Santo - any diving options OTHER than the Coolidge?

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Heg

Contributor
Messages
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Location
Brisbane
# of dives
200 - 499
Hi
Fancy doing Santo this April but do not want to have to do every dive on the Coolidge. I hear Santo has some amazing reef dives and would prefer to dive them. Can anyone offer me andy advice?
Thanks
Jo

(I should point out that we have done 3 dive trips to Port Vla, which is why we are now looking at Santo)
 
Yes, there is also million dollar point. Also a few other wrecks as well as plenty of reef dives, although the wrecks are obviously the main attraction. I dove for 12 days with Aqua Marine and thought they were great. E-mail them ahead of time and let them know what you want to do and they can accommodate you.
 
Heg, sorry to hijack, but I'm going to PV soon for the first time! Any good advice you can give us? Which dive shop have you used previously? And do they go out to a good range of sites? Any I should "demand" to go to?
 
Don't underestimate how many dives you will want to do on the Coolidge, the thing is massive, you could easily do 7 days straight and not see it all. The dives are deep but short, so you won't be doing more than 2 dives a day.
I went with Aquamarine late last year, and lets just say that I rapidly bailedand went to Allan Power - as far as I know he only does the Coolidge these days, but it would be easy to ask. Be warned that Aquamarine may not have what they advertise on their website - when I was there they had lost all of their dive staff apart from the owner and the locals. All of their Tec and PADI qualification that they claim on their website simply didn't exist. I'm told their main instructor had left to set up his own shop, but I can't confirm that. What I do know is that they were extremely disorganised, overbooked, and had death-trap equipment for hire.

Million dollar point is nice, but i'd suggest doing it before the Coolidge, otherwise it might be a dissapointment. There's also some nice reef diving i'm told, I did one quick dive but that was it due to being out of time.

Where are you planning on staying? I cant rave enough about Deco Stop - cheap as, great hosts, beautifull, and some of the best food in Santo.
Bokissa Island is a 5-star alternative, although I got very bored with the same buffet food everyday. They also have their own dive shop, but I didn't end up diving with them. They seemed fairly organised though.
 
Don't underestimate how many dives you will want to do on the Coolidge, the thing is massive, you could easily do 7 days straight and not see it all. The dives are deep but short, so you won't be doing more than 2 dives a day.
I went with Aquamarine late last year, and lets just say that I rapidly bailedand went to Allan Power - as far as I know he only does the Coolidge these days, but it would be easy to ask. Be warned that Aquamarine may not have what they advertise on their website - when I was there they had lost all of their dive staff apart from the owner and the locals. All of their Tec and PADI qualification that they claim on their website simply didn't exist. I'm told their main instructor had left to set up his own shop, but I can't confirm that. What I do know is that they were extremely disorganised, overbooked, and had death-trap equipment for hire.

Million dollar point is nice, but i'd suggest doing it before the Coolidge, otherwise it might be a dissapointment. There's also some nice reef diving i'm told, I did one quick dive but that was it due to being out of time.

Where are you planning on staying? I cant rave enough about Deco Stop - cheap as, great hosts, beautifull, and some of the best food in Santo.
Bokissa Island is a 5-star alternative, although I got very bored with the same buffet food everyday. They also have their own dive shop, but I didn't end up diving with them. They seemed fairly organised though.

That's sad to hear Aquamarine has gone way down hill. When I went with them back in 2008 they were great. They had multiple very qualified and knowledgeable Tec instructors. They were a lot of fun to dive with and ran a great operation.

I also recommend the Deco Stop, great place to stay.
 
Heg, sorry to hijack, but I'm going to PV soon for the first time! Any good advice you can give us? Which dive shop have you used previously? And do they go out to a good range of sites? Any I should "demand" to go to?

Hi cam_snapper
We dive with Big Blue every time we go to PV. We have always had excellent service and have done a huge variety of sites. Mike and Maggie Crawford run the show. They have Ni Van DM's and Instructors who are extremely good and very knowledgeable about the local area.Their hire equipment is of an excellent standard should you need to hire gear. WE have dived with them on three occasions and have no complaints at all. All the dive sites are great. I don't remember a site that wasn't worth going back to.
Get in touch with Maggie and tell her Jo Birch sent you :-)
 
Don't underestimate how many dives you will want to do on the Coolidge, the thing is massive, you could easily do 7 days straight and not see it all. The dives are deep but short, so you won't be doing more than 2 dives a day.
.

It's not a case of underestimating -I'm just not a fan of wreck dives and had heard that there were some beautiful reefs in Santo that are totally ignored in favour of the Coolidge. I wanted to dive with an outfit that didn't focus all out on the wreck.
 

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