Dive Dominica - Disappointing

[DontLieToMe]

Just returned from a week in Dominica. Stayed at the Fort Young Hotel and dove with Dive Dominica.

Dive Dominica. I had read that they were a good outfit. No limits on dive times, etc. Not true. Every dive limited to 60 minutes. They pushed for short surface intervals. All dives 15-20 minutes from their shop. They refused to go to any of the better sites that were a bit further out. No assistance on the boat or in the water. We have 10 dives for each of the three members in our family. They refused to allow us to use some of the dives from our daughter. Avoid this operation.

Fort Young. Arrived and they said - you know we are doing construction! They did not tell us they were doing major construction fom 7 AM to 8 PM every day - Christmas and New Years included! No offer of compensation, nothing.

Dominica is a pretty island but the diving was very poor. Many people were nice but too many negatives to go back to this island.

 

[munkispank]

thanks for the trip report- I had heard Dominica was good- interesting. When you say diving was not good, does this mean that the reef was not in good condition- or just that the dive ops were not good?

 

[DontLieToMe]

Out of 12 dives only one was good. It was more to the south and had some good swim throughs. We only went there after I repeatedly complained. Other than that you could divide the dives into two categories. First dive. Either a wall or some pinnancles. Very little fish life. Some sponges. Virtually no small creatures. Second dive. Almost always in a near barren area - limit of 50 feet. Lots of algae. Little stuff - a few cleaner shrimp, a boxer crab now and then, one or two lettuce slugs, some lobsters, some Bristol worms, an eel now and then to include Snake Eels. They have ten or so moorings in the area 10-15 minutes from Roseau and that is what is dived over and over again. Also, our boat always combined snorkers, people doing refresher courses, and more advanced divers. I expected much better from this operation. There are many places to spend your diving money.

 

[Scuba65]

Thanks for the report. I'll be going there in March to visit a friend that is there for 18 months doing an medical internship..he has a house rented so that takes care of hotel. as for diving that's interesting cause he tells me that the diving is really good. so, i guess will see when i get there. thanks

 

[donacheson]

Just returned from a week in Dominica. Stayed at the Fort Young Hotel and dove with Dive Dominica.

Dive Dominica. I had read that they were a good outfit. No limits on dive times, etc. Not true. Every dive limited to 60 minutes. They pushed for short surface intervals. All dives 15-20 minutes from their shop. They refused to go to any of the better sites that were a bit further out. No assistance on the boat or in the water. We have 10 dives for each of the three members in our family. They refused to allow us to use some of the dives from our daughter. Avoid this operation.

Fort Young. Arrived and they said - you know we are doing construction! They did not tell us they were doing major construction fom 7 AM to 8 PM every day - Christmas and New Years included! No offer of compensation, nothing.

Dominica is a pretty island but the diving was very poor. Many people were nice but too many negatives to go back to this island.

Too bad you had an unpleasant experience.

You're right, though, in observing that Dominica is poor, but were led to believe otherwise? The island's population depends upon the sea for protein, so there are precious few large fiish to be seen. As compensation, the juveniles abound and there's lots of little critters - crabs, shrimp, small morays, and more exotic stuff - to be seen. Furthermore, the hiking on the island is magnificent - rain forest, hot springs, volcanic lakes, etc. with magnificent scenery.

 

[DougY]

Wow are you guys talking about the same hotel and dive out fit that I went with in November 2004 ?

I had a great holiday, I thought dive dominica were superb, dive until you are out of air, loads of help on the boat, nice friendly guys, minimum of 45 min surface intervals. The dives were good for the caribean. We saw one or two sharks and loads of turtles. We did 12 dives at 12 different sites. Perhaps it depends what boat you were on and what crew you had ?

The fort young was doing a lot of construction when I was there but I never found it a problem.

I thought the hiking and the whale watching were also great.

I enjoyed it so much I intend to go back again in a couple of years.

DontLieToMe I'm sorry you did not enjoy Dive Dominica and the fort Young but I thought it was great.

Doug

 

[DontLieToMe]

I read a lot of posts on their diving. I went out for six days in a row and the same procedure was followed each day by different boat captains and crews. They said the policies were set by Derrick - the owner. The were absolutely fixed on 60 minute dives. When you must have the boat back to pick up people for snorkel or whale watch at 2 PM their is no way they can provide flexibility in locations or dive time. I would guess Derrick has changed his business model.

 

[gfac]

Interesting as Dive Dominica always gets such rave reviews. Its been a couple years since I dove with Dive Dominica, given service and flexibility I've experienced elsewhere I'd give them only an "okay" against expectations I was led to have.

Also at the time, the Castle Comfort Lodge was wierd both about food and separate seating of divers who were either alone, or not part of large group. They would get annoyed at people mingling, or asking singletons to join the group, or asking for seconds. We had scalding water part of the time and no hot water at other times, unless you were the first one in off the boat. I am not that hard to please but I would not return to Castle Comfort again unless it got all new management.

That said, I thought the reefs were pretty good, and Dominica is an absolutely beautiful island, the afternoon hiking was breathtaking. I would return but would use a different accomodation and perhaps, different dive op.

 

[worlddiver]

I would never go back to Dominica for any reason especially diving.

Poor accomdations at Castle Comfront Lodge and Fort Young Hotel.

Diving just was bad all the way around including the staff at Dive Dominica...

 

[large_diver]

Interesting......this is a 100% increase in the bad feedback I've ever heard about Dominica....

I'm sure much of this comes down to expectations....and whether folks had the correct set of expectations prior to going down there.