Dive Review of
Rick Cavanaugh in
Dominica/Scotts Head

 Belize, Bonaire, Bequia, Cozumel, Dominica, Grand Turk, Little Cayman,
Provodencials, St. Croix, St. Martin, St Vincent, Tortola,   Tobago Cays,
Utila, Virgin Gorda,  and the Florida Keys. 

Dive Conditions

None  

Small boats with no rinse tanks needed since surface interval was at shop. 
Excellent wide angle areas and excellent muck area as well.  

Overall Rating

Due to 1000 word limit on this site see http://www.rickcavanaugh.com/ for a
full report and photos of this trip.

I am an avid underwater photographer and I am partial to locations with
good photography, both wide angle and especially macro.

We dove with Nature Island divers and stayed at their cottages located in
Soufriere. You two main choices for dive operators in Soufriere Scotts head
Marine Reserve are Dive Dominica and Nature Island. 

Dominica is an exceptional dive location. There are some issues. But all
islands have issues.

The best diving is located in Soufriere Scotts head Marine Reserve.  This
is as far from the airport as you can get on this island.  The taxi ride is
about 1 hour and is very scenic and expensive.  It is about $60 one way.  I
would highly recommend NOT renting a car from the airport.  The roads are
very twisty and very steep.  There are very few road signs.  Take the
taxi.

If you are staying in the cottages, the taxi will stop off in town at the
grocery store so you can pickup provisions.  Buy plenty.  There is almost
no shopping in Soufriere. Meals in Soufriere/Scotts Head are fish or
chicken.  Knowing this, do not buy fish or chicken at the grocery store.

The cottages have 2 Units.  The upstairs unit is smaller and is mostly
dark wood.  It has a larger deck.  The downstairs unit is larger and has a
nicer layout.  It has a small sitting room that could be used as a second
bedroom.  The kitchen/dining area downstairs is much nicer.  However the
downstairs unit has a much smaller deck.  Regardless of which one you
choose, both are quite nice compared to other choices in Soufriere/Scotts
Head.
There are few restaurants on this side of the island.  The food choice was
chicken or fish.  No choices on how it was prepared, just chicken or fish. 
I do not eat fin fish so, I ate a lot of chicken.  The Rain Forest Bistro
(Andre’s) is a must visit.  It is located up the mountain a little at
Andre’s House.  Reservations must be made a couple of days in advance. 
Once again, it is chicken or fish, but he is a farmer and grows his own
fruits and vegetables.  You will get some interesting local fruits and
vegetables. He has the best food on that side of the island.

Nature Island Divers use very small boats and they do not put more than 8
divers to a boat and when it is that crowded there will be 2 dive masters. 
Usually there were only 4 divers to a boat.  Some dives were only 2 divers.
 The dive masters are locals who have been diving the area for quite some
time.  They know where the critters are and are excellent in pointing them
out.  Surface intervals are at the shop since the sites are so close.  If
you are coming to Dominica to dive, then this is where you should go.

The diving is the reason to come here.  However, you will not see big
things.  The marine reserve is located at a fishing village.  They have
fished this area to death.  They still use net fishing.  Evidence is
everywhere of this.  The fishermen will throw stones into the water to
scare the fish into the nets.  Coral grows on stone never under it.  There
were a couple of sites where the fishermen have destroyed the coral with
the stones.  The stones where on top of the coral.  

The good news is that there is a huge amount of large colorful sponges
with colorful crinoids surrounding it.  The colors are fantastic.  It is
easy to shoot 100 wide angle photos on one dive.  I have never seen so many
crinoids anywhere. For those who are far sighted and do not like hunting
for macro life there are many very scenic sites with beautiful panoramic
views.  Most of these sites are around Scotts Head Pinnacle.  There is some
coral bleaching.  The majority of the Caribbean experienced a bleaching
event in 2005 and Dominica was effected as well.  About 50 % of the Brain
Coral is bleached and it does not look like it will recover well.  Overall
color of the area is excellent due to the amount of sponges present.

The area is also very good for Macro Photography. Seahorses, leech head
sea slugs, lettuce sea slugs, Miniature Melo, squat Anemone Shrimp, Spotted
Cleaner Shrimp, Mantis Shrimp, Bumble Bee Shrimp, Crinoid Shrimp, Sea Whip
Shrimp,  Pederson Cleaner shrimp, Regal Slipper Lobster, Stareye Hermits,
Neck Crabs and quite a few things that I could not find in any book!

If you like muck dives, dive the sandy area around the site champagne.  We
did a dive with dive master Oscar,  that lasted 1 hour and 55 minutes in
the champagne area.  I was amazed at some of the life we found.  It is an
incredible dive if you go slow enough and look! Champagne it self is not
overly interesting, the grassy area around it is!

We saw a few turtles, juvenile Drum fish, Sea Horses, Honeycomb Moray,
Chain Moray, Sharp Tail Eel, Spotted Spoon Nose Eel, Juvenile French Angel
Fish, Flying Gurnard, and other more common Caribbean Fish.  We did not see
any Frog Fish on this trip.  The dive masters have not been able to find
them recently.

Overall I rate Nature Island Divers and Dominica as one of the top
destinations in the Caribbean.  

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