I just came back from the Bahamas - and this is my first trip-report, I hope it can give some information to the reader (please be patient with my english).
I am traveling and diving with my husband, he is 62, I am 55. We have been diving for over 25 years and are just holiday divers. It was our 4th trip to the Bahamas. In recent years, we have been in Bimini to see the Hammers, in San Salvador (Club Med) and spent a week in the Exumas with Aquacat.
We started 6. April, flying from Vienna to Toronto, staying overnight in the Airport Sheraton. Next morning, flying to Nassau (all with Air Canada), in the afternoon with Western Air to Freeport in Grand Bahama. At the airport, a driver met us to bring us to "Old Bay Resort" at West End. Driving about 45 Min. We stayed 5 nights at this resort, very beautiful surroundings, a nice pool, big beach, beach bar. We had breakfast / dinner always at the onsite restaurant, good food etc.
The reason to come here where the Tigersharks are at Tiger Beach. Because I preferred the flexibility from day tours over a LOB, we decided to go with Neal Watson, with whom we had already good experience with the Hammerheads at Bimini. We booked three days (9.10.11. April), because of the risk to lose days to the weather.
Gigi from Neal Watson started communicating with us via WhatsApp. April. At 7. April she informed us, that probably only the first day will be good enough to go out, and the following days the wind will probably be too strong.
9. April at 8:30 we met in front of the restaurant from "Old Bay Resort" where the boat was anchored. We had 5 other divers with us. The diving was operated by three guys feeding respectively giving backup and one captain. As far as I noticed, everybody from the guest brought their own gear. They had water on board. The boat was spacious with comfortable in room and toilet. We set everything up and started the ride out. It was a little bumpy and quite far, took us almost 2 hours.
When we arrived, there was just another boat at the site, probably the dolphin dream. It was like 150 m away.
Before we went down, we got a detailed briefing about the dive. They gave us a PVC pole ca. 1, 30 m long, and when the shark came directly to us, we should point the stick towards it to redirect it. No touching the sharks, never. I always watch the sharks. At the end, go up to the boat one by one on the mooring line, no surface activity.
Heavily overweight, we jumped in, lemon and Bahamian reef sharks already waiting. Very good visibility, water temp. 26 Celsius. Going down by the line. In about 10m depths, one of the guys showed us our place to kneel down. We stood in a semicircle in front of the feeder. On each side of the semicircle, one of the assistance divers took place. The feeding started, and the tigers came in. They were big and went direct to the bait box, frequently biting in the box, so you could hear the sound of their teeth. Usually, they left the box, swam over us and took a wider circle to return to the box. Sometimes, after the box, they started right towards us, and the pole functioned well to redirect them to swim over us. Sometimes, the circle was narrower, and they swam directly behind us. The feeding went in a smoothe way, the feeders did not overact with the sharks, or putting any show off. We always had 4-5 Tigersharks, at the end they were ten. Quite a lot. I was trying to be alert all the times, did not seem advisable to relax. Off course, you cannot really fight off a tigershark with a PVC Pole, but it seemed much safer to keep track of them. The dive took 80 Minutes. The surfacing went as suggested. The other divers changed tank and went down again for shorter time. My HB and I did not go a second time; I was cold and also losing concentration a bit.
After the dive, we all stayed inside the boat. They offered Lunch, and they provided drinking water for the whole trip.
The 2 following days were cancelled for weather, and we got to choose 90% refund or 100% lifetime credit with Neal Watson. A fair deal for us, we took the refund, and the money was on our account after 1 day.
Overall, this was really an unforgettable experience, and I still think about it frequently. The sharks are beautiful and impressive. When I was safe on the boat again, I was glad all went out OK. But it is a controversial thing to do, and I understand people saying it’s too dangerous.
The following days we did some snorkeling at West End. It’s a nice beach there, and you can see turtles (not us) and rays.
We then changed places and went to Freeport, where we stayed for 3 Nights at the Flamingo Bay Hotel. It’s motel style and simple, but you have access to the spectacular pool- and beach from the adjacent timeshare property.
The following day, we had planned 2 cenote dives with Shamie Rolle. The communication with Jamie was perfect, and he arrived super punctual at 9:00 AM. We went first to “Owls Hole,”, a sinkhole in the middle of the Lucayan National Park. It's quite a drive, so you see a lot of the landscape. Jamie is very educated and knows a lot about nature and the Bahamas. We had to climb down a steep 10m ladder to get to the water surface in the hole. The dive was into 3 different caves which go away from the central hole. We went to the cavern diver stop sign every time and back in the “middle”.
