Abaco

Dive Abaco/The Lofty Fig, July 1995, Albert Meek, Smyrna, GA. "Small efficient operation. Owner/divemaster Keith Rogers personable, accommodating, runs smooth, safe show. Rare small species: slender file fish, candy bass, redtip blennies; dozens of 'packed' minnow caves with swim-throughs - take a flashlight. 'Lofty Fig' across the street; roomy, clean, air conditioned, fans. Great restaurants close; Mango's, Wally's, The Jib Room."

Dive Abaco, September 1995, Mike Reinman, Miami, FL . "Excellent trip and dive operation. Brought too many clothes. vis: 45­70 ft. water: 82°­85°."

Andros

Small Hope Bay Lodge, August 1995, M.J. & Bill Roachie, Drexel Hill, PA. "Relaxed family atmosphere, good folks and fun. After 35 years owner Dick Burch has the bugs worked out. Breakfast - wall dive (deep) - shallow dive - lunch - afternoon dive (40'­50') - home by 3:00, dinner at 7:00. Longest boat ride - 20 min. Water 84 F. Vis 125'. Night dives by request. Wall diving is terrific, sponge and coral life healthy and varied. Turtles, rays, sharks (14' hammerhead), eels, octopi, seen regularly. Good place for kids - took our 6 year old. Summer all-inclusive dive rate a good value."

Small Hope Bay Lodge, October 1995, Dennis McCrea, Carmichael, CA. "Cabins, clean and good for Bahamas. Food very good. Sites have broken coral due to throwing the anchor. Dives frequently over 120'."

Small Hope Bay, February 1996, Gary Auseth, Fergus Falls, MN. "Diving for 20 years; terrific spot for daughter's first dive. Miles of beach, great family resort, treat you like family. Do specialty dives to see the Big Ones. Best Blue Hole I've seen. vis: 60­120 ft. water: 76°."

Bimini

Scuba Bimini/South Bimini Yacht Club, June 1995, John A. McCormac, St Petersburg, FL. "Good value. Dive operation accommodating; good variety of sites, but Captain shorthanded on boat (No divemaster or mate). Advertised shark dive is infrequent, thus sharks not accustomed to regular feedings. Only two nurse sharks and one reef shark so small an amberjack chased it from the food. Long distance to shark dive. Skip it. . . . Yacht Club accommodations: borderline unacceptable. Hot water inconsistent to nonexistent. Excellent food, but slow service. For other activities must travel to North Bimini (inconsistent water taxi service). No-see-ums at night when no breeze."

Scuba Bimini/Bimini Reef Club & Marina, April 1996, Dr. Terrence W. Dunlop, Annapolis, MD. "Captain able, knowledgeable, good briefings; declined requests for South Wall (touted in brochure as regular stop) without convincing reason. Fills to 3,OOO psi. Dive own profile within guidelines; 14 dives in 5 days. . . . South Bimini Yacht Club quarters are small, noisy and dilapidated. Bimini Reef Club & Marina better, though not luxurious. A/C dynamite, but blinds kept falling, decapitating ants in the room. Super beach, saltwater pool, docks lack storage. Spacious dining area. Bar frequented by locals and staff from Gruber's Shark Lab. Diving good but hardly world class. Water 72­79 degrees. Viz 60­100 feet. Scorpion fish, batwing crab, goldentail eel, upside down jelly, few pelagics, couple of large jacks, nurse sharks. Deeper wrecks nicely spattered with corals and sponges; nothing spectacular or rare."

Scuba Bimini, June 1996, Pam & Mark Hellinger, Newnan , GA. "Economical. Operation smooth, personal attention from divemasters . Gear washed each night and ready to go in morning. High quality service and value. Diving was great!"

Scuba Bimini/Bimini Beach Club, July 1996, R. Van Jones, Punta Gorda, FL. "$480 for 4 days, 3 nights, air from Ft. Lauderdale. Due to flying at 700 ft. able to dive on departure day. 13 dives. Rooms spacious, clean. Tanks filled on boat at dockside. Decent restaurant, bar, pool."

