Going to Bermuda, have questions?

[BDAfreediver]

I Dive with Blue water and did my certification through them.. great freindly crew and great access to a wide variety of reef and wreck dives... and as mentioned before take the #7 or #8 and it will get you there. It is only about a 20 minute journey or so to Somerset Bridge and the marine and dive shop are easily visable and there are lots of signs pointing you in the right direction.

 

[emeripsni]

After research, emails and feedback ended up booking my dive with Dive Bermuda. This will be July 12th, and will definitely provide feedback. Thank you for all the info and suggestions!

note: for divers arriving through Norwegian Cruise Lines, they prohibit dive knives on all cruises - no exception.

 

[BDAfreediver]

Hope you have tons of fun If its a good day ask to got to south west breaker its always fun

 

[bj139]

I just arrived back in the US on the NCL Star yesterday from Bermuda and can leave a few comments. We arrived at King's Wharf in Bermuda on Wednesday and did the catamaran snorkel trip to a nearby reef that day. The water temp was about 68F. We had 3mm full suits and were comfortable. We did not wear any additional floatation. Nice fish and coral and a rum swizzle on the ride back, all for $79 through NCL.
On Thursday we took the #7 bus to Elbow Beach(~45min). The #7 bus travels the beach road. A 3 day trans pass is $28 for bus or ferry. The dive shop on the beach is to the left when coming down the public access path. It is the same company as Blue Water Divers (BWD) at Somerset Bridge. The shore dive was great with schools of blue parrot fish and swimthroughs. $25 per dive for tanks and weights. We needed 18 lbs of weight with the 3mm full suits and 5mm hoods. We were told to dry our gear a bit so we did not drip water on the bus since they may deny you access if wet.
On Friday we took the #7 bus to the Somerset bridge bus stop (~15min) and did a 2 tank boat dive for $125 for tanks and weights, tip extra. We wore 3mm suits and hood. The first dive was the wreck Sea Venture at 54ft. The second dive was a reef dive at 45ft with swimthroughs. The dive operators were very professional. Reservations with BWD was by email.

 

[Howie411]

Going to Bermuda for my first time at the end of July. Taking a cruise on Holland America and we are in port (Hamilton) for 3 days. Interested in availability of diving at least 1 of the 3 days while I'm there.

I only have Naui open water, but have about 20 dives under my belt (mostly quarry and lake).

My biggest issue is I blow through air pretty quickly so I don't want to piss anyone off I'm diving with that we need to acccend early.

Can you recommend who I could contact to book some sort of dive trip or two while I'm there. I will be bringing all my own gear (except my BCD because its bulky and weights.

 

[bj139]

Going to Bermuda for my first time at the end of July. Taking a cruise on Holland America and we are in port (Hamilton) for 3 days. Interested in availability of diving at least 1 of the 3 days while I'm there.

I only have Naui open water, but have about 20 dives under my belt (mostly quarry and lake).

My biggest issue is I blow through air pretty quickly so I don't want to piss anyone off I'm diving with that we need to ascend early.

Can you recommend who I could contact to book some sort of dive trip or two while I'm there. I will be bringing all my own gear (except my BCD because its bulky and weights.

Contact Blue Water Divers at Blue Water Divers & Watersports (Bermuda) . If you have a buddy I would recommend shore diving at Elbow beach. I read on another post that the rental fee for tanks and weights is $25/day. You could do 5 dives for $25. We paid $25 not realizing it was not $25/dive. Better verify this with BWD by email. The dive we did was 24ft max for 54 minutes and we had air left. If you need a boat dive the same company runs those out of Somerset bridge. Read my post above.

 

[BDAfreediver]

Hello Howie,

I would suggest who ever you choose is to just mention what your experience is and that you do go through air quick either when you make a booking or when you check in. The dive shops here are all great and work hard and making sure everyone has a good experience just let them know so they can help you the best they can when you arrive.

The dive shops: In town there are no dive centers but there not far away...
A ferry ride away to Dockyard is Fantasea Dive sports; they do beach dives and boat dives but depending on the day they tend to be quite busy as there are two large cruise ships up by them (Fantasea Bermuda | Professionally Operated Bermuda Chartered Boat Tours and Recreation)
A ferry + bus ride (or bus ride from town) is Blue Water divers located at somerset bridge. These guys are great and they run regular one or two tank dives as well from their location (Blue Water Divers & Watersports (Bermuda))
A bus ride from town heading west and is closer is Dive Bermuda which runs off of the Southampton Princess is Southampton parish. These guys do beach and boat dives on a regular basis as well as having two and one tank dives. (Bermuda Dive: Bermuda Diving at the Fairmont Southampton)

from here we head East from your location in Hamilton.

East we Have
Triangle Diving: great very personal dive location and a bus ride away. These guys do the two and one tank dives as well (Triangle Diving Bermuda - Best Dive Shop)
Tuckers point dive center: same thing great people like all of us here in Bermuda and similar dives (Tucker´s Point Dive & Water Sports Centre)

hope this helps!

 

[emeripsni]

Just back from our trip to Bermuda and had a wonderful time. Thank you BDA for all the pre-travel info as it came in very handy!

Arranged a 2 tank dive with the folks at Dive Bermuda. Staff was excellent and there was no problem in arranging a dive buddy as I was solo. Was a bit disappointed that the wreck dive was at the site of two sunk tugboats considering the number of actual wrecks surrounding the island. Am guessing weather/time was a factor but it didn't look like we traveled more than 1000 yards for both dives from the cove area where the dive boat is based.

Only downside was with transportation to dive shop. The staff told me to take the #7 bus from the Navel Dockyard (where are cruise ship was docked) to get to their shop. Problem was that this bus does not start running until 8:15am and the dive sign-in was at 8:30am. I ended up taking a taxi ($26). After the dive, was told to take the #8 bus back to the Dockyard. The driver of the first #8 that came by informed me it did not stop at the Dockyard and I needed to take the next one. After waiting another 30 min, I gave up and took another taxi back to the ship.

Rest of vacation was wonderful!!! While the wives went shopping and other guys went golfing I explored the rest of the Dockyard. Found the Keep to be fascinating and spent several hours wandering the grounds and in the museum. After that, a microbrew at the Frog and Onion Pub was most welcome - they brew their own.

Wife and I agreed that another trip to Bermuda is in the near future.

 

[bj139]

I was looking at your post thinking, I know we took the #7 bus to Somerset Bridge. Then I realized you were going further to Dive Bermuda and could not make it in time. Blue Water Divers is less than 15 minutes away by bus. That is why I chose it. Isn't Dive Bermuda on the other end of island?

 

[tridacna]

No. Dive Bermuda is at the Southampton Princess. Another 8 mins on the bus from BWD.