Shark and Dolphin diving / Bahamas

[ironmule]

I would love to dive with sharks and dolphins in Bahamas.
I realize these kind of dives may look like a Disneyworld ride.
Do you have any advise for places & dive centers where such an experience may be as authentic as possible?

The best I could find for dolphin dive seems to be the Open Ocean Dolphin Experience with unexso; or shark feeding with xanadudive.

I would appreciate to get your comments and advises.

Thanks.
Olivier

 

[Jupiter31]

Let me tell you what I know -

Underwater Explorers (UNESCO) is located in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island - they offer shark feed dives, as do others on the Island, like Xanadu.

Its expensive, and IMO there are other OP's I would recommend over UNESCO, but if you have never been to a shark feeding, its worth going.

Don't know that it warrrants the pre shark dive class, and the other nonsense UNESCO requires, but I suppose it allow them to justify the cost of the trip to the customers.

A better OP is Grand Bahama Scuba, located at the Ocean Reef Club, however while they frequently dive the shark feed site, they don't feed them (does not matter; last July I counted 17 reef sharks there).

There is a "Dolphin Encounter" - they take you by boat to a location where you can swim with dolphins; the enclosure is large, but they are not in the open ocean. Located off one of the canals east of Lucaya, UNESCO's location in Freeport. I'm under the impression its owned by UNESCO, but I could be wrong. Its a little on the Disney side of things, and while it looks big, they are still captive and made to do stupid tricks for paying humans.

(Sorry, I hate Sea World, Miami Seaquarium, Dolphin/whale shows et al - no matter how well the animals are cared for, no matter how large the enclosures, its not the open ocean).

If there is an open ocean dolphin encounter, I'm not familiar so I can't help you there. This info is current as of last July, so things could have changed in the last 7 months.

 

[diverdwn71]

Two years ago we did the shark feed dive with Stuart Coves. I would highly recommend this dive. We had a blast and would do it again in heartbeat, if I wasn't stuck in Kansas.

 

[robint]

If you want to dive with sharks and dolphins in the Bahamas, your best bet for good dives are from a liveaboard. Nekton, Aquacat, Explorer, Blackbeards all have dives where you will most like see sharks and may get to snorkel with wild dolphins.

www.nektoncruises.com (leaves from Ft. Lauderdale)
Scuba Diving Bahamas Liveaboard Aqua Cat Cruises (leaves from Nassau)
Bahamas scuba diving liveaboard Blackbeard's Cruises (leaves from Freeport)
Explorer Ventures: Adventures in Live-Aboard Diving (leaves from Georgetown)

I also have videos from our Nekton trip in Bahamas last year where we had sharks every day, including lots of babies!
There are lots of videos on YouTube for the various liveaboards I mentioned. Just do a search.

robin

 

[bluebubble1995]

I heard there is a shark feeding at Pier 1 restaurant.

 

[Tavi]

Grand Bahama Scuba does a shark dive. Sometimes they feed, sometimes they don't. You see just as many sharks eother way.

Great diving, awesome crew, nice boat!!

 

[danvolker]

In my opinion, UNEXSO is among the WORST form of "cattle boat operations". They cater to "the masses", they cater to poorly skilled divers with little experience, and they are soul-less sellouts to diving....
DanV

 

[la_diver]

Stayed at Wyndahn in Freeport Grand Bahmas. Dove with sharks on just a regular dive ,no extra charge. Diving was good ,no current good visibility . The dive with dolphins was available through unexso for $200. I passed because of the price, But a diver in our group did and really enjoyed it. Sharks are common in the Bahamas and on any dive you may encounter sharks. The shark in mypicture was taken in the Bahsmas. Good luck and good diving.

 

[la_diver]

Shark week on Discovery Channel shot footage in Freeport Bahamas. I think that they used Stuart Cove .

 

[osprey]

You can do shark diving at a number of spots.

Stuart Coves - Nassau
Unexso - Freeport
Stella Maris - Long Island
Small Hope Bay - Andros

Liveaboards
Blackbeard's Cruises - Freeport & Nassau
Aqua Cat Cruises - Nassau

The only place I know of where you can dive with dolphins is with Unexso at Freeport but you can snorkel with dolphins at Bimini Underseas.