Diving suggestions for BVI

[rob_magruder28]

My friends and I are bareboating a 43' cat in BVI at the end of the month. There are several divers on the boat and we are looking for suggestions on how to keep a couple full tanks on the boat. I see that there are several fill stations in BVI and I think that the different dive shops will fill each others tanks. (I hope this is correct) While speaking with my local dive shop I was told that there may be some shops that will rendezvou with you and swap tanks on the water. Does anyone know what shop does this? I'm trying to avoid making the trip into shore for new tanks. Am I just being lazy?

Also, We are planning on diving the RMS Rhone. Any suggestions on good dive operations? Other than the Rhone can anyone make good suggestions for guided and not guided dives? We are all fairly competent dives.

Thank you for your advice / opinions
Rob

 

[diversteve]

Two that I know of are DiveBVI and Blue Water Divers. DiveBVI has shops in the Valley (VG), Leverick Bay and Marina Cay. So if you rent tanks from them, you can keep them filled on that side of the BVI's. They do rendezvous diving. They're one of the few diveops I've ever used that continually exceeded our expectations.
VGdiver here is Jeff McNutt, their GM.

Similar setup with BWD on Tortola afaik. More than one facility on the Tortola side and I'm sure I've read somewhere they do rendezvous diving also. I've never used them.

Links to pretty much everything about diving in the BVI's - Welcome to BVIScuba

 

[TSandM]

I can't help you much with tanks and fills, but HERE's my report from a week spent on a crewed charter sailboat in the BVI, with the dives we did and what we thought of them. My favorite was probably the Chikuzen, but being able to do it is very dependent on conditions.

 

[deborahdelamar]

If you're chartering, the charter company will probably have an op that can furnish tanks. If you're on a private yacht, there are dive ops at all of the significant marinas who can supply and/or fill. Moorings, one of the biggest charter companies, at Village Cay/Road Town uses Aquaventure -- a great op whose manager, Leslie, is very knowledgeable about the Rhone -- she gives very thorough briefings (with graphics) and prefers to dive it as a two-tank adventure. They have a fill station on site.
In any case, you should put enough tanks on board to satisfy several days of diving so you don't have to backtrack and lose a couple or three hours waiting for fills -- I don't know if Leverick or Marina Cay have full-time fill stations now -- you should check on that. The sailing route is primarily a counter-clockwise, broad-reach circuit. We start in Road Town and put 8-10 tanks on for 3 divers, buy supplies & fill the used tanks at Spanishtown/VG before heading toward Anegada (2nd or 3rd afternoon out) and do it again at Soper's Hole (5th or 6th day.)
Marina Cay (4th or 5th day) would be a great option and allow us to skip the stop at the west end of Tortola, which we really don't enjoy.
BVI on a boat is lots of fun and you'll meet many interesting people -- Enjoy!

 

[scubaboy_mark]

We'll have 4 of us on a 43' mono, 3 of us divers. Sept 12-20. We are looking for the same type of info, dive sites, fills, etc.

I'll try to follow up with you after your adventure.

-Mark

My friends and I are bareboating a 43' cat in BVI at the end of the month. There are several divers on the boat and we are looking for suggestions on how to keep a couple full tanks on the boat. I see that there are several fill stations in BVI and I think that the different dive shops will fill each others tanks. (I hope this is correct) While speaking with my local dive shop I was told that there may be some shops that will rendezvou with you and swap tanks on the water. Does anyone know what shop does this? I'm trying to avoid making the trip into shore for new tanks. Am I just being lazy?

Also, We are planning on diving the RMS Rhone. Any suggestions on good dive operations? Other than the Rhone can anyone make good suggestions for guided and not guided dives? We are all fairly competent dives.

Thank you for your advice / opinions
Rob

 

[deborahdelamar]

Re sites: There are hundreds; many unlisted. We used Franko's dive map as a guide. Most of the time we located the site without a problem but we missed the Rhone's anchor chain and saw plenty of other interesting things on that dive. We also checked out a few unmapped sites with mooring balls.

 

[alashas]

Rob,

Dive BVI is a 1st class operation & I definitely enourage you to consider arranging a few dives with them. Also, the descriptions of the sites they list is helpful: http://www.divebvi.com/dive_sites.htm

I wrote an essay about the wreck of the Rhone here: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-208262.html
Consider doing the Rhone as a 2 tank dive in order to see as much of the wreck as possible. There are a lot of things you might miss without have a DM show you some of the interesting aspects of the Rhone.

I've got a # of BVI uw photos here: http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/

safe diving, alashas

 

[pdixon]

Bare boat sailing with tanks aboard and diving in the BVI's is one of our favorite trips. I have photos from several trips on my web pages and a pretty good log describing dives at British Virgin Islands - April 2

 

[Rhone Man]

Most of the dive companies do "rendezvous" diving in the BVI. When I am not on my own boat, I usally dive with either Blue Water Divers and Sail Caribbean Divers (Nothing wrong with Dive BVI, just their main operation is on a different island from me).

Nice thing about coming down in summer (apart from fewer tourists) is that there are a bunch of really nice dive sites that you can only do during summer when the weather is calmer, like the Chikuzen and Santa Monica Rocks. Everyone tries to the Wreck of the Rhone and "Wreck Alley" when they are in BVI, but if you get a chance you should try for a couple of dive sites off the beaten path like Ginger Steppes (my personal favourite) and Carrot Shoal.

 

[Rhone Man]

You might also want to try this link for potential dive sites: prettier pictures:

Blue Water Divers - Scuba Diving in the British Virgin Islands