edpdiver
Contributor
I am just finishing a trip to Virgin Gorda, and I thought I would post a trip report. This trip was a family get-together including divers and nondivers, so we chose a destination that would suit both. The diving was good, not the best by a long shot, but certainly worth doing, and even repeating.
There were 10 people on this trip: my wife, her brother and his fiancee (both recently certified divers), another of her brothers, his wife (doing her referral certification dives), and their three teenage kids (2 were doing referral certification dives), and my wife's mother (a nondiver). So there were 7 divers (or soon to be divers) and we dove with DiveBVI, and I recommend them very highly. DiveBVI has several boats (6 I believe), and we did 2-tank morning dives on 5 mornings. Sometimes it was just our group of 7 divers. Occasionally we would pick up a couple of other divers. The boat we were on usually maxes out with 14 divers and would be comfortable with that number. It was downright luxurious with only 7-10 divers. There were always two or three divemasters on each trip. No group was ever larger than 5 divers. They offered to set up our gear for us, or to let us do it ourselves (not until the students were certified, though). Our dive guides were a South African couple (Johan and Belinda), and they were extremely nice and helpful. They gave good dive briefings, and were very helpful spotters.
Some of the sites were great, and some not so great. Some of the shallower dive sites were hit hard by a very hot summer in 2005, and they still look pretty lame. The corals really got clobbered. The water temperature was actually cold for us (75-76F), and the colder water temperatures are clearly helping initiate some new growth. Maybe things will get better. The deeper sites, such as the Rhone wreck, were in pretty good shape. In general, the fish populations were a bit sparse, but not bad. We enjoyed the Chimney (beautiful topography and encrusting corals), Thumb Rock (same strengths), the Rhone (our favorite wreck dive in the Caribbean), and Blonde Rock (not always accessible). We had asked to do the Chikuzen, but the swells made it inaccessible, which we know was a likely possibility. Coral Gardens was a nice dive, but nothing special. It was a good site for both the certified and student divers, so we certainly understood the logic of it as a choice. The same was true for Wreck Alley. I did notice that there were flamingo tongues in ridiculous abundance. I wonder if that is a good or bad thing. Maybe it is related to the colder water.
We stayed at a villa in Mahoe Bay, and that was a great option for our group of ten. Some people could hang out and swim in the ocean or the pool while the divers went out. Others could go to the Baths, or hike up to one of the peaks. Everyone stayed occupied with beautiful natural surroundings. It was expensive, but well worth it.
Here are some examples of underwater photos showing the best examples of the diving.
Here are a few of the Rhone.
And here is the Flickr link to all of the photos that I have posted from here.
BVI diving photos
There were 10 people on this trip: my wife, her brother and his fiancee (both recently certified divers), another of her brothers, his wife (doing her referral certification dives), and their three teenage kids (2 were doing referral certification dives), and my wife's mother (a nondiver). So there were 7 divers (or soon to be divers) and we dove with DiveBVI, and I recommend them very highly. DiveBVI has several boats (6 I believe), and we did 2-tank morning dives on 5 mornings. Sometimes it was just our group of 7 divers. Occasionally we would pick up a couple of other divers. The boat we were on usually maxes out with 14 divers and would be comfortable with that number. It was downright luxurious with only 7-10 divers. There were always two or three divemasters on each trip. No group was ever larger than 5 divers. They offered to set up our gear for us, or to let us do it ourselves (not until the students were certified, though). Our dive guides were a South African couple (Johan and Belinda), and they were extremely nice and helpful. They gave good dive briefings, and were very helpful spotters.
Some of the sites were great, and some not so great. Some of the shallower dive sites were hit hard by a very hot summer in 2005, and they still look pretty lame. The corals really got clobbered. The water temperature was actually cold for us (75-76F), and the colder water temperatures are clearly helping initiate some new growth. Maybe things will get better. The deeper sites, such as the Rhone wreck, were in pretty good shape. In general, the fish populations were a bit sparse, but not bad. We enjoyed the Chimney (beautiful topography and encrusting corals), Thumb Rock (same strengths), the Rhone (our favorite wreck dive in the Caribbean), and Blonde Rock (not always accessible). We had asked to do the Chikuzen, but the swells made it inaccessible, which we know was a likely possibility. Coral Gardens was a nice dive, but nothing special. It was a good site for both the certified and student divers, so we certainly understood the logic of it as a choice. The same was true for Wreck Alley. I did notice that there were flamingo tongues in ridiculous abundance. I wonder if that is a good or bad thing. Maybe it is related to the colder water.
We stayed at a villa in Mahoe Bay, and that was a great option for our group of ten. Some people could hang out and swim in the ocean or the pool while the divers went out. Others could go to the Baths, or hike up to one of the peaks. Everyone stayed occupied with beautiful natural surroundings. It was expensive, but well worth it.
Here are some examples of underwater photos showing the best examples of the diving.
Here are a few of the Rhone.
And here is the Flickr link to all of the photos that I have posted from here.
BVI diving photos