The second dive was “Bens Cave”, a big cenote with easy steps to go in. We circled in till we were in darkness and back. Classical cenote with clear water and blue light. Very beautiful. In the end of the dive I found some fishlife also.
Both had a 26-degree water temp and a mix of salt and sweet water, and multiple haloclines.
We finished at our hotel at 17:30. Shamie was a great guide, helpful, highly professional, everything at low pace and just a very nice guy.
Next day we flew back to Nassau. We stayed 5 nights at Orange Hill Resort. Quite affordable with great views and pool.
We had 3 days of diving with Steward Cove. 2 Days shark feed, one just reef dives. The shark feeding starts with a normal dive, the Caribbean reef sharks already waiting around. The second is a feeding dive. The feeder gives a portion of fish stuck to a big fork to the shark. The hole thing is quite controlled, the sharks come very near, can even slap you with a fin. They are not very interested in the divers, more in the fish. Also there: a very cute small nurse shark and huge groupers.
The rest of the dives were in the same region as the shark dives, we did a wreck dive “Twin Sisters Wrecks”, and a wall “ Heineken Wall”. I like the surroundings in the Bahamas a lot, the clear water, the bright sand, the omnipresent sharks, just great.
The dives are rather short and shallow, around 40 -50 min, the feeding around 12m, the other dives max 20m. Very good organization, very friendly, big boats. Maybe not for a whole week, but 3 days with the feedings very OK.
Our last station was Staniel Cay, no diving anymore, so we let the equipment at Orange Hill. We flew with Flamingo Air, quite an experience. We stayed 2 Nights at Embrace Resort, the only affordable resort with a pool. Quite and pretty, warm pool, had all practically to ourselves. We then did the usual private tour with the swimming pigs, feeding nurse sharks, the sunken plane and the thunder ball grotto. The sunken plane is a wreck from Escobar, I didn’t know while snorcheling it, so maybe I would have appreciated it more. Thunder ball grotto is tiny, we started the tour very early, so had it to ourselves.
Next day we flew back to Nassau and last night in Orange Hill. Back again over Toronto.
Conclusion: It was a wonderful trip! First 2 weeks sunny and breezy, not to hot. Last days starting to heat up. We had 9 dives in 18 days, not diving as much as possible but making choices for special things to see. To change islands and hotels was also important, the islands were different in everything. The traveling around was rather easy, the hole trip quite relaxed. It is easy to find beauty in the Bahamas, the water, the colors, the white lonely beaches everywhere.
I am traveling and diving with my husband, he is 62, I am 55. We have been diving for over 25 years and are just holiday divers. It was our 4th trip to the Bahamas. In recent years, we have been in Bimini to see the Hammers, in San Salvador (Club Med) and spent a week in the Exumas with Aquacat.
We started 6. April, flying from Vienna to Toronto, staying overnight in the Airport Sheraton. Next morning, flying to Nassau (all with Air Canada), in the afternoon with Western Air to Freeport in Grand Bahama. At the airport, a driver met us to bring us to "Old Bay Resort" at West End. Driving about 45 Min. We stayed 5 nights at this resort, very beautiful surroundings, a nice pool, big beach, beach bar. We had breakfast / dinner always at the onsite restaurant, good food etc.
The reason to come here where the Tigersharks are at Tiger Beach. Because I preferred the flexibility from day tours over a LOB, we decided to go with Neal Watson, with whom we had already good experience with the Hammerheads at Bimini. We booked three days (9.10.11. April), because of the risk to lose days to the weather.
Gigi from Neal Watson started communicating with us via WhatsApp. April. At 7. April she informed us, that probably only the first day will be good enough to go out, and the following days the wind will probably be too strong.
9. April at 8:30 we met in front of the restaurant from "Old Bay Resort" where the boat was anchored. We had 5 other divers with us. The diving was operated by three guys feeding respectively giving backup and one captain. As far as I noticed, everybody from the guest brought their own gear. They had water on board. The boat was spacious with comfortable in room and toilet. We set everything up and started the ride out. It was a little bumpy and quite far, took us almost 2 hours.
When we arrived, there was just another boat at the site, probably the dolphin dream. It was like 150 m away.
Before we went down, we got a detailed briefing about the dive. They gave us a PVC pole ca. 1, 30 m long, and when the shark came directly to us, we should point the stick towards it to redirect it. No touching the sharks, never. I always watch the sharks. At the end, go up to the boat one by one on the mooring line, no surface activity.
