BVI Rendezvous Diving

[editmojo]

We're chartering a sailing catamaran for a week in the BVI's. We'll mostly be enjoying topside fun but will be diving a few days. The charter company sets up rendezvous with dive ops wherever we are anchored. From what I've read, it all seems to work well.

Wondering if any of you have actually done this and have any insights.

Thanks.

 

[EDGE245277]

I did it on my last trip in November 2010 as I was the only diver on our bare boat. My previous 2 bareboat trips in the BVI we dived from the boat. I dove with 2 differnt dive ops as they tend to only to redezvous near the dive sites of the day. So if the Rhone is the site they pick up and drop off at the near by islands. So you will want to call the different dive ops to see where they will be diving on your diving days and make sure you plan to be in the general area. They will call you on the VHF to find you, but they will want to know what mooring sight you plan to be picked up and dropped off. Enjoy the trip.

 

[editmojo]

Thanks edge. Could you use a credit card for the diving or was it cash?

 

[diversteve]

Could you use a credit card for the diving or was it cash?

Ask Jeff - [user]VGDiver[/user] He's DiveBVI's GM. I highly recommend them also. Rendezvous Diving | Dive BVI

 

[EDGE245277]

You could use cash or credit.

 

[t-mac]

I've done this too and as I recall you can use credit cards. I used two different outfits in the BVIs, one I can't remember and the other was Jost van Dyke Scuba. I think most of the dive ops in the area will do this since there is a such a large charter business there and everything is so close together. Obviously, they will have limits on how far out of the way they will go for you, but if you are in reasonable vicinity of either the dive site or the shop, I've found most dive ops will come get you (BVIs and elsewhere). Have fun and PM me if you want me to find the name of the other shop I used -- though I can't remember the name they were excellent and they are on the Drake Channel side of Tortola. Enjoy your charter. The BVIs are a blast -- like a floating pub crawl. If you haven't been before, to break it up head out to Anegada. It's completely different from the rest of the BVIs (not that there's anything wrong with a floating pub crawl!).

 

[Thiad]

I recently did this with two groups back in May - DiveBVI and Blue Water Divers. They either came to our boat, we met in the middle in a dinghy, or we went to their facility. With both groups, I used a credit card to pay for the dives. Blue Water Divers had a credit card machine onboard, while I ran a tab with DiveBVI (whom I highly recommend - they were absolutely fantastic). I was a bit leery about it, too, but it really worked out well. Our captain just called early in the week to make sure I didn't miss out on the "must do's" - the Rhone and Chikuzen, and then followed the group to the other sites which were all very nice.

 

[Rhone Man]

It sounds a little counter-intuitive, but Rendez Vous diving actually makes up a majority of the tourist diving in the BVI. I suppose it is because the BVI is such a big sailing destination; if they dive ops didn't pick people up from sailboats then they wouldn't have any customers. Usually you can arrange dives are pretty short notice over the VHF with local dive ops (just call them up on Channel 16 in the usual way).

As someone said earlier, most of the BVI dive operators tend to have their own patches, and it is a lot easier to Rendez Vous with a particular dive op when you are in the right area. Rough areas of operation of the main dive companies:

- Dive BVI, based in Virgin Gorda and Marina Cay but operate around most of the Eastern part of the BVI. Only dive operator with regular trips to the Chikuzen (Thursdays).
- Sail Caribbean Divers, have several operations in Tortola (East), Cooper Island and Norman Island. Have a pretty big patch stretching from The Dogs all the way down to Norman.
- Blue Water Divers, based on Tortola in Nanny Cay (fairly central) and Soper's Hole (West). They tend to do most of their diving either on the Rhone (Salt Island) or around Norman Island.
- JVD Scuba, based on Jost Van Dyke. Pretty much have a monopoly on the diving around Jost van Dyke and islands in the North West of the BVI.

All dive operators that I am familiar with accept payment by credit card onboard (the old carbon paper system).

The other thing to mention is that all official BVI dive sites have national park mooring balls on them, so if you have a buddy and are reasonably self confident, you really don't need a dive - you can just visit the various sites and dive them on your own schedule.

Hope that helps. Feel free to PM me with any questions about BVI generally (I am not a dive pro, but I have been diving in BVI for a little over 30 years). When are you planning on coming down?

 

[editmojo]

Thanks for all the input. You're never without a buddy on ScubaBoard.

 

[Stewthebassman]

Rhone Man, thanks for the amazing roundup of BVI diving. We'll be going next year and it's super helpful to have this knowledge ahead of time.


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