No diving Dominica?

[Jaan]

Hey has anyone stayed at the Fort Young hotel on Dominica? It looks decent from what I see and has dive packages with dive shop on site. I realize some of the writers here we’re on cruises. We’re we’re thinking of. Dive and stay package for a week or so ..

 

[afdgf]

We stayed at Ft. Young in March 2022. Their boat had been destroyed in the hurricane so they paid for a taxi for us to go dive with Nature Island dive. Nature Island was very good. Ft. Young was very good as a hotel. The food was fine and there are places around it to walk to. We only went to the grocery store. We enjoyed the trip very much, but if we were to do it again, we would stay close to Nature Island dive and dive with them again.

 

[jeremyl]

I dove Dominica in late May 2022. I staying in an airbnb in Roseau and rented a car. We dove with Nature Island - which is pretty much the only operation and a very good one. Nice attentive and safe staff. They run a couple boats now depending on the group size - but as we were just 2ppl we were on a boat which had rotating divers so almost every day there were new divers so we didn't go anywhere "advanced". Most dives are within 5min of their shop - if Ft Y was operating their boat they would be diving the same sites as there is nothing but the house reef at FtY. I did pop in to FtY for a day or two to chill by their pool, which is very nice.

There is not much going on in Roseau town... a few restaurants (the french place is great) and bars... tho most of the island doesn't have much going on. With a car you can explore quite a bit - several hikes and such to do. It's a beautiful island and the locals are happy to be there and very friendly. Very slow-paced place.
A lot of divers stayed at Jungle Bay and really liked it - but it's isolated from a lot of the island sites - a lot of which are ~20min drive from Roseau. But you can arrange tours easily enough.

I had no issue renting a car and never felt unsafe, but my dive buddy said she would not have wanted to drive.

Overall I had a great trip, with 'typical Caribbean diving' and a few memorable occasions (Boiling Lake hike), but I'm not in any hurry to return and I wouldnt tell any friends "you must go there". It's more like "Yeah, its a great place and if you are looking for a less-tourist-travelled Carib island to check out and dive, go for it".

 

[buck3647]

No boat dives available so went to Champagne Lake there we discovered rental gear for $25 next time we know

 

[Jaan]

Seems there are few facilities operating with few boats and often not enough divers for boats unfortunately.

 

[drrich2]

There is not much going on in Roseau town... a few restaurants (the french place is great) and bars... tho most of the island doesn't have much going on. With a car you can explore quite a bit - several hikes and such to do. It's a beautiful island and the locals are happy to be there and very friendly. Very slow-paced place.

It's more like "Yeah, its a great place and if you are looking for a less-tourist-travelled Carib island to check out and dive, go for it".

Seems there are few facilities operating with few boats and often not enough divers for boats unfortunately.

IIRC, @agilis in the past pointed out Dominica is socioeconomically a poor island, though it lacks the evident squalor associated with Haiti. It also has a reputation for a very lush, tropical rain forested topside good for land tours, and it's much larger than Saba, so I've wondered why it's not a more mainstream destination. Perhaps there's some sort of 'critical mass' in terms of economic infrastructure that hasn't been hit yet. All-inclusive resorts, etc... It does show up on some cruise ship itineraries (Royal Caribbean has a page on it), so I imagine the excursions market may make it more appealing with time.

Back in 2013, @agilis pointed out a lack of sandy beaches. He also described it in some detail in 2016.

On ScubaBoard I've been watching Dominica threads over the years, wondering if it will 'take off' the way Curacao has. Some destinations do okay without a lot of topside diversions, such as CocoView Resort in Roatan (though they offer a range of options, it's possible to enjoy just staying and diving), Turneffe Island Resort out of Belize or Little Cayman Beach Resort, but if I understand correctly what these have in common is an A.I. type experience, where you can happily stay, eat and dive from one place for a week without needing to roam, and get in 3 or more dives/day. I think you can get there and back from the U.S. in a day.

There are also places where people often get out and roam around - driving around Bonaire, walking around San Miguel in Cozumel or Willemstad in Curacao, etc..., but that implies more shopping appeal and excursion infrastructure (e.g.: kite boarding or windsurfing in Bonaire).

