lmorin
Contributor
General trip assessment: My expectations were not particularly high for the accommodations or food, but were reasonably high for the diving. Expectations were pretty closely met.
Our trip package included transfer from Melville Hall Airport, daily breakfast, 5 days/2 tank boat dives, unlimited shore diving and a night dive.
Castle Comfort: The "resort" consists of two closely adjacent buildings, housing a total of 14 rooms. One building includes the first floor dive operation and reception. The other includes a second floor balcony dining facility. There is an outdoor bar with tables for lounging or dining. Our room (#15; yes, higher than the total # rooms) was one of two close to and facing the ocean. The room was plain and had a king bed with a small table on one side and a chair on the other. Electrical outlets provided 240 volts to British plugs and 110 volt to US plugs. The ample closet had a small keyed safe with suitcase storage above the closet. The bathroom was adequate. The shower hot water was miniscule at times. Our room had a fairly spacious, west-facing, shaded balcony above the dive op and we conversed with the DMs as various trips were being assembled.
Breakfast was available each day at 7:30 AM with reasonable variety. Eggs, bacon, sausage, omelettes, French toast, pancakes, fruit and a couple of smoked fish items, plus coffee, juice and toast. No real complaints about the breakfast as the food was consistently average.
We were picked up at Melville Hall Airport by a small van and then experienced the harrowing trip to Castle Comfort over very narrow, very, very sinuous roads. Took a bit of getting used to, especially when two vehicles going in opposite directions wanted to cross the same bridge or go around the same corner at the same time. As the crow flies, it is about 30 mi from the airport to Roseau from the airport. However, as far as I know, there are no crows in Dominica, at least none that have made the trip from the airport to Roseau. It takes about an hour and a half, or more.
Castle Comfort is located about a half to 3/4 mi to the south of Fort Young Hotel which is at the center of Roseau, Dominica. In theory, this is an easy, flat walk. In fact, the walk can be perilous because the road is narrow, there is only intermittent "off road" walking space, there are numerous obstacles to walking on the shoulder of the road and the cars, driving on the left side of the road in this British-influenced country, are sometimes driven way, way too fast. (A woman with whom we dove was walking away from town at night; took one step off the road to avoid a car and, there being no shoulder, fell into a small ravine; she got all bloody and bruised, requiring 4 stitches in her scalp). As a result of our initial walk into town, we decided not to repeat it and took taxis or buses. The taxis are small vans with license plates beginning "HA" and the buses are identical with plates beginning "HB". Cost was US$1 pp for the bus. We stopped a taxi and asked if that was also the price for the taxi and were told it was (we'd been told the taxis cost more).
Castle Comfort is the middle of 3 small resorts. To the south is Evergreen and to the north is Anchorage.
Dining: We dined at Castle Comfort the evening of our arrival. There was little choice because time was getting late and we did not know the practicalities of getting around. The dinner fare at Castle Comfort was mediocre, at best. This opinion was shared by other guests and we ate there only one other time. On Fridays, there is a barbecue with beef ribs, chicken legs, sauteed fish, potato salad, pasta salad. It was OK, just. We dined 3 times at Evergreen where the meals there were very good. One dinner was at the Fort Young Hotel, where everything was more expensive, but we had excellent vegetarian pasta meals at decent prices. About 7-10 min walk to the south is a very good French restaurant called the "Sea Lounge." Pricier than the Evergreen, but good and abundant food. Take a flashlight if you will be walking during the dark. In general, food expenses were on the high side, regardless of the dining facility.
Most of our lunches were at Castle Comfort, largely because of convenience. Lunch orders were given at breakfast, so the food was available quickly upon return from diving. Again, the food was mediocre, except for the soups. The breakfasts and dinners provided were plentiful, so I had a bowl of soup, some bread and a 250 ml Kubuli (the local brew, which was good) each day. There were about 5 soups on the menu and all were really quite good.
The Diving: The dive operation includes two rooms with large doorways. One room holds filled tanks, personal gear and wetsuits. The single rinse basin is a few feet outside the doors. About 20 ft further is a metal railing that runs along the edge of the walkway/gear prep area. It serves as a short term drip/drying rack, particularly for wetsuits to be used multiple times per day.
Each diver keeps track of his own wetsuit and does all the suit rinsing/drying. The rest of the gear is managed by the DMs. After each day's diving, each bag of gear, minus removable weight pouches or belts, is carted to the rinse tank and rinsed while in the gear bag, then stored on an indoor rack. Weights are kept in their pouches or on the belts and are all lumped together. So, if you have pouches/belts that may be similar to those of other divers, you may want to put an ID mark on them.
The Dive Op serves not only divers at Castle Comfort, but anyone who has signed up for a trip. This includes people from Cruise ships who may be divers or snorkelers. However, the Dive Op seems to be extremely efficient and conscientious. Dive Dominica has at least 4 boats available for diving, snorkeling or sight seeing (e.g., whale watching). The cruise ship excursions seem to depart in the PM, whereas the typical dive package includes 2 AM boat dives. So, when we went out, there were usually 8-10 divers on a boat that could hold about 24. Most of the dives had a DM leading and a second following. All divers on our boat(s) were quite experienced (hundreds to 1000's of dives). The Dive Op probably is making most of its money off the cruise ship passengers, in one way or another, and seemed extremely efficient with respect to how the staff handled boats and divers/swimmers for those trips.
