Mayor
Contributor
I'm interested on how your trip was since I'm going to Nassau next month.
Paradise Island
- Thread starter Dirty-Dog
- Start date
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OP
We had a great time.
We stayed at the Riu Palace on Paradise Island, which is a wonderful AI resort. There were a couple of fairly trivial issues. The phone in our room didn't work for 3 days, and one elevator was out for one day. The beach was excellent, and we had a stingray swim up to us while we were in the water. The pool is nice, and the food is excellent. Reservations are required for the specialty restaurants. For a one week stay, we were told we were allowed 4 reservations. But since we had two rooms, that wasn't really a restriction; we just made sure we didn't give them both room numbers when we made a reservation.
But diving...
In general:
The reefs are healthy, with lots of soft coral and sponges. This means lots of color and movement. Monochromatic hard coral reefs just look dead to me.
The sea life was plentiful and varied. Rays, turtles, eels... the usual suspects. A moderate amount of Lionfish, which I was told I could not shoot.
Reef sharks abound, as you would expect. We saw at least a couple sharks on ever dive. Being shark lovers, this was a big plus for us.
There are a lot of wrecks, and most trips included at least one. On at least some, the wreck is close enough to the reef that you can ignore it and dive the reef instead, if you're not into wrecks.
More specifically:
There are, to the best of my knowledge, two dive ops. That's it. The biggy is Stuart Cove, but from what I could tell they seem very similar. We dove with Stuart Cove.
The day starts with being picked up by the dive shop bus. You spend about an hour on the bus each direction. We were left off the list the first day, but a call to the shop got it fixed and we were picked up eventually. Not a big deal. Little mistakes like that will happen, and they did make it right.
The dive shop itself seemed to be reasonably well run, and the staff was friendly and helpful.
The boats are big, set up for 20-30 divers. The run out to the various sites is short. I don't think any were longer than 15 minutes or so. There is some effort made to put people of similar experience levels together. Our favorite boat was the Black Coral, a flat top boat. With no sides, entry is super easy. Sit in your spot, put on your gear, stand up, take one step to the edge and giant stride in.
The first dive of each day was guided and you were expected to stay with the group. We don't care for large groups, so the three of us would generally move away as far as we could while still being able to track the main group so as to return together.
The second dive was generally shallow and following the guide was optional. We elected not to.
The dives are timed, rather than NDL/gas limited. The longest time we were allowed was 50 minutes. This was a little disappointing. Kim doesn't breathe, really, and probably could have used the same tank for the entire week. Sue and I have average SAC rates, and we were still back on the boat with 1200-1500PSI. I understand this is because the boats need to be back on time to pick up the next group. This is one problem with a large op with little competition...
The two tank shark dive is fun. You start with "Runway Reef", which takes about 30 minutes. Back on the boat long enough to change tanks, and then you drop down into the Stadium for the shark feed. We had tons of reef sharks, a couple of nurse sharks, a couple grouper, and a leopard ray. I actually preferred the Runway, because I prefer the more natural behavior. And diving, as opposed to kneeling in the sand.
Why it doesn't beat Cozumel and Aldora Divers:
Long bus rides. Two hours on the bus every day, vs being picked up on the pier, steps from where we ate breakfast.
Big boats vs small. One of the things we like about diving is the solitude.
Short dives. After the long bus ride, we got less than 90 minutes of bottom time each day. Compared to 70-90 minutes per dive on Cozumel.
Pricey. $125 for two tanks vs $99. And for the lower price, you get valet service, bigger tanks, and NDL/gas limited dives.
While both places have lush, vibrant, healthyreefs, Cozumel - especially on the deeper dives - has a more complex and spectacular reef structure. Deeper reefs don't get chewed up by hurricanes, so you get more swimthroughs and such. The reefs off Nassau are more like those off Cancun, Bonaire, or Curacao.
We stayed at the Riu Palace on Paradise Island, which is a wonderful AI resort. There were a couple of fairly trivial issues. The phone in our room didn't work for 3 days, and one elevator was out for one day. The beach was excellent, and we had a stingray swim up to us while we were in the water. The pool is nice, and the food is excellent. Reservations are required for the specialty restaurants. For a one week stay, we were told we were allowed 4 reservations. But since we had two rooms, that wasn't really a restriction; we just made sure we didn't give them both room numbers when we made a reservation.
But diving...
