dk2943
Contributor
Just came back from a weekend cruise on the RCCL ship, Majesty of the Seas. The cruise line heavily promoted a single tank dive in Coco Cay, but they also offer a 2 tank dive in Nassau. I checked Scubaboard and booked the Nassau trip. Good thing, too, because we never got to Coco Cay due to weather.
I brought my own gear. Forgot that I had my dive knife on the BC, so it was confiscated until the cruise was over.
The trip is run by Stuarts Cove. They were ready to rent what ever equpment was needed. I brought everything except weights and tanks, so I was all set.
5 of us from the ship got picked up first thing in the am. Bus ride across the wealthy side (east) of the island. Fairly big operation with several boats, all reasonably new and well equipped. Our dive master was from Sweden. He explained that there were no instructors in the Bahamas, so they had to import DMs. We had a total of 8 divers, plus the dm on our boat. First dive was Runway Wall. No current. Great Vis. Water temp about 73. Multiple sharks as soon as we got into the water. They were not interested in the divers. The Wall is a steep drop off. My partner and I went down to 99 feet, but I felt like I could go down much more before I hit bottom. We came up to my first giant grouper. Very impressive! I felt almost like Jonah. Many other fish, including a rock fish.
Second dive was to a wreck, the Wil Laurie. More sharks. Lots of fish. Visibility down a bit. It has been there a while, so it has a lot of coral growing. The DM, who did not do the second dive due to a cold, told us that there was a second wreck just off the bow. We tried to find the second wreck. In so doing, we had to pass a huge coral formation that went on and on. We finally found an old wreck. I quickly realized it was a trimaran made from wood and fiberglass. The engine was there and the mast was in one piece off to the side. When it was time, we swam back across the coral to the dive boat. Once there, the dm told us that we had missed the second wreck and had found another one much further out.
All in all, it was a great dive trip. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
I brought my own gear. Forgot that I had my dive knife on the BC, so it was confiscated until the cruise was over.
The trip is run by Stuarts Cove. They were ready to rent what ever equpment was needed. I brought everything except weights and tanks, so I was all set.
5 of us from the ship got picked up first thing in the am. Bus ride across the wealthy side (east) of the island. Fairly big operation with several boats, all reasonably new and well equipped. Our dive master was from Sweden. He explained that there were no instructors in the Bahamas, so they had to import DMs. We had a total of 8 divers, plus the dm on our boat. First dive was Runway Wall. No current. Great Vis. Water temp about 73. Multiple sharks as soon as we got into the water. They were not interested in the divers. The Wall is a steep drop off. My partner and I went down to 99 feet, but I felt like I could go down much more before I hit bottom. We came up to my first giant grouper. Very impressive! I felt almost like Jonah. Many other fish, including a rock fish.
Second dive was to a wreck, the Wil Laurie. More sharks. Lots of fish. Visibility down a bit. It has been there a while, so it has a lot of coral growing. The DM, who did not do the second dive due to a cold, told us that there was a second wreck just off the bow. We tried to find the second wreck. In so doing, we had to pass a huge coral formation that went on and on. We finally found an old wreck. I quickly realized it was a trimaran made from wood and fiberglass. The engine was there and the mast was in one piece off to the side. When it was time, we swam back across the coral to the dive boat. Once there, the dm told us that we had missed the second wreck and had found another one much further out.
All in all, it was a great dive trip. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