Undersea Adventures/Compleat Angler, March 1996, Bruce Butterfield, Vienna, VA. Compleat Angler shabby and noisy. Band on weekends draws a big, young crowd; sleep impossible. Bill and Nowdla Keefe are caring and experienced dive leaders with a fine operation. Weather terrible, high seas (10 ft.), but did their best to find dives. Dives are deep and challenging, not for beginners. No shore diving. Good critters. vis: 40­70 ft. water: 70°­80°. "

Undersea Adventures/Blue Water Resort. July 1996, Randy Harper, Ellicott City MD. "Nowdla and Bill completely involved in day-to-day operations, and one is usually on dive boat. Divers solicited for where to dive. Computers welcome. . . . 25 minutes by seaplane from Miami, in the water within 2 hours of leaving Miami. Avoid summer weekends because of crowds. . . . Most reefs shallow and in good condition. Nurse sharks, eels on most dives, turtles on deeper dives. Walls usually drift dived. Vis 60­70', water 83°. Decent snorkeling off beaches. . . . Two tanks in morning, 1 in the afternoon. Two night dives a week. . . . New boat faster for six divers. Older boat larger. Both laid out well, equipped with first-aid kits, water and portable freshwater showers. Rental gear in excellent condition. . . . If you charter flight through resort you have a luggage allowance of 50 lbs rather than 30. Seacrest or Blue Waters are good lodging choices. Don't consider Browns. Worse than the reviews. BUA convenient to all the restaurants and shops. 10 minute walk."

Grand Bahamas Island

Bahamas Divers/Radisson Grand Bahamas, September 1995, Victor Bary, Cranford, NJ. "Blue Hole unusual. Some interesting schools (African pompano) and a cave. Barracuda Reef alive with healthy coral, reef fish. Operation casual about assessing skill levels, buddying. Rented BC and regulators well maintained. Videographer with Bahamas Divers sometimes interfered with our freedom in his desire to maximize number of divers covered in his for-sale video, but resulting video was nice."

Grand Bahamas Watersports, July 1995, Ellen Mauer, Union, NJ. "Fred great; let us dive our computers. Shark junction; all sharks close; ten 5-footers, well mannered at meal time. Group from Scuba Times got more excited feeding - they got whole ungutted fish. Ours fed filets, good nevertheless. Theo's Wreck wonderful - dove it twice and 2nd time Fred took us on a thorough penetration. Lots of caverns/tunnels. Good nearby trip."

Grand Bahamas Watersports, November 1995, Jim Juneau, Houston, TX. "Water 74°F. Fred Riger is small operator with no-frills boat and no shore facilities. Never more than 5 divers; Willing to go wherever group wanted. Safety conscious and knowledgeable about marine life. Perfect for experienced diver, but spent extra time with novices. Theo's Wreck, Shark Junction, Pygmy Caves nice, but not much variety site to site; coral shows signs of wear. Rough water exits can be tricky. Night dives nice, with lots of eels, lobster, octopus and other critters. Spend 2 days here then go to other islands."

Sunn Odyssey, August 1995, Rick Valstar, Houston TX. "Nick and Karen provided right level of attention and freedom. Relaxed, six or less divers. Bring patches if you a prone to sea sickness; boat is not large and does rock a bit."

UNEXSO, August 1995, Elizabeth Lee Vliet, Tucson, AZ. "Shop attractive, variety of items available, however classrooms, bathrooms, dock are not well maintained; short staffed at check in times. Staff friendly, but safety not well done - many dive boats with 8, 10 or 12 divers had only one staff person to handle boat and divemaster duties. Marine life disappointing."

UNEXSO, August 1995, Rick Valstar, Houston, TX. "Dolphin Dive nice, though short and hurried. Pulled out of water after 30 minutes raced back to shore with such a burst of acceleration that my wife was knocked over as she tried to put her weights back. Efficient cattle boat operation; tanks filled to 2500 PSI, dives rushed to keep the schedule, boats too full for our liking. Shark Dive: Backed up to an old hyperbaric chamber on a sandy bottom in less than 50 feet of water. Ben wore two wetsuits, chain mail, a riot helmet, and steel conduit over his air hoses. 6­7 foot reef sharks followed him like puppies begging for treats from his tube of dead fish. Safety Divers had billy clubs to fend off aggressive behavior. More than 30 sharks formed a circle above us. Trouble began when Ben moved off the concrete pad within 10 feet. One shark was in a trance on its back with its head away from us; when it awoke, it darted into the group, bruising two divers, hitting the chamber, and bouncing out to rejoin the feeding. On the boat, Ben half apologized to the two bruised divers and they thanked him for the best shark dive ever. No matter how safe things appear, it didn't take much to turn things around.

UNEXSO, January 1996, Richard Deshales, Salem, NH. "Water 70­72 degrees, vis 50­70 feet, dive time limited . Theo's Wreck @ 99 ft. a nice dive. Shark dive (shark feeding) a must!

