Best 'affordable' low key bahama island for shark diving and dolphins?

[sfabtx]

Hi All, We are thinking of diving in the Bahamas for the shark diving. I would love to visit Bimini but it seems pretty expensive compared to some of the other places. We'd also like to snorkel or swim with the dolphins. I'm uncertain where would be the best places to scope out that meet my criteria. If I can just get it down to a few islands, I can research from there.
Criteria:
I saw 2 tank dives at Bimini at $299 ---this is not in my budget but obviously, Bimini is convenient.
~ $120>2 tanks works.
Sharks and dolphins
low key

 

[Captain Swoop]

Welcome to Brendal's Dive Center | Green Turtle Cay | Abaco Bahamas

Best Bahamas SCUBA Diving & Snorkeling, DIVE ABACO! Marsh Harbour, Abaco, Bahamas Since 1978

My fave Bahamas outfits.
Keith at Dive Abaco is great and Brendal is a legend.

Rates and costs for dives and hire SCUBA, Snorkel, PADI & NAUI Instruction, & Equipment Rental Rates, DIVE ABACO! Bahamas

For example two tank dives $145 Shark dives $165

Abaco Cays are my favourite place in the world.

 

[KathyV]

There are several liveaboard dive vessels that operate in the Bahamas with a wide range of price options and most of them offer shark dives. You have a good chance of seeing sharks in Bahamas just in general.

I don't know about dolphins but I do remember snorkeling with dolphins in the open sea from a Bahamas liveaboard in the Exumas, but you can't count on that happening on a regular basis.

You can do a lot of diving from a liveaboard and the price is all-inclusive and includes lodgings, food, and diving.

Maybe you should look at the Cat Ppalu, it is a mid-priced liveaboard and you can do up to 19 dives and it also visits some of the out islands. I have never been on that vessel but it might be worthwhile checking it out.

The Juliet is another mid-priced option and I believe that they usually include Bimini in their itinerary.

Cat Ppalu Charter Scuba Diving Liveaboard Sailboat from Nassau

A Bahamas Liveaboard Experience – direct from Miami

 

[KathyV]

Nassau isn't low key but there are quiet, more rural areas. Stuart Cove Dive offers packages with several hotels and there is a local dolphin encounter.

Stuart Cove's Nassau Bahamas Aqua Adventures - Company Bio

 

[diversteve]

Grand Bahama can still be low key in some areas - just not around Port Lucaya. The West End is still pretty quiet. Home - Old Bahama Bay Resort - about a 45min.? drive. I believe someone is still running a dive operation out there also - don't know who.

SE part of the island is probably still fairly quiet - there never was much there except condos. Nice public beach.

Bahamasair - or Silver Air - offer decently priced flights from FLL/MIA also. Price flights to Bimini also - you may find it not so convenient. There's also the ferry to GBI from Ft. Lauderdale. Home

UNEXSO has your wish list covered - dive with reef sharks, snorkel/dive with dolphins.
Bahamas Scuba Diving & Interactive Dolphin Activities

fwiw, the Cove's shark dive on Nassau is now $250. Their best deal since you'd be staying on-island is their all-day pkg. 4 dives/$210 including the shuttle ride. Find somewhere reasonable on Cable Beach to stay. Expect it to be older - I remember some of the same hotels from our first trip 30 years ago.

Stay off Paradise Island - most of it around Atlantis is pretty pricey. Occasionally Comfort Suites is reasonable. Besides Cove's Bahama Divers is an option for local dives - they also have a shuttle and are a lot closer - just a few mins. east of the Paradise Island bridge. Those are the only two operations on Nassau/New Providence.

On non-dive days/nights there's several local free/low cost shuttles between Cable Beach, downtown or Atlantis on P.I. Even a local ferry from downtown next to the cruise port to P.I. None of this is the quietest area though....

 

[sfabtx]

Welcome to Brendal's Dive Center | Green Turtle Cay | Abaco Bahamas

Best Bahamas SCUBA Diving & Snorkeling, DIVE ABACO! Marsh Harbour, Abaco, Bahamas Since 1978

My fave Bahamas outfits.
Keith at Dive Abaco is great and Brendal is a legend.

Rates and costs for dives and hire SCUBA, Snorkel, PADI & NAUI Instruction, & Equipment Rental Rates, DIVE ABACO! Bahamas

For example two tank dives $145 Shark dives $165

Abaco Cays are my favourite place in the world.

