Trip to Bahamas

[frankb]

Hello All,

The family and I are heading down to the Atlantis in the Bahamas for a few days in March. Has only dealt with any local dive tours down there? Or has anyone stayed at the Atlantis and used them to book any dive outings.

Thanks.

 

[jeraldjcook]

Just dove with Stuart Cove a couple of weeks ago. You only have two outfits to choose from, Bahama Divers and Stuart Cove. Bahama Divers is a small operation with only 2 boat, SC has a 7 or 8 boats. If you do a search there is a lot of info. Enjoy your trip.

edit: I did not stay at Atlantis.

 

[ScubaNorth]

Hello All,

The family and I are heading down to the Atlantis in the Bahamas for a few days in March. Has only dealt with any local dive tours down there? Or has anyone stayed at the Atlantis and used them to book any dive outings.

Thanks.

Stuart Cove and the info on the web is endless. The Atlantis is awsome, I wish I was going this year but switched my timeshare (next to hotel same beach) to P-Town for the kids this year. Hope you have a great time this is almost a can't miss for great diving. You don't need the hotel to book for you keep any eye out for coupon deals etc if you want to save a few dollars. Are you bringing your own equipment? I have gone both ways and each has merit. I like my own reg and shorty but no issue renting everything else including a camera. Just remember hoses look like wires and scuba equipment will add scrutiny at checkin so be on time at the airport.

 

[frankb]

Thanks for the info ScubaNorth. Yes I am bringing my own equipment, luckily flying out of Providence so less of a hassle with check-in. I haven't traveled with scuba equipment before, are they ok with having dive knives in checked lugged and am I better off just taking my smaller dive knife? I have a bigger knife and I'm thinking it will check cause some unneeded hassle.

I don't have a shorty, will a 3 mill regular be too much?

 

[Vtdiver2]

Thanks for the info ScubaNorth. Yes I am bringing my own equipment, luckily flying out of Providence so less of a hassle with check-in. I haven't traveled with scuba equipment before, are they ok with having dive knives in checked lugged and am I better off just taking my smaller dive knife? I have a bigger knife and I'm thinking it will check cause some unneeded hassle.

I don't have a shorty, will a 3 mill regular be too much?

I always bring my equipment, and have an LL Bean backpack that it travels in. I throw a towel across the bottom, then my regulator goes in. My Force fins go bown the back wall, and I stuff a T-shirt and swim trunks in and around my mask and that goes in. Then my camera and dive computer. I carry this on the plane with me, all my other gear gets checked. They won't let you bring a dive knife of any size in your carry-on, so you might as well check it.
As for diving a 3mil full suit, that should be fine. When I dove the Exumas 2 years ago in Feb, I was doing 5 dives a day in an Xcel 3mm full suit and was fine. Worst part is putting on the wet wetsuit for the night dive when it has cooled off, but trust me, it's managable
Nassau and Atlantis is awesome, you're going to have a blast!
C-Dawg

 

[Dragon2115]

If you stay at Atlantis and dive with Stuart Cove you will have about a 45 minute bus ride back and forth. The busses aren't bad (full seating) but they can be crowded by the time they finish the last pick up with all the gear. It's not bad, just means you have less time at the breakfast buffet before you have to be out front.

Stuart Cove's is a well oiled machine. I don't mean this is a bad way but you will see that they have a system to process all the divers that go through their doors each day with the minimum amount of hassles. Will it be a cattle boat, at this time of year, probably. But they try to group the divers by skill level so everybody has a good time. If you're going to do only two dives per day then consider the afternoon dives. They tend to be less busy. Look into the shark dive. That was a blast.

Have fun.

 

[frankb]

Thanks for the info. I booked the shark dive and an AM dive. (Going to spend sometime with the family ) I'm loooking forward to it.

The sounded pretty organized when I called them to make the reservation yesterday. The guy said I would get my vouchers via email by Monday and sure enough they were in my inbox yesterday afternoon.

I can't WAIT to do the shark dive!

 

[Kunk35]

My wife and I just got back from Atlantis last night. What a fantastic trip.

Stuart Coves was great. I went on the 2 tank AM dive, then waited for my wife to take the resort dive class and meet me for a 2 tank afternoon dive. Chang was fantastic with my wife, as she was a bit panicky when she first got in the choppy water. They really catered to the people with very little experience, which made a great time for them.

I didn't feel like they were "cattleing" us through at all. I had read some posts before I went down about Tara and some of the others, and I'll have to say, the good things I read were right on. Tara is very nice, and a great diver. Chang was super with Rhonda and the other newbies, and the Captain on my first boat was really nice and patient. I think his name was Erwin or something like that.

The only downside was the long drive from Atlantis, but I think it was well worth it.

Atlantis is absolutely out of this world by the way.

 

[ScubaNorth]

frankb I have a shorty hanging in the closet if you are interested in borrowing for the trip. I bought it on ebay back 2 years ago and have never used it (bought used). I probably won't use it for at least two more years as sad as that thought is. Kids are wrong age for the Carib (yeah Disney again this year). If you are interested let me know. I think a full 3mm will be fine but a shorty may be more comfortable. I am 5'10" and 175 (OK fine 185) wait that sounds like a personal ad, not that there is anything wrong with that type of thing.

 

[Carribeandiver]

Thanks for the info ScubaNorth. Yes I am bringing my own equipment, luckily flying out of Providence so less of a hassle with check-in. I haven't traveled with scuba equipment before, are they ok with having dive knives in checked lugged and am I better off just taking my smaller dive knife? I have a bigger knife and I'm thinking it will check cause some unneeded hassle.

I don't have a shorty, will a 3 mill regular be too much?

I fly with my dive equipment including my dive knife rivoted on my BC and have never had a hassle. Carry ons are a different story, they will be inspected and any liquids will be seized. Dont know about Nassau but Freeport has at least 3 exit inspection tables and each had me open my carry on to be inspected.