ddawson
Contributor
You can download the slideshow and longer version of the trip report with a blow by blow of the diving at
http://www.ece.clemson.edu/crb/dawson/scubareports/scubareports.htm
General:
This was our second trip to Dominica. We had such a great time in March 2005 that we re-booked the trip for March 2006. We wondered if we would be as impressed with the diving the second time around and I can say that it was every bit as good, if not better, in 2006. Simon and rest of the DMs at Nature Island Dive in Soufriere accommodated our requests for specific dive sites as much as possible, and we got to visit a couple of new sites in addition to some old favorites. You simply couldnt ask for a better crew to dive with Simon, Wefee, Oscar, Tony and Selwyn are all wonderful. Be advised that they do operate on island time - not really a big deal for us since were on a dive vacation and all were doing is diving, but it could be frustrating if you are trying to stick to a tight schedule for some reason. Since people from some of the resorts away from Soufriere book dives with NID, you often end up waiting for them to arrive sometimes half an hour late, then get geared up, etc.
For more details about the dive operation at Nature Island Dive and the cottage we rented from them, see the 2005 trip report. There are also photos of the cottage, dive shop and Soufriere in the 2005 slide show.
The weather was great during our stay every day except for Thursday, when it rained on and off all day. For the remainder of the week we had beautiful skies with lots of sun mostly sunny every day with no rain during the daytime. Bugs are not a problem here, we never used insect repellent at the cottage or while diving. The only time we used it (as a precaution) was when we had dinner one evening at an outdoor restaurant in a heavily wooded area.
The water temperature was noticeably colder this year than last year. Simon told us that last year had been unseasonably warm and that the temperatures this year were more normal. I wore my diveskin and 3/2 wetsuit on all dives and still got chilled on some dives.
Note: Since Soufriere is isolated at the southern end of the island and lacks grocery stores, convenience stores, etc., we have prepared a Soufriere Survival Guide and included it at the end of this report for those planning to book a trip here. It is a compilation of tips and a list of things to bring to make your stay in Soufriere as easy and enjoyable as possible.
Travel:
We again flew from Charlotte to Antigua on US Air, then from Antigua to Dominica on Caribbean Star. This year, our bags were tagged all the way through to Dominica, but we were advised by US Air in Charlotte to go to baggage claim in Antigua anyway to make sure we didnt need to collect our bags and re-check them with Caribbean Star. We went through immigration in Antigua to get to baggage claim, and found that our bags had indeed been routed on to Caribbean Star, so we were escorted back through Immigration to the in-transit Caribbean Star counter. This is a very nice improvement to have the bags checked all the way through and be able to avoid Immigration and go through as in-transit passengers in Antigua.
On the way back, our Caribbean Star flight from Dominica to Antigua was cancelled and we had to catch a later flight to Antigua, leaving us stranded at the Dominica airport (small, hot, remote) for 5 hours waiting for the next flight to Antigua. Our schedule was changed to spend the night in Antigua, then catch an early flight to San Juan on Sunday morning with a connection to Charlotte in the afternoon. All seemed okay until we got to San Juan and discovered that all flights to Charlotte that afternoon were overbooked and we did not have confirmed seats on the US Air flight that Caribbean Star had booked us on. After visiting both airline counters several times, the best that we could arrange was to be first on the stand-by list for the first flight back to Charlotte. We made it onto the plane at the last possible minute and it was filled to capacity with no empty seats.
On both of our trips to Dominica, the Caribbean Star flight from Dominica to Antigua has been very late (or, in this case, cancelled) I would strongly advise taking the morning flight from Dominica to Antigua to avoid missing your flight back to the U.S. on Saturday. In fact, I had scheduled the early flight but US Air called with a flight change and implied that the early flight had been cancelled, but we were informed at the Caribbean Star counter in Dominica that the flight had run that morning. Lesson learned.
Lodging/Dining:
Again, see last years report for more details. We were quite happy with the upper unit of the NID cottage and really enjoyed sitting on the porch overlooking the bay while we were there. It is very simple and peaceful no phone, radio, TV, or computer a nice change of pace. The upper unit has wooden louveres in the bedroom and living room which open out to the porch, making the unit very light, open and breezy. Another couple was staying in the lower unit this year so we checked it out. We did not like it nearly as much it seemed dark and closed-in not open and airy like the upper unit.