What kind of sharks? and are the dolphins in this area?
Sherry

 

[sfabtx]

Nassau isn't low key but there are quiet, more rural areas. Stuart Cove Dive offers packages with several hotels and there is a local dolphin encounter.

Stuart Cove's Nassau Bahamas Aqua Adventures - Company Bio

Here's the thing...we are a family of 6, the younger two will be first time divers (I'm still deciding if I want to take them or not 10 and 13). So less fuss is best. We prefer relaxing and island time rather than a bunch of fluff (we chose Cayman brac over grand Cayman when we went there). Everyone else really wants the shark and spotted dolphin encounters and GH are preferred as we've seen reef and black tips already. We are going the first week in June so the peak travel will have slacked off just a bit. We cook rather than hotel eat in and usually find an airbnb place.
Does that make any difference?

 

[KathyV]

That changes things a lot, a family of 6 with children wouldn't be the best fit for liveaboard vacation.

Since you selected Cayman Brac over Grand Cayman then you are my kind of person! Although I actually like all 3 of the Cayman islands in different ways. I enjoy Grand Cayman but prefer not to stay at the pricey and touristy Seven Mile Beach and West Bay area, we like to stay in the more residential Bodden Town area. And I love both Cayman Brac and Little Cayman as dive vacation destinations.

I visited Bimini a couple of times on liveaboard trips and it used to be a sleepy, quiet village, but things have changed a lot since then.

It is wise to stay at a place where you can prepare most of your meals because eating out three times a day can get very expensive - and it wastes a lot of precious vacation time, IMO.

Personally, I am not comfortable with the idea of captive dolphin excursions, it seems cruel to me. I am also uncomfortable with the idea of teaching sharks to associate divers with food; although I did participate in a chummed shark dive off Nassau in my younger days, so I cannot condemn others for this practice.

If you really want Hammerheads and a Dolphin Swim then I think that Bimini may be your best bet, and you will just have to find the dive op and venue that best fits your needs and budget.

Just an FYI, I have done a couple of liveaboard trips in the Turks and Caicos and I saw lots of sharks in that area, but not hammerheads. I have never stayed on the island of Grand Turk but it sounds like a quiet, remote, funky place - but there is a cruise ship terminal at one end of the island and they offer family excursions including a "snorkel with the stingrays" opportunity.

Good luck!

 

[sfabtx]

That changes things a lot, a family of 6 with children wouldn't be the best fit for liveaboard vacation.

Since you selected Cayman Brac over Grand Cayman then you are my kind of person! Although I actually like all 3 of the Cayman islands in different ways. I enjoy Grand Cayman but prefer not to stay at the pricey and touristy Seven Mile Beach and West Bay area, we like to stay in the more residential Bodden Town area. And I love both Cayman Brac and Little Cayman as dive vacation destinations.

I visited Bimini a couple of times on liveaboard trips and it used to be a sleepy, quiet village, but things have changed a lot since then.

It is wise to stay at a place where you can prepare most of your meals because eating out three times a day can get very expensive - and it wastes a lot of precious vacation time, IMO.

Personally, I am not comfortable with the idea of captive dolphin excursions, it seems cruel to me. I am also uncomfortable with the idea of teaching sharks to associate divers with food; although I did participate in a chummed shark dive off Nassau in my younger days, so I cannot condemn others for this practice.

If you really want Hammerheads and a Dolphin Swim then I think that Bimini may be your best bet, and you will just have to find the dive op and venue that best fits your needs and budget.

Just an FYI, I have done a couple of liveaboard trips in the Turks and Caicos and I saw lots of sharks in that area, but not hammerheads. I have never stayed on the island of Grand Turk but it sounds like a quiet, remote, funky place - but there is a cruise ship terminal at one end of the island and they offer family excursions including a "snorkel with the stingrays" opportunity.

Good luck!

Thanks. No we won't do the captive dolphin thing...just at sea if we can find them.

 

[diversteve]

Does that make any difference?

With 6 divers, I don't think either of my suggestions are worth considering.
Both islands are pricey on food in the markets since it's all imported and standard 2 tank dives will be around $130/140 PP.

I don't really have a suggestion for your situation. Most of the hammerhead trips I know of are pretty specialized so pricier. X6 would be exhorbitant. The cheaper Carib locations I know of are reef sharks and dolphins are a maybe. Or one/both are not wild encounters. Add in the GH requirement and the list becomes really small - Bimini or La Paz, MX but the latter may not have dolphins. Plus the HH's are at El Bajo Seamount - not a beginner dive.