learning to dive in Grand Bahama-advice pls

Hi. I'm holidaying in Grand bahama in November and having enjoying snorkelling in Kauai last year would like to take a basic scuba course.
As I will only be on Grand Bahama for one week so I want to learn as much as I can as fast as I can (but as safely as I can too!) and wondered if anyone had any recommendations or tips for me generally, as well as regarding which co. and which course as there seem to be a few choices.
Any positive or negative experiences anyone has had there I'd be interested to hear about.
Also I am really into the idea of doing a shark dive and also a wreck dive but I guess with only a basic introduction to scuba course I probably would not be allowed to do these..?
Thanks for any advice anyone feels they can offer to a beginner!

Personal opinion - you can't learn to dive in a week. Take a resort course and if you like it take a full course at home.

My first dives were with Grand Bahama Scuba. I took the free pool class. Then I just had to go on the shallow reef dive (not free). Well once I had a look under the waves I was hooked. I spent the rest of the week doing my certification. That was just the beginning........

You really can't learn to dive in a week, but you can get certified. and an open water certification is like having a learners permit.

Here is a link to Grand Bahama Scuba They offer SDI/TDI certifications, and they have a perfect safety record (not all of the operators there can say that)

There are wrecks in depths that you can dive as an open water student !! also Shark Junction is in about 45' of water. They don't feed them but we still see lots of them. My avatar pic was taken there. If you check my website you'll find more shark pics taken at Shark Junction there.

Keep us posted

I'll be there sometime in late October or early November. I love it there at that time of the year.

Fred at GBS is good about answering questions via e-mail, or feel free to PM me

Where are you staying there??

TO conserve time and to get as good a course as you can, you may want to consider a "referal". You take the classroom and confined water(pool) part of the class at home with a nearby LDS (local dive shop) then take the open water dives at the vacation location, Grand Bahama in your case. Most all agencies can do this, I know for sure PADI,NAUI and SSI do. I would suggest however, that you contact a dive op on GBI to make sure they do referals and that you have all the correct paperwork. A couple of dive ops on GBI to check out are UNEXSO and Grand Bahama Scuba. http://www.grandbahamascuba.com/
http://www.caribbeanmag.com/cgi-bin/search/caribbean.cgi?frameset=1&action=Click&fid=933029999

Hi emilystrange,

I have been diving once a year for most of the last 9 years on Grand Bahama Island. I dive off of friends' boats, so I cannot comment on the operators there. We base our operations out of Port Lucaya, which is about 10 miles or so from Freeport. That is where UNEXSO is located (dive shop previously mentioned). There are incredible dive sites within a 5 to 15 minute boat ride from the marina. The aforementioned Shark Junction is literally just outside the marina.

I would recommend that you get certified locally wherever you live (if you can) before heading to GBI. If you do dive out of Port Lucaya, ask the dive shop to take you to the dive sites called Caves 1 and Caves 2. These are near Shark Junction so you usually see sharks on these dives. There is also a resident eagle ray which is worth the price of the whole trip if you see it.

Hope all goes well with your diving...

=-)