Stuart Cove - Nassau Bahamas - Trip Report (with link to pics)

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RadHal

Contributor
Messages
117
Reaction score
44
Location
Needham, MA
# of dives
200 - 499
Just returned from a 3 day, 12 dive trip to Nassau Bahamas diving with my good buddy Craig66 and Stuart Cove (SC). We flew in from Boston, MA and East Brunswick, NJ and stayed at the Sheraton Resort and Casino, through a stay and dive package with SC. We were picked up by their van at 8am and the trip to the dock was about 25minutes including multiple pick ups along the way.

Stuart Cove is a large, well oiled machine, probably the largest dive op I've been with. One would expect a less personal, cattle-boat type experience, on the contrary, all the staff were engaging, pleasant, professional and happy to serve their clients. They have at least 5 boats and cater to the cruise ship and on-island visitors. There is a quick efficient sign in process and with little time wasted you are assigned a boat and heading out.

The boat captains all gave a boat safety briefing and the dive masters, a dive site and safety briefing. We had our own gear and used Nitrox (32 and 34%). The dive sites were varied, including reefs, walls, and wrecks with about 50ft viz. They were conscious not to take one to the same site twice during your time with them. The air temp was around 80F and the water 75-76F. The first day was a little rough and I returned my breakfast to the fish more than once, even under water. I was a lot better on day 2 and 3 after using a scopace patch. If you are sensitive to sea sickness take pre-medication.

We did two, afternoon two tank Shark Adventures, the first dive is an acclimation dive on a wall or wreck with the Caribbean Reef sharks gliding by. The second dive was the feeding dive were the sharks became a lot more aggressive, swimming up, over and around you to access the free food fed from the chain-suited dive master. We did one feed kneeling on a sandy bottom and another on the bow of a wreck, the latter was a much better. I really enjoyed the intimate encounter, never felt unsafe or afraid. One can certainly debate the ethics of this practice but I felt it was done professionally and was safe to the divers and sharks.

There were less Lion Fish that expected, the reefs are relatively healthy and there is certainly more to see than just the pelagics. Overall we had a great time and I would recommend spending a few days diving with Stuart Cove.

Hal
:shark2:

Here are links to my photos taken with an Olympus EPL3, Oly Housing, 9-18mm lens, Zen Dome Port and dual Sea and Sea Strobes, shooting manual, RAW and post processing with Adobe Lightroom 4.1

Bahamas - Shark Adventure - a set on Flickr
or
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/1...67288597139377
 
Thanks for the review. I actually just booked a trip last night for mid july with 2 other friends for a 4 day dive trip. None of us have been to that part of the caribbean. We are staying at the same hotel and were thinking about using stuarts. Have you come across any other reputable dive outfits? I read earlier stuarts limits dive times to 45 minutes. Is that true? Do you have any recommendations or reviews on the sheraton? Places to eat or have a cocktail off the resort? You win any money at the casino? Countdown 2 months till our trip. Getting excited. Thanks for your time.
 
Hi dirkmy - I am sure there are other good dive ops, though I never looked further than Stuart Cove. They did not limit dive times and went by the air consumption of the divers. On the shallow Pumpkin Patch reef, which I highly recommend, we were down for almost an hour. I was very satisfied with the Sheraton, the hotel is well kept, the rooms clean, staff friendly and there is large pool and hotel front beach. There is a nice large bar in the hotel but limitted places to eat. I did the dive and stay package through SC and may saved a few dollars. Take a taxi to an area called the Fish Fry in Arawak Cay ($15 taxi ride, 10minutes). There are a bunch of fish restaurants there, we ate at Andros where we seemed to be the only tourists, the rest were local. Twin Brothers was also recommended at the Fish Fry. Try Conch, either salad, or fried, more rubbery than calamari, not my cup of tea but when in Rome ..... I don't gamble, I believe the Sheraton's casino is not great, better at Atlantis but that is quite a schlepp away. You will have a great time, enjoy. Oh I forgot to add that I would use a 5mm full wetsuit, unless the water warms up to more than 80, when we were there it was 75.
 
thnx for sharing
 
Nice report. I snorkeled with them and will dive with them when I get back to Nassau.
 
i did the shark dive there a few months ago..
great operation.
i see lots of tiger and bull sharks, so the reef sharks were not intimidating... but it was pretty cool.
We had a HUGE black grouper come and park inches from our side.. he went from diver to diver al the way around the "arena"....


did you see joker...the shark with the disformed jaw?
 
Thanks for the review. I actually just booked a trip last night for mid july with 2 other friends for a 4 day dive trip. None of us have been to that part of the caribbean. We are staying at the same hotel and were thinking about using stuarts. Have you come across any other reputable dive outfits?
Your only other options on Nassau:

Bahama Divers - located at the base of the bridge to Paradise Island so about 1/2 the distance to Cove's in the other direction. Bahama Divers - Diving

They'll likely also pick you up at the Sheraton afaik since it's between the shop and Cable Beach. But check with them.
And our dive trips include FREE transportation to and from most area hotels between Cable Beach and Paradise Island and the dive shop.

Explore Scuba - newer operation on Paradise Island. IDK anything about them. Home | Explore Scuba Bahamas is the only dive operator located right on Paradise Island, we offer that one of a kind experience.
 
I read earlier stuarts limits dive times to 45 minutes. Is that true?

As Radhal stated they do not limit your dives to 45mins however I will say that you are not going to get an hour and 10 min dive and after 50-55 mins they are keen to have you back on board. They do run tight schedules and so do need to get you back on board to allow them to get back for the afternoon run. Having said that if you are the first in and last out you probably could push 55-60 mins.

The one criticism I had was the relatively short surface intervals and whilst I am okay with that on a shallow reef in Key Largo I would have appreciated more off gassing time. I personally used nitrox and so was not that concerned but had I been using air I would have been less happy to jump back in after a 30 min surface interval. The reason I used nitrox was as I truly feel that I am less tired after using Nitrox and I also like that added safety factor that I personally I believe I get with diving nitrox on air profiles (yes I know that that perceived benefit is controversial)

Aside from that it really is a nice dive op and the dives are fun.
 
As Radhal stated they do not limit your dives to 45mins however I will say that you are not going to get an hour and 10 min dive and after 50-55 mins they are keen to have you back on board. They do run tight schedules and so do need to get you back on board to allow them to get back for the afternoon run. Having said that if you are the first in and last out you probably could push 55-60 mins.

The one criticism I had was the relatively short surface intervals and whilst I am okay with that on a shallow reef in Key Largo I would have appreciated more off gassing time. I personally used nitrox and so was not that concerned but had I been using air I would have been less happy to jump back in after a 30 min surface interval. The reason I used nitrox was as I truly feel that I am less tired after using Nitrox and I also like that added safety factor that I personally I believe I get with diving nitrox on air profiles (yes I know that that perceived benefit is controversial)

Aside from that it really is a nice dive op and the dives are fun.

30 min SI? What was the profile like? I have yet to dive with any OP at any location that does less than an hour.
 
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