Where to get certified in Nassau, Bahamas

[TheTommy]

My wife, myself and our 12 year old daughter have been contemplating getting SCUBA certified for some time now. We're quite active and have done white water rafting on the ottawa for 15 years regularly, rock climbing, canyoning and many other adventure sports - and we really want to get int scuba...Our interest in this activity is primarily for vacation/recreation and we have 2-3 opportunities per year where we could go diving. While we understand the risks, we are still super-paranoid about safety and will always error on the side of caution.........

With that in mind are there a lot of differences with the Scuba outfits and certifying outfits in Nassau? I've done my research and the Stuart's seems like a good choice but lookig at the forums there are reports of accidents, inattentive DM's, and a hit-and miss depending instructors on who you get. Is this a product of their size/age and do most reputable companies have this issue? Are there any good recommendations out there for other outfits for our situation?

Also - we've read a lot about this "Spare Air" product and are contemplating purchasing one for each of us before we go there? Will look totally paranoid showing up with this in hand for a first time course?? Will they even let us use it and does it even make sense to have this with us so early in the process?

Any advise is greatly appreciated - we're looking to book somethn in Nassau in the first 2 weeks in November.

 

[oly5050user]

I would say to get the academics and confined water work done at a facility near home.Then take a referral form to Nassau to complete the 4 open water training dives with an instructor.
As to "spare air", every one has an opinion, mine on it is its a novelty and really not necessary.Running out of air is not a surprise to the diver.Ignoring a regulator that is getting harder to breath,not looking at your gauges is just carelessness.

 

[diversteve]

For a new diver, a Spare Air is something that can be comforting assuming you have the presence of mind to deploy it when needed. Chances are you'll look to your buddy's octo first as that's how you'll be trained. Do a Search here for many threads/comments on the viability of a Spare Air.

Personally I've been diving over 30 years and have never gotten in a situation where I needed one. And I do upwards of 20-25 dives/trip. Also the volume of air contained in the standard Spare Air tends to indicate that it's more of a shallow water emergency bail-out device, from depth you'd likely use it up before surfacing.

Are you flying thru the U.S. Or does Canada have rules on flying with compressed air cylinders similar to the TSA here? If so, you'll need to remove the valve from each for inspection, then have each one checked and filled in Nassau. And every time you fly. IMO more trouble than it's worth.

I agree with the above poster, do the classwork/poolwork at home and do the referral dives at Cove's (or Bahama Divers) You'll enjoy your dives a lot more and Cove's will match you with other divers of your skill level, probably some vacation/cruise divers that they'll match you up with. Also your class size will likely be small so the instructor/DM can watch you closely - let's just say you likely won't be going on the Shark dive anytime soon. Also they have some good shallow water spots to do your skills nearby,

Plus you won't be stuck doing classwork in the Bahamas!!

 

[Tropicalwolf]

Agree with above advice. Highly recommend doing coursework near home . Not a big fan of "resort courses."

Never needed a Spare Air, and like the other poster said, from depth they are pretty much useless due to not having a high enough capacity.

 

[SoccerJeni]

I got my certification with Stuart's Cove. I really enjoyed the experience. My instructor was Mark, he was the camera guy in this video:



I really appreciated that it was just my friend and me with Mark in the class. I do not know if that is normal, but I prefer to have more 1 on 1 instruction. I recently have seen and been through some instruction where the ratio was more like 4 to 1, and I had more than 1 instructor in the class (a different instructor for the 5 required dives). I prefer the way it was with Stuart's Cove where I had the same instructor the whole time and there was only 2 of us with him.

 

[nelsonrl]

We did our AOW with Cove's. We had a great instructor from Spain - Ciro was his name. I still stay in touch with him through email. Feel like I made a friend for life.

Stuart Coves is close to the only player in town. What some people call inattentive, others consider letting a diver enjoy a dive at his own pace so you have to be careful with some of the reviews. That said, they do dive large boats with many divers so you will not get a lot of individual attention, which is fine for some, not so fine for others.

As a side note, what you might consider is do you want to be doing exercises on vacation vs enjoying the sights to see in the Bahamas? I used a local quarry for my dives on my open water cert - nothing really to see there anyway so did not feel like I missed anything - just a thought

 

[jnorris]

I highly recommend Custom Aquatics. We dove with them in August and could not have been more pleased. They have all the facilities to do the entire course, or you could do a referral as suggested above. Either way, I am sure you would not be disappointed. Fran and Monty are a class act and will take good care of you. See their website at Bahamas Diving - Custom Dive Charters in Exuma and Nassau Bahamas

 

[fncrow]

I was just in Nassau in August and dove 4 times a day for 2 days with Stuart Cove. They have nice boats and nice facilities but they are i believe 1 of only 2 dive ops on the Island and charge a bit more than anywhere else i've ever dived. A guy i ended up diving with had been there few days before me and had done OW and AOW with them and told me he paid around $800 which blew me away when he said that. Even if money is no object to you there is no reason to pay those kinds of prices if you dont need to and can do your course work at home before leaving.

Anyways, as i said they have nice boats and all the guides, instructors and staff where very friendly and always willing to lend a hand or answer questions. I also liked that they took votes on the boat as to where to dive. That way there was less chance of diving the same sites. HOWEVER, they are definitely a cattle boat operations. Especially if a cruise ship is in port. Every boat i was on was packed.

 

[motorref]

I'm with Joe in that I prefer smaller, family owned businesses for a more personal, hands-on approach; having said that opted to go to Freeport instead of Nassau to get certified.
I did my course work online and the dives were through Grand Bahama Scuba (Grand Bahamas Scuba - Meet Fred Riger) and I had a blast with Fred, Melinda and Dom. When my daughters wanted to get certified this summer, I took them to Melinda for their referral dives, and they (and my wife) could not have been happier.
So, Nassau is not your only option!
You can't beat personal referrals and experience with the dive operators to give you an idea of what to expect. And, most important to some, it was a lot more reasonable than the last poster - I think my bill for an OW referral for one, complete (online) course and dives for another daughter, and about 8 dives for me was around $1200.

Good luck!
KevinL

 

[Doc Harry]

I got certified in the Bahamas. It took an entire week because the resort was too busy catering to certified divers to divert a dive master to an OW class.

I strongly recommend getting your classwork and pool sessions done at home.

Your buddy is your "spare air" - you will learn all about that in class. Don't bother buying something like "spare air."