Diving in Dominica?

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Alice Mutasa

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Location
London
# of dives
200 - 499
Has anyone got any advice about diving in Dominica? I like the look of it as it seems less touristy than Dominican Republic, but is it complicated to get to? Any dive centre / location recommendations?
Thanks!
PS: Or Bonaire? Any recommendations near a nice beach would be appreciated. I'm thinking of August; I've never been to the Caribbean in August, is it okay for climate / diving at that time?
 
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Less touristy is an understatement. I loved it there. Stayed at Picard Beach Picard Beach Cottages I Portsmouth Dominica, West Indies - it's right on the water and there is a great place to snorkle about 100 feet up the beach to the right. Self contained cabannas with full kitchen so you can save on eating out. Staff was wonderful. You can walk into Portsmouth with ease.

We didn't find it any problem to get there - connections through Puerto Rico. It was certainly a bit easier than Bonaire though I love Bonaire for the shore diving and total freedom. I do want to get back to Dominica to dive. It has the longest running dive festival in the Caribbean so I have to imagine that the diving must be something. It's between Guadeloupe (to the north) and Martinique (to the south). Each has about 1.5 million visiters per year. Dominica has in the neighborhood of 60 thousand. I would think the reefs see much less diving damage.

I wasn't diving at the time so can't comment but the snorkeling was great. We used Alexis (Picard staff know him and can put you in touch) as a guide for about everthing - snorkeling, jungle hikes, waterfall hikes, boats up the Indian River. He was great. Dominica is said to be the only island that Columbus would still recognize.
 
Bonaire is below the hurricane belt. So even though the season will have been underway in August, it should be relatively safe. Having said that, there's only about 4 resorts on Bonaire that I can recall that even have a beach to varying degrees - most of the rest are on ironshore. Most of the shore dive entries are fronted by it on or near the surf line - it makes entries trickier. Harbour Village has a decent beach, it's the most upscale property on Bonaire but their shore dive isn't great. Plaza Resort has a beach - some of it fronted by ironshore. Eden Beach has a smaller beach with a beach bar. And the Divi Flamingo has a small beach. All 4 have their own on-site dive operators/boats. Best Caribbean Diving Island | Top Caribbean Beaches | Bonaire Vacations - Home

Might look at Curacao also. In town it might be too busy for your wants but out west is pretty dead quiet. Curacao Travel- Caribbean, Curacao, Dutch Caribbean One advantage Curacao has over Bonaire is that almost all the beaches are also dive sites so entries are easy. Most have an on-site dive operator also. They are more spread out than on Bonaire. There are resorts in town on beaches with operators and shore dives also. The Marriott in Piscadera Bay is a nice one. Farther west the resorts tend to be "near" the beach - as in Lagun there's 2 different condo complexes on the hill overlooking the beach/bay that's the access point for diving. Farthest west in Westpunt there's 2 resorts overlooking the water with steps/path down to it. They have their own on-site operator also and are on one of the best shore dives there IMO. The beach there is only decent.

My last choice for great beaches and excellent diving is Provo (Providenciales) in the Turks & Caicos. Even quieter is Grand Turk - except when the cruise ships port there. Grace Bay Beach on Provo is one of the nicest in the world and there's all sort of (mostly pricey) options. Dive operators pick up and good local diving is at NW Point - a few minutes away. Better diving is at the uninhabited West Caicos and French Cay - about a 45min. boat ride. Beautiful by Nature - Turks and Caicos Islands - Turks and Caicos Tourist Board Hurricane season could be a factor in August, they get hit occasionally.

And the islands in the southernmost Caribbean -- Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Barbados, Trinidad, Tobago -- statistically see less hurricane action than their northern neighbors.
Read more: http://www.frommers.com/articles/6952.html#ixzz31Wp97aFp
 
Way less touristy than the DR and WAY better diving. Access is getting easier, look into flying into St Martin and taking Winair direct to Dominica. It can be done in one day from most of the US. The other option is through San Juan, PUerto Rico and then take Seaborne direct, but unless you are out of Miami your flight will arrive in SJU to late to make the connection to Dominica. For this reason I recommend St Martin. Winair have interline agreements with US Air and United so your bag goes right through and you go through 'In transit" instead of having to go through immigration, out of the airport and then check in and re enter airport! Very good connections and easy.
As for diving its great all over the island, dive shops are good. It all depends on the size of your group, and what you want in accommodations etc. If you like great diving, great topside with waterfalls and hikes, whale watching and friendly people then check out Dominica. No one ever regrets it!
 
