Diving options staying at Atlantis

[homerdoc]

In July, the family unit (wife, kid and I) is going to atlantis. I would really rather slam my finger in a car door than do this, but my daughter has been before and has the call for the after school trip, and she loves the place.

I have read there are two options for diving, my real questions revolves around a couple things:

1. I wont drag my gear with me (minus mask and computer) if I was going to sneak a dive in. Which operator has better rental gear?

2. My daughter is certified (she is 12), and has about 25 dives under her belt, but we have kept her above the 30-35 ft range. Is the diving there okay in the 30-35 foot range and does and op do that? She has dove Bonaire with me and loved it cause you can see a lot of neat stuff at 30 feet at the reef edge.

I'm all good if the feedback is, just do waterslides and the casino cause the diving isn't worth it, but if it is would like some guidance.

Her and I did do the snorkel of the aquarium and that was actually pretty cool last time we were there.

 

[KeithG]

after some research, we left all of our gear at home a few years ago when we went to atlantis. stuart cove is the only real operator and the boats are on the far side of the island. cattle boats...

 

[homerdoc]

Thanks for the reply, that seals it for me, waterslides here I come

 

[diversteve]

That's not exactly true, Bahama DIvers is across the Paradise Island Bridge from Atlantis. Welcome to Bahama Divers! | Bahamas Divers

They'll even pick you up. The list of hotels on PI they pickup at is listed at the bottom of their Diving/Snorkeling section.

Both operations cater to the tourist/cruise trade so nothing is very complex or deep. Diving Courses and Snorkeling | Bahamas Divers

Coves also has a PI shuttle but as mentioned there's that 30+ min. ride to their location - maybe longer since they probably stop at Cable Beach along the way. Coves used to have an interactive graphic/map on their site that listed depths but it doesn't appear to be on the new website.

Some of their dives are pretty shallow, a few were old movie sets/props. I'm pretty sure the James Bond wreck (For Your Eyes Only) is only around 40'. Also they do the canned shark feeds if that's of interest.

 

[miked]

More info regarding what was said about Stuart Coves-accurate last Aug.: the pickup for the morning 2 tank is at 7:30, and for the afternoon at 11:30. The ride to the shop is more like 45 minutes, and the bus stops at a variety of hotels along the way.
Big crowds, but organized. "Cattle boats": sometimes yes sometimes no-last summer, on the same boat-one day it had 20 divers, the next day 4.
IIRC Coves and Bahama Divers are the only 2 functioning ops on the island.
Despite the aggravations, I'd do the dives.
Enjoy your trip.

 

[KeithG]

More info regarding what was said about Stuart Coves-accurate last Aug.: the pickup for the morning 2 tank is at 7:30, and for the afternoon at 11:30. The ride to the shop is more like 45 minutes, and the bus stops at a variety of hotels along the way.
Big crowds, but organized. "Cattle boats": sometimes yes sometimes no-last summer, on the same boat-one day it had 20 divers, the next day 4.
IIRC Coves and Bahama Divers are the only 2 functioning ops on the island.
Despite the aggravations, I'd do the dives.
Enjoy your trip.

How long were the dives?

 

[thatmark]

I did 2 morning and 2 afternoon dives with Stuart Coves at the end of November. Morning boat was maybe 8 people with 1 DM, afternoon was a larger group of about 14 with 2 DMs. According to my log book, my max depth on the "Bond Wrecks" was 39ft. There are other wrecks and reefs shallower and deeper (20-50ft) that we dove as well. First dive of both boats was the "Shark Wall" which is about 45ft to the sand and then over the wall as deep as the group wanted to go down to a max of 70 or 80ft, swim along the wall, and then back up over and along the sand back to the boat.

I don't have a huge range of experience with rental gear and I took all of my gear with me so I can't comment on their regs, bcs, or suits. I will say take your save-a-dive kit with you since I had to replace an o-ring for one buddy. Also can't speak to the buses since I had a car.

I would say if you want dive and want to improve your chances of having less people on the boat, and presuming you're at Atlantis for a few days, check online for how many cruise ships will be in port each day and chose a day to dive when there are less or no ships in port.

Mark

 

[KeithG]

Thanks for tge info. Can you let us know your bottom times?

 

[thatmark]

11/29/16
Water Temps 77-78f
All AL80 single tank dives
Bottom times do not include 3 minute safety stop

AM Dive 1
Shark Wall, max depth 53ft, 26min bottom time.

AM Dive 2
Wrecks (sorry, missing names), max depth 51ft, 43min bottom time.

PM Dive 1
Shark Wall, max depth 61ft, 28min bottom time.

PM Dive 2
Shallow reef and James Bond Wrecks, lots of shallow time @ 15-20ft, max depth 39ft, 51min bottom time.

Shorter bottom times on dive 1 each dive due to buddy or group air use with depth and current coming back over the wall.

 

[homerdoc]

Thanks for all of the replys, I am going to change my mind and dive at least two dives. The bond wrecks sound really neat, have to look online tonight.

I like the idea, of bringing my save a dive kit, it has enough stuff to fix most problems.

ThatMark, not judging, but those dive run times look a little short, is it driven by the OP, or the group you are with?

JJ