BVI Diving

[XLT_66]

Hello,

First Post Here!!! I've been diving for a couple of years down in Ambergris, Belize but have just now finished my Open Water certification with PADI. Anyway, I've got a couple of questions that I hope someone will have some knowledge on.

1) Does anyone recommend any dive shop over the others in the BVI? (that has some comparison info from diving with multiple dive ops)

2) Has anyone heard of or diven with UBS Dive Center? They seem to have the best prices on renting gear by far, seem like a tight knit dive family, and only do personalized dives (no group dives with people you don't know)

3) Does anyone have any tips and/or tricks on traveling with dive gear? I am in the market for gear right now but can't decide if I should try to travel with it all down to the islands. Does anyone know if it is possible to fit a BC and regulator system into a carry-on? We have a really tight connection to make and I wanna keep to carry-on if possible.

Sorry for the long post and happy diving!!!

Regards,

E Goldie

 

[alashas]

Hi XLT_66,

We did our OW dives with http://www.divebvi.com/ on Virgin Gorda 4 years ago, and I've heard a lot of good things about their Tortola shop. We dove last year with http://www.aquaventurebvi.com/ and they are still around, but merged with http://www.webedivinbvi.com/ I don't think any of the Aquaventure staff are still on the island, but we had a great time with them.

I did 2 dives with webedivin last Fall and have no complaints. If you get the chance, try to spend a few days on JVD and dive with Capt Colin of http://www.jostvandykescuba.com/ There are some excellent dive sites off Jost.

I have several BVI photo albums of the 20 dives I did in the BVI here: http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/

I've been carrying my gear from 3 years with the largest carry on from http://www.eaglecreek.com/bags_luggage/ I don't see my particular carry on, but it looks similar to: http://www.eaglecreek.com/bags_luggage/adventure_travel_packs/Switchback-MAX-ES-25-20178/ It comes with a smaller bag that zips off which you can use for your "personal item." However, I fit more stuff in a fairly large dry bag that I use as my personal item. I usually put my fins in a check in bag, but have smaller ones that I can fit into my eagle creek bag.

Good luck! alashas
http://hastings.smugmug.com/

 

[Hoyden]

We had good dives with SailCarribean Divers and I would recommned them.

Jackie

 

[altaskier]

Where are you planning on staying in the BVI? Tortola has lots of things to do, but we have returned four years in a row to Virgin Gorda which is delightfully quiet. I've dived with about a dozen different outfits around the world and DiveBVI on Virgin Gorda is high on my list; very friendly, but also very safety conscious. But if you were staying on Tortola you'd want to go with someone based there. If you're on a sailboat then you can hook up with several different dive ops who will meet your boat.

Regarding rental prices, that's usually a small part of the bill if you're boat diving and if there were substantial price differences I'd want to know more about the gear.

It should be easy to bring a regulator in a carry-on. However, I've checked a dive bag on about a dozen flights to various places with no problems thus far (though I at least bring my prescription goggles, computer, and C-card in my carry-on; if necessary I can rent everything else). Of course I have sometimes deliberately picked a flight with a 3 hour connection even though a 1.5 hour connection has been available, so maybe that's helped with my luck.

 

[BTravlin]

I just got back from the BVI Sunday night and had another great dive trip. I would highly recommend Dive Tortola at Prospect Reef on Tortola. Great staff and nice dive boats. I have dove with them on two separate trips now and everything was first rate both times. I have not dove with any of the other ops there but did see Blue Water Divers' dive boats. I wouldn't use them just based on the look of their boats, older, lousy setup for getting tanks on & off, very small shaded areas.

 

[chester]

I have dove with both UBS and Dive BVI and had great experiences with both shops... did the Rhone with Kate from UBS. While their boats were smaller, so were the groups. In fact, me and my friend were the only other people diving that day with Kate. Awesome trip!!

 

[Shark Whisperer]

Ohhhh...Tortola! What I would do to go back!!!! We were there October 2006 and did the first Wreck Week with Kate and Tony at UBS. I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend using them. Kate is a crack up and is very entertaining! We never stopped laughing!
We had six divers in our group and we were on the Reef Chief (their biggest boat) and had a wonderful time. Plenty of room. It truely is "Exclusively Private Diving". We dove mostly with Kate...Tony had to stay back and get the other boats ready for the season...they had just come back from their vacation in Alaska a week before we arrived.
The diving is absolulety amazing! Recommend doing a night dive on the Rhone!

We found the food to be a bit expensive, but good. We have pictures of our trip on our dive club website: www.sharkbaitdiveclub.com We stayed at the Tamarind Club...nice place and not too far from the marina where Kate and Tony are located.
If you need any more info, feel free to PM me.