Riding Rock-San Salvador Trip Report 2/4/12 to 2/11/12

[peeweediver]

I don't read much on this site about San Sal, so I thought I'd chime in.
Our group of 16 just returned from a week at Riding Rock Resort. Overall, a fantastic week and everyone would love to go back soon if work, vacation time, and money doesn't get in our way. Here are the highlights:
Flew on Spirit Airlines from Chicago to Ft. Lauderdale and then on Spirit (really a Club Med charter) to San Sal. Low cost airline, with major bag fees, not much else to say except I'm glad I'm under 6 feet tall. No leg room. Will choose differently next time.
Met at the airport by the Riding Rock staff and taken the entire 500-1000 yards from airport to Resort by bus...Club Med is even closer to the airport, but few landings and take-offs so no issue.
Wonderfully friendly staff checked us in, provided lunch (arrived about 2 pm), and provided a very nice dinner and briefing on the week to come. Food overall was better than we expected and they tried hard for the vegetarians. They serve you on your diving schedule, no worries about ever missing a meal. Home made desserts are a treat.
Rooms were clean and useful It's an older place and rooms are 60s style hotel rooms with nice balconeys...nothing fancy, nothing bad.
Bar is fun and a nice place to hang out.
Nothing else to do but dive, relax and take an Island tour that lasts about 3 hours. Small island, not much to see. No restaurants in town...town is not really a town, just a store and some government buildings. More like a Kansas grain silo stop on the highway...a few buildings and that's it.

Diving:
Your equipment is taken by truck on the first morning to the Marina (a 6 minute walk). You set up the equipment on that morning and they leave it there all week. Wips are used to refill tanks and your BC and reg stay on the tank all week. Fins have their own place on the boat. You can leave masks, regs, and cameras too. Some took their cameras and computers, but everything stays in place on the boat all week. Wet suits have an outdoor locked cage for hanging overnight. Why they lock the wetsuits but let us leave computers and cameras on the boat..no clue but we never had a concern.

We had been told at DEMA by the recently departed dive operations manager that three dives per day was the max, end of discussion. When we got there we attempted to renegotiate with the new Temporary) dive operations manager and the owner and...it worked. We got, for a very reasonable extra fee, a fourth afternoon dive on Monday and an extra night dive on Thursday. The third dive on Tuesday is a night dive if conditions allow. Conditions were amazing...sun and very calm seas everyday. Virtually no current and a small surge on just one dive. Vis was 75+ feet on all but two dives and we were told that these two sites have more alge, but great shark and topography to make vis unimportant.

Due to normal sea current at this time of year, we couldn't get around the point for what are supposed to be very cool sites. Oh well, another reason to return in the Summer. The sites we did visit were amazingly varied. Sites fairly close together could have totally different types of crevices, swim through holes, 40 foot pinnacles, very large large coral heads, slow sloping sand, sheer walls...I mean really sheer, like a house wall, large sand flats with lots of rays and garden eels, large flat coral gardens and large barrel sponges on the sand, floor of the reef and sticking out from the walls. I have not dove everywhere in the Caribbean, but somewhat similar to Coz, the reef structure and ocean bottom topography was so varied that every dive felt like you were on a different island.

Stuff that moves: Reef sharks on every dive that came very close as the dive went on. 3-4 on every dive. Hammerheads on 30% of the dives and a few close encounters. Lots of rays. Lots of groupers. Colorful schools of wrasses and other fish. On and on. And, yes, lots of lionfish. Our dive master did kill about 4-5 per dive and left them floating for sharks and groupers to eat...and they did. It was like they could hear the speargun and came calling.


Very loud shout out to Tyler and Jim who come down regualrly from their dive shop in Michigan to fill in...Tyler acts as dive operations manager when needed. Captains Bruce and Clayton were tons of fun to be around all week and dive with. Bruce just loves his speargun and hates lionfish, but calmly points out cool stuff whenever it's visible.

What impressed us most was the swim throughs, deep and varied crevices to follow, and holes to go in at 60 ft and come out at 125. It is a bit too easy to go very deep, so we had many chats on the boat about recreational diving limits. Having sharks join our group and circle for most of the dive was a treat, but we have many pictures of group members studying something small on the sand or in the reef while a shark is literally vying for attention within 5-10 feet of the person's head. Sometimes circling many times to get the person to look up.

This same group has now done Bonnaire, Roatan, and San Sal. San Sall tops the list, but we liked them all. I've done other spots with other folks and San Sal tops them all. Next stop, Socorro Islands and the South Pacific. My guess is they will be awesome as well.

Rob

[peeweediver]

Responding to my own thread. Michelle, the owner, is wonderful. Every request is responded to to the best of her ability. The resort has been in her family for 30 years and she loves it and her guests. This is the type of place that divers shoud flock to because it is so personally satifying to be a part of Michelle's mission to keep her families legacy going strong. The great diving does help.

[rhwestfall]

Thanks for bringing back some memories. Dove SanSal with Riding Rock 23 years ago - place was fantastic...

[lsorenson]

This is a place that I have been wanting to go too since its was first told to me... Thanks for the write up and hope to make it to SS oh so soon!!!

lee

[Kevrumbo]

Columbus discovered the New World when he landed on San Salvador Island (how lost & how lucky was he??)

Still exploring the vast reaches & reefs of the Indo-Pacific/Oceania Region, but when I return someday to visit the Greater Carribbean area, it will be at the walls of San Salvador Island.

Thanks for the report --been aware of Riding Rock dive-ops/resort Bahamas ever since my first Carribbean trip fifteen years ago, but have never been there yet. . .

[la_diver]

Greart report. Looking at ss trip this summer.

[lazylady]

Thanks for the very nice report. I have thought about going to San Salvador, and your report has convinced me to add that to next year's list.

[coldwaterlloyd]

Great report , definately makes the place appealing . I guess there is no shore diving off the resort ? thanks , coldwater

[peeweediver]

Coldwater:

Correct, no shore diving. The usual package is 3 boat dives a day, but we negotiated 4 every other day. A few of us are planning to return in the Fall before our big scuba shop trip to the Socorro Islands next February.

Rob

[bbdm120]

Great report! Am taking a group next week and hope to have as great a time as you did.
Safe Diving,
Brad