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Scuba Forum / Scuba Locations / September 2003Atlantis - Paradise Island
I will be staying at the Atlantis in about ten days. I will only have time for two mornings or one full day for diving. I see many folks like each of the dive shops. Have sent emails to four and received a personal response from DiveDiveDive, a form response from Nassau Divers and none yet from the others. I would like to do wreck dives, sharks are ok but not necessary unless you all say it's a "gotto do". Any thoughts on what shop to use. They all seem to have the same price but I do not know how far they are from the Atlantis. I don't particularily like cattle boats. Thanks, Don > I will be staying at the Atlantis in about ten days. I will only have > time for two mornings or one full day for diving. I see many folks [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > price but I do not know how far they are from the Atlantis. I don't > particularily like cattle boats. Thanks, Don DiveDiveDive, which is my favorite operator on the island, and Nassau Divers are both located on the southwest ocean side of NP - maybe an hours drive from Atlantis in Coral Harbour. Both will pick you up and take you back, you can do a two-tank morning and/or a two-tank afternoon dive with either. The afternoon dives usually have the resort course people on them. Nassau D has larger and better equipped boats, D3 better crew, in my opinion. They all visit the same sites on that side of the island, where the diving is the best anyway. And their docks are 100 ft apart. The Bahama Mama wreck is regularly patrolled by a school of reef shark. Don't do a shark feed. The Caribbe is a new wreck in the vicinity - large, but not very well inhabited yet. The Bond wrecks are on that side of the island as well. There are several other wreck sites. You can't go wrong with either operator - unless you are a relative newbie or not very into diving. In that case, you might go with Stuart Cove. They cater more to the occasional diver than D3. They are also on southwest ocean, and their boats are a little more crowded. If you go with D3, give them my regards.  SignatureBut then again, what do I know? Lou Vallone LouVallone@aol.com http://members.aol.com/LouVallone A lot of good stuff before I got to: > The Bond wrecks are on that side of the island as well. In my personal opinion, the Bond wrecks were the most disappointing dive I ever did in the Bahamas. Aside from all the reasons Lou cited, I'll add one. Those that respond personally, tend to get more of my business than those that send me form responses or, worst of all, don't respond at all. Lee > > The Bond wrecks are on that side of the island as well. > > In my personal opinion, the Bond wrecks were the most disappointing dive I > ever did in the Bahamas. In general, I agree with you, Lee. However, the Vulcan Bomber is one of the greatest night dives I have done. You are confined to a very limited space - about 20 feet vertical, maybe 30 by 20 breadth and depth. At night, the coral is all out, the macro stuff is very dense, and there are a lot of critters - lobster, eel, octopus, that are attracted. I have several times spent close to 2 hours on this site at night ( not dusk - you have to go down after 9 PM when all the good stuff has come out) not hardly moving around at all, and have been thoroughly entertained. In fact, last year I did what I consider one of the most engrossing dives I have ever done with D3 at night at the Bond wrecks. I had just arrived at the airport, was picked up by Tony, and was told they were holding the boat for me at the dock. I did not get to even unpack anything but my dive gear when I arrived. There were 8 guys from the Canadian military who were doing night maneuvers from their boat. I went off on my own, and within 10 minutes came across an octopus out feeding. I followed him for 22 minutes, watching him feed, change colors, go through his normal night's routine. I was utterly enthralled. I dove without my light on, just viewing by the ambient light. It might have lasted longer, except at one point, the octopus latched onto my arm, wrapped itself around my limb, and placed its mouth over the palm of my hand. When it began to dig into my palm with its "parrot beak", it drew blood. I had to shake it off and it left me with a squirt of ink and thereby ended our encounter. But it was one of the most memorable dives I have ever done. The "Tears of Allah" is quite disappointing. But, if you go off on your own, you can do both sites in one hour's dive and that ameliorates the general mediocrity of the dives. OTOH, any dive I come up from I consider a good dive :-) SignatureBut then again, what do I know? Lou Vallone LouVallone@aol.com http://members.aol.com/LouVallone > In general, I agree with you, Lee. However, the Vulcan Bomber is one of the > greatest night dives I have done. You are confined to a very limited space - > about 20 feet vertical, maybe 30 by 20 breadth and depth. At night, the [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > squirt of ink and thereby ended our encounter. But it was one of the most > memorable dives I have ever done. I should have known better. I responded only realative to the trip to see a Bond set only to find that it wasn't what I expected. I didn't even think about the surrounding area which, like you, is were I spent all my time. I've not done the site at night. Perhaps my favorite night dive in the Bahamas is a moderately shallow wreck off the north end of Bimini. For some reason, the sea turtles seem to congregate there after dark, in noticable numbers. > OTOH, any dive I come up from I consider a good dive :-) If I could figure out an acceptable way to stay down, it would be a better dive. Death is not an acceptable way. 8^) Lee "Lee Bell" <leebell@ix.remove.netcom.com> wrote in message > Perhaps my favorite night dive in the Bahamas is a moderately shallow wreck > off the north end of Bimini. For some reason, the sea turtles seem to > congregate there after dark, in noticable numbers. If that is the one sometimes