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Dive Review of Grand Bahama Scuba/Island Seas in
Bahamas/Grand Bahama Island

Grand Bahama Scuba/Island Seas, Nov, 2012,

by Patricia A. Sinclair, LA, US (Top Contributor Top Contributor 31 reports with 10 Helpful votes). Report 7411.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 4 stars Food 3 stars
Service and Attitude 3 stars Environmental Sensitivity 4 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 4 stars
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments Grand Bahama Island May 27 through June 2 2012.

I won’t bore anyone with the trip details going to Grand Bahama (and the body search I got – so undignified) or from (suffice it to say, thus far I have gotten 8K miles from AA, but the customer service department has yet to hear the entire story…and I will email them again requesting that they either call me or email me concerning the entire incident.

I arrived at the Island Seas Resort at about 10:30 AM. Needless to say, my room wasn’t ready yet (check in is around 3PM) – so I had time to kill. Put luggage in lock up area and got some lunch. I called Grand Bahama Scuba and spoke with Melinda about the chance of going out to dive that afternoon. She asked me to call back around noon and see if they were going out or not. I had forgotten about Beryl and what she had done to the seas in the general vicinity. When I called back, Melinda said they would not be going out that afternoon. In retrospect, I am sooooo glad that they did not go out on Sunday afternoon, I would have been beaten to death by the waves!


Monday morning, Melinda met me in front of the resort and drove me to the dive shop. There were several very young men in the van as well who were going diving with us that day. I did not take my camera into the water…don’t do that usually on the first dive or day of a trip – and in this case, it was extremely rough on the boat and in the water.
Dive 1 – Pygmy Caves, 70 fsw, 51 minutes. 3000 psi in, 1000 psi out. Water was cold at the end of the dive (79 F and I was wearing only a dive skin.) There was a pretty good current on this dive, but you could duck into the channels between coral heads and avoid it. There was a huge grouper hanging around right next to the mooring and he seemed to own that spot, since he never moved far from it. A second large grouper came by as well. Both were Black Groupers. 3 large lionfish on the site and they were unafraid of divers. I also saw Shy hamlets, grunts, damselfish and the usual Caribbean reef species. I loved the dive, but hated surfacing.
Surface Interval: Seas were VERY choppy, and I was queasy during the surface interval. Several people were ill and feeding the fish, I never got that bad, though the stomach would have rebelled had I put anything on it.
Dive 2 - Shark Junction, 49 fsw, 47 minutes. 3000 psi in, 1400 psi out. Water COLD and rough!!!
4 large Caribbean reef sharks were circling around as I was descending the down line. The continued to buss around us on and off during the entire dive. All were females. There were two very large lobsters hiding under the “wreck” remains. One horse-eyed jack showed up, and a very large free swimming remora who tried to attach to anyone close to it. The remoras on the sharks were much smaller.

No afternoon dive (I was glad as I did not think my stomach could take the trip out to the dive site and back.) I went back to the resort, washed the gear and me and then went in search of a late lunch. Since it was so late, (3PM) I ate and then went to the bar (where the wifi was) and updated family via email and friends via FB. Headed back to room watched the weather channel and turned in early.


Tuesday morning, Melinda met me in front of the resort and drove me to the dive shop, I was her only pick up that day. Still only using a diveskin, the water was getting cold to me by the end of the dives (mostly noticed when on the rope during the safety stops.) Water was a medium to light chop and improved throughout the day.
Dive 1 LittleHale’s Lair, 76 fsw, 60 minutes. 3000 psi in, 1000 psi out. Got some lionfish shots on this dive (add other information about the dive here.)
Dive 2 - Laura’s/Octopussy Garden, 65 fsw, 51 minutes. 3000 psi in, 1400 psi out.
Eel shots (add other information about the dive here.)
Dive 3 - Silver Reef, 20 fsw, 52 minutes. 3000 psi in, 1500 psi out. Small reef, lots of elkhorn coral, flamingo tongue shots, and there was a herd of blue parrotfish, with one lone midnight blue parrotfish hanging with them. By the end of this dive I was getting rather colder than I like to be, so I headed up a earlier than I had intended.
I went back to the resort, washed the gear and me and then took a bit of a nap. After I woke up, I went to dinner and then to the bar (where the wifi was) and updated family via email and friends via FB. Headed back to room and turned in early.

