Freeport vs Bimini - Cruise Diving Recommendation

[eja12a]

My wife and I are cruising this summer from Jacksonville to the Bahamas, and are looking to do a dive at one of our ports. Our boat doesn't offer any SCUBA trips as an excursion, so we are trying to decide how best to go about this. We will be stopping at Freeport and Bimini, and there are Dive Shops in both areas that are willing to cater to cruise divers. We are most interested in keeping it simple and doing a reef/wreck dive (as opposed to a shark dive).

My question is: Has anyone dove in either of these locations and do you have recommendations as to which would be either better diving or easier logistically?

 

[Hoag]

I have never dove either of these islands, so take this with the proverbial grain of salt.

As far as the logistics go, places that offer dives to those from the cruise ships will sometimes also offer transportation. (I know that Stuart Cove does in Nassau as an example.) It might be worth it to reach out to any of the dive shops that you plan on potentially using & see if they offer a pick up/drop off service (and if so, is it an extra charge or is it included). Who knows? The logistics might suddenly become very easy!

 

[eja12a]

That would definitely make things easy! Couldn’t really ask for much more than that.

 

[living4experiences]

I've dived in both of these locations. Freeport is not the greatest place for diving, as the reef is in very poor condition. There's only one operator on Bimini, Neil Watson's. They will not pick you up so you'll have to take a taxi to their shop.

 

[eja12a]

I've dived in both of these locations. Freeport is not the greatest place for diving, as the reef is in very poor condition. There's only one operator on Bimini, Neil Watson's. They will not pick you up so you'll have to take a taxi to their shop.

That’s unfortunate about Freeport, as it seems that at least one of the shops will arrange transportation to and from the port.

How was the diving in Bimini?

 

[living4experiences]

That’s unfortunate about Freeport, as it seems that at least one of the shops will arrange transportation to and from the port.

How was the diving in Bimini?

Diving in Bimini is more known for the sharks, which I very much enjoyed. The reef lacks color and tropical fish. 1st tank is the reef dive; 2nd dive is for the sharks. If it was a 2 tank reef dive, I would have been disappointed.

 

[jonhall]

Only have experience with Freeport. For a day of diving, you could get a wreck and a reef in - Duncan's Wreck or Sea Star, depending on what DM calls it, is a decent wreck with quite a bit of life around it, but as @living4experiences stated, the reefs may not be in fantastic condition, but there is still some color depending on the dive site . I've seen quite a bit of life around the reef - different types of grouper, various reef fish, turtles - likely to see sharks at many of the dive sites.

The cruise terminal, I believe, is about 9-10 miles from closest dives ops (15-20 minute drive.) Grand Bahama Scuba and Sunn Odyssey are two of the closest. Having only been during Jan/Feb, the weather can be a factor as to whether either of these ops go out - not sure what weather conditions are during summer months; something you might check out. Not sure either of these ops offer pick up - they may arrange something but whoever (there aren't that many ops on the island) you might dive with, I would call to verify transportation several times before arriving.

 

[eja12a]

Diving in Bimini is more known for the sharks, which I very much enjoyed. The reef lacks color and tropical fish. 1st tank is the reef dive; 2nd dive is for the sharks. If it was a 2 tank reef dive, I would have been disappointed.

Was the shark dive a typical baited shark dive? What species did you end up seeing?

 

[eja12a]

Only have experience with Freeport. For a day of diving, you could get a wreck and a reef in - Duncan's Wreck or Sea Star, depending on what DM calls it, is a decent wreck with quite a bit of life around it, but as @living4experiences stated, the reefs may not be in fantastic condition, but there is still some color depending on the dive site . I've seen quite a bit of life around the reef - different types of grouper, various reef fish, turtles - likely to see sharks at many of the dive sites.

The cruise terminal, I believe, is about 9-10 miles from closest dives ops (15-20 minute drive.) Grand Bahama Scuba and Sunn Odyssey are two of the closest. Having only been during Jan/Feb, the weather can be a factor as to whether either of these ops go out - not sure what weather conditions are during summer months; something you might check out. Not sure either of these ops offer pick up - they may arrange something but whoever (there aren't that many ops on the island) you might dive with, I would call to verify transportation several times before arriving.

Thanks for the info, it looks like sun odyssey has transportation and caters to cruise passengers. That might be the way to go.

 

[ROUS]

I'm hoping to do some Key West cruise dives this winter. But, I've heard that KW is actively in the process of limiting ships in port and that diverted ships are heading toward the Bahamas. Please let us know where you go and how it went.