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Dive Review of carnival cruise line affilate/carnival cruise ship fascination in
Bahamas/nassau

carnival cruise line affilate/carnival cruise ship fascination, Mar, 2003,

by walter dudley, az, usa . Report 383.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 3 stars Food 3 stars
Service and Attitude 3 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 3 stars Shore Diving 5 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 3 stars
Comments [None]This was a 95 foot wreck dive followed by a 35 foot wreck dive. The large freighter had begun accumulating encrustrations and attracted numerous small fish. The dive operator did check our certification but was not concerned about our dive history. The dive operator is affilaited with the cruise ships and picked up six from the carnival cruise ship and five more from other cruise ships.

The captain, Alan or Andrew, divided us in to two groups and away we went. The first dive site was about 25 minutes out. At that location the fish life was not too exciting and there was little coral in the area. Most of our underwater time was spent inspecting the shipwreck and going in and out of some of its passage ways. Our dive master, Jovan, did check with us fairly often to see that we were okay and asked for our remaining air pressure on one occasion. At the end he directed us to go back up the anchor line. It seems that everyone choose to do the 15 foot safety stop before surfacing. Before leaving the dive site the captain took roll call.

The boat, Strike III, was spartan, yet clean and provided us with complimentary water and punch. The dive equipment provided by the dive company was adequate.

The second dive spot was about 10 minutes from the first and was at the site of another wreck. This time a much smaller ship that apparently made a bee line for the Nassau lighthouse. Unfortunately the ship ran a ground and sunk about 100 feet from the lighthouse.

On this dive we once again divided into the same two groups. One group headed for the artifical breakwater cement blocks and the other for the wrecked ship. This ship was a more recent wreck and the encrustration was not as developed. There were a number of fish taking advantage of the wreck. Yellow tails, parrot, tang, and the usual assortment of caribean fishes. I did not see any turtles nor eels. However, not all was lost as I did see a rather large grouper (appropriate as I think of the term Nassau Grouper) and someone else saw a large ray.

After poking about the wreck our group swapped locations with the other group. We then investigated the cement breakwater barriers. There were many fish, and some coral was attching to some barriers. We followed the diver master by swimming in and out of the barriers before finishing this 35 foot deep dive. However, the crew did not set out spare tanks for a safety stop as they had done at the first dive. Our return trip to shore was about 15 minutes and again the captain took roll call before we left the dive location.

This is the first time I had been on a cruise ship and my expectations about cruise ship arranged scuba dive were not too high as I thought it may be a rather canned operation. That being the case I found the dive to be better than expected but clearly not at the level I have experienced on the belize aggressor or better land based operations such as found on tortola.

I did take an afternoon tour with one of the local taxi drivers (Mr Peepei) and found it a good, not cheap, value. He had been on Nassau for years and obvioulsy took pride in his country and sharing it with we tourists. The tour included many of the government buildings, a plethora of bank (Nassau is a bank secrecy haven, although the IRS is working hard to remove the secrecy), upper scale and poorer neighboorhoods, the extragavant Atlantis resort complex. The hugh Atlantis acquarium was outstanding. Manta Rays, Grouper, Sharks, and others were supberb. I have been to many acquariums Boston, Chicago, Curacuo, San Diego, and so on and this Atlantis exhibit is as good or better than any others. Mr Peepei cautioned me about going out alone at night. Of course that is the case in most large cities.

Overall a good diving and sightseeing experience.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 101-250 dives
Where else diving [Unspecified]bonaire, curacao, belize, boniare, la parguera puerto rico, tortola BVI, la paz mexico, pompano beach FL, panama city FL, san clemente island CA, san carlos mexico,
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, dry Seas calm
Water Temp 76-78°F / 24-26°C Wetsuit Thickness 0
Water Visibility 50-70 Ft/ 15-21 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions [Unspecified]our group of six were reqested to stay near one another and follow the dive master, this was a 95 foot dive and our bottom time was to be limited to 20-25 minutes. we were asked to do a safety stop at 15 feet for 3-5 minues.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

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