We did try two new restaurants this time the Sulphur Springs restaurant and the Forest Bistro both up the hill from Soufriere. You need to call ahead to Sulphur Springs to place an order (Merlin will call from the shop). We did this for lunch one day and biked there it is a pretty steep ride all the way up the hill but the food was good and plentiful (chicken and assorted vegetables). The Forest Bistro is an open air restaurant also up the hill from Soufriere. Reservations are required here also. It is deep in the woods and far down a very bumpy road you need van transportation, especially if you go at night. We went with the other couple from the cottage. It was nice multiple courses including bread, soup, meat and veggies, and dessert. For everyday standard meals, we again frequented Bobbys for sandwiches (one day he made really great burgers for us) and Tonys. We got take-out chicken and rice from Tonys as well as ribs, and Darren really liked the fish soup there.
Diving:
The consistently great topography, vivid colors, and large sponge and coral formations are what sets Dominica apart from the other dive locations we have visited and keeps it at the top of our list for favorite Caribbean diving. The only contender of the places we have been would be Little Cayman. (we have been to Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, the Bahamas, Bonaire, Belize-Lighthouse Reef, Cozumel, Grand Turk, Roatan, Utila).
There are conflicting opinions from divers posting on the dive boards about the quality of diving in Dominica. I think it is important to clarify that we dove the southern sites in Scotts Head Bay and around on the Atlantic side in the Martinique Channel at the southern end of the island. We have not been to any of the central or northern sites on Dominica, which may not be similar to the Scotts Head Bay area. A good description of the southern sites can be found on the Fort Young Hotel website: http://www.divefortyoung.com/desfous.html. (Note: Fort Young is supposed to be a nice hotel, but it is in Rosseau meaning that the boat rides to the southern sites are quite a bit longer and they dont do all their diving at the southern sites.)
NID uses pontoon boats which have plenty of space (especially the larger boat). Most of the sites can be reached in 5-15 minutes from the dock, and the boat typically returns to the shop between dives. More details on the NID operation can be found in last years report (Dominica 2005). See the longer version of the trip report for our Soufriere Survival Guide and for more details on the diving.
http://www.ece.clemson.edu/crb/dawson/scubareports/scubareports.htm
General:
This was our second trip to Dominica. We had such a great time in March 2005 that we re-booked the trip for March 2006. We wondered if we would be as impressed with the diving the second time around and I can say that it was every bit as good, if not better, in 2006. Simon and rest of the DMs at Nature Island Dive in Soufriere accommodated our requests for specific dive sites as much as possible, and we got to visit a couple of new sites in addition to some old favorites. You simply couldnt ask for a better crew to dive with Simon, Wefee, Oscar, Tony and Selwyn are all wonderful. Be advised that they do operate on island time - not really a big deal for us since were on a dive vacation and all were doing is diving, but it could be frustrating if you are trying to stick to a tight schedule for some reason. Since people from some of the resorts away from Soufriere book dives with NID, you often end up waiting for them to arrive sometimes half an hour late, then get geared up, etc.
For more details about the dive operation at Nature Island Dive and the cottage we rented from them, see the 2005 trip report. There are also photos of the cottage, dive shop and Soufriere in the 2005 slide show.
The weather was great during our stay every day except for Thursday, when it rained on and off all day. For the remainder of the week we had beautiful skies with lots of sun mostly sunny every day with no rain during the daytime. Bugs are not a problem here, we never used insect repellent at the cottage or while diving. The only time we used it (as a precaution) was when we had dinner one evening at an outdoor restaurant in a heavily wooded area.
The water temperature was noticeably colder this year than last year. Simon told us that last year had been unseasonably warm and that the temperatures this year were more normal. I wore my diveskin and 3/2 wetsuit on all dives and still got chilled on some dives.
Note: Since Soufriere is isolated at the southern end of the island and lacks grocery stores, convenience stores, etc., we have prepared a Soufriere Survival Guide and included it at the end of this report for those planning to book a trip here. It is a compilation of tips and a list of things to bring to make your stay in Soufriere as easy and enjoyable as possible.
