Dive excursion in nassau/coco cay??

[luvmygirlz]

Has anyone did a dive excursion in Nassau or coco cay? Recommendations? How was the scenery?

[SeaThruU]

Our family has been diving for years and we have gone with Stuart Cove's and Bahama Divers in Nassau. Stuart Cove's Shop is located on the western end of the island, about half an hour from the cruise port. Dive sites, in our opinion, are better at the western end and they are a wonderful operation. Bahama Diver's shop/boat is a short drive from cruise dock. They are located in the harbor at east end of downtown. We dove with them once. They were ok, but the dive sites were pretty boring at the eastern end of island.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[tahqa]

As the previous poster indicated the dive excursions for RCI in Nassau are run by Stuart Coves. They are on the southwest side of the island and it's really about a 45 minute bus ride to get there. They have about 30 sites they dive based on the experience level of the group and many of those sites are spectacular! I'm particularly fond of Pumpkin Patch. :)

 

The Coco Cay excursion is a one tank shore dive where the duration is based on the fastest air consumer. There will be a surface swim to a buoy and then a descent on the line. Then the guide will follow the reef until the first person hits half tank. At that point they turn around and follow the reef back until someone hits 500 PSI at which point everyone surfaces and surface swims back. There was some good scenery on this dive and it's a pretty relaxing dive but it'd be up to you to determine if it's worth $55. :)

[grvdggr71]

We've done both of these dives twice - most recently last weekend on our Enchantment cruise. Stuart Cove's is a nice dive trip - they have a number of dive sites they visit ranging from wrecks, reefs, and wall dives. The groups on the boats seem to be small - we had 8 people on our excursion total. Where you go will vary based on weather conditions and if that site is busy with other dive boats. We saw a black-tipped reef shark and a sea turtle on our dives last weekend. The shuttle drive out and back to the dive shop is the only negative. Our dives last weekend were at 80 ft and 50 ft. Previously, we had a wall dive at "Sand Chute" that went to 110 ft.

 

CocoCay is a nice dive for the price. You'll be the first passengers off the ship, set up your gear on the island, then have a short diver's briefing. The swim out can be tiring if the current is fighting you. Once you are under the water, it's a pleasant swim along the reef, then turned in towards shore. Max depth is about 35 feet. Saw a small ray, tiny eels, and a lobster here. Not nearly as exciting as Nassau, but if you are just looking to get a shore dive in, the price is right ($45 if you use your own equipment). Follow this up with a beach-side massage!

[herdfans4]

We are diving with Stuart coves's through royal Caribbean on our cruise next week. I will let you know how it goes. This is our first excursion dive. We usually dive on our own but time limitation at Nassau prohibits this as I worry we wouldn't make it back in time. Ship excursion takes that worry away.

[TPCRUISER2]

Good choice! Your time in Nassau is limited. Think you will enjoy the dives.