Wednesday morning, Melinda met me in front of the resort and drove me to the dive shop, as per our arrangement. Still only using a diveskin, the water was getting cold to me by the end of the dives (mostly noticed when on the rope during the safety stops.) Water had gone down to a light chop by the first dive and continued to improve throughout the day.
Dive 1 Tunnels, 80 fsw, 51 minutes. 3000 psi in, 1000 psi out. Water was cold to me, at the end of the dive (79 F ) Got some lionfish shots on this dive (add other information about the dive here.)
Dive 2 The Chamber, 60 fsw, 61 minutes. 3000 psi in, 1250 psi out. Got some sponge shots. This dive named for the deco chamber that was sunk at the site. This is the only deco chamber on the island at this timewon’t be of much use if you get bent!
Dive 3 - Silver Reef, 20 fsw, 56 minutes. 3000 psi in, 1500 psi out. Lots of elkhorn coral, flamingo tongue shots, sharpnosed pufferfish shots. By the end of this dive I was getting cold, so I headed on up. We had a pair of very young divers on this dive, brother and sister, Mother was snorkeling above us (and yelling at them to be careful). Father had a tendency to be all over the reef and not close enough to his kids during the dive.
I went back to the resort, washed the gear and me and then took a bit of a nap. After I woke up, I went to dinner and then to the bar (where the wifi was) and updated family via email and friends via FB. Headed back to room and turned in early.


Thursday morning, Melinda met me in front of the resort and drove me to the dive shop, I was her only pick up that day. Still only using a diveskin. I noticed that the water seemed cold at the end of the dives when on the rope during the safety stops. Water was MUCH calmer today, almost flat.
Dive 1 Freebex, 77 fsw, 52 minutes. 3000 psi in, 1250 psi out. Water was cold at the end of the dive (79 F and I was wearing only a dive skin.) Got some lionfish shots on this dive, got some shots of Fred doing his video thing. Schoolmasters and Grunts shots. Large dark green/brown grouper. Pink tunicates. Nice wreck remnants. The lionfish were very unafraid of divers and I was able to get extremely close to take pictures. I came up earlier than I wanted to. The next dive, Shark Junction, I did not want to have any issues with getting close to “deco required” on my dive computer.
Dive 2 - Shark Junction, 48 fsw, 60 minutes. 3000 psi in, 1400 psi out. I got lots of shark pics. I also got some of Melinda and Barb (another diver) with sharks around her, and she was oblivious to them being so close to her. What a GREAT dive!!!
Dive 3 - Moray Manor, 61 fsw, 54 minutes. 3000 psi in, 1300 psi out. One shot of a green moray eel. French angel shots, Porkfish school. Looked like they were getting ready to spawn, they way they were clustering around each other. Fred did see blueheaded wrasse spawn on this dive (I missed it.)
I went back to the resort, washed the gear and me and then took a bit of a nap. After I woke up, I went to dinner and then to the bar (where the wifi was) and updated family via email and friends via FB. Headed back to room and turned in early.


Friday morning, Melinda met me in front of the resort and drove me to the dive shop and she had two Germans with her in the van. I sold my camera/rig before we went down to the dive boat, so I did not have it along on today’s dives. Still only using a diveskin, so to me, the water was cold at the end of the dives (noticed when on the rope during the safety stops.) It started to rain when we boarded the dive boat and continued to rain all the rest of the trip out and back, making the water much warmer than being on the boat. The water was flat today, like a mirror with rain drops falling on it.
Dive 1 Duncan’s Wreck, 70 fsw, 44 minutes. 3000 psi in, 1500 psi out. Water was cold at the end of the dive (79 F and I was wearing only a dive skin.) Upon first descent, I went to look and see depth, when I noticed I did not have my dive computer on my wrist. I surfaced and went back to get it. Rather boring wreck dive (I don’t particularly like wrecks). The appeared to be dark and cold – due to the overcast and rain going on. At the end of the dive, after the two Germans surface (right behind me) the girl got ill, spit out her reg and put her mask on top of her head. I tried to get her to put her reg back in, but she pushed it away. I swam to the ladder, told Dom (DM) that she was sick and probably would need some help. I exited the water with Kamal’s help (deck hand). I had ended this dive early (for me) because I was bored (which usually on my last dive day is impossible to have happen.)
Dive 2 - Angel Camp, 45 fsw, 55 minutes. 3000 psi in, 1500 psi out. This site had large mushroom shaped coral heads everywhere. Nice dive. At the beginning a shark came through and buzzed us, then she left. At the end of the dive she showed back up again. Melinda and I were the only two in the water when she came back. Turns out her named is Harvery, and she recently had babies, since she does not appear to be preggers anymore. My LAST dive of the trip - 13 dives, 11 hours and 33 minutes in the water.
I went back to the resort, washed the gear and me and set everything out to dry. I went out to the bar and ordered lunch. Since I was there, I went ahead and emailed family and updated friends on FB.

Saturday, got to airport at 06:00 AM and after a lot of problems, finally got a plane to MIA and from there, home to MSY (New Orleans). Vacay over, sigh…

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving [Unspecified]
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy Seas calm, choppy, surge
Water Temp 78-82°F / 26-28°C Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility 50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile no
Enforced diving restrictions stay with DM
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 3 stars Tropical Fish 3 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish 3 stars
Large Pelagics 5 stars

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter N/A Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments [None]
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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