Anyone have recommendations for Eleuthera Bahamas please?

[sunnybuns]

Hi all:

I will be visiting Eleuthera in mid May and have only been able to find limited info on diving there. I realize it's not one of the heaviest-traveled islands but hope to solicit some recommendations.

From what I have been able to find, there is some good diving there (mostly on the south end??) but not a wide selection of dive ops. Has anyone gone out with either Cape Eleuthera or Ocean Fox (Cotton Bay I think)? I will be staying in Governor's Harbor area but will have to drive either north or south to do any guided dives. Also any comparisons between the Atlantic vs Caribbean side of the island for diving?

We've tentatively booked with Ocean Fox but I highly appreciate any opinions or input from anyone who's visited there recently or talked to someone who has. I'm one of those divers who does diligent research before making any decisions on anything Any input is highly appreciated!!

 

[Teamcasa]

---

---

A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

moved to bahamas forum...

---

 

[OceanObsessed]

I was just there last weekend. We flew in from Long Island trying to outrun some bad weather. We were in North Eleuthera, Harbour Island area though. Ocean Fox is also located in Harbour Island as is Valentines dive resort. Valentines is a larger operation located on a marina with a small dive shop and nice restaurant/bar overlooking the water. Remora Bay (on Harbour Island) also has diving but I understand they sub contract with Ocean Fox. The weather was rough so we didn't make it out diving though. I understand Current Cut is a popular dive in the area.
Good luck and let us know how your trip goes.

 

[sunnybuns]

I got a call back from Steve Kappeler, the manager of the dive op at Cape Eleuthera resort, and he was very gracious in spending a good 20 or 30 minutes on the phone giving me lots of info on the diving there. He had good things to say about Ocean Fox but I decided to dive with Steve's staff since he took so much time in answering all my questions.

Since the info on Eleuthera is so scarce, I will try to post a report of my dives there (and the dive op) in case anyone might be interested for future trips. From what I can tell, it seems as though the diving should be pretty good, it's just one of the less-known islands to visit.

 

[hammerhead man]

sunnybuns, my dive shop has scheduled a long weekend trip to Cape Eleuthera in Oct and I am interested in going but I've never heard of the place. I am interested in finding out how the trip went and how good the diving was. I have dived out of Nassau and was not impressed (however, the shark dives were excellent). I would be interested in hearing whether you felt whether Cape Eleuthera was worth diving. How was the reef life? How were the corals and sponges? Any information you have would be helpful.

Regards,

Bill

 

[sunnybuns]

Hi Hammerhead Man:

Sorry for the delay, I am just now getting around to posting after returning. Please see my report, to follow below, regarding our trip to Eleuthera. In short, the diving itself was good. However, a lot depends on your expectations and the kinds of places you've seen up to now. Hawaii and Belize rate much higher on my scale as far as the amount of sea life and the overall underwater experience. However, if the entire "package" from beginning to end means a lot to you, then Cape Eleuthera will make it worth your while. Captain Steve Kappeler will take good care of you and will likely "customize" your trip to your liking, whether it be a wall dive, drift dive, swim thru's, etc. I do hope the weather is better for you than for us since I think ours would have been much better if not for the line of storms that happened to be coming through. Since South Eleuthera is not anywhere near the "diving mecca" that Nassau is, it will surely be a different experience! Please read up on the island before you go so that you are not surprised or disappointed by the "quiet setting". From what I could tell I think Steve's staff schedules activities so as to keep the atmosphere light and fun at the resort though. If you want to send me an email, I can forward his email address to you as well for any questions you might have. He's very attentive to his email and is GREAT about any answering questions. Also, regarding the corals, fans, and sponges, I found the sites we visited to be colorful and healthy, probably due to the fact that South Eleuthera is still largely untouched and there are still sites to be discovered. Have fun on your trip and please email me if you have any other questions in the meantime. Please let us know how your trip goes, I'd like to hear your opinions as well!

D

 

[sunnybuns]

We are back from Eleuthera and as promised, I wanted to post some details of our trip for anyone interested in a future visit to this lesser known but no less wonderful little island. The amazing thing about this island is that it's only around 2 miles wide and in just a few minutes time, you can see both the Atlantic and Caribbean. Actually, in what's known as Glass Window Bridge (the skinniest part of the island), you can see both oceans from standing in one spot. The differences between the two are pretty extreme.

The weather during our stay wasn't the absolute greatest, since the rains from Florida found their way over on some days (this was during that long stretch of storms in late May). But we were able to sneak in a few days of sunshine and 2 good days of diving.

