Need advice on Nassau scuba diving

[AJDonn]

Hi folks.

My wife and I are going on the 3 day cruise which leaves us in Nassau for a day and we'd like to spend the entire day diving.

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with hiring a local dive tour/guide that could get us out in the water for the entire day instead of just the half day that DCL offers. ( or perhaps a PM dive after the DCL dive )

I'll take any ideas, thoughts, recommendations, or stories you may have.

Thanks

 

[AJDonn]

bumping for help

 

[ThreeSmiths]

Hi A.J.

Check out www.stuartcove.com for dive info in Nassau. DH and I were on the 9/11/04 Magic and were rerouted to Nassau because of hurricane Jeanne. It was an unexpected stop so DCL was not offering any dive excursions. So we got online and contacted Stuart Cove to see if DH could book a dive through them on such short notice. They were able to accommodate but DH chose not to go because the dive boat return time was cutting it awfully close to ship depart time. The do offer an all day dive program as well as a.m. and p.m. dives.

Good luck!

Stacy

 

[AJDonn]

I just checked out Stuart Cove's and it looks like an excellent dive operation. I'll give them a call and see what they can do with the ship schedule.

Again, Thanks!

 

[scuba diver]

I have dove with Stuart Cove. They will pick you up at the cruise ship and get you back. The timing should not be a problem.

They are a large outfit so you will not be on a 6 pack boat, but they are also very well run. What they do well is to offer many different dives. DS and I did the shark dive. It was great and I would like to do it again. They also do wall flying which I want to do.

In my thinking doing a speciality dive at Nassau makes sense because the reefs are not that good. They are just okay. Doing a dive like wall flying or shark dive is something that you can not do every day.

Nassau Divers is another operation that others have recommended. They are a smaller operation.

 

[AJDonn]

Scuba Diver,

Thanks for your idea about the shark dive. It reminded me of a cool TV show I recently saw on Discovery High Definition called "No Opportunity Wasted." They had a freshwater diver confront his fear of sharks that kept him out of salt water. Going back to check I realized that the diving center that helped him out was Stuart Cove's! After watching them help that guy deal with sharks I'd definately feel comfortable with them and a shark dive.

I'm going to pass your Ideas along to my wife and perhaps try a shark dive in Nassau.

Thanks for the great help.

 

[newarknut]

Does anyone know what dive company Disney uses for their dive excursion? My wife really wants me to book through Disney. My son (13) and I will be getting our certification soon and this will be our first "open water" dive.

Thanks!

 

[AJDonn]

Does anyone know what dive company Disney uses for their dive excursion? My wife really wants me to book through Disney. My son (13) and I will be getting our certification soon and this will be our first "open water" dive.

Thanks!

There's nothing like diving as a family. My wife and I always had trouble coming up with vacations until we got certified. It's much easier now that we just have to find someplace to dive together.

 

[newarknut]

I didn't communicate very well. My wife is not getting certified. She is a weak swimmer. She wants me booking through Disney because she knows that we will get back on time. She will worry and fret either way we go, I have checked out a couple of the Nassau dive shops web sites. This will be our first real dive. We don't need it to be anything wild and on the edge.

I'll ask again...does anyone know what dive shop Disney works with in Nassau?

Thanks in advance!

 

[cindy0519]

newarknut,

Just called Disney and they will not (claim they don't know) tell you who the service provider is for the dives in Naussau. The only comment the agent would make is that they are throughly checked by Disney ....not real helpful if you want to ask questions ahead of time. The agent on the phone said to wait until you are there to ask questions etc - ....not real helpful :.

Noticed that you too are from OH (we are in Columbus) and was curious if you were doing your check out dives here in a quarry ..or if you were going to do them in FL. We did ours in the Circleville quarry in mid April a couple years ago and it was pretty darn cold. While the quarries here to present the opportunity to get wet -- they definately don't compare to the warm waters or sea life to be found in FL ! DH was just saying a couple days ago that he is going through dive withdrawl and ready to hit the water(but I am way to wimpy to dive here in the cold). We will miss diving in Nassau as we are taking DD to Atlantis during this stop of our trip, so diving at the Living Seas during the land portion of our trip will have to be our diving "fix" until we can do a dive trip later this year.

Really just wanted to say....Good Luck on the certification dives and welcome to the world of diving!!

 

[cindy0519]

Just wanted to add a couple of comments regarding doing a shark dive and pics from our shark dive/feeding experience at Bull Run (Bimini Bahamas -Oct 04) with Blackbeard's. DH took these pics with our Olympus 5050z:

(seen after feeding during dive)

(up close and personal immediately following feeding)

While we were both more than a bit apprehensive about doing this type of dive I have to say --- it was awesome! Definately a highlight of our trip and the dives we have done to date. The dive and the dive environment were really tightly controlled and we were informed that the dive could and would be called if any one of the elements were not perfect. I'd guess that other dive operations run shark dives in a similar manner. We hit the water full of nerves ...but once we were in the water with these amazing animals for a few mintues we were so awed by being in their presence that the nerves disappeared rather quickly. I'd highly recommend doing this type of dive if you feel comfortable doing so!

