potato cod
Contributor
Travel: After boarding our plane in Buffalo, with a connection in Atlanta, we waited while the lights kept going on and off. Turns out we had a dead battery and had to wait for a new one to be flown in from Boston 2 hours later. This meant that we were definitely going to miss our connection from Atlanta to GC, as there was only an hour between our flights and only one flight per day. Delta flew us on to Atlanta anyway, put us up in a hotel, gave us meal vouchers, and let us change our return from 1/21 to 1/22. We got to Atlanta in time to drop off our luggage, then took the train into the city to the Georgia Aquarium to see the manta rays and whale sharks. Delta did a nice job accommodating us and we had wanted to go to the aquarium someday anyway, so the whole delay wasn't that big of a deal. The next morning we had an smooth flight into GC.
Dive Resort: We stayed at Sunset House (SH) and dove with Sunset Divers.
The Resort: We got there to find that we had been upgraded us to an ocean view room with a balcony (maybe SH felt bad about the rough start to our trip). Nice! The view was great, the room quiet, and we had a fridge that we could stash food and beer in. The room wasn't fancy, but it was very comfortable and spacious. There was a TV with remote, a ceiling fan, lots of closet and dresser space, and a big shower.
From the resort it is about a 10-15 minute walk into town, but as there are no sidewalks you have to walk at the edge of a rather busy road. We went into town a few times to buy snacks and beer or catch a bus, but never at night—that seemed too dangerous.
The hotel has a nice restaurant (you can sit inside or out) and MyBar, a great Tiki bar. The service was great, the food delicious, especially the tropical snapper and Indian curries. We ate almost all of our meals at the resort, especially because we didn't want to walk into town at night along the road.
The coast is rocky, which is great for diving, but if you're traveling with non-divers that want a sandy beach, this probably isn't your spot.
The staff was very helpful and were happy to shift our reservation when we got delayed arriving.
Diving: We did a.m. 2-tank boat dives and there was also unlimited shore diving, which we also took advantage of most afternoons.
Shore diving: The tanks are just sitting by the shore, you grab a couple and go. There dive shop is open from early a.m. until about 5 p.m., so you can stop by to check out the map of the shore and get a briefing. The shore diving was great and lots of variety: you can check out the rocky seawalls with lots of little critters in the nooks and crannies, dive shallow reef areas inshore, visit the mermaid statue, or head further out to the reef wall and a wreck (we didn't make it to the wreck). We saw everything from baby spotted drum under a log to turtles to a nurse while shark shore diving. The sea pool is also cool because it gives you a sheltered spot to climb in/out of when the conditions are a bit rougher.
Boat diving: The crew on the boats was great and the briefings were detailed. Some crews would draw pictures on the white board, which I really liked. The boats felt spacious, except that on the Eagle Ray there was only one exit into the water, so if you were at the front of the boat you had to exercise a bit of patience. On your first day you are required to spend at least part of the first dive with a guide as they check out your skills, then you are free to dive with one of their guides or you and your buddy can go off and do your own thing (which is what my husband and I did-guided dives stress us out). The first dive is usually a wall dive and the second a more shallow reef. We saw turtles on most dive, green moray and garden eels, spotted drum, juvenile creole wrasse in huge schools, parrot fish, snappers, barracuda, blue tangs, butterfly fish, queen triggers, queen angels, loads of trunkfish, trumpet fish, porcupine fish, indigo hamlet, etc. The trip to Stingray City is an absolute must. I'm normally not keen on feeding the marine life, but this was pretty hilarious. We got some great pics with our underwater camera and SH sends a photographer out too. If you're interested in photography, SH host Cathy Church, a famous underwater photographer, and they do lessons.
The craziest dive occurred on 1/19 when we were underwater diving during the magnitude 5.8 earthquake that struck south of the island. My husband and I were just completing our safety stop when the quake struck. The rumbling was insanely loud underwater as the vibration just shook through you and the fish freak out. My husband claims it was the only time he's been really scared underwater because we didn't know what was going on and he was afraid it would damage our ears. We were all fine and have a new experience for the log book!
There were only a few things that I thought could have been better. First, they use AL 72s, which was a little weird. My husband definitely had to keep his eye on his air a bit more and for shore diving we usually did a surface swim out to save air. 80s would have been nicer, but it wasn't a big deal. It would also be nice if the boat offered a spray bottle with baby shampoo defog. We're used to seeing that on boats and were surprised when there wasn't any. We had to borrow some for our first day of diving and then buy a bottle at the dive shop. A line/float out the back of the boat to grab onto while you're waiting to get back on the boat would also have been nice. There wasn't much current except at Stingray City, so this wasn't a huge deal, but it allows you to take your fins off and pull yourself to the ladder and moves things along. These are pretty minor points, however, and we had a great time.
