Bahamas For First Dive?

[outofofficebrb]

Keep us posted on what happens, @jgaryclark.

I was in the Bahamas a couple months ago for tour de la sharkies in Bimini and Freeport. We were on one of the Caribbean Reef Shark dives in Freeport with Reef Oasis and we had divers of all levels. Someone was doing their first post-ceritification dive with us. The key here was to be overly weighted and in this diver's case, they overweighted them even more than the more experienced divers. I have some reservations about it but I think that is more dependent on how nervous the person is in water and around so many teeth. The sharks that we were with in Freeport were pretty big but our group was not phased by them. If she does any reef dives, there's a good chance she'll see quite a few swimming right by her so it might be a good way to "test" the waters.

I agree with @Hoag ....some good points there about air. You won't want your wifey to be the first person to suck through the air and have to surface. It isn't convenient to surface while the feeding is going on for obvious reasons and it would be bad to end the feeding because of her. No one wants to be that diver.

 

[jgaryclark]

Just returned from our Bahamas trip and wanted to give a quick update. We decided in advance not to do the Shark Feed dive with Stuart Cove's. No real reason why but just decided to to a couple of two tank reef / wreck dives instead.
First two dives were with Stuart Cove's on the "Tucker Wreck" and then the "Hollywood Bowl". The Tucker Wreck didn't happen. The wife hit the water and it was pretty rough. She couldn't get her breathing under control and was very, very nervous. We got back on board and I just tried to build her confidence up and get her to relax. The water was much calmer on the "Hollywood Bowl" dive. She took a giant stride in and descended without issue. A nice, calm 30 minute shallow reef dive. She did great and by the end I could tell the nerves had (mostly) worn off.

A couple of days later we did a 2 tank am dive with Bahama Divers. First was the "De La Salle Wreck"...about 60 feet. Second was a shallower reef and wreck dive at "Lighthouse Reef and Wreck". She did great on both dives and can't wait to go again.

Thanks to the suggestions from the board...I think after the anxious first attempted dive, the shark feed may have been too much to handle. I think this was a good first trip...someday we'll make it back down there and see the shark feed but I think this was the best choice for this first dive.

Thanks again for all the comments / suggestions!

 

[maj2]

I did the shark feeding dive with UNEXSO in Grand Bahama. I would not bother doing it again.
They use the same dive site (Shark Alley) for some of their reef dives, so we got to dive it both as a reef dive and a shark feeding dive. The sharks were so conditioned to the feedings that they would all come in as soon as divers hit the water. If the chum bucket did not enter the water as well, then most would swim off, but there were still lots of sharks to watch at a fraction of the price of the shark feeding dive.

 

[outofofficebrb]

I did the shark feeding dive with UNEXSO in Grand Bahama. I would not bother doing it again.
They use the same dive site (Shark Alley) for some of their reef dives, so we got to dive it both as a reef dive and a shark feeding dive. The sharks were so conditioned to the feedings that they would all come in as soon as divers hit the water. If the chum bucket did not enter the water as well, then most would swim off, but there were still lots of sharks to watch at a fraction of the price of the shark feeding dive.

Yes, the same thing goes for Reef Oasis. I agree, a little underwhelming because of that, I suppose! They did it as a regular dive and as a feed dive. I think it's fine for folks that want to see some sharks while in the Bahamas and don't have plans to see the larger ones in Bimini or at Tiger Beach. The Caribbean reef sharks that come in are of a pretty good size so if someone hails from a place that doesn't have sharks where they normally dive or they want to see a good number of them, it's an easy way to cross this off their list.