What dates where you there? Did you see many hammerheads. If so, how often? How close?
How was the food at Club Med? Are there any good restaurants or bars off property?
I would be going with my wife and had a couple of concerns about the "scene" at CM. Some of the reviews on TripAdvisor hinted at a big singles crowd and the staff making advances to the ladies there with their companions. Others made to mention of it. I'm not looking for some swingers club. That's not my scene. Otherwise the property looks nice and gets good reviews.
Any other info on CM's dive operation would be great. Dive profiles, boat info, distance to reef, shore dives, nitrox? Can you dive your own plan or do you follow a DM?
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PH
As a whole, I give the entire experience an 8.5/10
I am a 40 year-old but look and act like a 25 year old, and am single and a photographer for a living... So a hip, young swinging scene is more my cup of tea, then let's say, a married couple in their fifties from Wisconsin.
To answer your questions;
1. Sept. 13th through the 20th. Right after the hurricanes.
2. No hammerheads, they said the water was a little warm for them still, but they'll be there Nov-April
3. The food was amazing, I was very impressed, and I'm picky. After 7 days, you start to see the same stuff, but they do a GREAT job with quality, quantity and variety.
No, there's very little off site, almost zilch. You are pretty isolated and more or less have to remain at the site. That's Columbus Isle. Turks & Caicos has much more going on near the T&C CM there.
4. The scene seemed pretty subdue, but fun and lots of partying. Kind of like a cruise ship but much more refined and sophisticated, no kids or teens.
Can't imagine the staff hitting on someone's wife or gf, but I CAN imagine a single guy from the States or Europe hitting on other pretty girls, single or not. But I didn't get a sense of anyone hitting on ANY wives or girlfriends.
This place was a FAR FAR cry from Hedonism (heard stories, never been) Its not that kinda place.
5. Diving: I took my AOW so I was with an instructor for most of my dives, I dove solo a couple times, but pretty much stuck with a buddy and a DM as I usually do.
They seemed pretty laid back there, and I'm sure you can do anything you want, as long as you follow the basic rules, and come up with 500, etc.
We did some turnaround dives and some drift dives. Drift dives went well and we were picked up fairly quickly.
Profiles normal, no up and down stuff. I don't think they have Nitrox there, which was a slight disappointment, I inquired about it, and they said they didn't have any. One reason could be is that they always refill the tanks right on the boat.
Boats were huge and accompanied a buttload of divers, I'll bet 50. However when I went out, the groups were small, always under 10 divers and out of 10, 3-4 were divemasters.
Boats had heads, camera dunk tank, 2 showers, 2 entry/exit ladders, safet stop ladders at 15 feet with emergency regulators dangling at safety stop bars.
Boats serve rolls and cold cuts during surface interval to make sandwiches.
Expect a LOT of French to be spoken, but entire staff speaks English, however many guests do not, so expect lots of conversations going on in French, Spanish and Italian, on both shore and the boat.
I also believe that the entire dive staff are all instructors, not just dive masters.
There were over 50 dive sites, lots of great dives, amazing walls, kille swim-throughs, not for the claustrophobic!!
Boat rides to sites vary 20 minutes to 45 minutes.
Dock was nice, and nice locker room and dunk tanks to wash and store gear. I kept my suit and bc there, and they kept it locked most of the day, one day I had to have someone unlock the locker room for me so I could grab a mask to go snorkling, so its very safe. Although it was VERY humid there so my gear got stinky.
I inquired about shore diving and they didn't seem to be all into it there. I guess mainly because there aren't reefs near shore (like Turks & Caicos has). Lots of great snorkling though.
Also, note diving was not included in cost, but didn't seem too expensive.
But I will say, if all you're going to do is dive, I wouldn't go to a Club Med, because even at rock bottom prices, it would cost more than a specific all-inclusive dive resort.
I loved it because I water ski, play tennis, and lots of other stuff as well, plus its all you can eat and drink.
I would go again in a heartbeat, but preferably at the great rate we paid, I believe they had like a $999 per person per week cost. That was including airfare from Fort Lauderdale. The extra cost was the flight from NY to Ft. Lauderdale, and all the diving.
