Nassau

[lobaugh]

We are planning a trip to Nassau for my brother-in-law's wedding. We are flying in a couple of days early and hope to get some diving in. Any suggestions for where to dive and with whom to dive? I have read a lot of the previous threads and just wanted to see if anyone has anything new to add. Reviews seem to be mostly mixed about diving there. My wife and I are relatively new divers and will probably be less picky than a lot of the more experienced divers here.

Also, most of our family is staying at the Radisson on Cable Beach. Any opinions on this site? Any other suggestions for places to stay?

Thanks for the help.

Ken

 

[miked]

Hi lobaugh,
I have been to New Providence-the island containing Nassau- 3 times, and on the last 2 trips we stayed at the Marriott (now the Westin(?), which was adjacent to the Radison, (there was a physical connection-of course passing through the casino )
Cable beach is a nice area, but I wouldn't wander too far,and not at all at night. "A dump, and dangerous, too after dark" is how some local residents we met classified the city of Nassau. I'd tend to follow their warnings.

Both hotels were nice, and when we return to N.P.,we plan to stay at one of those two hotels.

As far as diving goes, I'd suggest doing a search of the board for more info. I dove with "divedivedive", and enjoyed myself, but they have had mixed reviews on the board, particulary in the area of rental equipment (I brought my own).
Stuart Cove's operation has a good rep, but is also too "cattleboat-ish"for some friends of mine who used their services.
Both these operations are in the Coral Harbor(?) section of the island-a 20-30 min drive from the Cable Beach area-as, I believe, is another, the "Nassau Scuba Center(?)".
As far as I know, many (all??) of the dive shops will pick you up at your hotel,and return you at the end of the day.
Good luck with your choices,and enjoy your trip,
Mike

 

[blawler1]

Stuart Cove's is a busy operation, but the way to get on the least crowded boats and have the most fun is to do their specialty dives. These include the DPV wall flying and the shark feeding. Both of these are a blast and unique to New Providence.

The DPV dives take a maximum of six divers and includes sheer walls, sharks and hopefully, the wrecks from multiple James Bond movies (including the frame of the Vulcan bomber in Thunderball)

The shark feeding dives include a swim along with the sharks along a sheer wall and is followed by the feeding. These usually take about 12 or so divers and are a major adrenaline rush.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Don't miss the opportunity to buy the shark dive video. Its expensive ($60?) but it has gotten a lot of play at our house!

 

[busted]

I was in Nassau last June (2002). We stayed on Paradise Island. THe hotels are a little more expensive but it is much nicer and safer on Paradise Island. We dove with Stuart Coves for 5 day's and had a great time. I never felt that the dive boats were too crowded. The DM gave options of dive sites so we weren't going to the same site everyday. The only problems I noticed was that there were no restrooms on the boats and the drinking water containers seemed dirty. We did the shark dive and had a great time. Stuart Coves has a shuttle which picks you up at your hotel. It is a bit of a drive from Cable Beach, but it is well worth it because the diving seems much better on that side of the Island.