We did dive in Bermuda while we were in port with the Norwegian Spirit. We chose to book the dives ourselves instead of using the boat and I think that was a good idea. For two divers, that saved us about $80 (but we didn't rent gear). We dove with Blue Water Diver's Somerset Bridge location. I thought the dive op was run well. We did a two tank dive. The first was the wreck of the L'Hermine. This is an 1800's shipwreck in about 30 feet of water. There isn't a whole lot of wreck left to see, but there are a number of cannons, a large anchor, and some other debris to explore. Visibility for us for both dives was about 50-60 feet. Our second dive, also in about 30 feet of water, was at Fossil Wreck, here, while technically a wreck site, the wreck is almost unnoticeable but the reef is beautiful, which is why the captain chose the site. There were two dive masters and the captain on the boat along with several divers. The boat was not too croweded. We did have one diver that was brand new and dove specifically with a dive master. The rest of us were on our own, which was a difference for us from when we dove in Honduras. In Honduras, the group pretty much followed the dive master, which I did like because he was able to point out things of interest that we may have otherwise missed. Here, you were told what time to be back at the boat. Nothing that I'd criticize, just a different style of operation. I thought the operation was safe, the captain and dive masters were friendly and helpful. There was a full briefing given about each site from the boat.
Initially, I was kind of bummed that we dove so shallow and was sort of hoping for a wreck where more of the wreck was visable. My thought was that because we took out a beginner we had to stay shallow and that limited our dive possibilities. I wondered whether we should have book off the boat. Then, I talked with someone who book from the Norwegian Spirit and found out that they, too, had taken out divers who had never dove before. Apparently some of the production crew from the boat wanted to learn how to dive. Also, their "wreck" dive was on a "wreck" that had been purposely sunk a couple of years ago for them to use as a dive site. Hearing that, I was very glad that we dove with Blue Water. Seriously, something like 400 wreck sites around Bermuda and you have to sink another one just to dive on? Sounds kind of lame.
Overall, I was pleased and would dive with Blue Water again. Oh, I will say with though, I rented a shorty, as I get cold in even warm water. I put it partially on, didn't zip it, they guy said it was good, and I took it off and put it with my equipment on the boat. So, the zipper was broken, and would unzip every time I moved. Of course, I didn't know this until right before the first dive. I somehow attached it to part of my BCD so it stayed mostly zipped, but learned to fully check all equipment, even a wetsuit, before the boat leaves (rookie mistake probably).
The cab ride from King's Wharf (where the Norwegian Spirit docked) to Blue Water Divers is about 15-20 minutes and about $16 each way. I am not sure how close busses drop off to the dive op, as we had all our own gear and a bus would not have worked for us. There were cabs waiting in the dockyard early enough for us to make the early dive. We were back by around lunch time.
That was pretty much our dive experience. I am glad we chose to dive in Bermuda and we did have a positive experience at Blue Water Divers. We dove in the morning on our middle day . . . but if your docking for three days you could probably dive the first afternoon, morning or afternoon on the middle day, or morning on the third day. At Blue Water the morning dives are two tank dives and the afternoon dives are one tank dives.
On our last day, we decided to check out the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Instutite. We really thought it was great. It would certainly be a great place to bring kids. It cost about $12 for adults, not sure the $ for kids, and had some great exhibits. There are multiple cases filled with artifacts recovered from many of the Bermuda shipwrecks, and I particularly liked finding artifacts from the wrecks we dove.
I hope you enjoy your trip to Bermuda and I hope this update was helpful.
