can you compare dive sites on Bahamas

[matkamees]

We will travel to San Salvador in july for Earthwatch expedition which will be lots of snorkeling there. We have decided to stay 1 more week in the Bahamas and do lots of diving. We can dive up to 20m, so Blue Holes seem out of reach and do not care much of wrecks, are ok with "not sooo busy local life" as well. BUT the main we are spoiled with fantastic dive sites with extremely rich coral life and walls in Indonesia, Bunaken namely last time. Don't want to do advanced PADI on Bahamas.
:focus:
Thus we have some Qs:
1. Can you people:vintagediver: compare us the dive sites on San Salvador, Long Island Group and The Exumas? We are not sure we want to stay full 2nd week on San Salvador but if the sites are the best there, we will.
2. How's the commuting between those islands?
3. Could the idea of taking boat or even liveaboard from one of those islands back to Nassau be the best idea? If so, how can one have such from San Salvador side and could weather in July be very sloppy?
4. ...
1000 thanks:blinking:

 

[WetLens]

I can share some limited experience. I've been to the northern Exumas a half-dozen times (maybe more) and have dove a few times at the very northern tip of Long Island and in San Salvadore a couple of times - I have a total of 233 dives in the Bahamas. I can't compare with what you experienced in Indonesia, but I doubt anywhere in the Bahamas will live up to that experience.

Very tough choice. Since you are already in San Salvadore, my first thought would be to stay there. San Sal diving is great, but the best feature (in my opinion) is the wall diving. The walls start relatively shallow - 12 to 15m - which is great if limited to 20m as you can get the wall experience without having to go real deep. My caution there is that it will be difficult to limit your dives to 20m - at least it would be for me. I've been to San Sal in June 2007 (absolutely flat calm conditions) and in August 2009 (high seas delayed our travel to San Sal, thus shortening our stay) - July provides a great opportunity for ideal sea conditions, but no guarantees. If the seas are good, a trip around to dive the south side of San Salvadore provides the best diving I've seen in the Bahamas.

Photos from our 2009 trip can be seen here: Sea Dragon 2009 - wetlens' Photos
more Sea Dragon 2009 - wetlens' Photos
Marie's Sea Dragon 2009 Photos - wetlens' Photos
All of the photos are identified with the island and dive site.

The northern Exumas are fantastic for shallower dives - there are no wall dives like in San Salvadore, but I like the shallow diving better here. Diving is timed to the tides as there is significant flow between the many islands. These currents also provide for a great drift diving. It will be very easy to stay above 20m as a majority of the dives are 10m or less. There are opportunites for deeper dives on the east side of the islands - weather permitting - but most of the diving is done on the inside. There are a few liveaboards working this area, but the boat I've been on runs from the lower Exumas to San Sal during that time of year.

I can't offer much information on Long Is. as the only dives I've done there have been in transit to Conception Is/San Sal. The dives we made there were good, but there is a reason we don't stay there long - the diving is better at Conception and San Sal. I've looked at trips to Long Island in the past, but I always find better deals in other parts of the Caribbean - put another way, I have found Long Island to be expensive.

San Sal for great wall diving; upper Exumas for fantastic shallow diving. Hope this helps.

 

[ThomasPro]

Thanks WetLens and those pictures you took look great! Very nice work. Hopefully, I can ask a few questions as well:

1) Where did you stay and did you like it?
2) Any Hammerhead sharks or other big animals like Dolphins and such?

I am debating about a trip to San Salvidor or over to Bimini and I thought I would ask a few more detailed questions. Thanks!!

 

[WetLens]

A majority of the dives I've made in the Bahamas have been off the liveaboard "Sea Dragon." It is small by liveaboard standards, taking only 8 divers. There are pictures of the boat in the "More Sea Dragon 2009" gallery. This is one of only 2 liveaboards that I have been on more than once (5 trips) - the other was Dan and Sue's (the owners, Dan Doyle and Sue Ford) previous boat, "Dragon Lady" (3 trips). So I guess you could say I like the area and the boat/captain/crew.