Topside activities: We walked into town a couple times. The waterfront is very touristy as cruise ships pull up every day. We tried to avoid town when there were multiple ships. We took a bus out to the Queen Elizabeth II Botanical Park and had a great time. The bus will set you back $10/person round trip, which is a great bargain considering it is about 45-minutes one way. The garden was lovely, we saw the endangered blue iguanas, and really got to see more of the island since we hadn't rented a car. A very pleasant excursion. We didn't actually get to any of the other topside sites like Rum Point—we were too busy diving and falling asleep early!
A great respite from winter and a lovely spot!
Potato Cod
(now let's see if I can attach a couple of pics...)
Dive Resort: We stayed at Sunset House (SH) and dove with Sunset Divers.
The Resort: We got there to find that we had been upgraded us to an ocean view room with a balcony (maybe SH felt bad about the rough start to our trip). Nice! The view was great, the room quiet, and we had a fridge that we could stash food and beer in. The room wasn't fancy, but it was very comfortable and spacious. There was a TV with remote, a ceiling fan, lots of closet and dresser space, and a big shower.
From the resort it is about a 10-15 minute walk into town, but as there are no sidewalks you have to walk at the edge of a rather busy road. We went into town a few times to buy snacks and beer or catch a bus, but never at night—that seemed too dangerous.
The hotel has a nice restaurant (you can sit inside or out) and MyBar, a great Tiki bar. The service was great, the food delicious, especially the tropical snapper and Indian curries. We ate almost all of our meals at the resort, especially because we didn't want to walk into town at night along the road.
The coast is rocky, which is great for diving, but if you're traveling with non-divers that want a sandy beach, this probably isn't your spot.
The staff was very helpful and were happy to shift our reservation when we got delayed arriving.
Diving: We did a.m. 2-tank boat dives and there was also unlimited shore diving, which we also took advantage of most afternoons.
Shore diving: The tanks are just sitting by the shore, you grab a couple and go. There dive shop is open from early a.m. until about 5 p.m., so you can stop by to check out the map of the shore and get a briefing. The shore diving was great and lots of variety: you can check out the rocky seawalls with lots of little critters in the nooks and crannies, dive shallow reef areas inshore, visit the mermaid statue, or head further out to the reef wall and a wreck (we didn't make it to the wreck). We saw everything from baby spotted drum under a log to turtles to a nurse while shark shore diving. The sea pool is also cool because it gives you a sheltered spot to climb in/out of when the conditions are a bit rougher.
Boat diving: The crew on the boats was great and the briefings were detailed. Some crews would draw pictures on the white board, which I really liked. The boats felt spacious, except that on the Eagle Ray there was only one exit into the water, so if you were at the front of the boat you had to exercise a bit of patience. On your first day you are required to spend at least part of the first dive with a guide as they check out your skills, then you are free to dive with one of their guides or you and your buddy can go off and do your own thing (which is what my husband and I did-guided dives stress us out). The first dive is usually a wall dive and the second a more shallow reef. We saw turtles on most dive, green moray and garden eels, spotted drum, juvenile creole wrasse in huge schools, parrot fish, snappers, barracuda, blue tangs, butterfly fish, queen triggers, queen angels, loads of trunkfish, trumpet fish, porcupine fish, indigo hamlet, etc. The trip to Stingray City is an absolute must. I'm normally not keen on feeding the marine life, but this was pretty hilarious. We got some great pics with our underwater camera and SH sends a photographer out too. If you're interested in photography, SH host Cathy Church, a famous underwater photographer, and they do lessons.
The craziest dive occurred on 1/19 when we were underwater diving during the magnitude 5.8 earthquake that struck south of the island. My husband and I were just completing our safety stop when the quake struck. The rumbling was insanely loud underwater as the vibration just shook through you and the fish freak out. My husband claims it was the only time he's been really scared underwater because we didn't know what was going on and he was afraid it would damage our ears. We were all fine and have a new experience for the log book!
There were only a few things that I thought could have been better. First, they use AL 72s, which was a little weird. My husband definitely had to keep his eye on his air a bit more and for shore diving we usually did a surface swim out to save air. 80s would have been nicer, but it wasn't a big deal. It would also be nice if the boat offered a spray bottle with baby shampoo defog. We're used to seeing that on boats and were surprised when there wasn't any. We had to borrow some for our first day of diving and then buy a bottle at the dive shop. A line/float out the back of the boat to grab onto while you're waiting to get back on the boat would also have been nice. There wasn't much current except at Stingray City, so this wasn't a huge deal, but it allows you to take your fins off and pull yourself to the ladder and moves things along. These are pretty minor points, however, and we had a great time.
Topside activities: We walked into town a couple times. The waterfront is very touristy as cruise ships pull up every day. We tried to avoid town when there were multiple ships. We took a bus out to the Queen Elizabeth II Botanical Park and had a great time. The bus will set you back $10/person round trip, which is a great bargain considering it is about 45-minutes one way. The garden was lovely, we saw the endangered blue iguanas, and really got to see more of the island since we hadn't rented a car. A very pleasant excursion. We didn't actually get to any of the other topside sites like Rum Point—we were too busy diving and falling asleep early!
A great respite from winter and a lovely spot!
Potato Cod
(now let's see if I can attach a couple of pics...)
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