Barbados Questions

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LP - 14 Jun 2005 13:59 GMT

Heading to Barbados for the first time.
Looking for advice on dive operators, and "don't miss" dive sites.
Also, does anyone know if spearfishing is legal there, and if so where info
on regulations can be found?
thanks in advance.
-LP

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Alan Street - 14 Jun 2005 15:32 GMT

> Heading to Barbados for the first time.
> Looking for advice on dive operators, and "don't miss" dive sites.
> Also, does anyone know if spearfishing is legal there, and if so where info
> on regulations can be found?
> thanks in advance.
> -LP

The Stravronikita is an intentionally sunk freighter that most people
consider a "must do" if you're diving in Barbados. Diving is mostly
reefs and wrecks.

http://www.barbados.org/diving/divesite.htm

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scubaran - 16 Jun 2005 17:43 GMT

> Heading to Barbados for the first time.
> Looking for advice on dive operators, and "don't miss" dive sites.
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> thanks in advance.
> -LP

Hi,

I dove there while on a cruise in April. We used West Side Scuba Centre
(http://www.westsidescuba.com/).
They had a good set of people (the owner, Peter, intentionally separated the
people with experience from the
people with little experience and assigned the appropriate level of dive
master to each group - something I rarely
see in a dive shop). The boat was small and you had to walk into the surf
about 5 feet to get to it (it was tied off to
the beach). But the water's warm and you're going to get wet anyway (just
letting you know so you know to bring
a bag or something to hold over your head as you walk out to keep things
dry). The dives I did were two drift
dives along a fringe reef. There were a lot of turtles and I saw a great
chain eel. Though I didn't dive the
Stravronikita this time, it was on the "don't miss" category in all the
notes I'd seen on Barbados. Generally I really
liked the folks at WSSC and highly recommend them (as usually I'm not
associated in any way with them - other
than I bought one of their t-shirts).

Randy

P.S. as far as local regulations, I'd suggest giving the dive shop a call
and talking to them directly.
Peter Grannum
West Side Scuba Centre
Baku Beach
Holetown
St. James
Barbados
246-432-2558

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Rob Strain - 29 Jun 2005 02:34 GMT

>> Heading to Barbados for the first time.
>> Looking for advice on dive operators, and "don't miss" dive sites.
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> They had a good set of people (the owner, Peter, intentionally
> separated the people with experience from the

Nice folks, but we waited on the boat for an hour and a half whilst the
people who hadn't dove in a year got re-aquainted in the pool, then the
crew decided to leave without them

> people with little experience and assigned the appropriate level of
> dive master to each group - something I rarely
> see in a dive shop). The boat was small and you had to walk into the
> surf about 5 feet to get to it (it was tied off to
> the beach).

You forgot the part about walking with all your gear from the shop,
through a hotel courtyard, past the pool, out onto the beach, and then
through the water to a boat that was bouncing six feet up and down in the
surf. Though I didn't have any problems, my wife took a nasty smack on
the shoulder, as did several other divers.
I did like the small boat- we only had 8-10 divers each day.

But the water's warm and you're going to get wet anyway

> (just letting you know so you know to bring
> a bag or something to hold over your head as you walk out to keep
> things dry).

No problem here

The dives I did were two drift

> dives along a fringe reef. There were a lot of turtles and I saw a
> great chain eel. Though I didn't dive the
> Stravronikita this time, it was on the "don't miss" category in all
> the notes I'd seen on Barbados.

We dove three days, twice a day- all were drift dives, three times on the
same reef. We requested wreck dives and to dive the Stravronikita, but we
were not diving on the "designated" wreck dives day, and they didn't do
requests.

Generally I really

> liked the folks at WSSC and highly recommend them (as usually I'm not
> associated in any way with them - other
> than I bought one of their t-shirts).

The folks, including Peter, were nice, but I would not recommend WSSC for
the above reasons plus...
They offered taxi service from your hotel and were at least fifteen to
thirty minutes late picking us up each day. Island time, I guess. OK but
then they decided that returning us to our hotel would happen after they
ran errands. We sat in Peter's truck while we
1) drove to the docks down the coast to deliver air tanks to a waiting
boat
2) stopped in town so our driver could walk around the corner to get a
snack and a drink
3) went to the shop to refill all the empty air tanks(they don't fill air
tanks at their shop)
It took two hours one day to get back to our hotel- the ROSTREVOR, which
I do highly recommend(nice people, nice accommodations for the price,
beach front within walking distance to some good eats, good clubs, and
corner grocery). And I got news for ya, the island ain't that big.

> Randy
>
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> Barbados
> 246-432-2558

We will be going back to Barbados, we will be staying at the Rostrevor
again, but we will not be diving With West Side Scuba.

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Rob Strain - 29 Jun 2005 02:43 GMT

ps - I bought a t-shirt too
And I forgot to mention that my wife and I were always last to surface and
I never saw anyone do a head count. That made me a little nervous...

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Dan Bracuk - 29 Jun 2005 04:13 GMT

Rob Strain <rstrain@adelphia.net> pounded away at his keyboard
resulting in:

:ps - I bought a t-shirt too
:And I forgot to mention that my wife and I were always last to surface and
:I never saw anyone do a head count. That made me a little nervous...

I've never seen anybody do a head count and I have never seen people
left in the water. Perhaps they use other methods.

Dan Bracuk
If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.

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Elliott Goldstein - 29 Jun 2005 19:57 GMT

i am going to Barbados next summer- so who do you recommend for a dive shop?
elliott goldstein

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