Considering Stuart Cove's in Nassau

[Guitarcrazy]

We are looking at taking a trip to Nassau Bahamas in March. We have never been to the Bahamas, and I am hearing mixed reviews of the diving around Nassay. Liveaboard is not an option for us, so most likely stay at the Riu Palace and dive with Stuart. I searched older threads but I still have a few questions for those who have dove with Stuart in Nassau:

Is the diving decent? I have read some reviews that the diving in Nassau was sub-par.
Does Stuart Cove let you dive your tank? Also read reviews that stated they were forced to ascend after 30 minutes.
How is Nassau when not diving? Any other activities that you should do in Nassau? Thanks.

 

[Green Frog]

I was there in June. This was about my fifth or six trip. I met Stuart and we joked that after all these years I finally met him. Diving was decent... low stress with interesting fish, small patch reefs and good walls as well as several man made ship wrecks. No real challenges, so just right for a casual diver like me. All the diving I did with them was 80 ft or less except for one time I broke 90. Vis was always good to 50 feet or better, and I never experienced objectionable currents.

They offer shark dives and I’ve done several over the years, but to be honest, I got to see plenty of sharks (Caribbean Reef Sharks) on the “regular” dives. They were curious but not aggressive, and I got several good pix.

Why would you want to drag your own tanks from Montana to the Bahamas? They have perfectly good tanks there, and even if you take yours, you have to fly them empty, so you’re still breathing their air fills. Speaking of air, they let me stay down to use mine up as I wished... they never gave us an arbitrary time limit.

Depending on where else you’ve been and what kind of diving you want to do, I can only say SC gets my vote. I liked all of their staff with whom I dealt, their captains are competent and their DMs are good people... I took the time to chat with and get to know a couple of them, one from Eleuthera and one from France... his folks come from all over. As in previous trips I found this one fun and relaxing, most enjoyable. Your tastes may vary, but I found nothing wrong with diving at Stuart Cove’s.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Does Stuart Cove let you dive your tank? Also read reviews that stated they were forced to ascend after 30 minutes.

I assume you mean do they let you dive your tank down to 500 PSI. I would guess the answer is NO.

Some divers may be able to dive for 90 minutes before they reach 500 PSI. The boats are on a schedule, the crew has to know when you are "overdue" and need to begin a search.

Many/most dive ops give you 45-60 minutes dive time on a shallow reef dive.

 

[Green Frog]

Oooops. I’d never seen the term “dive your tank” but now I know what you’re asking. I actually came up with a fair amount of air lest in my tank in all but one dive... normally I’m an air hog, but this crowd seemed to go through theirs much faster than I did. I didn’t notice any of the DMs trying to rush me out of the water though.

 

[Damselfish]

If I were going to the Bahamas anyway I’d go diving, but I wouldn’t plan a land-based dive specific trip there unless you really want sharks. You might see plenty even not on a “shark” dive. Better to do liveaboard, but you say you don’t want that. (I’ve done the Aquacat twice, and they range far and wide to get you to the best of the diving available. And even though the diving isn’t necessaily the greatest in general, it’s such a good boat/crew/trip I’d probably do it again. One of those trips was a 2 week more remote trip outside their normal area. There was lots of interesting stuff do see and do, but the diving wasn’t any better.)

Nassau is ok, depends what you like. A day there is enough for me.

 

[Guitarcrazy]

Thanks for the replies. The two spouses both like to dive, but are dead set against being on a boat for a week straight so no liveaboards for us. It sounds like Stuart lets you go 45 minutes to an hour, which is fine for us. My wife and I usually go an hour to hour and fifteen on a standard tank, and in Cozumel we both go until we hit 500. I dove in other locations and they made the group ascend when the first diver hit 700, which gave me less than a 30 minute dive on that trip. I don't want to repeat that as the cost in the Bahamas is nearly double, so a short dive would be even more painful.

We have looked at Belize, Roatan, and Bonaire but flights are not great for us in Montana, so we would have to spend the night somewhere going to and from. We can get to almost anywhere in Mexico, Nassau, or Hawaii same day, which is why we are thinking of trying the Bahamas. We have dove Roatan, at Anthony's Key and enjoyed it. The extra 2 days of travel are not appealing though.

 

[Jeem.world]

In general your first dive on the 2 tank boat at Stuart Cove’s is approx. 40-45minutes (on the website I believe it says 35 is the minimum for the first dive but most members of staff will give you more than that). Your second dive will be approx. 45-50. The crew try’s to keep the boats leaving and returning on a schedule so if you are very good on air more likely than not you won’t empty a tank.

During instances when a diver reaches 800-700 psi the dive guide in the water will direct them to the ascent decent line or the anchor/mooring line to do their safety stop (either by themself if they have a computer or with the back up diver) the option is extended to the divers buddy to stay down if they still have acceptable levels of air left. Once the individual who is low on air is at their safety stop the dive can continue for those still In the water as long as there is bottom time remaining.

 

[Doc Harry]

Diving in the Bahamas is not worthwhile, especially given all of the other outstanding and inexpensive choices of destinations throughout the Caribbean.

That being said, the Bahamians are wonderful people and I am sure they will appreciate your business.

 

[shane072]

We are diving with Stuarts Cove in March. Is it worth it to take our own fins, mask etc. with us? We are doing a cruise to Freepoer and Nassau. Also, weather wise, is it divable in a rash guard and shorts or should we take out 3mm suits? Thanks in advance.

 

[arew+4]

I've dove with them a few times, 2009 and 2012, info may be out of date. If they had enough people they would send more than one boat out, they would split the divers by experience. Day one you were on the general boat, follow the leader, back on board in 60. On the advanced boat it was once they got to the site they would say pools open be back on the boat at X:XX, or 500 PSI. They would generally give you around 1:15 to 1:30, so if you were first in last out you wouldn't have a hard time running your tank down.