I'm new to this board and to scuba, so I don't have much to compare with, but I just had a great experience in Antigua that I wanted to share.
I spent the week before Thanksgiving in Falmouth Harbor, on the southeast side of Antigua, diving with Bryan Cunningham at Seawolf Diving. I'm a recently certified Open Water diver, and wanted to spend some time getting comfortable and diving in viz greater than 2' (I got certified on Long Island, in New York, so that wasn't an option at home).
After reading up on Antigua here on ScubaBoard, I contacted Antigua Scuba in English Harbor and Ultramarine, but got told that the former was closing up shop and the latter was only operating out of a base on the other side of the island. Before I heard from anyone else, I heard from a friend who had dived with Seawolf on Montserrat that they had moved to Antigua, and contacted Bryan through his website. I was by myself for this trip, so I needed to find someone who could serve as my buddy, and am new enough that I wanted a little more attention than I might get on a "cattle boat". Seawolf has a package that includes an Advanced Open Water certification with booking six dives or more with them, and that solved both of those problems, as well as providing some direction to my diving, which was an added bonus.
Seawolf is a PADI dive center officially based in Montserrat, but actually operating mostly in Antigua for the last couple of years (Monsterrat being significantly less hospitable to tourism after the volcano erupted and all
). They run two boats, both of which are small, but perfectly adequate to the trips they make, which are quite short (more time diving, less time riding in a boat, which suited me fine). From what I've read here, the on board accommodations might best be described as basic (bring your own water and snack), and they aren't shiny, but they were perfectly seaworthy, included all the necessary safety gear, and were fine for the short trips we made. Bryan himself was very competent, knowledgeable (certified as an instructor by PADI, NAUI, and SDI, and experienced in diving all over the world), very conscious of caring for the reefs we dove on ("no gloves, please - they make you more inclined to touch things"), and very personable - lots of fun to dive with.
Again, I don't have a lot to compare with, but the prices seemed very reasonable, and the diving was spectacular - tons of fish with many species (I loaded up on my fish ID lists in almost every dive), great reef life (lots of sponges and fans, and some interesting corals), really interesting bottom formations and topography, and amazing visibility on every dive. The water was warm (about 82º with no thermocline), and the sea state was quite benign for most dives (this is apparently a little variable - if the tradewinds are blowing hard, it can get a bit choppy on a couple of sites, but it was fine while I was there). I was staying on the sailboat I went down there on, but there are a couple of nice places to stay in Falmouth and English Harbors (try the Catamaran Hotel, the Admiral's Inn, the Antigua Yacht Club or the St James Club for more upscale options, and Zanzibar or a couple of others for the more budget minded - there are also a number of condos for rent in Falmouth at a variety of prices), and the local nightlife and restaurants are entertaining and tasty, respectively. One problem - after the beginning of December, accommodations can get tight, as the two harbors are a major winter destination for big sail and power yachts, which can suck up a lot of the hotel space when they're not out on charter - make your arrangements with a bit of lead time to beat this problem.
The trip was a resounding success for me, as I felt as though I went from someone with no experience at all to having at least the beginnings of a clue. I got a lot more comfortable in the water, doubled my bottom times and dramatically improved my buoyancy performance in four days, managed to complete the AOW course, and had a ball. I'll go again as soon as I can manage it, and I'd recommend it highly to anyone who wants a great diving experience. Thanks, Bryan!:bang:
I spent the week before Thanksgiving in Falmouth Harbor, on the southeast side of Antigua, diving with Bryan Cunningham at Seawolf Diving. I'm a recently certified Open Water diver, and wanted to spend some time getting comfortable and diving in viz greater than 2' (I got certified on Long Island, in New York, so that wasn't an option at home).
After reading up on Antigua here on ScubaBoard, I contacted Antigua Scuba in English Harbor and Ultramarine, but got told that the former was closing up shop and the latter was only operating out of a base on the other side of the island. Before I heard from anyone else, I heard from a friend who had dived with Seawolf on Montserrat that they had moved to Antigua, and contacted Bryan through his website. I was by myself for this trip, so I needed to find someone who could serve as my buddy, and am new enough that I wanted a little more attention than I might get on a "cattle boat". Seawolf has a package that includes an Advanced Open Water certification with booking six dives or more with them, and that solved both of those problems, as well as providing some direction to my diving, which was an added bonus.
Seawolf is a PADI dive center officially based in Montserrat, but actually operating mostly in Antigua for the last couple of years (Monsterrat being significantly less hospitable to tourism after the volcano erupted and all
). They run two boats, both of which are small, but perfectly adequate to the trips they make, which are quite short (more time diving, less time riding in a boat, which suited me fine). From what I've read here, the on board accommodations might best be described as basic (bring your own water and snack), and they aren't shiny, but they were perfectly seaworthy, included all the necessary safety gear, and were fine for the short trips we made. Bryan himself was very competent, knowledgeable (certified as an instructor by PADI, NAUI, and SDI, and experienced in diving all over the world), very conscious of caring for the reefs we dove on ("no gloves, please - they make you more inclined to touch things"), and very personable - lots of fun to dive with.Again, I don't have a lot to compare with, but the prices seemed very reasonable, and the diving was spectacular - tons of fish with many species (I loaded up on my fish ID lists in almost every dive), great reef life (lots of sponges and fans, and some interesting corals), really interesting bottom formations and topography, and amazing visibility on every dive. The water was warm (about 82º with no thermocline), and the sea state was quite benign for most dives (this is apparently a little variable - if the tradewinds are blowing hard, it can get a bit choppy on a couple of sites, but it was fine while I was there). I was staying on the sailboat I went down there on, but there are a couple of nice places to stay in Falmouth and English Harbors (try the Catamaran Hotel, the Admiral's Inn, the Antigua Yacht Club or the St James Club for more upscale options, and Zanzibar or a couple of others for the more budget minded - there are also a number of condos for rent in Falmouth at a variety of prices), and the local nightlife and restaurants are entertaining and tasty, respectively. One problem - after the beginning of December, accommodations can get tight, as the two harbors are a major winter destination for big sail and power yachts, which can suck up a lot of the hotel space when they're not out on charter - make your arrangements with a bit of lead time to beat this problem.
The trip was a resounding success for me, as I felt as though I went from someone with no experience at all to having at least the beginnings of a clue. I got a lot more comfortable in the water, doubled my bottom times and dramatically improved my buoyancy performance in four days, managed to complete the AOW course, and had a ball. I'll go again as soon as I can manage it, and I'd recommend it highly to anyone who wants a great diving experience. Thanks, Bryan!:bang:
