Dominica

[Zebra mussel]

Ive been reading the many posts on Dominica and am surprised by the complete opposite opinions. Anyway.....like it or not,Im intersted in information on the dive profiles on 2 tank dives. Im considering bringing a newly certifiied diver with a PADI open water only...no advanced, with probably less than 10 logged dives. Is this a place we can do this? Are the profiles deep or are there any difficult conditions he is likely to encounter. One thing I dont want to do is hold back a boat full of more experianced divers, as I really dont enoy it when it happens to me. For any photographers out there....how are the Macro opportunities? Im looking mainly for information on the diving....not specific dive operations. Thanks in advance for any info you can give me!

 

[Scuba65]

I just returned from Dominica and the diving is really good....it will be fine for a newbie..that won't be any problems. as where I was and the operator I dove with there was a couple that were newbies and there was no problem with them. so, it won't be a problem with that. as for macro photography you will have a good time lots of that to be done. if you need more info. don't hesitate to ask.

 

[peterjmaerz]

Hi Zebra Mussel

Dominica was my first dive trip -- two weeks after I was certified! The only problem I had was that my wetsuit (1/2 mil) was insufficient to keep me warm in the 79-degree water. The profiles are average: nothing very deep, the currents very mild for the most part, plenty of relatively shallow 2nd dives, and the dive op I used, Dive Dominica, used the group dive formula, with DM's keeping a close eye on those whose skills required it. I've been back twice since then, since the island is a paradise and the diving very good.

Macro-wise: you're heading for a good spot. Fair amount of seahorses and frogfish about, though not nearly as abundant as they are in St. Vincent. (That destination is my personal fave for critters in the Caribbean).

Enjoy!

Regards,

 

[JS1scuba]

I was in Dominica august of 2003 it was excellent. We had a moderate sized medical conference at Dive Dominica, about 30 divers and we had an outstanding time.

We are having another conference there in May this year with close to 40. The diving is fabulous. An enourmous amount of sea life. The sea mounts are a blast to dive.

We were doing dives in the 80 fsw average range. Though I was able to do some deeper work there to see the plate corals in the 180-200 fsw range.

Regards,

 

[sea2sea]

I just returned from Dominica and the diving is really good....it will be fine for a newbie..that won't be any problems. as where I was and the operator I dove with there was a couple that were newbies and there was no problem with them. so, it won't be a problem with that. as for macro photography you will have a good time lots of that to be done. if you need more info. don't hesitate to ask.

Thinking of heading to Dominica in a few months. Where did you stay and which dive op did you use? Would you recommend them? Did you hear anything about Beau Rive or Tamarind Tree Inn?

thanks!

 

[Scuba65]

Sea2Sea.....I would highly recommend Dominica..it's a beautiful place...poor but very nice. We stayed in Portsmith with a friend that goes to Ross University, so he's renting a house right now and there we dove with some friend's of his that own Cabrits Dive Centre..they are a good operation and I would recommend them. We also dove at Scott's Head and stayed at Anchorage Hotel/Dive Centre in Roseau...I would also recommend this place for staying and for dive operator..very nice and pleasant people.. Sorry, i didn't hear about those 2 places. I also recommed the hiking. if you have any more questions i'll try to help you.

 

[Henryville]

I was in Dominica august of 2003 it was excellent. We had a moderate sized medical conference at Dive Dominica, about 30 divers and we had an outstanding time.

We are having another conference there in May this year with close to 40. The diving is fabulous. An enourmous amount of sea life. The sea mounts are a blast to dive.

We were doing dives in the 80 fsw average range. Though I was able to do some deeper work there to see the plate corals in the 180-200 fsw range.

Regards,

Hi Joel:

Doing some research on this and your post caught my eye. What sort of support did you have there for deco diving (e.g. doubles, deco bottles, etc.?)

Thanks,

Dev Clifford

 

[BEM]

We were ther in Feb 05. There were a few new divers on the boat with us and they enjoyed it. Mention this to the crew and keep it shallow. There's LOTS to see and lots of macro stuff.

We got currents on only two dives (did 15), unfortunately one was a night dive (water got clouded), but were manageable, even for the new people.

We stayed at Castle Comfort and really enjoyed the dives off the dock - max 40-50 feet and lots to see.

 

[JS1scuba]

Hi Joel:

Doing some research on this and your post caught my eye. What sort of support did you have there for deco diving (e.g. doubles, deco bottles, etc.?)

Thanks,

Dev Clifford

Support ? Yeah sure.

No seriously. We dived Singles on the back with stage bottles. More like sidemount. These were small bounce dives. They would be happy to let me band up doubles but with the weight restrictions in and out of Melville Hall we opt to go lightweight and limit our exposures. We would dive air with 40% deco mix. Pretty easy.

Regards,
JDS