I used to work on cruise ships and dove in Dominica many times. I would stay in Soufriere at the South of the island. Can't remember the dive shop there, but the seamount called Mountain Top is close by. It's an awesome dive if conditions aren't too rough with big black jacks, barracuda, etc. hunting off the walls and tons of marine life. There are tons of dive sites right around Soufriere and you really can't lose on the diving on that whole Western side of the island as it is the leeward side with walls, awesome reefs etc. There are awesome shore dives and freediving right off of most of the island since there is a wall close to shore. There are also geothermal springs in the sea right off the beach near Soufriere where you can sit and soak in the hot ocean water and watch the certain species of fish which are attracted to the warm bubbling water. It's an awesome island and very laid back. Topside, you can hike to a volcanic lake, waterfalls, etc. and there is some beautiful scenery unlike Cozumel or other dive destinations. It's one of my favorite islands and I've been to nearly all of the Caribbean islands. It's just a little more expensive to get to than say Cozumel so I wouldn't go there on my own buck. When you work on cruise ships and visit all the islands a hundred times, you dive so much you don't want to pay too much to dive anymore. I would pay to go to Galapagos, or Cocos, Palau etc. but not for the caribbean. It doesn't compare.
 
Stayed @ Castle Comfort(Dominica) a couple years ago for a week--dove daily....You'll LOVE IT(the diving) there---along with ALL the topside things to see/do---Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3 were filmed there for a reason..:)......IMO, Bonaire can't come close to holding Dominica's jock strap..........Was in Dominica in July & Bonaire in August---as long as no tropical storms are around, either are fine in summer.......EDIT:.......have a couple of my UW pics/videos here........click link......https://www.flickr.com/photos/80825593@N08/sets/72157630760240954/
 
There are awesome shore dives and freediving right off of most of the island since there is a wall close to shore.

Okay, NOW you've got my attention. Bonaire lover here. So, tell me more about this shore diving in Dominica. Have you dove Bonaire or Curacao to compare it to? Any of the dive op.s let you rent tanks to do this shore diving? If a person could do a couple of morning boat dives, then a couple of good shore dives, per day and rack up a big dive count for a week, considering the increase is positive postings I think Dominica has been getting on Scuba Board, is this an up & coming shore diving destination?

Interesting.

Richard.
 
rich------IMO, the best diving in the Caribbean is off Dominica ---hands down......PLUS, the topside stuff you can do is 2nd to NONE.......I've said it before & I'll say it again:...You can go 18/6 & still not get everything in......It's TRUELY a National Geographic trip.......I've got a lot more pics if you want to see them------the gorges(Titou)---the waterfalls(Trafalgar)---the hot sulphur springs(Screws)--the boiling lake---the whale watching---the TRUE rainforests---surface intervals in hot sulphur springs(@ Soufriere 400 YO church)---pinnacle diving(Scott's Head)---diving Champagne Reef site......As my wife said to me while we were hiking to Tragaltra Falls 'I have no idea what the Garden of Eden looked like, but it must have been something like this'---& waved her arms around 360 degrees....Google each one--& here's a couple links you need to see, to start with....http://www.champagnereef.com/.........
---------- Post added July 12th, 2014 at 10:00 AM ----------



---------- Post added July 12th, 2014 at 10:03 AM ----------

rich----here's the other one............Day Trips - Champagne Reef : Discover Dominica, the Nature Island
 
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Sounds like a pretty amazing place. Unfortunately, if I took family and a buddy and didn't spend 2 or 3 weeks, I suspect efforts would be made to drag me away from diving to do something else.

As an experiment, I went to Orbitz to see what flying out of Nashville, TN to Marigot, Dominica would cost. I put in Sept. 6 - 13 (Saturday to Saturday) just as test dates. Looks like every flight takes till the next day (or 2) to arrive. Airfare is substantial, similar to getting to Bonaire for me. So I put in Oct. 4 - 11. Maybe a little cheaper, but still at least gets me there the next day.

I say this because for a lot of people, taking over 1 week off is impractical, and they want to cram the most vacation & the least travel time & hassle into that week.

Sounds like Dominica rocks at diving and topside attractions, but suffers on travel time (at least for me, maybe not for others from the U.S.?).

So how practical is it to do a lot of shore diving there?

Richard.

P.S.: When people talk value for the dollar, a common endorsement for Bonaire says that if you shore dive heavily and divide your vacation cost by the # of dives, Bonaire stacks up favorably. Whether you boat dive or not. So, I want to know how easy it is to rack up a bunch of shore dives on Dominica.
 
rich, we did several nite dives--& a couple late afternoon dives-- in front of Castle Comfort Lodge---but remember, there are TONS of things to see/do after getting back from your morning of diving......Wife & I(out of a travel group of 19) did about 6 things(plus she did the whale watching trip one afternoon --while I stayed @ our room & rested & uploaded some pics/videos)......Again, IMO, the diving's the best there is(in the Caribbean)---but only half, or less, of what the island has to offer---a fella can literally kill himself there trying to get 'everything in'.........More pics/videos here----the Dominica ones(topside & UW) have Dominica in their album names, listed on the left side of page, just scroll down a bit........Joe Roy's (GEAUXtiger) Library | Photobucket
 

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