Thinking about Freeport Grand Bahamas

[pjdc1]

Hey,

A diving buddy of mine says that you havent dove till you've dove in warm water;
none of this cold murky chicago stuff.

OK, ... so i went looking;

Can you say WOW!!! Freeport Grand Bahamas.

now i was looking and found some combo deals( airfare and hotel)
I've heard that Xanadu is not receiving high marks so I wont go there.
I was impressed with Viva Whyndam Fortuna.

Anyone have any other suggestions or comments on the above.

BTW... this will be my first Scuba trip.

Thanks.

 

[Tavi]

I can't speak for the place, I haven't seen it.

I can recomend Grand Bahama Scuba . We dive with them whenever we are in Freeport. Nice Dive Op, Safe, Freindly, and Helpful!!

We stay at Ocean Reef Yacht Club and Resort . GBS is on site there. It's great to take a short walk from your room to the dive boat!!

If you do a search on Grand Bahama Scuba you will find some of my trip reports.

 

[Doc]

A diving buddy of mine says that you havent dove till you've dove in warm water; none of this cold murky chicago stuff.

Can you say WOW!!! Freeport Grand Bahamas.

BTW... this will be my first Scuba trip.

I too am from Chicago. My first warm water recreational trip was through Berry SCUBA and they sent us off on their big group trip (as a party of 2) to Freeport Grand Bahama, Lucaya to UNEXSO. Similar to anything you might find on Nassau.

It was a great, inexpensive place for us to "get our feet wet".

Haven't been back. This isn't saying it was bad. If it's cheap and do-able, by all means, go for it. For the first 34 and 1/2 dives you will be concentrating on diving, buoyancy and wouldn't notice a yellow school bus if it was parked at 26 feet with the flashers on.

As for sheer experience, you could also do well in Ft. Lauderdale or the Keys and maybe (or not) save some money. Bahamas has some great deals!

Once you have gained experience, check out the Bahamian "Out Islands" which have many wonders to behold. I kinda like the people there a lot better, as well. It is more expensive to schlepp out there, too. Liveaboards are the best.

For now, the Bahamas deals you have found will be just the ticket!

 

[bikefox]

You will really enjoy diving Grand Bahama. I found the diving very diverse with wrecks, good coral and we even did some caverns. We stayed at the Xanadu and thought it was okay. The dive operation was excellent, but the hotel is isolated. Its not bad for diving and it has a beautiful beach. I have never stayed or dived with anyone else so I can't help you with that. Enjoy!!

 

[renpirate]

I just arrived in Freeport today and will begin diving tomorrow. I will post a full report when I get back in a week. If you have a particular question post it here and I will check it out.

 

[del_mo]

My wife and I are leaving for Viva Wyndam in a week. I've been in contact with the dive shop on the property telling them where and what I want to dive and they told me if they don't have a boat that suits, they'll fix us up with someone else.

I'll let you know in two weeks what I thought of Wyndam.

 

[dcrmd]

I have been diving in Freeport for years and I love it. I would highly recommend Grand Bahama Scuba. Fred and Melinda are the best and you can't beat their service. There are many good dive sights, both wrecks and reefs. So try a couple of each and then name your pleasure. If conditions permit, Fred will work to get you to the sites you like most.

Post a report when you get back and let us know how you liked everything.

 

[sharky60]

We went to GB last year and had a great time, would love to go back. we stayed at the Crown Plaza Resort, it actually used to be 2 hotels, it has a high rise area and a low rise area they call the country club side, that's where we stayed. it used to be a Holiday Inn property, nothing fancy, but the room was more than adiquate, king bed, regular sized bath, safe in room. they have 3 pool areas, one is actually a sand beach pool, casino & several restaruants. It is located next to the International Bazzar, a shopping a food center designed by a hollywood set designer, there are several good restaruants in that area. We got a special promotion through www.travelzoo.com and got the room for $62.50 a night, great deal, so I don't know what there regular prices are.

one note, food is VERY expensive there, so be prepared for that, you can find more reasonably priced places to eat at the International Bazzar than at the resort.

We dove with Sunn Odyssey Divers, www.sunnodysseydivers.com, Karen and Nick Rolle are the owner/operators and they are wonderful people and run a great operation. They will pick you up at the hotel and return you after diving. My wife and I had the boat all to ourselves for the entire week we were there, but if she is busy, they keep the boats down to 6-8 people at the most. They are very safety minded, with a perfect safety record in 20 years of business. I would highly recommend them to anyone and can't wait to go back a dive with them again.

check my photo gallery I have some pics of the Rolle's & crew and of the resort.
http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=1110

Have a great trip and have some conch fritters for me!!!!

 

[Doc]

My wife and I are leaving for Viva Wyndam in a week.
I'll let you know in two weeks what I thought of Wyndam.

It was just announced today by their corporate offices that they are selling all of their properties.

Let us know what's happening.

 

[del_mo]

Just got back from Viva Wyndham, now Viva Fortuna. I full report can be found on http://www.tripadvisor.com/ in a couple of days...their policy.

Their dive operation consists of an oversized lifeboat....no shade, no stability, no reason to dive with them. We ended up with Xanadu and couldn't have been happier. Comfy boat (not up to USCG stds) and GREAT DM's (Ben, Maurice and especially Ray). Happy, helpful, funny, and we would go back to Grand Bahama just to dive with them.

There was no talk about the property being sold recently (but we didn't ask that specific question), other than they are a time-share operation now that still has hotel space. I would not return unless I got a deal of the century. Location was too remote and some of the imported help left us cold.