Heading to Dominica--in particular Castle Comfort Lodge in about 4 weeks--

[diver 85]

Anyone been there lately & if so need the skinny on this area ie the diving, the food, & topside activities---& the weather also.....TIA......

 

[diverrex]

Anyone been there lately & if so need the skinny on this area ie the diving, the food, & topside activities---& the weather also.....TIA......

We got back on the 20th from two weeks in Dominica. We had a great time. Diving was great. I'v been meaning to write up a full trip report and post photos but haven't had the time. Here are some thoughts. We did 5 dives up at Portsmouth and 13 dives down south. Diving down south was much better. The topography is great, deep walls, mini walls, pinnacles and flat reefs. Lost of color in the reefs, coral, sponges, and other stuff. Fish life is not as plentiful as Cozumel but still very interesting. We saw 2 seahorses, but only up north, none down south. Saw flying gunnards, peacock flounders most dives, spotted morays 2- 4 a dive, spotted drums 4 -6 each dive, a turtle on every other dive. Saw very few angel fish, but many of the other normal reef fish, damslefish, parrotfish, lots of trumpetfish in brown, blue and yellow. We did 11 dives with NID and 2 with Dive Dominica. Dive Dominica ran a nice operation, I had no complaints about them or their boats, but our two dives with them were in a group of 11 divers and 2 DMs. In our 11 dives with NID 6 were 4 divers and DM and 5 were just the DM and the 2 of us. That makes for some nice dives. Both with Dive Dominica and NID our dives averaged 60 minutes. Both use Luxfer 80's. There was a group at the Castle Comfort from Kansas staying 2 weeks and planning on doing 50 dives. It was their 4th trip tehre. They said they enjoyed the shore dive at Castle Comfort, more of a muck dive but with interetsing creatures. We never did it though.

We stayed at the Evergreen but ate one night at Castle Comfort and had a few drinks at their bar. Their bar is much more fun than the Evergreen, more of the typical tiki hut beach bar. The food at Castle Comfort was good, but thought dinner at Evergreen to be better. Food at Ft. Young was good, both in their restaurant (a little pricey) and in their bar (very reasonable).

One issue with the three hotels in a row (Evergreen, Castle Comfort and Anchorage) is that the Crazy Coconuts bar a block away plays music with bass thumping on Friday and Saturday - on Friday till 3:30 AM and Saturday untl 5:30 AM. Bring earplugs and be ready for it. It's probably worse for the Evergreen since it's the closest but have heard that guests at the other two hotels can also hear it.

Do go onto the rainforest some, it's spectacular. Trafalgar falls is very doable after diving, even Middleham Falls or Emerald Pool could be done. We did the Boiling Lake hike, took 6 hours roundtrip but it was worth it - it really boils and the hike along the way was interesting, if not slightly challenging (12 miles roundtrip with 1500 ft elevation gain).

That's a start on my recent info, ask any other questions and I'll try to answer as I'm sure a few other Dominica (dom in EEK a) fans will also join in.

And drink some Kubulis while there!

 

[diver 85]

Thanks Rex for the quick response.....Sounds like you had a good trip.....Forgot to ask(wife was really wanting to know---lol), is the whale watching 'tours' worth it??.....Will probably get back with more questions later as time gets nearer............thanks again.......

 

[diverrex]

Thanks Rex for the quick response.....Sounds like you had a good trip.....Forgot to ask(wife was really wanting to know---lol), is the whale watching 'tours' worth it??.....Will probably get back with more questions later as time gets nearer............thanks again.......

Glad you asked but I have a hard time answering. We did do the whale watch tour with Dive Dominica (offered Sunday and Wed at 2 PM) after our two morning dives. It's about 4 hours. There were only 5 of us tourists plus crew of 2 on a 50+ foot boat. They say they are successful 90% of the time. We fell into the 10% that didn't see anything, not even any dolphins. Just the same it was a very pleasant boat ride seeing the coast probably about half way or more up north. Daniel was our captain (also our captain on our two dives with DD) and he generously offered to let the 5 of us come back again on Wed at no charge but we were going on a night dive that day so it didn't work out. I'd probably do it again. But it's not clear to me even when you do see whales how close you are and how much of them out of the water you really see. It's a boat sight seeing tour, not a jump in and snorkel with them tour.

Ask away any questions, Probably the best most general thing I can say is we do want to go back to Dominica, both for diving and more rainforest adventures.

 

[aquajon]

go next door to the evergreen hotel there is a little shack like place that serves hot meals. something different every day and well worth it. local food at its best and cheap also. we were there the begining of may and we saw a few sea horses in the south, the DM tell us unless they are bothered they do not move very far and are in the same locations every time. do bring some ear plugs that club is loud. if you want to do some island tours let me know i have a driver that we used on the island and his rates were reasonable and very knowledgeable of the island. i would stay away from the garage restaurant downtown to americanized and not much for your meals. do travel downtown one day for a late lunch to pearls kitchen lots and lots of local food at a good price. good luck on your trip you will have a blast. and the diving in front of the 3 hotels we thought was great. 15-25ft and lots of eals and macro life to see, between the Anchorage and Castle comfort it is like a rocky slope that goes out to the moreing field at least check it out once.

 

[AndyJH42]

It's nice to hear Pearl's Cuisine (50 King George V St. Rouseau) is still open. We had some really good food here. Lunchtime only from what I remember.
The boiling lake is a must, exhausting but worth it. Take good walking shoes and be prepared to get wet and muddy if it rains.
Sukie's bakery, on the road half way between the Evergreen and town, is worth a visit. Rum laced fruit cake to die for.

A couple of things to remember the power supply in Dominica is 230 volt, 3 pin UK style sockets, and they drive on the left side of the road.

 

[liquidvisions]

Was at Cstle Comfort in mid June, my only complaint was I found the food a little pricey for the quality and quanity but that's just my opinion.
Dive Dominica is great one of the best operators I've used the staff are attentive and find some really cool critters, keep in mind Dominica is not great for big stuff loads of macro critters and beautiful corals.
Topside the hikes are world class.

 

[diverrex]

Was at Cstle Comfort in mid June, my only complaint was I found the food a little pricey for the quality and quanity but that's just my opinion.
Dive Dominica is great one of the best operators I've used the staff are attentive and find some really cool critters, keep in mind Dominica is not great for big stuff loads of macro critters and beautiful corals.
Topside the hikes are world class.

Hi liquidvisions, not meaning to hijack a Dominica thread but I've been interested in diving Saba. How does Saba diving compare with Dominica diving? Also I know Saba doesn't have anywhere near the topside activity of Dominica but are there things to do for those who like to keep active topside after the morning dives?

 

[lmorin]

Going to Castle Comfort in a couple of weeks. Anybody have recommendations for dining?

 

[pelan-pelan]

We used to walk up the road (ie away from town) - about 10 minutes to the Green Flash. Can anyone say if it is still there. When we were there the food was good and lovely deck over the sea.