Staying at the Atlantis next week any suggestions on dive locations...

[Byte Me]

Will love to hear follow up reports - my wife and I are thinking of doing a long weekend either in Nassau or Negril, Jamaica. If we choose Nassau I'd sure love to do the shark dives w/ Stuart Cove's but gotta believe that Bahama Divers would have something similar no?

We'll be staying at Riu right next to Atlantis so Bahama divers would be closer for me too. Less time away from the girl = happier girl!!

 

[stimpy4242]

Bahama divers does not do a shark dive. Meaning a dive where you all sit around in a circle and watch the experts from stuarts cove feed sharks. They are the only ones to go the the blue hole though since it would be a heck of a boat ride from the other side of the island. In my opinion I think it was really cool to be swimming just inside the blue hole and watch a school of about 150-200 sharks swim up out of the depths of the blue hole! That was amazing...what was more amazing was the thought oh what down deep in the blue hole scared out 200 sharks..ooohh...haha

 

[divewithjay]

We went out with Bahamas Divers over Thanksgiving week. The Blue Hole dive was pretty cool. The shallow reef dive was ok, I was trying to creep up on some nurse sharks to get a picture but the kid taking video came flying up on our left and scared them off. Kinda pissed me off. They were better this time, the previous year one of the divemasters did a back flip off the back of the boat showing off and missed my head with his tank by a few inches. IMHO even though a bit more commercial, Stuarts Cove goes to better spots and is a bit more professional. If you want to see some pics of the blue hole Photo Gallery

The Atlantis just made a huge addition to the water park which was pretty cool. If you want to eat where the locals go, ask a taxi driver to take you to the Fish Fry over in Nassau. If you like rum you can take a tour of the Bacardi factory, buy some rum real cheap and drink all you want at their outdoor bar The Atlas Bar & Grill in the casino makes some pretty good burger/wrap type of food thats not too expensive. There are also a bunch of places to eat in the Marina village, some are pricey some aren't so bad. You can always head over to Nassau for cheaper stuff. Also, if you don't mind spening a couple hours I think you can still get a $100 voucher for listening to the Harborside timeshare pitch. It's pretty low pressure and the Villas are great, we've been owners for several years now. You should have plenty to do there, the place is huge.

 

[runway1]

Given the sights on the west side, do you think the blue hole is a must dive in comparison? I'll be there last week of May. Thanks!

 

[lilo]

two excellent restaurants to eat at are: Anthony's at Paradise Island - close by Atlantis and Compass Point Resort located futher down from Cable Beach. Food is great and pricey but worth it!

Place not go: FISH FRY CLOSE BY CABLE BEACH!! TERRIBLE SERVICE

 

[ski-diveSteve]

Given the sights on the west side, do you think the blue hole is a must dive in comparison? Thanks!

Why not do both? That's what I did when I was there a couple years ago. I think the diving is better on the SW side with Stuart Cove, but the Lost Blue Hole was pretty neat. Find out what day they plan to go there. Of course, they'll tell you there is no guarantee they'll get there. They pulled the bait and switch on me one day. The next day I told them I would only dive with them if they went to the Blue Hole. Reluctantly the captain made the trip. It's a long run to the Blue Hole, costs them more gas and time so the crew didn't seem thrilled about going.

 

[stimpy4242]

Again I will have to stress that I think Bahama Divers is a decent dive shop. They are much less commercialized than stuarts cove. SC is all about volume and drops the ball when it comes to customer service. BD does much better from that aspect. I picture SC as being a company that would leave people behind because of how much volume they are doing. I have dove with both. If you want to do a shark dive, SC will do it. The blue hole is cool, but just like anything you could dive it and there will be no sharks nothing that day. That is probably less of a chance though. It does suck having to make the long journey from Paradise Island to SC. So if you are staying on PI then bahama divers is great. In my mind all the diving is the same except, one goes to blue hole one does a shark dive.

I take great exception to the comment about the Fish Fry. Definitely go to the Fish Fry! Yeah the service may suck, but who cares. Its where locals go and its fun! Stop at one place for drinks and conch fritters (way better than any on the island) and then move one for dinner. It looks bad down there and if you go out back you can probably see rats in the trash cans and 1000s of broken conch shells, but do it because that is part of the experience. Of course if you are staying in the Royal Towers of Paradise Island than you probably are too snobby to get dirty anyway...haha...hopefully not!

 

[divewithjay]

I also meant to say in my other post, If you are at the Atlantis side it's just a few minutes to Bahamas Divers. If you go to Stuarts Cove from the Atlantis it's usually about an hour drive on the shuttle each way, not that it's not worth the ride. They pick you up and drop you off for free though which is nice.

 

[Joe from MN]

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It looks bad down there and if you go out back you can probably see rats in the trash cans and 1000s of broken conch shells, but do it because that is part of the experience. Of course if you are staying in the Royal Towers of Paradise Island than you probably are too snobby to get dirty anyway...haha...hopefully not!

Or if you are concerned about getting the runs on the last day of vacation maybe avoid it like the plague. Been there, done that!:no