Travel:
We again flew from Charlotte to Antigua on US Air, then from Antigua to Dominica on Caribbean Star. This year, our bags were tagged all the way through to Dominica, but we were advised by US Air in Charlotte to go to baggage claim in Antigua anyway to make sure we didnt need to collect our bags and re-check them with Caribbean Star. We went through immigration in Antigua to get to baggage claim, and found that our bags had indeed been routed on to Caribbean Star, so we were escorted back through Immigration to the in-transit Caribbean Star counter. This is a very nice improvement to have the bags checked all the way through and be able to avoid Immigration and go through as in-transit passengers in Antigua.
On the way back, our Caribbean Star flight from Dominica to Antigua was cancelled and we had to catch a later flight to Antigua, leaving us stranded at the Dominica airport (small, hot, remote) for 5 hours waiting for the next flight to Antigua. Our schedule was changed to spend the night in Antigua, then catch an early flight to San Juan on Sunday morning with a connection to Charlotte in the afternoon. All seemed okay until we got to San Juan and discovered that all flights to Charlotte that afternoon were overbooked and we did not have confirmed seats on the US Air flight that Caribbean Star had booked us on. After visiting both airline counters several times, the best that we could arrange was to be first on the stand-by list for the first flight back to Charlotte. We made it onto the plane at the last possible minute and it was filled to capacity with no empty seats.
On both of our trips to Dominica, the Caribbean Star flight from Dominica to Antigua has been very late (or, in this case, cancelled) I would strongly advise taking the morning flight from Dominica to Antigua to avoid missing your flight back to the U.S. on Saturday. In fact, I had scheduled the early flight but US Air called with a flight change and implied that the early flight had been cancelled, but we were informed at the Caribbean Star counter in Dominica that the flight had run that morning. Lesson learned.
Lodging/Dining:
Again, see last years report for more details. We were quite happy with the upper unit of the NID cottage and really enjoyed sitting on the porch overlooking the bay while we were there. It is very simple and peaceful no phone, radio, TV, or computer a nice change of pace. The upper unit has wooden louveres in the bedroom and living room which open out to the porch, making the unit very light, open and breezy. Another couple was staying in the lower unit this year so we checked it out. We did not like it nearly as much it seemed dark and closed-in not open and airy like the upper unit.
We did try two new restaurants this time the Sulphur Springs restaurant and the Forest Bistro both up the hill from Soufriere. You need to call ahead to Sulphur Springs to place an order (Merlin will call from the shop). We did this for lunch one day and biked there it is a pretty steep ride all the way up the hill but the food was good and plentiful (chicken and assorted vegetables). The Forest Bistro is an open air restaurant also up the hill from Soufriere. Reservations are required here also. It is deep in the woods and far down a very bumpy road you need van transportation, especially if you go at night. We went with the other couple from the cottage. It was nice multiple courses including bread, soup, meat and veggies, and dessert. For everyday standard meals, we again frequented Bobbys for sandwiches (one day he made really great burgers for us) and Tonys. We got take-out chicken and rice from Tonys as well as ribs, and Darren really liked the fish soup there.
Diving:
The consistently great topography, vivid colors, and large sponge and coral formations are what sets Dominica apart from the other dive locations we have visited and keeps it at the top of our list for favorite Caribbean diving. The only contender of the places we have been would be Little Cayman. (we have been to Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, the Bahamas, Bonaire, Belize-Lighthouse Reef, Cozumel, Grand Turk, Roatan, Utila).
There are conflicting opinions from divers posting on the dive boards about the quality of diving in Dominica. I think it is important to clarify that we dove the southern sites in Scotts Head Bay and around on the Atlantic side in the Martinique Channel at the southern end of the island. We have not been to any of the central or northern sites on Dominica, which may not be similar to the Scotts Head Bay area. A good description of the southern sites can be found on the Fort Young Hotel website: http://www.divefortyoung.com/desfous.html. (Note: Fort Young is supposed to be a nice hotel, but it is in Rosseau meaning that the boat rides to the southern sites are quite a bit longer and they dont do all their diving at the southern sites.)
NID uses pontoon boats which have plenty of space (especially the larger boat). Most of the sites can be reached in 5-15 minutes from the dock, and the boat typically returns to the shop between dives. More details on the NID operation can be found in last years report (Dominica 2005). See the longer version of the trip report for our Soufriere Survival Guide and for more details on the diving.