Too bad we are off to Atlantis with DD during our Nassau trip or a shark dive would definately be on our "must do list"!

 

[newarknut]

Thanks for the feedback. We are heading down (see my signature) in a couple weeks to get certified at Blue Springs and DeLeon State parks. We will dive in the springs.

I really would like to know what dive shop they use. I wonder why they wouldn't tell you. Perhaps I could ask a few of the dive shops if they do trips for Disney.

Thanks again for the reply and the pics of the shark dive. My wife would absolutely freak!

We didn't want to wait until May to dive in Circleville. Obviously, we couldn't dive on the cruise. I also might forget half of what I just learned!

 

[cindy0519]

Couldn't imagine that you were doing your check outs here. Circleville is only 52 degrees on the surface right now and I'm sure the other quarries are even colder since they are deeper. Temps like that really don't encourage one to want to continue to dive -unless you like being really cold. Going to the springs will be much more comfortable, not to mention far more enjoyable! It's great that you are doing this with your son, these will be great memories for you both in the years to come.

Not sure why the agent couldn't or wouldn't tell me who they use to do the dives. Maybe they don't want you to book with them independantly . I don't think there are too many dive shops in Nassau so hopefully you can figure it out with a few calls. Talking to the dive shop always helps to put my mind at ease and I would think would be a great way for you to find out what "type" of dives they do since these will be your first post check out dives and you will be diving with DS. My guess would be that they do relatively shallow dives to allow for a diverse group of divers, but it would be nice "know" what you are getting into before you step onto the boat. By the way, even though you are not doing a "shark" dive, while diving in the Bahamas you may still catch a glimpse (or more) of a reef/nurse shark or two.

Our first post cert. dives were in the Florida Keys (Islamorada). We were in awe of all that we saw, each dive we discovered something new and at the end of the week we were totally hooked! We had also gained some good dive experience and had built some much needed confidence in our skills.

Enoy~ it should be a great experience!

 

[AJDonn]

newarknut,

Just called Disney and they will not (claim they don't know) tell you who the service provider is for the dives in Naussau. The only comment the agent would make is that they are throughly checked by Disney ....not real helpful if you want to ask questions ahead of time. The agent on the phone said to wait until you are there to ask questions etc - ....not real helpful :.

Thanks for doing this and forwarding the info. It's a shame that Disney won't comment on the dive masters. Not being able to check the qualifications of who i'm diving with concerns me a bit. I guess I'll keep looking around for dive centers that fit wit the ship's schedule.

 

[AJDonn]

Just wanted to add a couple of comments regarding doing a shark dive and pics from our shark dive/feeding experience at Bull Run (Bimini Bahamas -Oct 04) with Blackbeard's. DH took these pics with our Olympus 5050z:

(seen after feeding during dive)

(up close and personal immediately following feeding)

So beautiful and yet so willing to nibble on ya.
Thanks for posting these pix.

 

[hydster]

It's been a few years since we did the Wonder cruise but dh and I booked our dive through DCL and it was not a good experience for us.

I wouldn't ever do it again through that company but we of course have no idea who the company was that took us out! We got back to the ship after our crummy dive and had to really complain to DCL about the whole thing to get 1/2 of our money credited to us since we only got 1/2 of an excursion! They were 40 min late coming to get us from the ship, we were due a 2 tank dive with one of the dives at a wall but what we got was a 1 tank dive around the corner from the Wonder (we could still see the Wonder when we went in the water) and we anchored at a place where the deepest part was only 25 feet below! It was a complete disappointment.

It may be a much better company but our experience was definitely sub-par!
Heidi

 

[newarknut]

Stuart Coves is the dive shop that contracts with Disney. I emailed them to inquire and they told me I would have to book through the shore excursion desk. They do a couple dives at the wall (80feet) and then a more shallow reef dive.

I feel better knowing. I've heard some good things about SC. They are a larger outfit, so I know we won't be lonely. I just hope we don't get left behind

Thanks for all the advice and encouragement. I'm still wondering how it will feel going down more than the 10 feet we've been working at in the pools. I hope I can equalize effectively!

 

[ThreeSmiths]

I just saw Stuart Cove on Oprah! It was an excerpt from the Discovery Channel show called No Oportunity Wasted. They helped a guy overcome his fear by doing a shark dive. IMHO, if it's on Oprah, it's gotta be good!

Oprah

 

[AJDonn]

Heidi - Thanks for the trip report. It did match with some other reports I've heard of problems with the DCL sponsored dive. That is the reason I'm looking for help in this thread.

It's good to hear that Stuart Cove's is doing the DCL dive now but I hope they weren't responsible for Heidi's dive. To avoid the DCL dive, I was looking to book with SC's because of all the great feedback I've gotten from other divers.

Thanks all for helping with this.

 

[1stNoel]

DCL may not use the same operator all the time and that's why they won't reveal the name.

I have several friends that own dive companies in Hawaii. All of them have agreements to take cruise passengers, but aren't booked to do so on a regular basis. The ships hand out the business depending on group size or some other unknown factor.

I personally wouldn't book with DCL unless I had information about the dive operator.

Anyone on the July 3rd cruise??