I just got back from a week at Compass Point last night. It is located about 30 minutes from the busy tourist area of Georgtown on the "quiet East End of the Island".
Quite simply the best dive resort experience I have had so far. I was with a group of divers from Northern California's Wine Country. We have dived the Philippines, Bon Air, Fiji, Hawaii, Roatan, Cozumel, and all over North America. We were in agreement that this was the best Dive Operation we have been involved with.
Compass Point is actually the name of the Condo that is affiliated with Ocean Frontiers Dive Shop. The Dive Shop and Compass Point are at the same location. Every room at Compass Point is an ocean front view. The private dock leading to the three dive boats is as close to your room as possible without being in your living room. Boat skipper Gary and First Mate "Kaz" were professional, friendly, and excellent divers to boot. Here was a typical day.
7:20 a.m. Have breakfast in my spotlessly clean and well appointed ocean front condo.
8:00 a.m. stroll across the sand to the private boat dock located about 50 steps from my patio.
8:10-8:20 a.m. Arrive at first of many world class dive sites. Unbelievable variety of diving so close to the dock it feels like cheating to call it a boat dive.
The boat captain will they do one of the most complete dive briefings you'll ever have. They draw the site on a big dry erase board in 3-4 color marking pens. Different colors represent corals, sand bottom, swim throughs etc. Truly remarkable in the detail they provide.
First dive will usually be in the 100-105 (or more) depth range through some mind blowing maze of swim throughs lined with so many silver sides and Tarpon that you sometimes have to push them aside so that you can see where you are going. Or you might do a wall dive full of fish, barrel sponges, soft corals, etc. on one side, with the 6000 foot abyss on the other.
During my safety stop I can hang from one of the 2 downlines off the boat. Or if I was careless, could suck a few breaths of air from the hookah line hanging 15 feet below the boat.
Back on the boat I rinse off with warm fresh water from the hose at the stern, while Kaz or Gary pass around orange slices to "get rid of the salt taste in my mouth". Cold water and cold lemonade are always available to rehydrate by body. During the night dives we get served warm homemade muffins that were so good I had to smuggle a few off the boat when we returned to the dock!
Next dive would usually be a shallower group of fingers and pinnacles and more swim throughs.
Don't have to try and log my dive with my wet dripping hands because the crew has asked me max depth and time as well as logged the location for the computerized print out that they give me at the end of my stay at the resort.
12:00 p.m. back at the dock
12:15 BBQing lunch on one of the dozen or so barbecues that are located on the beach or poolside.
All the gear is brought to the boat each day and taken off the boat, and washed/dryed at the end of the day by the crew (simply one of the hardest working crews I've seen in a long time.) The water averaged 83-88 degrees according to my computer. It felt even warmer than that at times...I don't even know why I was wearing the .5mm dive skin. The Dive Masters/Instructors just wear shorts. But if you do were a wetsuit...it is such a treat to put on a nice clean, dry, wetsuit every mornining.
We have all been on great dives, with beautiful corals, hundreds of fish etc. But what made this trip so good is the crew and staff at Compass Point and Ocean Frontiers. All of them are professional without being stuffy. They are all serious hard core, tech divers, but without the "looking down their nose attitude" that I have witnessed with others of that ilk. The shop is well stocked with Scuabapro and Halcyon gear. Simon works the shop and can hook you up with any number of PADI specialty courses. Sally was the AOW classroom instructer for my daughter on this trip and did a great job with her. One of the co-owners, Fraser, is a GUE instructor (I think he hails from England). The other owner, Mo, is a transplanted Texan who built the 14-16 passenger dive boats by hand. We were offered the option of being guided or semi-guided at every site. Except for my daughter. We were all pretty experienced divers and Gary,Kaz, Fraser, and Mo never acted like baby-sitters during a dive. They were very attentive to everyone that wanted to be guided...but allowed us to signal that we were breaking off from the rest of the group when we wanted to.
Simply the most relaxing dive vacation I have ever experienced.
If you go please give "Thumper" (one of the friendly, resident, canines) a hug for my wife and me.
JP "Mouth Breather" Montemayor
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