When we last left you, we had decided to dive with Cape Eleuthera. This is actually a gated resort at Powell Pointe on the southern end of the island and is rated as top-notch on www.tripadvisor.com. My partner and I actually stayed in Governor's Harbor (about an hour drive away) since we were staying at a friend's cottage, but we do hope to go back and stay at Cape Eleuthera at some point because they are extremely nice accommodations and most everything looks brand new. The resort's website is www.capeeleuthera.com.

Our first dive was scheduled for Tuesday, but threatening skies delayed us until Wednesday. The general manager of the resort, Steve Kappeler, could not possibly have been more accommodating. We thought about cancelling the dives on both days due to the crappy weather but his suggestion to "let's just try it" turned out to be a good one that we didn't regret. We actually had an entire dive boat to ourselves and it ended up being like we'd chartered our very own dive boat. Steve was also the boat captain and dive guide and he and his first mate, Neal Watson, bent over backwards to make everything perfect. Both guys were a lot of fun and made what we thought would be 2 mediocre days of diving into a real blast.

One of our dives was on what's known as the Fish Cage, which is a large spaceship-like structure used for studies by the nearby Island School, a marine research facility. The structure is around 50 feet in diameter and starts from top to bottom is 25 feet deep to about 85 feet deep at its anchor. It is truly unlike anything you've ever seen. The cage apparently is used primarily for raising Cobia from fingerlings but ends up attracting other indigenous fish and creatures as well (including a local resident bullshark, which we didn't get to see on this trip).

The other dives were nice wall dives, with a couple of them being done as drift dives. The current was comfortable and allowed us a leisurely gaze over the wall into the abyss. The visibility on both days was probably somewhere around 80 to 90 ft, which wasn't bad considering the storm front that had stirred things up a bit. I understand that the visibility can typically exceed 150 ft during good weather. Some of the highlights of the dive were stingrays, colorful angelfish, eels, barracuda, and what we've affectionately named the WTFfish (if you can tell me what the heck this is PLEASE email me!) See the attached pics at http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/4065.


We had requested to pick up a few conch (it was conch season) for dinner, so both our dives were conveniently very conch-intensive with Steve and Neal pointing out what to look for when choosing which ones to bring back. The conch here is very plentiful and probably the best staple on the island. However, the best surprise was the fact that Steve is like a big kid when it comes to fishing (!). He showed us 2 great days of fishing following our dives, during which we caught some nice dophinfish (mahi-mahi) and tuna. We got expert instructions on how to "reel 'em in" like pros and were yelling FISH ON! every few minutes. Steve was nice enough to even clean the fish and conch for us when we got back to the dock and, needless to say, we ate our two best meals with our friends and family on those evenings.

I'm trying to pack a lot of info into something less that a novel, so I'll close with saying that our 2 days of diving, fishing, and fun with Cape Eleuthera, Steve, and Neal were stellar. We will definitely be heading back in that direction. If you are looking for gorgeous, private beaches, and are a diver looking for a new frontier, this might be your place. Since Eleuthera is not a Nassau by any stretch of the imagination, those folks who like a lot of nightlife and a lot of comraderie with strangers on dive trips might be disappointed here. But anyone who likes to veer away from the beaten path once in a while to clear, calm, tropical blue waters, South Eleuthera is still very much undiscovered territory. And very much worth your while.

Feel free to send me an email for any info at riggins.d@gmail.com

 

[WOODMAN]

As regards your WTFfish, it sure looks like a Batfish, but whether a short-nose or polka dot version is hard to tell from this shot. I lean towards the polka-dot type, but the coloring of the spots seems wrong, somehow. Oh well, for what it is worth, just my 2psi. Woody

 

[sunnybuns]

Woodman:

That was the closest thing I could find to him/her in the Caribbean Reef Fish ID book as well. Thanks for your 2psi

 

[carotterouge]

bonjour,
nous sommes allee a cape eleuthera et avons eu beaucoup de plaisirs... la plongee etait superbe, les sites particuliers surtout the fish cage... nous avons eu la chance de voir une eagle raie, une tortue, des tonnes de lions fish, des coraux multicolores, des murs, une epave d avion.... nous avons eu le previlege de voir des pros du spears fishing (Neil the dive master et Steve le manager ) en action... de toute beaute de les voirs descendre a plus de 45 pi et revenir avec une belle prise (hog fish)!!!