stevethepirate:
im headed for dominica wednesday morning for the first time.
im 17 and a fairly inexperienced diver. i was wondering if anyone could suggest any good dive locations or shops. as an inexperienced diver i think that a good instructor/guide is pretty much needed. any of you have any good or bad experiences you feel like telling me about?
:arr:
hI
In case no gets around to replying to your question before you leave, here are a few pointers. I haven't dived in Dominica myself, but if it is anything like some of the other islands in the region (I'm from Grenada), then here are a few things to look out for...
- Talk to the shop, instructors/DM, get a feel for how they deal with you (be aware of course they'll be biased to sell you dives!)
- Physically look at the shop, it's layout and how they store their gear (that says a lot!)
- Find out about the dives they do, how deep, the current, tell them you've only got 17 dives under your belt and want to take it easy - if they push you, think twice.
- Chat casually to some of their guests or students and have a look at a couple of shops and compare.
- What dive boat do they have? Custom built with rear platform, or converted fishing pirogue (which are generally more uncomfortable)
- Find out if their BCDs have whistles and delayed SMBs in them, that's usually a good sign of a responsible shop (though not a guarantee)
- Find out about their safety proceedures - do they have O2 on boards, a working radio, is there a chamber on the island (a lot of them don't, but have safety plan to fly to the nearest one, most likely Barbados).
Mostly I think the dives should be fairly comfortable with clear viz and unless they have strong currents, it should be a nice place to be. Dominica is meant to be a very nice island nature wise, so I'd recommend getting some time in to go sightseeing and/or hiking (though try not to go up hills doing heavy walking after a dive!!!).
I imagine you might have seen this already, but it's worth checking out:
http://www.dominica.dm/wateradventure/diveoperators.htm
Sorry if I can't be of more help, I am just thinking of some things to look out for, they're not necessarily specific to Dominica, but I think covers the bases if you're short of direct recommendations.
Do a search for "Dominica" on the board and you'll probably find some advice there - I just thought of this, might have saved me typing this up
Do let me know when you return how your trip was, I'm always keen to hear of other dive locations near me!
enjoy... hope you have a good time!
GO DIVER
nic
