Hi all, thought I would pop on and post a report on my trip to Dominica. A group of 14 from mostly Cincy and NE Ohio spent June 8-15th in Dominica with an overnight in Puerto Rico both ways.
Accomodation:
Stayed at Ft. Young Hotel. I thought this place was great, our room was beautiful and it felt like it was right on the water. The pool was lovely and the bar and restaurant were both pretty decent. Staff bent over backwards fetching meds. for my wife from the pharmacy and re-scheduling some land activities based on an illness. Plus my bar tab at the end of the week seemed incredibly reasonable (enjoyed many a Kubuli post-dive of course).
Dive-op:
We chartered with Anchorage for the week and 12-14 divers on a 70' cat the entire week, man it was nice to spread out. They had two divemasters in the water with us and didn't limit our bottom time whatsoever. They would guide dive and depending on the site and conditions either point people back to the boat as needed or provide an escort if a buddy team didn't feel comfortable navigating back alone. The entire staff of Anchorage was phenomenal, they really pulled out all the stops and even took us on a trip to dive Cabrits one day. Heck they even went out for dinner and drinks with us one night at a fanastic fish shack near Soufriere.
Food:
Ate at Ft. Young several times, too exhausted from adventures to really venture out. Also ate at La Robe Creole, that fish stand mentioned above, and another joint that I really can't remember. Food was good, but there were several places that I read about on the boards that I just didn't make it to. (Side note, try Mojitos in Old San Juan, they live up the billing).
Diving:
All of the group agreed, the diving was fantastic but nobody could really put a finger on why. I think it was that all of the dives featured an incredible amount of small fish life and we got to see an occasional frogfish or mammoth turtle to spice it up. Visibility was a little less than expected/reported, but it wasn't horrible either. One highlight was a school of reef squid at Champagne, I'm not exaggerating, there must have been 100+ reef squid that did not appear to be bashful of divers at all.
The sites we hit are listed below with some brief highlights:
1. Soufriere Pinnacle: Saw my first flying gurnard, turtle, couple of eels.
2. Coral Garden: Massive schools of small reef fish, huge barracuda.
3. Swiss Cheese: Swim throughs(as name suggests), couple of porcupine fish.
4. Champagne: Huge turtle, school of reef squid, 1st ever juvie trunkfish (cute).
5. Cabrits Point North: Couple of southern sting-rays.
6. Cabrits Point South: Frog fish... thanks Sherman (Side note... I've never met a DM who enjoys his job so much. I swear I heard him singing under water.)
7. Dangle Ben's Pinnacle. Frog fish, large turtle, really neat formations.
8. Labym Wall (Abyss): Juvie trunkfish, couple of eels, turtle.
9. Craters Edge: Sorry no log notes... I'll review pictures and update if possible.
10. Scotts Head Bay Wall: Two juvenile trunkfish chilling together.
Top-side:
Trafalgar Falls, Emerald Pool, Titou Gorge... all beautiful. Make sure you hit some top-side attractions the rain forest is absolutely beautiful. I wish I could have done more on the surface.
Well, that's all I really have for now. If you have questions, please post away or PM me. I really could just go on forever.
Accomodation:
Stayed at Ft. Young Hotel. I thought this place was great, our room was beautiful and it felt like it was right on the water. The pool was lovely and the bar and restaurant were both pretty decent. Staff bent over backwards fetching meds. for my wife from the pharmacy and re-scheduling some land activities based on an illness. Plus my bar tab at the end of the week seemed incredibly reasonable (enjoyed many a Kubuli post-dive of course).
Dive-op:
We chartered with Anchorage for the week and 12-14 divers on a 70' cat the entire week, man it was nice to spread out. They had two divemasters in the water with us and didn't limit our bottom time whatsoever. They would guide dive and depending on the site and conditions either point people back to the boat as needed or provide an escort if a buddy team didn't feel comfortable navigating back alone. The entire staff of Anchorage was phenomenal, they really pulled out all the stops and even took us on a trip to dive Cabrits one day. Heck they even went out for dinner and drinks with us one night at a fanastic fish shack near Soufriere.
Food:
Ate at Ft. Young several times, too exhausted from adventures to really venture out. Also ate at La Robe Creole, that fish stand mentioned above, and another joint that I really can't remember. Food was good, but there were several places that I read about on the boards that I just didn't make it to. (Side note, try Mojitos in Old San Juan, they live up the billing).
Diving:
All of the group agreed, the diving was fantastic but nobody could really put a finger on why. I think it was that all of the dives featured an incredible amount of small fish life and we got to see an occasional frogfish or mammoth turtle to spice it up. Visibility was a little less than expected/reported, but it wasn't horrible either. One highlight was a school of reef squid at Champagne, I'm not exaggerating, there must have been 100+ reef squid that did not appear to be bashful of divers at all.
The sites we hit are listed below with some brief highlights:
1. Soufriere Pinnacle: Saw my first flying gurnard, turtle, couple of eels.
2. Coral Garden: Massive schools of small reef fish, huge barracuda.
3. Swiss Cheese: Swim throughs(as name suggests), couple of porcupine fish.
4. Champagne: Huge turtle, school of reef squid, 1st ever juvie trunkfish (cute).
5. Cabrits Point North: Couple of southern sting-rays.
6. Cabrits Point South: Frog fish... thanks Sherman (Side note... I've never met a DM who enjoys his job so much. I swear I heard him singing under water.)
7. Dangle Ben's Pinnacle. Frog fish, large turtle, really neat formations.
8. Labym Wall (Abyss): Juvie trunkfish, couple of eels, turtle.
9. Craters Edge: Sorry no log notes... I'll review pictures and update if possible.
10. Scotts Head Bay Wall: Two juvenile trunkfish chilling together.
Top-side:
Trafalgar Falls, Emerald Pool, Titou Gorge... all beautiful. Make sure you hit some top-side attractions the rain forest is absolutely beautiful. I wish I could have done more on the surface.
Well, that's all I really have for now. If you have questions, please post away or PM me. I really could just go on forever.