The first dive was typically 60-80 ft, finishing at about 20 ft. As a result, only two dives required safety stops. The second dive was usually to a max of about 50 ft. Regardless, if you wished to go deeper, nobody would try to stop you. The surface interval was always an hour. Time to the furthest dive point was about 25 min. Briefings were very thorough.
Most of the boat dives were wall dives, often starting out on a wall that disappeared in the depths, then turning back over the top of the reef to finish. A couple were done as one-way dives, with the boat dropping us off at one location and picking us up at a mooring. There was little or no current.
The diving was enjoyable and easy. It was all done on the leeward side of the island. Although there was substantial wind on a couple of days, sea in the area of the dives remained flat and seasick meds were unnecessary. Visibility was great, easily 75-100 feet. The chief predator species seemed to be coneys. They were abundant. No groupers at all. Few parrotfish. Green, spotted and goldentail morays. Gigantic Caribbean lobster (20-30 lb range); several red banded lobster; squid. Many, many sea urchins of several species. Averaged about 1 frogfish per dive, which was really fun! Black, orange and yellow varieties. One big yellow frogfish actually turned out to be two yellow frogfish, stacked, discovered only when I examined my photos closely. No lionfish. Yet.
The Castle Comfort shore dive was really rather good and provided a bunch of new species for us. Entry is via giant stride off the dock. Return is via a somewhat difficult staircase at the shoreline. There is a fair amount of silt on all objects at this site. Nevertheless, there is a lot to see. Huge, huge arrow crabs, flocks of Pedersen's shrimp, clown wrasse, glassy sweepers, spotted morays, sharptail eels in and around large barrel sponges; lobster under the dock. We also found a pipefish (unidentified species), a blackspotted snake eel, two shortnose batfish (the ugliest fish in the sea), four flying gurnards and a goldspotted eel. We did not do this site as a night dive, which I regret. I think it would be great!
Other: The island itself is very interesting, as it is volcanic. Hot springs, boiling lakes, warm streams abound. It is worth doing an excursion or two to see some of these sights. Dominica is heavily wooded and is a jungle. Roads tend to be very narrow and windy. There is a theft problem, but it is unclear how serious it is. The residents are known to get very upset with people who commit thievery. The biggest downside for us was the need to dine away from the hotel each evening because it was a hassle. We concluded that our trip was a good, all around adventure and we were glad we went. However, we are unlikely to go back in the near future.
Our trip package included transfer from Melville Hall Airport, daily breakfast, 5 days/2 tank boat dives, unlimited shore diving and a night dive.
Castle Comfort: The "resort" consists of two closely adjacent buildings, housing a total of 14 rooms. One building includes the first floor dive operation and reception. The other includes a second floor balcony dining facility. There is an outdoor bar with tables for lounging or dining. Our room (#15; yes, higher than the total # rooms) was one of two close to and facing the ocean. The room was plain and had a king bed with a small table on one side and a chair on the other. Electrical outlets provided 240 volts to British plugs and 110 volt to US plugs. The ample closet had a small keyed safe with suitcase storage above the closet. The bathroom was adequate. The shower hot water was miniscule at times. Our room had a fairly spacious, west-facing, shaded balcony above the dive op and we conversed with the DMs as various trips were being assembled.
Breakfast was available each day at 7:30 AM with reasonable variety. Eggs, bacon, sausage, omelettes, French toast, pancakes, fruit and a couple of smoked fish items, plus coffee, juice and toast. No real complaints about the breakfast as the food was consistently average.
We were picked up at Melville Hall Airport by a small van and then experienced the harrowing trip to Castle Comfort over very narrow, very, very sinuous roads. Took a bit of getting used to, especially when two vehicles going in opposite directions wanted to cross the same bridge or go around the same corner at the same time. As the crow flies, it is about 30 mi from the airport to Roseau from the airport. However, as far as I know, there are no crows in Dominica, at least none that have made the trip from the airport to Roseau. It takes about an hour and a half, or more.
Castle Comfort is located about a half to 3/4 mi to the south of Fort Young Hotel which is at the center of Roseau, Dominica. In theory, this is an easy, flat walk. In fact, the walk can be perilous because the road is narrow, there is only intermittent "off road" walking space, there are numerous obstacles to walking on the shoulder of the road and the cars, driving on the left side of the road in this British-influenced country, are sometimes driven way, way too fast. (A woman with whom we dove was walking away from town at night; took one step off the road to avoid a car and, there being no shoulder, fell into a small ravine; she got all bloody and bruised, requiring 4 stitches in her scalp). As a result of our initial walk into town, we decided not to repeat it and took taxis or buses. The taxis are small vans with license plates beginning "HA" and the buses are identical with plates beginning "HB". Cost was US$1 pp for the bus. We stopped a taxi and asked if that was also the price for the taxi and were told it was (we'd been told the taxis cost more).