I have been on the M/V Shear Water, diving in the Bimini area. The Exumas provide much better diving and the total boat experience is a night and day comparison. While swimming with the dolphins off the Shear Water was a great experience, it was not worth putting up with the cramped conditions on the boat. And let's just say that I much prefer Dan's style than Abernathy's.

The problem with Sea Dragon is in the scheduling. They typically charter out the entire boat, so you have to get in with a group that regularly charters with Dan and Sue. If you have a group, you can set up your own charter.

Bimini: Attractions are snorkeling with dolphins and dives with a variety of sharks. Our trip was focused on dolphins and grey reef sharks, but JASA runs trips for tiger and other sharks as well. They are baited encounters. I don't want to start another debate on this aspect of shark diving, so I'll just say this is a choice you have to make for yourself. For me, it is unlikely I'll participate in a baited shark dive again.

San Salvadore: Hammerheads. Not often, but what a sight when they do cruise by. We did a dusk dive after the long crossing from Rum Cay to San Sal. My wife and I were at the crest of the wall (~45') with our heads down in the coral looking at critters. I picked my head up to watch a 6-7' hammerhead come up over the wall - almost within touching distance. I could see every twitching muscle in his torso as he swam by. It was an unforgettable experience. We saw hammerheads on a few other dives that year (2007), but did not see any on our abbreviated stay at San Sal this past year.

So, bottom line - snorkeling with dolphins, baited shark dives, and fair reefs in Bimini; absolutely stunning walls, excellent reefs (especially south), and chance encounters with pelagics in San Sal. I'd take San Sal in a heart beat...

 

[matkamees]

Wow! Fantastic WetLens, thanks for such thorpugh overview:cool3:, it's extremely helpful. Will try to look into matter of getting down to Exumas for some days. Unfortunately don't have any others in our team of Eartwatch expedition who would stay longer for diving, so liveaboard seems out of reach. Will Q Sea Dragon for all sake. The problem also is that my husband is still having ear thus balance problems from last dive trip - he force-blowed his ears to heavy and smth. went wrong, so he might not dive much, who knows.

Fully agree with WetLens about bited shark dive and "half-trained" dolphins are ? for me as well, lovely as they are.

Photos are perfect beauties! Should be printed in a calender! Liked the camera info as well.
As always if you A a Q, you get more of them:
* where did you stay on SanSal? Riding Rock, ClubMed or private?
* do liveaboard expect you to have your own equipment? we don't have any, have to buy computer as must by SanSal dive shops but also a wetsuit as it seems not very common in thiat side of globe, least bahamas, to have full equipment for rent (though on you photos one guy has t-shirt and shorts!) while in Asia it's included in dive price (cheaper than any of Bahamas dive operators, sic!) thus haven't bought any. Been thinking to do it in Miami as i will be there for 1 week before Bahamas and prices seem less than in Europe:depressed:, not to mention choice.
Have to run, if more Qs will post them.

 

[WetLens]

My visits to San Sal have been aboard Sea Dragon, only time I've been on land was a brief beach walk with the boat's dogs.

Typically, yes, liveaboards expect that you'll bring your own equipment. Land-based ops typically have equipment available for rent. You might check with liveaboard ops as they may have equipment - I've never asked.

As water temp is in the 80s (82 - 84 F or 28 - 29 C), no wetsuit is needed. We were making 5+ dives per day - each an hour plus in length and never got the slightest bit chilled. Both my wife and I dive with rash guards. I typically dive in a full suit (plush, 3mm equivalent) on night dives only.

If you need to be land-based, San Sal is your best bet as you are already there and there are plenty of good places to stay. Upper Exumas is strictly liveaboard as far as I know. Aqua-Cat and another Blackbeard boat are among your choices. Haven't been on either, but have heard good things about them. I've only made a few dives in the lower Exumas and they were not worth writing home about. There are land-based ops there, but it seemed a bit pricey to me.

