Nassau diving - how?

[DiveBandit]

Cruising over to Nassau in July. My 2 son's and I want to do some diving. I was wondering if It would be cheaper to find a dive operation on my own, or purchase a "Shore exscursion" from Carnival?

Any opinions?

Any suggestions on a dive op.

Thx.

 

[diversteve]

Don't know what Carnival is charging but your two other options on Nassau are Stuart Cove's or Bahama Divers. SC does a lot of the cruise ship trade. I've also heard there's a third operator that only does the cruise ship trade. And I've read that if SC is your cruise operator, you aren't allowed to book directly. I don't cruise so...

Stuart Cove's is on the south side of New Providence - you'll be docking on the north side - so they run shuttles over and back.

Bahama Divers is located at the bridge to Paradise Island so probably a 10min. cab ride from the cruise port. But check BD's schedule as they're not particularly cruise friendly unless you're in port longer.

hth,

 

[427Dave]

I booked through Carnival when we were there in January. booked a two tank morning dive. The dive company only does the cruise ships. They were waiting at the ship when you came down the gang way and you walked directly to their boat. I was pleased with them. They have a nice boat also. The price was almost the same also, I believe $99.00 for a two tank dive and that included gear. The other dive operators the timing was going to be close to be able to get to where they were going to pick you.

The only problem, we did not get to do the two dives and the only dive we did was in the harbor. The seas where so rough that they cancelled the shows on the ship as they could not stand up on stage. It was our first and probably our last. I worked on ships before I retired so I am use to the rough riding, but my wife and others were not. They refunded our second dive and credited it to our account on the ship. Even in the harbor it was interesting getting back on the dive boat, but not bad.

Have fun.

 

[Scubasleep]

I went on a cruise and had not planned on diving, but as we got off the ship I saw a boat with a dive flag and inquired about a dive. It was a wonderfull experience and the highlight of my vacation. The dive shop I went through was called "Divers Haven". The area I dove in they called it "Fish Hotel".
Hope this helps

 

[divengolf]

I dove with Bahama Divers for two days while waiting for my Liveaboard to come into port. Very competent op. One diver was injured getting back on board and they handled it well. Diver didn't do what DM told her to do.

However I don't know anything about logistics with cruise ships, though a couple divers on our boat were from a cruise.

I've heard that SC is a real cattle boat operation, but they're known for their shark dive.

 

[dk2943]

I just cruised to Nassau. I checked with both Bahama Divers and Stuarts Cove. Their schedules did not match the cruise schedules. I contacted both operaters and they told me to do it with the ship. It cost a little more but we were assured that we would not miss anything. Ultimately, we went out with Stuarts Cove and had two great dives.