jonhall
Contributor
Not the likely place to go to dive, if you believe what you read, but when you can spend 2 weeks with good friends at a decent resort for $150, the diving turns out to be pretty good. Was there the last 2 weeks of January.
Let it be known that I communicated with Bryan Cunningham of DiveAntigua who's dive shop is on the south side of the island. He recommended a dive op, Indigo Divers, close to where I was staying, on the west side, as I was not renting a car and the taxi fare was very expensive, ~$40 one way.
Indigo Divers is run by a husband and wife. Only saw one other staff member the days I dove. All very nice and knowledgable of the dive sites. Convenient for me as I stayed about a 5 minute walk from their pickup on the boardwalk of Jolly Harbour. Their boat is well taken care of with a maximum of 8 divers plus 2 tank areas for dive masters. Payment was made each day, by credit card, on the boat before the dives. Multiple day discounts were given each day I dove. Water, juice, and cookies were provided during the surface interval. They kept my gear, rinsed it, and had it set up for the next day I dove. If you're diving one day only, there is no rinse area on the boardwalk. Also no separate fresh water rinse bucket on the boat for cameras, only salt water rinse for masks.
There is quite a bit of coral and sea life at the sites. Cades reef runs along the south/southwest side of the island. Some dives are outside the reef and some inside. Depths of the sites vary: deepest dive was 68 ft., most around 45-60 ft., with one site maxing out at 35 ft. Water temps are consistent at 81 degrees. Water is a little choppier on the outside of the reef as opposed to the inside. I know there are some deeper sites but we didn't hit those.
Sealife doesn't seem to be as shy as many other places I've been. Reef sharks and nurse sharks at most sites we dove. Pufferfish, trumpetfish, lobsters, eels, stingray, large angel fish, barracuda, lion fish, huge hawksbill turtle hiding under the reef, and flamingo tongue snails were some of the things seen as well as other fish.
Antigua may not be the place to go for diehard divers, but for a vacation diver with 2 cheap weeks, it was great!
Let it be known that I communicated with Bryan Cunningham of DiveAntigua who's dive shop is on the south side of the island. He recommended a dive op, Indigo Divers, close to where I was staying, on the west side, as I was not renting a car and the taxi fare was very expensive, ~$40 one way.
Indigo Divers is run by a husband and wife. Only saw one other staff member the days I dove. All very nice and knowledgable of the dive sites. Convenient for me as I stayed about a 5 minute walk from their pickup on the boardwalk of Jolly Harbour. Their boat is well taken care of with a maximum of 8 divers plus 2 tank areas for dive masters. Payment was made each day, by credit card, on the boat before the dives. Multiple day discounts were given each day I dove. Water, juice, and cookies were provided during the surface interval. They kept my gear, rinsed it, and had it set up for the next day I dove. If you're diving one day only, there is no rinse area on the boardwalk. Also no separate fresh water rinse bucket on the boat for cameras, only salt water rinse for masks.
There is quite a bit of coral and sea life at the sites. Cades reef runs along the south/southwest side of the island. Some dives are outside the reef and some inside. Depths of the sites vary: deepest dive was 68 ft., most around 45-60 ft., with one site maxing out at 35 ft. Water temps are consistent at 81 degrees. Water is a little choppier on the outside of the reef as opposed to the inside. I know there are some deeper sites but we didn't hit those.
Sealife doesn't seem to be as shy as many other places I've been. Reef sharks and nurse sharks at most sites we dove. Pufferfish, trumpetfish, lobsters, eels, stingray, large angel fish, barracuda, lion fish, huge hawksbill turtle hiding under the reef, and flamingo tongue snails were some of the things seen as well as other fish.
Antigua may not be the place to go for diehard divers, but for a vacation diver with 2 cheap weeks, it was great!