Caribbean Explorer has been running out of Georgetown, Exumas the last few years - not sure what their current itinerary is for the summer, but may be worth checking into. It is a larger boat and they do book individuals. As I recall, they run week-long trips visiting Long, Conception, Rum Cay, and San Salvadore Islands.

 

[WetLens]

I was kinda hoping someone else would chime in - you don't want to take just my word on this as my view of the Bahamas is rather narrow.

By the way, the dolphin experience in the Bimini area is not with "half-trained" dolphins. Yes, they've seen divers before, but they are wild dolphins. I don't want to down play that experience - it was great.

 

[matkamees]

Let's hope some more input will come over time, would be great collection of reference for any future traveller towards this Bahamas area. It's quite time consuming to browse through all the threads under one's specific destination and supporting to have different opinions.
Anyway I have done lots of reading as well from available diving books and web-posts of all sorts incl. ScubaBoard. Thus was already prepared to stay only in the mentioned area. Have to post log after trip!k:

 

[Dive n00b]

You Sir... are one hell of a good UW Photographer! WOW!
Makes me want to buy a rig and go out diving!

I can share some limited experience. I've been to the northern Exumas a half-dozen times (maybe more) and have dove a few times at the very northern tip of Long Island and in San Salvadore a couple of times - I have a total of 233 dives in the Bahamas. I can't compare with what you experienced in Indonesia, but I doubt anywhere in the Bahamas will live up to that experience.

Very tough choice. Since you are already in San Salvadore, my first thought would be to stay there. San Sal diving is great, but the best feature (in my opinion) is the wall diving. The walls start relatively shallow - 12 to 15m - which is great if limited to 20m as you can get the wall experience without having to go real deep. My caution there is that it will be difficult to limit your dives to 20m - at least it would be for me. I've been to San Sal in June 2007 (absolutely flat calm conditions) and in August 2009 (high seas delayed our travel to San Sal, thus shortening our stay) - July provides a great opportunity for ideal sea conditions, but no guarantees. If the seas are good, a trip around to dive the south side of San Salvadore provides the best diving I've seen in the Bahamas.

Photos from our 2009 trip can be seen here: Sea Dragon 2009 - wetlens' Photos
more Sea Dragon 2009 - wetlens' Photos
Marie's Sea Dragon 2009 Photos - wetlens' Photos
All of the photos are identified with the island and dive site.

The northern Exumas are fantastic for shallower dives - there are no wall dives like in San Salvadore, but I like the shallow diving better here. Diving is timed to the tides as there is significant flow between the many islands. These currents also provide for a great drift diving. It will be very easy to stay above 20m as a majority of the dives are 10m or less. There are opportunites for deeper dives on the east side of the islands - weather permitting - but most of the diving is done on the inside. There are a few liveaboards working this area, but the boat I've been on runs from the lower Exumas to San Sal during that time of year.

I can't offer much information on Long Is. as the only dives I've done there have been in transit to Conception Is/San Sal. The dives we made there were good, but there is a reason we don't stay there long - the diving is better at Conception and San Sal. I've looked at trips to Long Island in the past, but I always find better deals in other parts of the Caribbean - put another way, I have found Long Island to be expensive.

San Sal for great wall diving; upper Exumas for fantastic shallow diving. Hope this helps.

 

[dpwrkK5]

I'm a private boat captain and have traveled through and stayed in the Bahamas for years. San Salvador is world class diving, you could spend years there and still be amazed at the walls and sea life. A good friend of mine did just that as dive guide out of Fish Hook. If you feel the need to travel beyond San Sal, you need go no further than Conception Island for more amazing diving, lots of sharks. Traveling from San Sal to Long Island and up the Exuma chain will most likely be a breeze in July. Finding a boat on San Sal to take you to Long Island then up the Exuma chain to Nassau will be extremely difficult.

1. all excellent, San Sal is the best
2. awesome, especially if you enjoy exploring
3. "the best idea", no. Expensive, logistically demanding. Weather is usually nice in July.

SEAN