Stuart Cove's Dive Bahamas - Nassau - TravBuddy

I am a novice scuba diver, having only 6 dives under my belt before diving with Stuart Cove's. I booked a 2-tank AM dive prior to my trip to the Bahamas. The online booking system is very useful, and the vouchers you need are emailed so you can print them at home or from your accomadations. The establishment is very well organized. The entire set-up allows for everything to flow with great ease prior to and after your diving trip.

The dive cost $89 USD with the online booking and rental equipment cost $22 USD (plus the exchange rate which I did not find out until I got my credit card bill). All previous dives I had done the equipment was included with the price of the dive, so I learned next time I go to the Bahamas - pack less clothes, bring own scuba gear.

The dives were very nice. I completed dives at two sites, "Wreck on the Wall" and "Nari Nari". The conditions were slightly choppy and the water was not as clear as I expected it to be. I also did not see as much marine life as I expected. "Nari Nari" is supposed to be an excellent site to see stingrays, but we didn't see one. We go to the sunken Cessna plane used in the filming of a JAWS movie. The dives themselves were not the best that I have been on, but Stuart Cove's can't control the ocean or the marine life. Hit and miss, this time I missed.

There was a photographer that traveled with the group. The photos are developed at sold at Fin Photo, which is on-site at Stuart Cove's. The pictures were very nice but to be honest, I felt they were very expensive. I paid $108 USD (before exchange rate, again the credit card) for 13 pictures. I was able to select only my pictures and received a CD in the mail about 3 weeks later. ALL of the previous dives I had done the photo CD was MUCH cheaper. You did get all the photos taken, so you got pictures of people you didn't know. Each time however, stock footage was added. One dive I completed in Maui I received 95 pictures for less than I paid at Fin Photo.

I would dive with Stuart's Cove again. However, I would bring my own equipment and maybe invest in my own underwater camera.

Here I tried Scuba Diving first time ever. I did the "Discover Scuba Course" for $130. The place was amazing and very well organised and it was really beautiful! We went straight to the ocean and did our lessons in the boat. After like 30 minute orientation we put our gears on and jumped in the ocean. First we did some skills with a teacher one-on-one and then about 30 minute dive around the area. There was an old shark cage and a plane in the bottom of the ocean! It was just amazing! And there was some corals and fishes of corse.. Water was just clear blue and we could see like more than 20m ahead! Water temperature was also just perfect, it was so warm that you could just enjoy everything you see and not suffer of cold water or anything. It was just perfect, money well spend!:D

I had decided to take a dive trip with Stuart Cove's operation down in Nassau, Bahamas.
I didn't really know what to expect at first and my first thought was "will we really get to see anything to really remember"? Boy was I in for a surprise. I didn't have a travel buddy as I was on my own, so I just hooked up with the first person I met. Nothing special, he needed a dive partner as well.
We arrived at our destination and the water was such a perfect clear blue and the temp couldn't have been any better. The whole trip was awesome....flawless!!

Once we entered the water, at that moment, I knew this would be one of the most spectacular dives I had been on. Were there sharks? OH YEAH!!! Many of them. We decended to approx 35 - 45 feet and made a large circle on the sandy bottom. Then the feeder setup right in the middle of us with the "chum" to draw the sharks in. You could tell they were used to this as they came like bandits.
The entire time down, they had a diver with a cam to record the event and was sure to get everyone on the recording. We were able to get many great pictures of the activity and enjoy the sharks making passes so close they would actually touch the lines from your tank to you octapus. I did find out that the flash from my camera would actually attract them (or maybe it was just a coincidence) but on a couple pics, they were so close you could only see the underside of their skin as they passed over me.
After the feeding and on the way assending we came across 2 baracuda in the rocks, and the cam diver recorded this as well. What an amazing creature and it actually looked like a green velvet hand puppet.....with TEETH, many of the little needle sharp things!!!
We arrived back at the dive shack and they had already put the tape in the recorder and we were watching our dive!!!
I just had to buy on of the tapes as I knew I may not experience this adventure again for quite some time. The tape cost me $40.00 (expensive) but well worth it. I still have it, but have also transferred it to a DVD.

Would I recommend this trip, You Betcha'

Every time we go somewhere tropical we try to do some snorkeling. I have snorkeled quite a few times, and the best place I have gone so far is with Stuart Cove's in the Bahamas. We were staying on Paradise Island and picked up a Stuart Cove's pamphlet at our resort. Stuart Cove's is in Nassau, Bahamas which is on New Providence Island, but they have shuttles that pick you up and drop you off at your hotel which is included in the price of the trip. We picked this company for our Bahamas snorkel because they offer 3 dive sites on the trip, and the final dive is with sharks. There were a couple of other companies that had the shark dive, but the price was either more, or it was a shark dive only.
Once you get there, you have to go into the gift shop/dive store and fill out the appropriate paperwork. You can also buy souvenirs, underwater cameras, and fish food, etc. After that, everyone gets onto the boat and is fitted with flippers, and given goggles and a yellow vest. It's not a standard life vest, but they do make you wear it so it is easier for them to see you in the water.
The first 2 dives were really cool. There wasn't huge amounts of coral and reef, but there are TONS of fish. A lot of yellow tail. The 2nd dive is near the plane wreckage that was used in a Jaws movie, so that's kind of cool. After our 2nd dive, they let people dive, flip, and jump off of the boat if you wanted to. Then it was on to the sharks.
The shark dive is at your own discretion. They put a bait box way down into the water, so the sharks are about 20 feet below you to start. I'm sure the sharks are so used to it by now due to the many trips a day. I didn't feel I was in any danger the entire time. They had a rope in the water and everybody had to get into the water slowly, without making any splashes. You have to hold onto the rope with at least one hand the entire time. The longer you are in, the closer and closer the sharks get. They do the whole circling thing, and end up pretty close. I think they give you 10-15 minutes in the water with the sharks, and then once everybody gets out, they put some bait on sticks, and have a little of fun with the sharks. That way if you chose not to get into the water, you could still them up close. And at the end of that, they throw, what looked like dog food into the water, and hundreds of yellow tail try to get it, and the sharks chase the yellow tail. The yellow tail are way too fast for the sharks, but this whole process is really cool. The yellow tail are at the surface, as well as the sharks, and there is this loud snapping sound throughout. It's really cool. I have a great video of all of the above water shark activity, and tons of pictures above and below the water. I will post a couple of the pics. I have a lot of pictures in my Bahamas travel blog you can check out.
The tour allows you to take cameras in the water, whether it's your own from home or a disposable, including during the shark dive. They don't serve any food/drinks on the boat, but a lot of people brought food, and a lot brought alcohol.
Overall, it was a really great experience. My only complaint of the whole thing, is that the process of passing out the flippers seemed to take forever, and we were really hot, but I would definitely do it again.
FYI- they also offer scuba diving trips. They do a shark dive where you are actually sitting on the bottom of the ocean in a circle with your fellow divers, and the sharks are swimming all around you, touching you, brushing against you. You get hit with tails and fins, it's a really close encounter with the sharks. They too allow you to take video and/or pictures. Check out their website www.stuartcove.com