off pier.

 

***Wendy’s humble (NOT) opinion***

 

At this time, it looks like the RCCL booking is the way to go! It’s through a recommended vendor, and we won’t have to worry about fighting our way off the ship as soon as it lands (of course that only applies to the morning dive). We will get taken off and delivered back with priority because we are a shorex, and the price is the same. Also, if the ship is late/cancelled, we won’t miss our dives – so I’m thinking that we can’t beat the shorex deal.

 

Great diving to everyone!

 

Wendy

[Hilary]

You've cited some of the best reasons to book excursions through the cruiseline....making sure you get back to the ship on-time and not hassling with figuring out your own transportation.

 

Have a wonderful time and we expect a full report when you return! Will you do me a favor? Will you ask the dive operator if they serve Celebrity too? TIA

[morristk]

Wendy or anyone else,

 

We are only spending one day, 8am-5pm, in Nassau (quick 3 day cruise) but my bf would like to do some shark diving. Does anyone know if RCCL offers the shark dives in a shorex? I looked on their site and I didn't see anything. If not, do you think he'll have enough time to do them with a local?

 

Thanks:)

[w&k]

When I was doing net research, I found the shark dives to be in the afternoon, not the morning.

 

I would love to do the shark dive sometime, but don't want to dive in the afternoon in the fall because of the rising wind during the day.

 

If you can find anyone that does sharks for the morning dive, please post.

 

Great diving to you!

 

Wendy

[Tarkus]

Wendy or anyone else,

 

We are only spending one day, 8am-5pm, in Nassau (quick 3 day cruise) but my bf would like to do some shark diving. Does anyone know if RCCL offers the shark dives in a shorex? I looked on their site and I didn't see anything. If not, do you think he'll have enough time to do them with a local?

 

Thanks:)

in 1999 i was in your EXACT situation (sailing on a too-good-to-pass-up price on the Big Red Boat out of Port Canaveral). despite it being one of their off-days, dive dive dive juggled their shark dive schedule around to accommodate ME (they obviously had no difficulty filling-out the other five spots). it was a wonderful experience - and the moral to the story is that if you don't ask, you'll never know.

 

good luck with your booking - cuz a shark dive is something you really never will forget!

[Crockett]

Grand Cayman was still a no go so we went to Nassau on Saturday (10/16) we dove with the cruise ships op- Nassau Scuba Center actually, we dove with them back in 10/2001 on the very same ship.. the same two dives- tongue of the ocean wall dive to 80ft. I wished I told them I was Nitrox certified! Second dive was the Bahama Mama and the Ray of Hope. Bahama Mama was much different from the last time- Frances had demolished it.. Ray of Hope was still intact. Lots of sharks. Very friendly and looking for a handout sorry didnt have any to spare ... Very calm ( the sharks not me) pictures came out great. Those sharks are very tame. No danger to divers at all... second time I did it and I would do it again.. Jane and Bob

[robstrash]

I need info on Nassau Dive Center mentioned above. Cannot find a web site ore any info on them.

 

Our ship doesn't arrive until 1pm in Nassau so we miss every tour. Trying to find a dive that we can make. Anyone have any ideas?

[w&k]

OOPS! Make that Nassau Scuba Center - Sorry for the confusion.

 

Have a great trip & please report back - we ended up not diving at all.

 

Our trip was between Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne, and we spent most of the time hanging out in the Schooner Bar swapping dive stories. Of course, the water cleared up and looked beautiful just as we were leaving Nassau to come home.

 

Have a great trip and awesome dives!

 

Wendy

 

http://www.nassau-scuba-centre.com/cruiseships.htm