The point I'm getting to will all this is, how does the current Dominican dive scene 'fit' in that context? Is there a good all-in-on A.I. resort (or one next to a nice assortment of walking or short driving-distance restaurants) with onsite or very close dive op., offering at least 3 dives/day?

Because if it's a quiet, slow, laidback place, and very poor by Caribbean standards, I doubt it's going to have the appeal of San Miguel or Willemstad.

In other words, what kind of traveling diver ought to put Dominica high on his priority list? What diver agenda is Dominica the answer to?

 

[agilis]

IIRC, @agilis in the past pointed out Dominica is socioeconomically a poor island, though it lacks the evident squalor associated with Haiti. It also has a reputation for a very lush, tropical rain forested topside good for land tours, and it's much larger than Saba, so I've wondered why it's not a more mainstream destination. Perhaps there's some sort of 'critical mass' in terms of economic infrastructure that hasn't been hit yet. All-inclusive resorts, etc... It does show up on some cruise ship itineraries (Royal Caribbean has a page on it), so I imagine the excursions market may make it more appealing with time.

Back in 2013, @agilis pointed out a lack of sandy beaches. He also described it in some detail in 2016.

On ScubaBoard I've been watching Dominica threads over the years, wondering if it will 'take off' the way Curacao has. Some destinations do okay without a lot of topside diversions, such as CocoView Resort in Roatan (though they offer a range of options, it's possible to enjoy just staying and diving), Turneffe Island Resort out of Belize or Little Cayman Beach Resort, but if I understand correctly what these have in common is an A.I. type experience, where you can happily stay, eat and dive from one place for a week without needing to roam, and get in 3 or more dives/day. I think you can get there and back from the U.S. in a day.

There are also places where people often get out and roam around - driving around Bonaire, walking around San Miguel in Cozumel or Willemstad in Curacao, etc..., but that implies more shopping appeal and excursion infrastructure (e.g.: kite boarding or windsurfing in Bonaire).

The point I'm getting to will all this is, how does the current Dominican dive scene 'fit' in that context? Is there a good all-in-on A.I. resort (or one next to a nice assortment of walking or short driving-distance restaurants) with onsite or very close dive op., offering at least 3 dives/day?

Because if it's a quiet, slow, laidback place, and very poor by Caribbean standards, I doubt it's going to have the appeal of San Miguel or Willemstad.

In other words, what kind of traveling diver ought to put Dominica high on his priority list? What diver agenda is Dominica the answer to?

Unspoiled wonderful diving, few tourists, no shopping centers, no one trying to sell you something, few packaged tourist activities, an accessible and magnificent rain forest, boa constrictors, lack of noise and loud music, no annoying intrusions, ability to plan your own activities with the sense of adventure and discovery that can evoke, and blessed solitude. In short, independent adult travel instead of infantile structured schemes. Travel and diving much like it used to be 50 years ago.

 

[drrich2]

Unspoiled wonderful diving, few tourists, no shopping centers, few packaged tourist activities, an accessible and magnificent rain forest, boa constrictors, lack of noise and loud music, no annoying intrusions, ability to plan your own activities with the sense of adventure that can evoke.

Thanks. If I remember correctly, you've done some hair-raising driving getting around in Dominica. Is it pretty to get around for the less adventurous driver?

Richard.

 

[Jaan]

It does have an allure to it, and we were and still are interested in the top side activities and the diving. Quiet and slow paces is what we like actually. Early nights looking at pictures and early mornings to go take more. What worries us more is the idea of showing up for diving as a couple and finding out the boat wont go out since there are not enough divers.

We also looked at the cruise ship schedule and it seems there are one or two ships in port 4-5 times a week. that could also seriously fill out the top side sites.

I think we're just undecided and will keep watching the thread and hearing what other people are experiencing for a bit. Maybe it is some critical mass thing. Maybe we just need 4 diver friends that want to travel with us Sorry, we can't pay volunteers though.

 

[k4kafka]

I’m on Dominica now,and will be posting a report shortly after I return to the US.