called "Wreck of the Hesperus" - 20 fsw, scattered wooden debris, life so prolific that you can't see another diver 15 feet away - I have done it from a liveaboard. I spent almost 2 hours on a night dive with 5 loggerheads, as big around as a card table, each with 2 large remora attached. It was after midnight, no one else was in the water, and it was so relaxing it was surreal. > > OTOH, any dive I come up from I consider a good dive :-) > > If I could figure out an acceptable way to stay down, it would be a better > dive. Death is not an acceptable way. 8^) True that! dive SAFE SignatureBut then again, what do I know? Lou Vallone LouVallone@aol.com http://members.aol.com/LouVallone > "Lee Bell" <leebell@ix.remove.netcom.com> wrote in message > > Perhaps my favorite night dive in the Bahamas is a moderately shallow > wreck [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > large remora attached. It was after midnight, no one else was in the water, > and it was so relaxing it was surreal. It might well have been the Hesperus. It's been long enough I don't remember the name. We were on Blackbeards at the time. >I will be staying at the Atlantis in about ten days. I will only have >time for two mornings or one full day for diving. I see many folks [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >price but I do not know how far they are from the Atlantis. I don't >particularily like cattle boats. Thanks, Don Buddy, I don't know you and you don't know me but I have to CAUTION you on PI and Atlantis. If you've never been there be prepared for sticker shock. I will never go back to that place. I will go back to the Bahamas but not there. Also, Do not dive with Stuart Cove's. In being kind, I want to use the word cluster f.ck sparingly but the truth is the truth. Anybody but them. I have over 400 dives and asked not to be paired with anyone who was unqualified and I got stuck with the 2nd most skilled diver on the boat, 7 dives, 5 years ago... Moyo > Buddy, I don't know you and you don't know me but I have to CAUTION > you on PI and Atlantis. If you've never been there be prepared for > sticker shock. I will never go back to that place. I will go back to > the Bahamas but not there. I don't know how you can book with Atlantis and not expect to get hosed on the price of everything. It is not an economy resort and was never intended to be. Personally, I have not stayed there. I have payed to do the tour of the aquarium. It too was a bit steep, but it was vacation, the surrounding waters were too cold for this warm water wimp, and it wasy pretty. > Also, Do not dive with Stuart Cove's. In being kind, I want to use the word cluster f.ck sparingly but the truth is the truth. Anybody but them. I have over 400 > dives and asked not to be paired with anyone who was unqualified and I got stuck with the 2nd most skilled diver on the boat, 7 dives, 5 years ago... Stuart has a pretty good reputation and it sounds to me like they did their best to accomodate you. Presuming you were the most skilled aboard and were buddied with the second most skilled diver aboard, what more could they have done? Stuart is not responsible for the fact that no other experienced divers chartered with him that day or the fact that you didn't find somebody of acceptable ability for yourself. Sometimes, the best you can do, is the best you can do. Lee >> Buddy, I don't know you and you don't know me but I have to CAUTION >> you on PI and Atlantis. If you've never been there be prepared for [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > >Lee Hi Lee, I asked Stuart's to let me dive solo because I was doing underwater photography but they are PADI and since I do not have a specialty card for solo diving (and will not ever get one) they said that I had to have a buddy. There were other divers with greater skill but it was a cattle boat operation so I guess I got the bums rush. I generally don't do cattle boats but never having been to bahamas before I had nothing to compare to for dive operators. Alas,,,it's over and life goes on... moyo > Hi Lee, I asked Stuart's to let me dive solo because I was doing > underwater photography but they are PADI and since I do not have a [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > before I had nothing to compare to for dive operators. Alas,,,it's > over and life goes on... In my experience in the Bahamas and, for that matter in Florida and the Caribbean, few operators will accept solo divers that they don't know. The operators around here that know us, look the other way when we obviously aren't following strict buddy protocols, but their rules all seem to require buddy pairs. Such is life. Generally, I travel with my buddy. Usually it's my wife, but sometimes it's just somebody I've known for a while. We tend to book together at least partly so that we can have a known buddy. When traveling, I also tend to dive with the same operator enough that I am able to meet and make arrangements with people of comparable preferences, if not comparable skills. It is tough, however, to get a good buddy if you're taking pictures. The fact is, us photographers are not particularly attentive to our buddy's needs. That's at least part of the reason that my camera says dry much more often than it used to. Lee WHo the f.ck want to dive with an arsehole.................. >>I will be staying at the Atlantis in about ten days. I will only have >>time for two mornings or one full day for diving. I see many folks [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > >Moyo >WHo the f.ck want to dive with an arsehole.................. I'll admit to that...when I'm taking pictures or trying to take pictures, I tend to get a bit anal....so if I'm an a.shole then so be it. moyo >>>I will be staying at the Atlantis in about ten days. I will only have >>>time for two mornings or one full day for diving. I see many folks [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] >> >>Moyo > WHo the f.ck want to dive with an arsehole.................. My buddies seem to be OK with it. Lee |
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