Need info for a possible Bahamas Trip

[Natasha]

That sounds a little better. I have had people come back saying they had "Cattle Boats"
While I hate that term, it probably was the busy time of year, and they had their boats full, and didn't allow as much freedom.

 

[Soggy]

The big issue is that they cater to the resort diver, so they watch over everyone quite a bit. They let the reigns go on people a bit if it was obvious they had some experience and I think it helped a bit when I told them my last dive was a week prior in 38 degree water.

I just realized how many times I put the phrase "a bit" in that paragraph.


I could see them turning into cattle boats. One of the dives they told us, "dive your own profile, but the boat leaves at 12pm." That was on a shallow reef with no guide. A couple of the other dives, no one cared when we came back...if they had a slow day, they could just send a second boat out, so the first boat didn't need to be back at a specific time.

 

[scubawife]

South Ocean was sold to a private owner about 2 yrs ago and has gone rapidly downhill.

We were first at this "resort" when it was a Raddison property in the early '90s. At that time it was beautiful, all new furniture and fixtures, 3 restaurants, gorgeous grounds, golf course, the works. My husband did 4 dives with Stuarts Cove that trip and was happy with them. We went back in March 2002 and I was really glad we were only staying 4 nights. The rooms were in disrepair, hot water went out for several hours at some point every day on a rotating basis in different buildings, they're down to one restaurant (mediocre at best). You're not close to anything else either so your options are limited.

We didn't use Stuart Cove's on this trip since my instructor was down with us to do my check-out dives and we a shop he dives with. We met a group though who was using SC and they said that the boats are full and include resort course divers, students and experienced divers. Although the dives were ok, there was no flexibility. The dives were short and everything had to be on schedule to make it back to the dock for the next boat load of divers to go out.

Don't let the cheap deals lure you to South Ocean.

 

[scuberd]

I did a trip on the Cat Ppalu, run by blackbeard it was great, afterwards I did a day with Steward Cove's. It was great, my buddy and I did our own thing (NOT going with the group) and had a great time.

I'd try to avoid paradise island as much as possible, very pricy.

hope you have fun! =-)

p.s can I go too?

 

[Dr. Jay]

....to all for the info.

I'm still trying to decide whether or not to do the Bahamas thing, or maybe just head down to the Keys for a longer amount of time, or I even considered maybe a long weekend trip on a cruise or something. I want to stick to the Carribean, if not the Keys. I'm not too sure about the Blackbeards cuz the girlfriend might end up getting sick (but I do like the idea of a 3 or 4 day cruise with diving as an option - I don't have to dive every day).

Got any other good suggestions for 2 college students for around $1000-$1600 total?

Scuberd: Sure! Although, we'd have to find you a Carribean Beauty to hang out with...that is if its ok with you :tease:

 

[sparky30]

Dr. Jay once bubbled...
....to all for the info.

I'm still trying to decide whether or not to do the Bahamas thing, or maybe just head down to the Keys for a longer amount of time, or I even considered maybe a long weekend trip on a cruise or something. I want to stick to the Carribean, if not the Keys. I'm not too sure about the Blackbeards cuz the girlfriend might end up getting sick (but I do like the idea of a 3 or 4 day cruise with diving as an option - I don't have to dive every day).

Got any other good suggestions for 2 college students for around $1000-$1600 total?

Scuberd: Sure! Although, we'd have to find you a Carribean Beauty to hang out with...that is if its ok with you :tease:

Easy.. Try a Blackbeards cruise out of Miami.. I think you're in the right price range. And you get almost a week of travel on a sailboat.. all the food, diving and drinking you can handle.. And if you're really good you can go spearfishing for lobster.. I just came back from in Feb and we had a blast.. Its nothing fancy, but the diving, and food are amazing. The crews are excellent.. and the night on shore in Bimini is something I won't soon forget
We only had one persone get sick on our trip and that was because she forgot to take her meds before we left port.

 

[blawler1]

Continental Connection flys directly to Freeport from Orlando.

The Holiday Inn Sunspree near the casino/bazaar has just been remodeled and specials are available online.

Over in Port Lucaya, the Port Lucaya Resort is nice and reasonable, I recently saw a free night special on Expedia for staying 4 nights ($80 rack rate).

The ultimate budget dive/hotel combination is the Bell Channel Inn (www.bellchannelinn.com) located across from the Port Lucaya Marketplace. Its a small older, but clean property with an on site dive operator, Caribbean Divers. They run a special for 4 nights room and 6 dives each for two people for $550 out the door. There are also packages for longer stays.

Port Lucaya is a hopping place in spring and summer with U.S. and European college students all over the place. The Port Lucaya Marketplace has live outdoor entertainment everynight and plenty of bars to find a good time.

The diving on GB can be summed up in one word, sharks. At many sites there are resident reef sharks that are fed on a regular basis (do a feeding dive, Xanadu has the best) so they hang around divers. Its a rush. The visibility is usually outstanding (its been over 100' everytime I've been) and there are plenty of dive sites ranging from deeper walls to shallow coral heads as well as a couple of pretty good wrecks.

Check it out.

 

[jgiddings]

I went with my wife to Walker's Cay for 4 days (3 of diving). The trip was within your budget. See if they have any deals going on.

Walker's was okay diving but not great except for their "Shark Rodeo". Place was nice, very relaxing and not a whole lot to do besides dive and relax. The island itself is tiny.

www.walkerscay.com