Main Menu
Join Undercurrent on Facebook

The Private, Exclusive Guide for Serious Divers Since 1975 | |
For Divers since 1975
The Private, Exclusive Guide for Serious Divers Since 1975
"Best of the Web: scuba tips no other
source dares to publish" -- Forbes
X
 

Dive Review of Castle Comfort Lodge in
Dominica/Roseau to Scotts Head

Castle Comfort Lodge, Feb, 2012,

by Mike Groarke, MT, US (Sr. Reviewer Sr. Reviewer 8 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 6449.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving 4 stars
Snorkeling 4 stars
Value for $$ 4 stars
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments We very much enjoyed the trip, the people are great. The whole island is trying hard to be enviromentally friendly and they are succeeding far better than other islands we have visited in the area. Best critter variety and photography we have seen in the Caribbean. Crews are local and well trained and knowledgeable. Yes there are lion fish but they are killing them on sight.

One of the most memorial dives was one morning when we hear the whale song the entire two dives and then saw them on the way back in. Have never heard that before.

Weather can be cool in the morning and evening, say a sweater or a sweat shirt. We did wear our dive chamois between dives and on the way in. It can rain any day. The forest is tropical but there are no venemous snakes on the island.

If you plan on renting wheels remember they drive on the wrong side of the road and the roads are windy and steep, this is avolcanic island with very little flat land. The honking is to warn people you are comming around the bend not to tell them to get out of the way.

Carry spare parts and batteries, you will not be buying any there. I wore a 3-4-5 mm wet suit and my wife wore a 3 and we were OK but after three dives we were tired. None or very little current. The rental gear is in good shape and the tanks are inspected, I would have no reservations using their gear. There is a new chamber installed at the local hospital in the last year. They only have 3 mm shorties for wet suits but there are some hoods.

Very few divers there but when it was only us, my wife and I, they still cheerfully took out the boat for our daily dives. If half of a couple was a none diver they went out of their way to pick a site that could be snorkled as well. Night dive was great.

For non diving days you can hire a guide and driver and travel to a wide range of mountain trails and interesting local attractions. For the real adventureer use the local bus to get around. Town is 2.00 East Caribbean dollars and that way you meet some interesting people. We used the local bus to get up to Titou Gorge (don't miss this one) and lucked out since there was no one there. We swam up the gorge to the water falls. One caution, if possible avoid the cruise ship days when going ashore. The government has a deal that gives their tour parties preference at places like the Titou gorge or the boiling lake. We couldn't get to the upper falls one day because of the crowd. The desk has the cruise ship schedule. They provide dive services to the cruise ships and other operations but do it with a different boat than the daily dive boat.

Anotehr way to spend a none dive day is a whale watch trip. They saw whales on all the trips while we were there and we got the lucky and saw a sperm whale breech completly out of the water. The cows had calfs with them as well.

Because of the tropical nature of the mountains flying in can be problomatic so I would suggest trip insurance.

The resort has everything a diver needs, remember the power is 240 v but each room has one or two 110 v plugs. The morning breakfast in the package is a full breakfast. The rooms and beds are good. Only down side of the resort is it would have been nice to have a refrigerators in the room. Email and the web are good but slow down in the evenings. Food is good and they have a nice local beer or rum.
The water in the taps is potable and we drank it for the two weeks there with no problems.

If you want night life and shopping this is not the place but for diving or whale watching it is great. Linda got some great pictures and we plan on returning.
Websites Castle Comfort Lodge   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 501-1000 dives
Where else diving Montana, So Cal, Belize, Cozumel, Roatan, Utilla, St Croix, Thailand, Palau, Truk, Raja Ampat, Australia GBR,
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm
Water Temp 78-80°F / 26-27°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Followed computer profile for repetative dives for Advanced divers, for others 100' max and up to 1 hr. total dive with manditory safety stop
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas 1 or 2
Dolphins Schools Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales 1 or 2
Corals 4 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish N/A
Large Pelagics N/A

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

Subject Matter 5 stars Boat Facilities 4 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 5 stars Shore Facilities 3 stars
UW Photo Comments Given the partially cloudy days that you can experience here lighting is a big concern. When it is sunny it is great; If it has been raining and you are diving close in there is more material in the water reducing visibility.
Was this report helpful to you?

Subscriber's Comments

By George M Constantino in GA, US at Jul 28, 2013 10:38 EST  
Good review - thanks! Can you tell me more about the diving? Did the boat go out in the morning & afternoon? Did you do shore diving? How many night dives?
By report author: Mike Groarke in MT, US at Jul 28, 2013 19:47 EST  
Been a while, I am over in Singapore working right now. Water clarity was good, boat went out three time a day if you want. They were happy to go our with only the two of us. We did two morning dives and an afternoon twice. We also dove right off the dock at the resort, fast drop off but lots of ells. Linda (my wife) got good pictures most everywhere we went. Lots of turtles. Not a lot of current, Hardly what I call drift dives. I would have no problem bringing beginners on all of the dives we did. Not a lot of large fish, although we saw some large barracuda and heard but did not see the whales the one dive. We did one night dive and they picked up another group from the large hote. It was their last day and it was more crowded than I like for a night dive, but then Linda (my wife) & I are used to doing it by ourselves. Plan to go back again once I have finished this contract. Be a nice place to spend the winter. Mike
Leave a comment (Subscribers only -- 200 words max)
Subscribers can comment here
 

Subscribe Now
Subscribers can post comments, ask the reviewer questions, as well as getting immediate and complete access to ALL 103 dive reviews of Dominica and all other dive destinations. Complete access to all issues and Chapbooks is also included.

 

Want to assemble your own collection of Dominica reports in one place?
Use the Mini Chapbook Facility to create your personalized collection.

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.

Undercurrent Home


Get more dive info like these and other important scuba updates sent monthly to your email.
And a FREE Recent Issue of Undercurrent

Free Undercurrent Issue
Get a free
monthly email and
a sample issue!


Find in  

| Home | Online Members Area | My Account | Login | Join |
| Travel Index | Dive Resort & Liveaboard Reviews | Featured Reports | Recent Issues | Back Issues |
| Dive Gear Index | Health/Safety Index | Environment & Misc. Index | Seasonal Planner | Blogs | Free Articles | Book Picks | News |
| Special Offers | RSS | FAQ | About Us | Contact Us | Links |

Copyright © 1996-2024 Undercurrent (www.undercurrent.org)
3020 Bridgeway, Ste 102, Sausalito, Ca 94965
All rights reserved.

Page computed and displayed in 2.41 seconds