Heavily overweight, we jumped in, lemon and Bahamian reef sharks already waiting. Very good visibility, water temp. 26 Celsius. Going down by the line. In about 10m depths, one of the guys showed us our place to kneel down. We stood in a semicircle in front of the feeder. On each side of the semicircle, one of the assistance divers took place. The feeding started, and the tigers came in. They were big and went direct to the bait box, frequently biting in the box, so you could hear the sound of their teeth. Usually, they left the box, swam over us and took a wider circle to return to the box. Sometimes, after the box, they started right towards us, and the pole functioned well to redirect them to swim over us. Sometimes, the circle was narrower, and they swam directly behind us. The feeding went in a smoothe way, the feeders did not overact with the sharks, or putting any show off. We always had 4-5 Tigersharks, at the end they were ten. Quite a lot. I was trying to be alert all the times, did not seem advisable to relax. Off course, you cannot really fight off a tigershark with a PVC Pole, but it seemed much safer to keep track of them. The dive took 80 Minutes. The surfacing went as suggested. The other divers changed tank and went down again for shorter time. My HB and I did not go a second time; I was cold and also losing concentration a bit.
After the dive, we all stayed inside the boat. They offered Lunch, and they provided drinking water for the whole trip.
The 2 following days were cancelled for weather, and we got to choose 90% refund or 100% lifetime credit with Neal Watson. A fair deal for us, we took the refund, and the money was on our account after 1 day.
Overall, this was really an unforgettable experience, and I still think about it frequently. The sharks are beautiful and impressive. When I was safe on the boat again, I was glad all went out OK. But it is a controversial thing to do, and I understand people saying it’s too dangerous.
The following days we did some snorkeling at West End. It’s a nice beach there, and you can see turtles (not us) and rays.
We then changed places and went to Freeport, where we stayed for 3 Nights at the Flamingo Bay Hotel. It’s motel style and simple, but you have access to the spectacular pool- and beach from the adjacent timeshare property.
The following day, we had planned 2 cenote dives with Shamie Rolle. The communication with Jamie was perfect, and he arrived super punctual at 9:00 AM. We went first to “Owls Hole,”, a sinkhole in the middle of the Lucayan National Park. It's quite a drive, so you see a lot of the landscape. Jamie is very educated and knows a lot about nature and the Bahamas. We had to climb down a steep 10m ladder to get to the water surface in the hole. The dive was into 3 different caves which go away from the central hole. We went to the cavern diver stop sign every time and back in the “middle”.
The second dive was “Bens Cave”, a big cenote with easy steps to go in. We circled in till we were in darkness and back. Classical cenote with clear water and blue light. Very beautiful. In the end of the dive I found some fishlife also.
Both had a 26-degree water temp and a mix of salt and sweet water, and multiple haloclines.
We finished at our hotel at 17:30. Shamie was a great guide, helpful, highly professional, everything at low pace and just a very nice guy.
Next day we flew back to Nassau. We stayed 5 nights at Orange Hill Resort. Quite affordable with great views and pool.
We had 3 days of diving with Steward Cove. 2 Days shark feed, one just reef dives. The shark feeding starts with a normal dive, the Caribbean reef sharks already waiting around. The second is a feeding dive. The feeder gives a portion of fish stuck to a big fork to the shark. The hole thing is quite controlled, the sharks come very near, can even slap you with a fin. They are not very interested in the divers, more in the fish. Also there: a very cute small nurse shark and huge groupers.
The rest of the dives were in the same region as the shark dives, we did a wreck dive “Twin Sisters Wrecks”, and a wall “ Heineken Wall”. I like the surroundings in the Bahamas a lot, the clear water, the bright sand, the omnipresent sharks, just great.
The dives are rather short and shallow, around 40 -50 min, the feeding around 12m, the other dives max 20m. Very good organization, very friendly, big boats. Maybe not for a whole week, but 3 days with the feedings very OK.
Our last station was Staniel Cay, no diving anymore, so we let the equipment at Orange Hill. We flew with Flamingo Air, quite an experience. We stayed 2 Nights at Embrace Resort, the only affordable resort with a pool. Quite and pretty, warm pool, had all practically to ourselves. We then did the usual private tour with the swimming pigs, feeding nurse sharks, the sunken plane and the thunder ball grotto. The sunken plane is a wreck from Escobar, I didn’t know while snorcheling it, so maybe I would have appreciated it more. Thunder ball grotto is tiny, we started the tour very early, so had it to ourselves.
Next day we flew back to Nassau and last night in Orange Hill. Back again over Toronto.
Conclusion: It was a wonderful trip! First 2 weeks sunny and breezy, not to hot. Last days starting to heat up. We had 9 dives in 18 days, not diving as much as possible but making choices for special things to see. To change islands and hotels was also important, the islands were different in everything. The traveling around was rather easy, the hole trip quite relaxed. It is easy to find beauty in the Bahamas, the water, the colors, the white lonely beaches everywhere.
