Diving options near Atlantis Resort?

[Isaac-1]

I have a 5 day business trip to Nassau coming up in about a month and will be staying at the Atlantis resort. Does anyone know of any dive operation near there that may offer any good afternoon or even night dives, I will be stuck in meetings in the mornings except for the last 2 days there?

Thanks Ike

 

[diversteve]

Bahama Divers is your closest option. They're five minutes from Paradise Island - just across the bridge IIRC. They do a 1-tank at 1:30 if you're trying to get out after the meeting - IDK about night dives. I think they also pickup on PI. Bahama Divers Home Page

For the other two days either Bahama Divers or Stuart Cove's are your only two options now. Cove's also picks up twice daily at Atlantis since they're about 45mins south. They also night dive but I think you'd have to get there and back yourself - for that a rental car might be more convenient than an expensive cab ride. Stuart Cove

Night dives at Stuart Cove's are 1-tank boat trips which can be scheduled to go out any night of the week. The only requirement the dive shop has is that night dives must have a minimum of 6 divers for the trip to depart. Typically night dive trips visit one of our ship wrecks.

We do not sell night dives in advance unless there is a group of 6 or more. Typically the dive shop is able to get a night dive out on either Friday or Saturday night. If you are interested in doing a night dive, simply let the girls at the dive check-in desk know and they will assist you selecting a night and locating additional divers.

 

[PNelson]

Spoke with Stuart's Cove and they pickup and drop off at Atlantis..

I'm heading to Atlantis at the end of July and I'm researching the same thing!

 

[Isaac-1]

Well I am back from Atlantis, I ended up going out diving with Bahama Divers, only had time to get in a couple of dives while I was there though. Overall a good operation just across the bridge from the Atlantis Resort. They have a fairly large well stocked dive shop that seems to cater to the locals and at least 2 mid sized dive boats at the dock behind their shop. Everyone was friendly, and very helpful, there were only 6 or 7 divers on the boat, 2 of us were tourist divers, there was also an instructor with a couple of advanced students, a couple of shop employee dive masters / maybe dive master candidate and a shop videographer (DVD's of the dives were sold afterward for $30 and delivered to the hotel the next day). I of course was buddied up with the only other tourist, a fairly newly certified diver on his first salt water dive. Both dive sites were nearby (15-20 minutes from the dock)the water was very calm, something I am thankful far as I am recovering from a broken back, the dives relatively shallow in the 35-40 ft range, the first was the wreck of a smallish boat (35-40 ft open style? twin inboard boat inverted and partly broken up with light coral growth), the second dive was some low overhanging coral ledges with sand chutes in between. Overall nice, but nothing spectacular, visibility was good at around 60-70ft until the very end of the second dive when it started dropping off due to the tide changing (dropped down to about 35-40ft as the dive ended), fish life was moderate, mostly small to medium size, again nothing spectacular, but certainly a nice enough dive. If I had more free time I would have certainly went out with them again.

Ike

p.s. I would suggest this operation for anyone that is an experienced diver that wants a friendly somewhat casual, but full service operation to go out diving with. This may not be the best option for a new diver that wants a lot of hand holding.

 

[oneshotshooter]

If you make it back there be sure to check out explore scuba! We dove with them earlier this year, and had a great time. Smaller boat, no crowds, personalized service! Two thumbs way up. If you make it back, tell them the Honey Badger Dive Team says hi. We hope to make it back soon!