thatericguy
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First off thank you all who replied to the newb thread a few weeks ago. It was invaluable as a first timer.
Now that I've been there for a week I've got my own thoughts to add..
My buddy and I ended up renting a small villa across the street from Sand Dollar and it worked out great. Pros: Ended up cheaper, bigger/private rooms, private rinse tank and lockers Cons: less opps to meet fellow divers since most of our dives are shore.
Used Dive Friends as they were all around (10% discount voucher with villa) if we ever needed to swap tanks, I'm sure other shops are just as good as we didn't really leverage all the different shops except a couple times since everything is really so close.
Despite warnings about theft,etc. - we didn't experience any issue and even ended up bringing along a cooler filled with food/drinks/a couple dry tshirts. Made sure to not leave anything of value in the cab; everything was kept in the truck trailer bed.
Recommendations:
Do buy or borrow the $39 new spiral bound guide instead of the older BSDME. It's much more illustrative for newbs to the dive sites and with new dive sites on the north. Plus its got some interesting historical info about the sites.
On the days the ham sandwiches don't cut it, try these great places out:
Cactus Blue Food truck - Spicy Kite Burger, coming from TX I was skeptical, but it really is a good burger.
Between 2 buns - this sandwich/breakfast place is really good. It's probably the best restaurant we went to.
Bobbejeans - it's actually just ok if you are used to good BBQ ribs, but its decent and $3 cheaper if you get it to go.
Amir's mediterranean food truck - pretty decent gyro type sandwiches open on Fri-Sat nights only.
Make your own sandwiches to save money on food. Easily 2-3 dinners can equate to a boat dive trip. Use said money to book a trip to East Coast.
Book your East Coast trip early in your trip if everything is good. My dive buddy got a bad head cold later in the trip and we had to cancel. Will need to do that one on another trip
Pizza shop on main road with a stop light - get the lionfish pizza, its actually pretty decent.
Not recommended:
Ingridients restaurant and mixed drinks from main bar @ Buddy Dive - total waste of money IMO. Ingridients looks and priced higher end, but it's not at all. Main bar was supposed to be decent, but whoever was manning the bar was horrible at making the simplest cocktails.
Happy to answer any questions as its still fresh on mind...
Now that I've been there for a week I've got my own thoughts to add..
My buddy and I ended up renting a small villa across the street from Sand Dollar and it worked out great. Pros: Ended up cheaper, bigger/private rooms, private rinse tank and lockers Cons: less opps to meet fellow divers since most of our dives are shore.
Used Dive Friends as they were all around (10% discount voucher with villa) if we ever needed to swap tanks, I'm sure other shops are just as good as we didn't really leverage all the different shops except a couple times since everything is really so close.
Despite warnings about theft,etc. - we didn't experience any issue and even ended up bringing along a cooler filled with food/drinks/a couple dry tshirts. Made sure to not leave anything of value in the cab; everything was kept in the truck trailer bed.
Recommendations:
Do buy or borrow the $39 new spiral bound guide instead of the older BSDME. It's much more illustrative for newbs to the dive sites and with new dive sites on the north. Plus its got some interesting historical info about the sites.
On the days the ham sandwiches don't cut it, try these great places out:
Cactus Blue Food truck - Spicy Kite Burger, coming from TX I was skeptical, but it really is a good burger.
Between 2 buns - this sandwich/breakfast place is really good. It's probably the best restaurant we went to.
Bobbejeans - it's actually just ok if you are used to good BBQ ribs, but its decent and $3 cheaper if you get it to go.
Amir's mediterranean food truck - pretty decent gyro type sandwiches open on Fri-Sat nights only.
Make your own sandwiches to save money on food. Easily 2-3 dinners can equate to a boat dive trip. Use said money to book a trip to East Coast.
Book your East Coast trip early in your trip if everything is good. My dive buddy got a bad head cold later in the trip and we had to cancel. Will need to do that one on another trip
Pizza shop on main road with a stop light - get the lionfish pizza, its actually pretty decent.
Not recommended:
Ingridients restaurant and mixed drinks from main bar @ Buddy Dive - total waste of money IMO. Ingridients looks and priced higher end, but it's not at all. Main bar was supposed to be decent, but whoever was manning the bar was horrible at making the simplest cocktails.
Happy to answer any questions as its still fresh on mind...