Dive Review of Reef Oasis Dive Club/Viva Wyndham Fortuna in
Bahamas/Freeport, Grand Bahama

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Reef Oasis Dive Club/Viva Wyndham Fortuna: "Sharks!", Nov, 2021, by John Nelson, NV, US ( 1 report). Report 11797.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This was my first time visiting the Bahamas. I had several people tell me not to bother going to the Bahamas, but I’m glad I didn’t listen to them. I brought my wife along and this turned into a pretty epic dive trip for us. We dived with Reef Oasis Dive Club which is located at the Viva Wyndham Fortuna resort. Our primary objective for visiting Grand Bahama was to dive with the sharks including a trip to Tiger Beach. However, because of strong winds causing rough conditions, the Tiger Beach trip was cancelled each day and we never did make it there during our trip. However, the diving was still great and we saw at least 3 grey reef sharks or more on 7 of the 8 dives we did get to do. The coral unfortunately is showing the damage from the hurricanes, but it does appear to be making an effort to come back. There were lots of reef fish and other critters abound. Visibility was very good and the water temperature was comfortable to me with a 3mm wetsuit. This was also my first time going on a group dive trip. It was a large group (19) and consisted of all levels of divers, but it all seemed to work out ok. The crew for Reef Oasis Dive Club did a good job or wrangling the 19 divers on and off the boat. They split us into 2 groups of new divers and experienced divers. They allowed the experienced group of divers to dive our own profiles. Captain Basil did an exceptional job of helping everyone on and off the boat and assisted with getting divers ready to dive. Captain Basil also had cookies ready for us after the dives as well as water for drinking. The boat only had a rinse bucket for masks, but there was plenty of room for the 19 of us + crew. The Divemasters, Michael, Jacob, and Ceaser were very knowledgable, helpful, and patient with our group of 19. All three gave thorough and relevant dive briefings. On our first dive a thorough safety briefing was given on the specifics of the boat. A dan oxygen kit was located at the helm, easily accessible to anyone. All of the diving was located close to shore and relatively close to the other sites, but I never felt like I was doing the same dive over and over. Some areas had large ridges of coral with multiple swim throughs. Other sites were sandy bottom with frequent coral heads located throughout. They did have some wrecks as well and of course the grey reef sharks. Aside from the great diving, the Viva Wyndham Fortuna resort was average, but comfortable and provided adequate accommodations for a dive trip. The grounds were clean and I felt safe during my entire visit. There were 2 small stores at the resort with varying availability of necessities, snacks, and souvenirs. The Viva Wyndham Fortuna boasts itself as an all inclusive resort, but food was very bland and not always readily available. There were daily choices of Chicken, pork, and fish of varied preparations in the buffet. There was always pizza and a pasta bar for lunch and dinner. As well as an omelet station for breakfast. However, the buffet had specific hours of operation for each meal, which made it a little difficult to eat when you actually wanted. There was also a pool bar that served hot dogs and hamburgers throughout the afternoon. As well as 2 other restaurants that required reservations and were only open for dinner. Overall the resort was very clean. The rooms were old, but clean with daily room service. My wife and I got lucky and were placed in a room about 50 ft from the ocean giving us a stunning view from the room. We did have issues with room key cards working every time, but that was easily fixed for us when it happened. There were divers in our group that complained that they did not have hot water in their rooms, but my wife and I enjoyed hot showers every day. Covid testing was easy and could be done directly at the resort. However, the scheduled time stated 9-2, but the actual availability of testing was 10-1215. That did get a little tricky trying to get in dives and complete the test once the weather improved, but overall the process to get it done was simple and cheaper than what I expected ($16 payed online before the test). Masks were required in all the indoor areas of the resort. So take multiple masks for your trip. Getting to Grand Bahama by air presented some issues. We took the red eye from Nevada because it was the only option to make our morning connection out of Miami to Freeport Grand Bahama. We had greater than a 2 hour layover scheduled in Miami, but our flight was delayed almost 2 hours, so we stressed the entire flight about making our connection. The 7 of us on our flight did make the connection, but we had a group flying through Ft Lauderdale that did not make theirs and had to overnight it in Florida. It seems only 1 flight a day flies from any connecting city to Grand Bahama.
Websites	Reef Oasis Dive Club
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	California, Nevada, North Carolina, Arizona, Utah, Hawaii, Palau, Guam, Yap, Saipan, Thailand, Malaysia, Aruba, Grand Cayman
Closest Airport	FPO	Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	79-83°F / 26-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-60 Ft/ 9-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	no
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	There are no specific accommodations for cameras on the boat. I did have plenty of room to switch out batteries between dives. Underwater, the visibility was exceptional making lots of great photo opportunities.

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Dive Review of Reef Oasis Dive Club/Viva Wyndham Fortuna in Bahamas/Freeport, Grand Bahama

Reef Oasis Dive Club/Viva Wyndham Fortuna: "Sharks!", Nov, 2021,

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

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

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

Dive Review of Reef Oasis Dive Club/Viva Wyndham Fortuna in
Bahamas/Freeport, Grand Bahama