Morning dive from Road Town Tortola

[jacket_fan]

We will be chartering a sailboat out of Road Town, Tortola in June. Before we get on the boat, we would like to take a morning dive, and then board the boat at noon.

Our charter is with the Moorings.

Is there a dive shop close by that we can book a dive and also to get some tanks for the boat during our charter?


Where would you recommend diving out of Road Town?

Thanks,

 

[Rhone Man]

You have two options from the Moorings - you can either take a taxi into town, and go with the outfit by Village Cay (whose name temporarily escapes me, but I'll edit my post when I remember), or you can take a taxi East and go with Sail Caribbean Divers.

I'd probably push towards SCD because (a) you avoid the rush hour (going the 'other' direction) and (b) they leave the dock earlier (8am). But you do want to check what time they expect to be back. If they are diving one of the more remote sites, you might not get back to base until 1.30 or so.

Feel free to PM me if you need any other help.


EDIT: The outfit in town is BVI Scuba Co. I jog by their shop every other morning, so you'd think I could remember the name... must be getting old.

 

[jacket_fan]

Thanks RM,

Looking forward to our trip to your part of the world.

Where would you recommend we dive off the boat during our trip? We go first to Anegada, will have a stop at the Baths, and then destinations TBD.

 

[diversteve]

As you're going up the channel to Anegada you'll pass between the "Dog" islands. Seal Dog Rock was a great pinnacle dive and there's others in that area as well. The Ledges off George Dog and Chimney off Great Dog were also good dives. I'd stop there before the Baths, otherwise you have to double back later.

The diving isn't much at the Baths, snorkeling is usually only done there. A good shallow site nearby is Aquarium Rocks.

Then head down along the islands, Ginger, Cooper, Salt, Norman, all have multiple good dive sites. The Rhone wreck is off Salt Island, that's the signature wreck in that area. "The Deep" was filmed there. Easy swimthrough in the front and the back has a lot of interesting stuff leading to a massive prop. Two separate dives, move to the other mooring between dives.

There used to be a great beach BBQ at Leverick Bay (North Sound, Virgin Gorda) on Friday night, it's a yacht harbor so easily accessed. :: Leverick Bay ::

And you've got to stop by the Willy T. off Norman Island. The Willy T - Norman Island, BVI

Both DiveBVI and at least one of the Tortola shops do Rendezvous diving. They'll meet you at a nearby mooring with
tanks, weights, DM etc. - you call them on the radio when you're enroute. http://www.divebvi.com/scuba-diving/rendezvous-diving/ If you do rent tanks, you can get fills at both their shops in the Yacht Harbor or Leverick Bay conveniently - fill stations are right on the dock. If you need something, they have a well-equipped store at the Yacht Harbor location. Just the best people also, [user]VGDiver[/user] (Jeff) here is their GM.

 

[Rhone Man]

I did a thread on BVI diving a while back, I'll see if I can dig it up.

The Dogs are loaded with good dive sites (everyone likes to do the Airplane Wreck, but personally I think it is pretty overrated relative to the other spots), but if you are going up to Anegada anyhow, you should try and stop by the Wreck the Chikuzen either on the way up or on the way back.

Not much diving around the Baths, although there are a couple of mediocre sites near there. Best diving (in my opinion) is around Ginger Island, Cooper Island and Norman Island. Most people anchor at Cooper and at Norman (in the Bight) which opens up a lot of good sites. Everyone dives the Wreck of the Rhone (off Salt Island) when they come to BVI, so you should probably get that one out of your system.

Rendezvous diving is a good way to go - most dive operators do rendezvous pickups.

Alternatively, if you want to rent gear and go to the spots yourself, I'd heartily recommend Jeff Williams recently published guide to BVI diving (including all GPS coordinates and underwater maps).

 

[jacket_fan]

Always helpful to get suggestions from someone that has "been there done that". I will print out this thread and take it with us.

We will probably only get a half dozen dives in. So want to make sure none are wasted.

Sounds like the Chikuzen is on the list. We will stop at Norman Island. Got to go back to Willie T's. Fond memories of that place from our last non-scuba trip to the BVIs.

Thanks again for your insite and help. Looking forward to coming to your "neighborhood".

 

[VGdiver]

If you'll have non-divers on the boat, I'd suggest hooking up for a rendezvous to do the Chikuzen. The weather in June usually allows for us to head out there weekly. As there is no mooring on the wreck, we have to anchor and this might be uncomfortable for anyone staying topside should there be a swell. (NOTE: I have done the anchor watch in Feb with North swells, NOT fun!). Leverick Bay is a good spot to leave your boat and non-diving crew for the morning to relax by the pool or spa while you go out and have a great time.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Jeff

 

[perry64]

I know this is late, but I've got to recommend Blue Water Divers (bluewaterdivers dot com - I'm too noobish to have links posted yet) in Tortola. We dove with them last summer (2009) and they were great. They seemed very safety conscious were really nice. We dove mainly with Spike and Gary and both my son and I really liked them. I know they also do rendezvous diving because we picked people up a couple of times.

I don't know if it's worth writing up a trip report a year later, but I might do it if I get time. If you have any questions, PM me and I'll tell you everything you want to know.

Perry

 

[jacket_fan]

To follow up...

We did not get our morning dive in. My dive buddy had already booked with a company called something like "We Be Divin". Well, let's just say what he thought they were going to do was not what they were willing to do that day.

None the less, I appreciate all of the input. We did get in 5 great dives. I will admit, the dive on the Rhone was memorable. We had chartered a catamaran, and did all of our dives off the back. We got to be the only ones diving at the time. Very nice.

Thanks again for all the input.