Looking for healthy reefs in the Bahamas

[edpdiver]

I used to go to the Bahamas a lot before a started diving. My family would go to the Out Islands in the Abacos, and we loved the seclusion and wonderful snorkeling. I would like to go someplace in the Bahamas like that where the diving is good, but I am getting a sense that the algae growth as really taken over many good dive sites in the last 2-3 years. If anyone has suggestions as to where there is a good diving operation and healthy reefs can be found, I would love the feedback.

A couple of specific areas I am interested in are Andros and the Exumas. I had heard very nice reviews of Coral Caverns, and am curious as to how the reef health is holding up there, if anyone has any recent experience. The reports on Small Hope Bay are pretty grim, and I thought that Coral Caverns was relatively close to that. Also, I was thinking of doing the AquaCat liveaboard in the Exumas, and would like information about the reefs that are dived from a liveaboard in the Exumas. Any recent information and advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[divebunny13]

Small Hope is a great place to dive!

 

[robint]

healthy reefs can be reached by some of the liveaboards, specifically the Nekton boats going to Cay Sal and Medio Reef areas and Bahamas Explorer going to SE Bahamas, get our far enough. I would check those out.

 

[tstormdiver]

I was on the Caribbean Explorer I in May 2007 in the southern Exumas, around San Slavador. The reefs were gorgeous there then. I was also just on the Cat Ppalu in the northern Exumas around Allen's Caye, about 3 weeks ago. While not quite as healthy as the southern portions from the year before, they weren't too awful bad. The Aqua Cat & Cat Ppalu follow along similar paths & we were in sight of each other about half of the trip. If you do the Aquacat very soon (within the next month or so) try to stop & see the Blue Hole. That was one of our last dives on the Cat Ppalu & it was way cool! There were hundreds & yes, I mean hundreds of 3-4 ft long Black nosed sharks in the blue hole. My buddy & I dropped down to 130 ft & spooked about 100- 200 of them up towards the rim & looked down to see 200 or so more at the bottom. They say the sharks gather there in June- July every year.

 

[Gamecock]

If you want to see some pristine reef, near shore, easy diving, the southern end of Eleuthera was absolutely AWESOME. I did a vid on it, on eBay for those who want to see what kind of diving to expect there. Dive outfit is Ocean Fox in Davis Harbour. Video is 45 mins u/w from May 2008.

DVD Diving Dive Eleuthera Bahamas - eBay (item 130234092928 end time Jul-01-08 10:51:33 PDT)

 

[edpdiver]

Thanks everyone, for those detailed replies. They are much appreciated, and will help in planning a decision. I guess that I have a question on Small Hope Bay, though. I looked at a recent report on this board from Jaydog (if that is his real name), and the report said

"The reef off Andros seems to be succumbing to a large scale algae growth - lots of dead coral, but the structure of the reef and the HUGE wall (nearly a 6000 ft drop into the Tongue of the Ocean) and even a couple of wrecks kept things very interesting."

The report was still very upbeat about the diving at Small Hope, saying that the reef structure and the fish made it very worthwhile, but the clear statement was that the coral was dying off because of the algae. What am I missing? Is it just that some of us are more sensitized to the algae than others? Is it seasonal? Sorry to prolong the discussion, but I thought that it might be useful to clarify the differing opinions.