Questions On Stuart Cove's

[Gonz]

You know what one of the great things about internet forums is? The fact that if you don't like the question there is no obligation to reply to it.

The other great thing about forums is the amount of info available if simply look around, but I digress...


Stuart Cove's is a great dive outfit. My wife and I dove with them back in December, they made a great effort to be sure not to take us to the same spot twice, and we almost always had the option to follow the DM or go off on our own. Plenty of bottom time even if there were newbies in the group, lots of wrecks available to see, and freindly sharks everywhere. Some folks feel the shark dive gets old after about 15 minutes, since you're kneeling in a circle, not moving, and about 30-40 feet deep, so you're air lasts forever. And watching sharks eat is really only entertaining for a certain amount of time, then you wish you could just swim off and do something else.

 

[Dragon2115]

The other great thing about forums is the amount of info available if simply look around, but I digress...

That is quite true but information can get stale, dive ops change the way they do things, people that haven't commented before may have a different perspective, etc. If everybody found what they were looking for with a search there'd be no point to the forum. It would just be a huge online encyclopedia which probably wouldn't be very much fun. It's one thing if you're looking for the max FO2 for an out-of-box regulator but quite another if you're looking for opinions about a particular place.

 

[Mark50]

I did the shark dive with SC two years ago. The first dive we crusied a wall as several 6 foot carribbean reef sharks kept their distance. They just know dinners coming soon. The 2nd dive they sit you an a sandy bottom at 35ft arranged in a semi-circle. The the DM comes down with a chainmail jacket and football helmet and proceeds to feed 12 to 20 animals. It does resemble a frenzy and the sharks swim betwen you and your buddy as they cruise around to take another pass at the bait bucket. Perhaps shark feeding isn't the right environmental thing to do, but it was absolutely awesome, and I gained both a comfort level and new found respect for these animals and the need for their conservation.

 

[daniel f aleman]

Their operation is run like clockwork, great for vacationers.

 

[Dragon2115]

My wife and I got back Saturday from two days of diving with Stuart Cove's. What Gonz, Mark, & Daniel said pretty much sums it up. The shark dive is great. If you've never done it before then it's well worth it.

They do try to keep from going to the same place twice. We weren't so lucky. We had a group on board that just HAD to go back to wreck of the Ray of Hope that they had already done the day before. Unfortunately we had done that site the day before as well on a different boat. It's a nice wreck but not very big so it won't take you long to see pretty much all of it. The first time we did it there were some large tiger groupers hanging around that made it cool. Unfortunately they were over at the shark arena site the second time. On both dives I looked inside various openings in the hull to see if anything had set up residence but didn't find anything.

The coral is in so-so shape. There's a few nice stands of it in the shallows but you really need to go over the edge of the wall to see anything decent. One reason for it is careless divers crashing into the reef and pawing everything they see. Sadly we saw a lot of that going on.

Over all it was a great time though and we'd dive with them again. One tip though, to make you life easier have all your ducks in a row when you arrive. Download the release forms from their website and fill them out ahead of time. Have them and your c-cards ready when you get there and you'll breeze through check-in.

 

[chuckrt]

My dght. and I used them while on a Royal Carribean Cruise and had no problems. The only thing you want to check is when yor ship leaves port as you will plrobably do the 12pm dive. If your ship leaves or requires you to be back aboard before 5pm you may be cutting it close. I did find Stuart's Cove to process the divers to their boats and check you in very quickly and efficiently. The bus may be a few minutes late picking you up only because they are picking up from other sites as well but they will be there. Good luck and have great dives. I will use them again next Bahama cruise.

chuckrt