Castle Comfort is the middle of 3 small resorts. To the south is Evergreen and to the north is Anchorage.
Dining: We dined at Castle Comfort the evening of our arrival. There was little choice because time was getting late and we did not know the practicalities of getting around. The dinner fare at Castle Comfort was mediocre, at best. This opinion was shared by other guests and we ate there only one other time. On Fridays, there is a barbecue with beef ribs, chicken legs, sauteed fish, potato salad, pasta salad. It was OK, just. We dined 3 times at Evergreen where the meals there were very good. One dinner was at the Fort Young Hotel, where everything was more expensive, but we had excellent vegetarian pasta meals at decent prices. About 7-10 min walk to the south is a very good French restaurant called the "Sea Lounge." Pricier than the Evergreen, but good and abundant food. Take a flashlight if you will be walking during the dark. In general, food expenses were on the high side, regardless of the dining facility.
Most of our lunches were at Castle Comfort, largely because of convenience. Lunch orders were given at breakfast, so the food was available quickly upon return from diving. Again, the food was mediocre, except for the soups. The breakfasts and dinners provided were plentiful, so I had a bowl of soup, some bread and a 250 ml Kubuli (the local brew, which was good) each day. There were about 5 soups on the menu and all were really quite good.
The Diving: The dive operation includes two rooms with large doorways. One room holds filled tanks, personal gear and wetsuits. The single rinse basin is a few feet outside the doors. About 20 ft further is a metal railing that runs along the edge of the walkway/gear prep area. It serves as a short term drip/drying rack, particularly for wetsuits to be used multiple times per day.
Each diver keeps track of his own wetsuit and does all the suit rinsing/drying. The rest of the gear is managed by the DMs. After each day's diving, each bag of gear, minus removable weight pouches or belts, is carted to the rinse tank and rinsed while in the gear bag, then stored on an indoor rack. Weights are kept in their pouches or on the belts and are all lumped together. So, if you have pouches/belts that may be similar to those of other divers, you may want to put an ID mark on them.
The Dive Op serves not only divers at Castle Comfort, but anyone who has signed up for a trip. This includes people from Cruise ships who may be divers or snorkelers. However, the Dive Op seems to be extremely efficient and conscientious. Dive Dominica has at least 4 boats available for diving, snorkeling or sight seeing (e.g., whale watching). The cruise ship excursions seem to depart in the PM, whereas the typical dive package includes 2 AM boat dives. So, when we went out, there were usually 8-10 divers on a boat that could hold about 24. Most of the dives had a DM leading and a second following. All divers on our boat(s) were quite experienced (hundreds to 1000's of dives). The Dive Op probably is making most of its money off the cruise ship passengers, in one way or another, and seemed extremely efficient with respect to how the staff handled boats and divers/swimmers for those trips.
The first dive was typically 60-80 ft, finishing at about 20 ft. As a result, only two dives required safety stops. The second dive was usually to a max of about 50 ft. Regardless, if you wished to go deeper, nobody would try to stop you. The surface interval was always an hour. Time to the furthest dive point was about 25 min. Briefings were very thorough.
Most of the boat dives were wall dives, often starting out on a wall that disappeared in the depths, then turning back over the top of the reef to finish. A couple were done as one-way dives, with the boat dropping us off at one location and picking us up at a mooring. There was little or no current.
The diving was enjoyable and easy. It was all done on the leeward side of the island. Although there was substantial wind on a couple of days, sea in the area of the dives remained flat and seasick meds were unnecessary. Visibility was great, easily 75-100 feet. The chief predator species seemed to be coneys. They were abundant. No groupers at all. Few parrotfish. Green, spotted and goldentail morays. Gigantic Caribbean lobster (20-30 lb range); several red banded lobster; squid. Many, many sea urchins of several species. Averaged about 1 frogfish per dive, which was really fun! Black, orange and yellow varieties. One big yellow frogfish actually turned out to be two yellow frogfish, stacked, discovered only when I examined my photos closely. No lionfish. Yet.
The Castle Comfort shore dive was really rather good and provided a bunch of new species for us. Entry is via giant stride off the dock. Return is via a somewhat difficult staircase at the shoreline. There is a fair amount of silt on all objects at this site. Nevertheless, there is a lot to see. Huge, huge arrow crabs, flocks of Pedersen's shrimp, clown wrasse, glassy sweepers, spotted morays, sharptail eels in and around large barrel sponges; lobster under the dock. We also found a pipefish (unidentified species), a blackspotted snake eel, two shortnose batfish (the ugliest fish in the sea), four flying gurnards and a goldspotted eel. We did not do this site as a night dive, which I regret. I think it would be great!
Other: The island itself is very interesting, as it is volcanic. Hot springs, boiling lakes, warm streams abound. It is worth doing an excursion or two to see some of these sights. Dominica is heavily wooded and is a jungle. Roads tend to be very narrow and windy. There is a theft problem, but it is unclear how serious it is. The residents are known to get very upset with people who commit thievery. The biggest downside for us was the need to dine away from the hotel each evening because it was a hassle. We concluded that our trip was a good, all around adventure and we were glad we went. However, we are unlikely to go back in the near future.
