Diving in Nassau. What to expect?

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TinmanJones

Registered
Messages
46
Reaction score
5
Location
Arkansas
# of dives
25 - 49
Hello.
I'm a noob. Certified early last summer & have logged just over 30 dives. My dives have all been fresh water lakes. No salt, until this coming May.
May 9th, I have booked 2 dives with Stuart Coves, along with my dive buddy, who was certified with me & has been my buddy on every lake dive to date.

I've read these forums ALOT & know how the water & currents affect Cozumel. Seems like we hear & read mostly about that area.

So, my question is, how does Nassau currents, downdrafts, etc. compare to those I've read about in Cozumel?
What do I need to expect?
Can I expect to be "sucked" down in a downdraft?
I haven't dove in current before, so I'm just not sure what to expect in the Bahamas (Nassau).

Thanks for any help & advice you can give.
I'd appreciate hearing from people who have dove this area.
 
Maybe I'm lucky, but I've never noticed them in Nassau. The north side is where most of the diving is on that island. Lots of wrecks (and film sets) there and most have a hard bottom around 100'. Stuarts loves to visit those. Boat rides are usually quick. There are some nice wall dives there as well, but I haven't heard or read any reports of downwellings near there.

Stuart's does a pretty good job of separating boats out by experience and skill level as well. Just make it clear when you sign up that you would prefer a boat that visits shallower sights. Of course, I have to add the mandatory disclaimer that you are ultimately responsible for your own safety, but generally, you'll be fine.

One thing to note is that viz is usually really good there. It is easy to go deeper than you intended and lose track of your depth (if you aren't checking gauges) because of the clarity of the water (ie the surface looks closer than it is).

The fact that you're posting about this leads me to believe that you're the conscientious type, which is a good attribute to have as a diver. On the whole, though (and I know people will undoubtedly say otherwise), don't be too worried about downwellings there. Have fun and know your limits.

You are in for a great time! Nassau is notorious for sharks. Expect warm water, good viz, lots of sea fans, hard coral, Sargent Majors galore, groupers, etc.
 
Expect to be a little more buoyant in salt water. Expect to be with a group of similarly experienced divers diving sites chosen for your skill level. Expect them to be on the shallower side. As mentioned above, water in the Bahamas is crystal clear.

I'd look at some of the sites on SC's interactive map - hover over each flag for a picture/short description.

Since they do the shark feeds there - there's often reef sharks patrolling nearby sites - one wreck in particular was a shallow dive with sharks cruising around (Edwin Williams) - so have 3-4 sites in mind if Cove's DM asks if anyone has a site preference. See the sharks without paying for the feed. There's also the "James Bond" wrecks - Tears of Allah and Thunderball. And a couple of movie sets from "Into the Deep".
 
Thanks for the quick responses!

Yes, both, my buddy & I, are very conscious. Sadly tho, he doesn't frequent the forums.

I consider this part of my "home work" before setting out into a new phase of diving.
I always read others saying "do your home work & you'll be fine."
So, here I am! :)

I've been all over the SC site. Gathering any & all info available there. I've studied the interactive maps over & over.

My main concerns were any & all currents & downwellings. I've read enough of those horror stories to know I'm not ready for that yet.

Ive booked the dive.
I'm guessing that when we arrive at the dive shop, we'll show our logs & tell them about our dive history, in order to be put with other like experienced divers?
Or is this something I should call them about?
While booking, over the phone, they asked if we were certified & if we had made a dive over the last the year.

Again, thanks!
 
No, they won't ask to see your logbook. They'll go off what you tell them. I would just tell them when you get there that you'd like to do shallower dives. They are a big operation and usually have a bunch of boats going out. It shouldn't be a problem getting on a less-experienced boat.

I don't think you need to call ahead, but I guess it couldn't hurt to do so.

Where are you staying?
 
Where are you staying?

We are cruising.
We will be in Nassau from 7a-5p.
We have a morning dive schedule so that we are sure to get back to the port in time.
They are aware of our cruise schedule.

---------- Post added April 17th, 2013 at 06:24 AM ----------

We would like to do our deep dives (60') while there, so that we can have those under our belts for our AOW that we will complete this summer.
We figure it'll be much better there than here in Arkansas in the cold, dark lake. :)
What would be y'all's thoughts on that?

Doing that, we would need the DM to sign off on our logbooks, correct?

Thanks for all the help so far.
 
It's been quite awhile since I dove around Nassau and we were there during a week long cold front in January which cancelled a few diving days due to wind and surface waves. However the currents were not bad at all and nothing like Cozumel's currents. We did do a wall dive near Nassau whose site name I do not recall where the current switched direction on us midway on the dive but no downwellings that I have only occasionally experienced in Cozumel. I attributed that to the general weather conditions and time of year. Overall the currents were mild around Nassau but bear in mind it was only the one week of diving there, most of the dives were fairly shallow - less than 60 feet and most were not wall dives.
 

We would like to do our deep dives (60') while there, so that we can have those under our belts for our AOW that we will complete this summer.
We figure it'll be much better there than here in Arkansas in the cold, dark lake. :)
What would be y'all's thoughts on that?

Doing that, we would need the DM to sign off on our logbooks, correct?

Thanks for all the help so far.

I don't have my AOW, so I could not tell you. My understanding (and it's only based on speculation) is that you have to do the deep dives while you are actually enrolled in and taking the AOW course. I may be wrong. There are tons of instructors and DMs on this board that could answer this a lot better than I could.
 
We are cruising.
We will be in Nassau from 7a-5p.
We have a morning dive schedule so that we are sure to get back to the port in time.
They are aware of our cruise schedule.

---------- Post added April 17th, 2013 at 06:24 AM ----------

We would like to do our deep dives (60') while there, so that we can have those under our belts for our AOW that we will complete this summer.
We figure it'll be much better there than here in Arkansas in the cold, dark lake. :)
What would be y'all's thoughts on that?

Doing that, we would need the DM to sign off on our logbooks, correct?

Thanks for all the help so far.

The DM signing off will be useless. You need to do the dives under the supervision of an instructor. And just out of curiosity what do you know about deep dive planning. Ie. sac rates, rock bottom, narcosis management, emergency deco procedures and how to calculate a stop on the fly, and rescue skills related to deep dives? This is where people get themselves in trouble. Thinking that this is just another dive to check off. And you would in fact put the DM in bit of a pickle. Taking you on a dive you are not technically certed for outside of a class. Violation of standards there. As well as morals and ethics.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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