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How is the diving in Dominica? Our dive group is going mid-May @ staying @ Castle Comfort. Any recommendations? Restaurants? Tours? Etc. thanks!!
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How is the diving in Dominica? Our dive group is going mid-May @ staying @ Castle Comfort. Any recommendations? Restaurants? Tours? Etc. thanks!!
The diving is excellent down in Soufriere.
My wife and I stayed in Portsmouth which is on the northwest side of the island in November, 2012. I understand the diving is better in Roseau on the southwest side of the island but we gave up after five dives and concentrated on the land.
There were fish traps everywhere. Many abandoned and full of dead fish. The locals have no respect for the sea or what lives there. I saw piles of trash that they just dump into the water. They drag nets between two boats and take everything, breaking the coral and everything else in the path of the nets. Most of the fish I saw were three inches or smaller except for the lionfish, lots of lionfish.
Instead of mentioning what I saw, I'll mention what I did not see: no turtles, sharks, groupers, jacks, barracudas, angels or parrotfish.
I would not recommend diving in Dominica or going to Dominica to dive.
My wife and I stayed in Portsmouth which is on the northwest side of the island in November, 2012. I understand the diving is better in Roseau on the southwest side of the island but we gave up after five dives and concentrated on the land.
There were fish traps everywhere. Many abandoned and full of dead fish. The locals have no respect for the sea or what lives there. I saw piles of trash that they just dump into the water. They drag nets between two boats and take everything, breaking the coral and everything else in the path of the nets. Most of the fish I saw were three inches or smaller except for the lionfish, lots of lionfish.
I've been to Dominica at least 12 times over the past 10 years. The diving is excellent, but different. Dominica is not a coral island. it's volcanic. I'm a fish watcher and sw aquarist. I have seen every fish mentioned above on most dives, excepting large sharks. In fact, I usually see every fish mentioned snorkeling 50 yards off the beach along one of the countless walls which exist anywhere that one of the dozens of mountains that comprise so much of Dominica plunges straight into the sea. I have a favorite little mid west coast bay used by fisherman with traps and giant nets that they use almost daily. There are always lots of French, Queen, and Rock Beauty angels, and so many large French Angels that I've seen them mating in less than 10 feet of water. Hawksbill turtles are there hunting food every morning (early). Many Spotted Drums are everywhere, and seahorses are abundant in 5 to 15 feet of water, far more commonly seen inshore than offshore, so scuba divers think they are rare. They are not. They like shallow water with its weeds more than offshore reefs. Lionfish are becoming a plague just about everywhere. I kill every one I see with a tiny barbless Hawaiian sling. I put a small spear that extends only a few inches through their guts and let them die on thier own. I do the same every summer here in New Jersey. They are now too numerous to extirpate, so I do it out of anger. These tiny pole spears are available for about $25 from Korea. Useless for most things, but remove the barb and you are good to go as an irresponsible and cruel undersea assassin unwilling to get near their venomous spines. If I want to eat a fish I buy one from the kids who sell them along the road. Dominica is not perfect, and neither am I.
As others have mentioned, the interior of Dominica is so beautiful and so untouched I spend every day I'm there wandering the rainforets and floating in the clear warm rivers. Dominica is very poor, second only to Haiti. It has a tiny population,less that 80,000 people. Where else can you hike for hours and never see another human being?
My wife and I stayed in Portsmouth which is on the northwest side of the island in November, 2012. I understand the diving is better in Roseau on the southwest side of the island but we gave up after five dives and concentrated on the land.
There were fish traps everywhere. Many abandoned and full of dead fish. The locals have no respect for the sea or what lives there. I saw piles of trash that they just dump into the water. They drag nets between two boats and take everything, breaking the coral and everything else in the path of the nets. Most of the fish I saw were three inches or smaller except for the lionfish, lots of lionfish.
Instead of mentioning what I saw, I'll mention what I did not see: no turtles, sharks, groupers, jacks, barracudas, angels or parrotfish.
I would not recommend diving in Dominica or going to Dominica to dive.