Bermuda Dive Operations

[zf2nt]

Help! Is there anybody here who is really familiar with the dive operators on Bermuda? My wife just found out she is getting a business junket in November to Bermuda and she very much wants to squeeze in a few dives while there. She's got about 400 dives, is PADI AOW + 4 specialties, and if she will just go with the flow a little bit I'll have her to Master Scuba Diver by November. She's a very competent diver...and distinctly risk-averse. She will be on her own on this trip, so I would really like to hook her up with a good operation. "Good" means accurate information, dependable transportation to the best locations, and then minimal hand-holding...minimal supervision. Any suggestions?

Bruce
padi idcs

 

[Dugongberbulu]

Bruce,

While Bermuda is a great place to go diving , the issue is the lack of Dive Operators; there are only 3 (that I know of, maybe others will have more info):

Blue Water Divers: http://www.divebermuda.com/

Triangle Divers: http://www.trianglediving.com/

FantaSea: http://www.fantasea.bm/

Been diving with Blue Waters and Fantasea, and both have their pro's and con's. In November though should be great, as the Summer months kinda get full with OW student and that affects the dive sites chosen. Also, the water will be cooling down, but won't chill her to the core yet.

Bermuda has tons of wrecks, and I would recommend picking up a copy of "The Ultimate Bermuda Shipwreck Guide" if you're into the history and specifics of the wrecks you dive.

My suggestion would be to call them up, and ask what kinda packages they could put together for her, and chose from there. The 2 I mentioned above are great people and very competent and safe.

Let me know if you need more info.

Cheers

 

[zf2nt]

Bruce,

While Bermuda is a great place to go diving , the issue is the lack of Dive Operators; there are only 3 (that I know of, maybe others will have more info):

Blue Water Divers: http://www.divebermuda.com/

Triangle Divers: http://www.trianglediving.com/

FantaSea: http://www.fantasea.bm/

Many thanks for the links. I did check them all out, plus one other I found through the PADI web page: Dive Bermuda, at http://www.bermudascuba.com/. It turns out that my wife will be staying at Fairmont Princess Bermuda, which is where Dive Bermuda is located. It now occurs to me that I just might want to be a tag-along spouse with my wife on this trip, so then I can go out diving while she gets to spend (most of) her time smiling in meetings with clients. After all, her company is already footing the bill for the hotel room, so my only incremental cost would be air fare. If I do go, would you suggest I should so out with Dive Bermuda there at the hotel or strike out on my own? Among the three you mentioned, I somehow related best to Blue Water Divers. I noticed that Dive Bermuda runs a 42' Newton, a boat with which I'm intimately familiar. (I spent last winter working as a DM on both 42' and 46' Newtons.)

My biggest concern, if I were to go, would be hooking up with an operator who is so "concerned for my safety" that they take all the fun out of diving. I absolutely refuse to go anywhere where I have to follow some DM, and I really don't want anybody trying to put time or depth limits on me.

Bruce

 

[miked]

Many thanks for the links. I did check them all out, plus one other I found through the PADI web page: Dive Bermuda, at http://www.bermudascuba.com/. It turns out that my wife will be staying at Fairmont Princess Bermuda, which is where Dive Bermuda is located. It now occurs to me that I just might want to be a tag-along spouse with my wife on this trip, so then I can go out diving while she gets to spend (most of) her time smiling in meetings with clients. After all, her company is already footing the bill for the hotel room, so my only incremental cost would be air fare. If I do go, would you suggest I should so out with Dive Bermuda there at the hotel or strike out on my own? Among the three you mentioned, I somehow related best to Blue Water Divers. I noticed that Dive Bermuda runs a 42' Newton, a boat with which I'm intimately familiar. (I spent last winter working as a DM on both 42' and 46' Newtons.)

My biggest concern, if I were to go, would be hooking up with an operator who is so "concerned for my safety" that they take all the fun out of diving. I absolutely refuse to go anywhere where I have to follow some DM, and I really don't want anybody trying to put time or depth limits on me.

Bruce

Hi Bruce,
I have dived for many years with Dive Bermuda (formerly Nautilus), and I recommend their service.
BWD is also highly rated.
Given the sometimes hassles of getting around Bermuda, especially if you have dive gear (no rental cars, taxis co$t, and buses are good, but not fast, and some drivers are fussy about wet dive gear.) using the "in house "shop would be a good idea.
As far as depth/time limits, I think all the shops do that, unless you arrange in advance, even then ???

Enjoy your trip,
Mike

 

[Dugongberbulu]

Bruce,

I would agree with Mike on all counts.

As far as limitations go: I would write to them, explain, and include a brief summary of your dive history, which will most probably end that issue.

Have fun, and don't forget to write a trip report

 

[donacheson]

...

My biggest concern, if I were to go, would be hooking up with an operator who is so "concerned for my safety" that they take all the fun out of diving. I absolutely refuse to go anywhere where I have to follow some DM, and I really don't want anybody trying to put time or depth limits on me.

Bruce

While I haven't been diving there in almost 10 years, I did dive there a lot for about 20 years while visiting Bermudian relatives. I never found a dive operator who would NOT put depth and time limits on me UNLESS I was diving with one I knew well after working hours.

One of my dive operator friends told me they were in the situation of having to run guided tours because of the large number of customers arriving by cruise ship, taking a resort course, diving for a day or two, and never seen again. He also said local divers would use their own or friends' boats to avoid the high (then $60-$80) charges imposed by dive operators who had to split the charges with the cruise lines.

In short, not the best diving, although there are several Civil War wrecks there, some gorgeous coral reefs and unique (I think) reef formations built not by corals, but by a marine worm.

 

[Natasha]

Help! Is there anybody here who is really familiar with the dive operators on Bermuda? My wife just found out she is getting a business junket in November to Bermuda and she very much wants to squeeze in a few dives while there. She's got about 400 dives, is PADI AOW + 4 specialties, and if she will just go with the flow a little bit I'll have her to Master Scuba Diver by November. She's a very competent diver...and distinctly risk-averse. She will be on her own on this trip, so I would really like to hook her up with a good operation. "Good" means accurate information, dependable transportation to the best locations, and then minimal hand-holding...minimal supervision. Any suggestions?

Bruce
padi idcs

Hi Bruce:
I will be in Bermuda for one day, Nov 21st. I'm hoping to get a dive or two in also. We will be there from the ship, The Grand Princess. Will your wife be there then?

 

[zf2nt]

Hi Bruce:
I will be in Bermuda for one day, Nov 21st. I'm hoping to get a dive or two in also. We will be there from the ship, The Grand Princess. Will your wife be there then?

No, she is going to be there November 6-11 for a conference. I think she is going to go a day early to get in some diving before the conference starts.

I did write to some of the dive operators there to try to get a feel for how they run their operations, and in the end I just couldn't convince myself they wouldn't try to hand-hold me too much. Even with luxury accomodations provided to me for free, I don't want to spend $750 on plane fare and then $110 for 2-tank dives only to be told the most I can do is play follow-the-leader for 30 minutes above 60'. So I'm going to pass on this trip, and let my wife go solo.

Bruce

 

[octgal]

Hey I dive in Bermuda every year and love it. I would reccomend Blue Water Divers

 

[Daylonious]

Hey I dive in Bermuda every year and love it. I would reccomend Blue Water Divers

Me too. They definately don't handhold you. My favorite quote was from Heidi that runs the boat for BWD.

"It's now 12:10... you have 55 min of bottom time. You can stay longer, but the boat leaves at 1:00."

D.