Thanks so much again to everyone who posted their recs on this thread. I just got back from Dominica and had a wonderful time diving! Because of scheduling issues, I ended up diving one day with Nature Island Dive and one day with Anchorage. So, I can give you my thoughts on both!
Nature Island Dive
PROS:
--I can totally see why people rave about this dive shop the small dive boat situation is hard to beat! On the day I dove with them, there was only one other diver and a dive master.
--dive master was great at pointing out small creatures like a seahorse and small arrow crabs.
--we dove to the maximum of our air capacity I am a bit of a newer diver (I logged dive #35 on this trip), so I'm not as great when it comes to air consumption. When I was at 500psi, the dive master pointed out the mooring line & signaled for me to go up. He and the other diver stayed down for about 10 more minutes.
CONS:
--their rental wet suits were falling apart (in their defense, they said they have ordered new ones & are waiting for them to arrive).
--if you are staying in Roseau, you have to take a ~30 min bus ride to NID in Soufriere (or $10 for the dive shop to come and pick you up), whereas Anchorage & Dive Dominica are within walking distance. The dive shop owner did give me a ride back (for free!) though, which was really nice. NID rents out a nearby cottage for people doing dive vacations, so if you go that route, it's not a big deal.
--we took a really long surface interval on land (~2 hours) water was provided, but no snacks or anything else. There was a snack shop next door where you could buy food if you were hungry. If you're a fan of the long surface interval on the beach, then it's fine, but my personal preference is to do the surface interval on the boat and get back in after ~45 min.
Overall, I think the way to do it if you're doing a dive vacation is to stay in the NID cottage and dive with them. Soufriere is a nice little town, not as congested as Roseau (though both a quite tiny & provincial compared to anywhere in the US).
Anchorage
PROS:
--rental wet suits were in good shape, so I wasn't shivering through the second half of each dive!
--surface interval was on the boat (yay!) and they provided us fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice, which was perfect. I realize that it's not a big deal to just bring your own drinks/snacks, but I guess I have been spoiled by the dive shops in other places that provided SI snacks for us!
--the dive masters were very friendly and helpful. One of them (not even the one I was assigned to) noticed when I dropped my camera underwater and picked it up for me (rookie mistake!). He totally saved me a lot of heartache just by being attentive and looking out for all the divers!
CONS:
--The dives feel relatively crowded (especially after diving with NID): there were 8 divers & 2 dive masters on this boat (see my gallery picture, "diver traffic jam" of like 6 people all trying to get a glimpse of this one stonefish).
--We weren't able to get max bottom time. On the second dive (this really cool place called "Champagne Beach") we surfaced with half a tank of air, and I wasn't really sure why. I, the newbie, had 1300psi left, and my buddies had 1500 and 1800psi. So, that was disappointing, because there was still plenty to see in that dive site.
By the way, the Anchorage hotel seems like a nice place to stay. Very quaint, with a nice bar/restaurant that is open air and right on the water. My aunt, uncle and I went there just for drinks one night and to watch the sunset.
The diving in Dominica was amazingly beautiful and I feel very fortunate to have gone there. I've dived in Hawaii (Oahu & Big Island), Cozumel, Bermuda, and Costa Maya, and this ranks near the top. If you're interested in seeing my photos, you can check out my flickr site -
Flickr: katylinskey's Photostream
Click on the Dominica set in the right hand column. The underwater pics are in among all the other hiking pics and such. This is actually the first time I've taken underwater photos, so they will be far from professional quality, but should give you an idea of what you might see if you dive in Dominica!!
Hope this is helpful to those of you who are planning a trip there!