UNEXSO/Grand Bahamas Beach Hotel, June 1996, William Pearson, Cerritos, CA. "Water: 80­83 degrees, Vis: 60­100+ feet. My 13-year-old advanced-diver son picked UNEXSO and their agent in Fort Lauderdale was patient and professional. Total cost: including round-trip airfare from LA, week at first-class hotel, 20 dive package (boat dives), huge breakfast everyday; $1050 each. Shark dive and dolphin dive have surcharge. Treated us like royalty at hotel and all over island. Hotel is under renovation. Under 17 stay free at hotel; plenty to do for nondivers; miles of white sand beach. UNEXSO is five-minute walk from all hotels. Shopping is duty free. . . . Every level of diver on boats was accommodated. Advanced divers could dive their own profile, both guides know where everything is. Boats clean, relatively new and fast. All dives are one-tank unless prearranged. Rear dock and two open rung ladders make entry-exit very easy. Tag and safety lines on all dives. No big fish, but abundance of colorful coral and small fish. Shark dive and dolphin dive limited to about 12 divers. Book ahead or beg schedulers to get on; they will try hard. Videographers do a good job of getting close-ups and interaction of everyone on dive: $35 for tape. Personnel so professional that open water dive with sharks does not feel threatening, Open water Dolphin dive also a must and preceded by trip to Sanctuary Bay where dolphins are trained. Very informative. Great for families and people who enjoy relaxed atmosphere. At end of trip we felt like family with all UNEXSO personnel."

Xanadu, October 1995, Christy Roper, Tannersville, PA. "5­10 people on single tank morning trips. Pam's Playground - boring with few fish, two thumbs down. Two thumbs up on the Theo's Wreck and Pygmy cave, a dramatic spur and groove formation with abundant fish life, including two reef sharks. Shark alley: no sharks. Xanadu, with some arm twisting, gave us a partial refund. 'There are no guarantees."

Xanadu Beach Resort, November, 1995, Elizabeth Urban, Madison, WI. "Resort was being renovated; bar and restaurant closed. Supposed to be 5 star but not up to standards. Had to taxi to town for food. . . . $40 for Shark Alley; worth it. Theo's Wreck was great. Night boat dive OK. Dive crew friendly and helpful. Dive center within walking distance. Could determine your own profiles on some dives. vis: 60­100ft. water: 79­81°."

Xanadu/Princess Towers Resort, December 1995, Lynn Offhaus, Hamburg, NY. "Friendly staff made the dives fun. Boat left on time. Reefs mostly dead or badly damaged. Shark feed exciting and safe. Allowed to dive our computers on some dives, but the sites were fixed. Picked up from resorts by bus. Princess Towers was wonderful; good food at Princess Country Club but expensive. vis: 50­100 ft. water: 70°­74°"

Green Turtle Cay

Brendel Martna Guest House, February 1996, Steve R. Rutten, Green Bay, WI. "Only dive shop on the island. Good dive boat, divemaster not much help. Too many divers (12) and only one divemaster. Had to get out of water with tank still on. Choppy water made this hard. Vis: 75­150 ft. water: 73°­77°."

Long Island

Stella Maris, May 1995, Albert Meek, Smyrna, GA. "70' dive boat with three heads, dining tables, kitchen, covered areas, rear dive deck. Huge coral heads at mid-depths, healthy reefs at 25'­30' with squid, scorpion fish, cowfish. Conception Island great wall and usually turtles and sharks. Exuma Reef 45 minute boat ride: eagle rays, nurse sharks. Family run resort with European flavor and a romantic island getaway, no hassles!"

Stella Maris, June 1995, Mary Lou Lovely, Cartersville, GA. "German run business run with responsibility and accountability. Pleasant atmosphere. Diving varied. Healthy reefs. Shark feed dive the ultimate photo op. 3 pools and nice big boats. Several beaches. Two 3-tank dives with lunch on boat or at beach. Good airport with fuel and customs. Shallow reef for snorkeling. Best service and food in Bahamas. Air-conditioned rooms."

New Providence Island

Dive Dive Dive, August 1995, Bruce Walker, Fenton, MI. "Boats roomy but not fast. 40 min to first site. Surfaced with 1500 lbs. I pushed to 80­100' and 45 min on computer and wasn't chastised. Not as many fish as expected. Subtle pressure to sign up and pay extra for shark dive; saw 6' Gray Reef sharks at Bahamas Mama as a 'regular' dive. Never a problem getting on afternoon boat for bonus dives. Good value."

Dive Dive Dive, August 1995, Shari Dempsey, Groton, NY. "All dive-masters, except one, was accommodating. Set up night dives at our request ($50). 'Runway' and the wreck Bahamas Mama; saw at least 12 shark and one ray. One dive the sub Atlantis was below."

Dive Dive Dive, November 1995, Paul A. Behrens, Dallas, TX. "Diving for large pelagics bad except for sharks; eight 6'­8' curious. vis: 30­50ft. water: 76°. Dive center well set up. Mike, divemaster/boat captain/dive shop host/repair specialist outstanding."

