Who is the best dive operator in Barbados?

[scubadiver888]

Who is the best dive operator in Barbados and why?

 

I'm collecting information on all the ports I'll be diving and posting a summary.

 

Thanks,

Darrell

[SantaAna,CA]

I just came back from a cruise that began in Barbados, and pre-cruise I did a few dives with West Side Scuba. I really liked them. Nice people, helpful and the boats weren't overcrowded.

 

Jane

[rez4jc]

We have used John & Mary at Dive Barbados twice. Both times were wonderful and we would highly recommend them. Their website is:

http://www.divebarbados.net

 

Kevin & Cheryl

[scubaran]

I also used West Side Scuba Centre and agree they're great. They're the only shop I've seen that actually separates divers into separate boats depending on their number of dives. Usually it seems you just need a c-card (credit card) to dive in the Caribbean. :p Nice to see a shop who matches divers and dives (they had a lot more dive masters for the beginner group).

 

r

[w&k]

We have been diving with them 3 times, and are in the process of going back for #4 in a couple months.

 

Great folks, good diving, and a classic dive shack and small boat right on the beach.

 

My kind of place ;)

 

Wendy

 

pix

http://community.webshots.com/user/wendyandkeith

 

website

http://www.freewebs.com/wendyandkeith

[Pilot70D]

We were just diving with West Side Scuba. They happened to be the dive operator used by Celebrity. They did an excellent job and run a thoroughly professional operation.

 

We were a fairly small group that day and there were no beginners consequently we all went out on the same dive boat. The dive master and our dive leader were both very professional in every aspect of the dive from predive briefing until the last divers were back on board.

 

Do be aware that West Side Scuba is moving to a new location as I write this. Their old location was next to a restaurant and the owner didn't like divers traipsing through his premises. Relations between the two businesses became so bad that litigation ensued which provided most of the relocation impetus.

 

We will be back in Barbados again this year and we intend to dive with West Side Scuba again upon our return.

 

Hope this info ids helpful and enjoy that next dive.

[WILLVINO]

We just got back from a cruise on the Crown and Barbados was a stop. We arranged diving with Dive Pro Barbados and they were excellent. They picked us up at the pier (just outside security) and we did two excellent dives and they took us back to the pier. THey are very professional and I had requested to dive the Stavronikita which is a very impressive wreck. It was wonderful. We were the only dive boat there and it was awesome.

 

From Tonya with whom we made all of the arragements via email to SHantal and Russell who were our dive masters all of them were excellent.

 

One weird thing they don't have a tip jar. So it was really weird as we wanted to tip for the great dives and service. I didn't have any change so that was even harder to do since no tip jar meant that if you wanted to tip it would be done individually. I think we were the only ones that tipped and the staff was very greatful for it.

 

Also they will do all of the set up etc for you if you would like otherwise you can do it yourself. THis is nice as Barbados doesn't have piers for the boats they are just floating in the water so all of the operators you have to actually carry your gear to the boat etc. Not a big deal but just something different.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions..

[scubadiver888]

We just got back from a cruise on the Crown and Barbados was a stop. We arranged diving with Dive Pro Barbados and they were excellent. They picked us up at the pier (just outside security) and we did two excellent dives and they took us back to the pier. THey are very professional and I had requested to dive the Stavronikita which is a very impressive wreck. It was wonderful. We were the only dive boat there and it was awesome.

 

From Tonya with whom we made all of the arragements via email to SHantal and Russell who were our dive masters all of them were excellent.

 

One weird thing they don't have a tip jar. So it was really weird as we wanted to tip for the great dives and service. I didn't have any change so that was even harder to do since no tip jar meant that if you wanted to tip it would be done individually. I think we were the only ones that tipped and the staff was very greatful for it.

 

Also they will do all of the set up etc for you if you would like otherwise you can do it yourself. THis is nice as Barbados doesn't have piers for the boats they are just floating in the water so all of the operators you have to actually carry your gear to the boat etc. Not a big deal but just something different.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions..

 

I've been on a few dives in the Caribbean where the boat did not have a tip jar. Talking to the staff I usually found that they expected you to just give a tip to someone and at the end of the day all the tips were pooled and divided evenly.

 

The first few times I encountered this I too took the time to tip everyone until one time a staff member said they pool the tips.