In general:
The reefs are healthy, with lots of soft coral and sponges. This means lots of color and movement. Monochromatic hard coral reefs just look dead to me.
The sea life was plentiful and varied. Rays, turtles, eels... the usual suspects. A moderate amount of Lionfish, which I was told I could not shoot.
Reef sharks abound, as you would expect. We saw at least a couple sharks on ever dive. Being shark lovers, this was a big plus for us.
There are a lot of wrecks, and most trips included at least one. On at least some, the wreck is close enough to the reef that you can ignore it and dive the reef instead, if you're not into wrecks.
More specifically:
There are, to the best of my knowledge, two dive ops. That's it. The biggy is Stuart Cove, but from what I could tell they seem very similar. We dove with Stuart Cove.
The day starts with being picked up by the dive shop bus. You spend about an hour on the bus each direction. We were left off the list the first day, but a call to the shop got it fixed and we were picked up eventually. Not a big deal. Little mistakes like that will happen, and they did make it right.
The dive shop itself seemed to be reasonably well run, and the staff was friendly and helpful.
The boats are big, set up for 20-30 divers. The run out to the various sites is short. I don't think any were longer than 15 minutes or so. There is some effort made to put people of similar experience levels together. Our favorite boat was the Black Coral, a flat top boat. With no sides, entry is super easy. Sit in your spot, put on your gear, stand up, take one step to the edge and giant stride in.
The first dive of each day was guided and you were expected to stay with the group. We don't care for large groups, so the three of us would generally move away as far as we could while still being able to track the main group so as to return together.
The second dive was generally shallow and following the guide was optional. We elected not to.
The dives are timed, rather than NDL/gas limited. The longest time we were allowed was 50 minutes. This was a little disappointing. Kim doesn't breathe, really, and probably could have used the same tank for the entire week. Sue and I have average SAC rates, and we were still back on the boat with 1200-1500PSI. I understand this is because the boats need to be back on time to pick up the next group. This is one problem with a large op with little competition...
The two tank shark dive is fun. You start with "Runway Reef", which takes about 30 minutes. Back on the boat long enough to change tanks, and then you drop down into the Stadium for the shark feed. We had tons of reef sharks, a couple of nurse sharks, a couple grouper, and a leopard ray. I actually preferred the Runway, because I prefer the more natural behavior. And diving, as opposed to kneeling in the sand.
Why it doesn't beat Cozumel and Aldora Divers:
Long bus rides. Two hours on the bus every day, vs being picked up on the pier, steps from where we ate breakfast.
Big boats vs small. One of the things we like about diving is the solitude.
Short dives. After the long bus ride, we got less than 90 minutes of bottom time each day. Compared to 70-90 minutes per dive on Cozumel.
Pricey. $125 for two tanks vs $99. And for the lower price, you get valet service, bigger tanks, and NDL/gas limited dives.
While both places have lush, vibrant, healthyreefs, Cozumel - especially on the deeper dives - has a more complex and spectacular reef structure. Deeper reefs don't get chewed up by hurricanes, so you get more swimthroughs and such. The reefs off Nassau are more like those off Cancun, Bonaire, or Curacao.
Mayor
Contributor
Thanks for taking the time to update us with this useful information. My favorite op has always been Aldora. All others should be measured by the bar they set.
Bubbles below
Contributor
Thanks for the update Dirty-Dog! How many DM per group was there on your first dive? Did they allow you to descend down w your buddy or do you have to wait as a group? Did first one in and last one out work if there's divers down bottom? With 2 operator on the islands w mix reviews on both it's really hard to decide. Stuart Cove has better dive sites, pick you up, no snacks just water and also your time. Bahama Divers has medicore sites, pick you up, no snacks or water, and also limits your time. I wished both separate cruise ship divers so we get more bottom time.
My limited experience is cruise ships nearby = tightly limited dive times. Why it is nice, if possible, to get a dive op not near cruise ships, like east end of Grand Cayman.
Bubbles below
Contributor
Sorry, I have to add a negative comment for Bahamas Divers but other divers may benefit from my mistake! I sent an inquiry a week prior to my reservations for April 2016 and didn't get a response so I just went to the website and made my reservations and read that they provided transportation. After I received my confirmed reservations they told me they don't provide transportation from Nassau Harbour West Bay or to Coral Harbour Beach and Villa. When I cancel my reservations they charged me 8.5% . If I ever come back to Nassau after 2016 and staying at Paradise Islands I will never use Bahama Divers!
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