Dive Dive Dive, June 1996, David Bach, Lawrence, KS. "Paul and crew are top notch. Nitrox available. Shark Alley - 8' eagle ray and 3­8' sharks, then 15­20 grey sharks. Feed was fast and enjoyable with never a hint of danger. Vis 30­50 ft. water 78°­80°."

Diver's Haven, September 1995, Victor Bary, Cranford, NJ. "Shipwreck Del LaSalle ('65) a deliberately sunk trawler with access to wheel house. 'Fish Hotel' not much for coral, but filled with groupers and lobsters. Operation casual about assessing skill levels, buddying. Rented BC and regulators new."

Diver's Haven, November 1995, Mary Ann Wiggins, Sag Harbor, NY. "Guides nice, no rinse buckets onboard. Blue Hole: not much to see, only 2 sting rays. Guide took us in a small cave; had only 1 small flashlight. Could not see a thing. LTC wreck - lots of fish, shallow dive 15' to 20'. Shipyard, 3 wrecks, not much growth, few fish."

Diver's Haven/Orange Hill Inn, June 1996, Barry Stephan, Grand Rapids, MI. "Orange Hill laid back accommodating atmosphere. Great food, reasonably priced, beer always on ice. Divemaster missed dive target, missed boat on return. Came up with zero psi , down current, 200 yards from the boat. Shallow water and abundant fish life made excellent photo opportunities. Sting ray feedings and lagoon tour with surprising amount of fish life. vis: 50­90 ft. water: 77°­80°. Divers on check-out dives kick coral and sponges; poor place to learn to dive. However the dive industry wants maximum participation to maximize profits, therefore marine life will continue to suffer.

Nassau Scuba Center, Marriott Crystal Palace, October 1995, Barry Yoss, Camp Hill, PA. "Friendly operation, competent, well run. Two 40' boats with adequate space, camera tables, fresh water showers, marine head, drinking water and cooler for your refreshments. Shark feed: 15­20, 6­8' reef sharks, nurse shark, two groupers. Well controlled, exciting, especially with sharks coming over your shoulder; one brushed my chest. . . . Other dives OK. Wreck dive had two sharks. Coral sparse on walls. Shallow reefs better with good coral formations, adequate fish. Water 82°F. Vis: 40­80 ft. Dive your own profile. . . . Hotel undergoing renovation as a Marriott. Hotel restaurants expensive, but good food. Two tier pool with water slide."

Nassau Scuba Centre/Orange Hill Beach Inn, February 1996, Steve McGough, Windsor, CT. "Hotel staff helpful and friendly; clean basic rooms. Nice pool. Quite beach. Great dive staff, boats. 2 or 4 dives/day. Great weather, but water less than 70 degrees."

Nassau Scuba Centre, June 1996, Barry Stephan, Grand Rapids, MI. "Shark Suit Adventure: don a chain mail suit to feed and pet sharks. Should have called ahead to book, but a second feeding was scheduled to accommodate a friend and me. Book an all day trip to Allan's Cay where you can feed iguanas and enjoy healthy reefs with abundant and sometimes large fish life."

Nassau Scuba Center/ Westwind I, July 1996, Leslie Eiser, Beaconsfield, QC. "Small resort on Cable Beach; small beach, pool. Food expensive and with exception of The Cellar, not interesting. $100 for four. Even groceries out-of-sight. Taxi $15 rt to town; told that meters were broken, that the fare was set. . . . excuses. Don't get in until you ve agreed on a price. . . . Nassau Scuba Center 1st class. Their bus picked us up on time every day; offered Nitrox and rented rebreathers . Storage facility, repair facility, good rental equipment, wash tubs on boat and dock, shaded area for lunch. They ordered Subways when you get into port. Boats large, not crowded (9­12 divers), fresh water showers, camera tables, plenty of lounging space. Night dive on wreck of the Willaurie , watched coral heads suck down worms like spaghetti, gigantic loggerhead turtle, 4 huge lobsters, huge squid, octopus, file clams with red mouths and waving tentacles, trumpet fish lined up like firewood. Shark dive exciting, particularly for two divers who dressed in chain mail suits and fed the 15 reef sharks. On a all dive at 80­90 feet, the guide, without pointing out a thing, suddenly disappeared; my husband had to surface to locate the boat and then lead the group back. Derek or Kennedy showed me things I wouldn t see on my own. Computer diving but be back within a specific time frame. To max out time, be first in. Often, the boat would change site and we d be back in the water barely 30 minutes after the last diver was out."

Stuart Cove's, July 1995, David Hall, Baltimore, MD. "Shark dives excellent. Operation professional, good boats, limited opportunities for night dives. Reef in poor condition, brown in color. Feeding kept lots of sharks and groupers near sites, but the fish infrequent; a few lobsters, rays and eels. 3 tank trip should be restricted to computer divers; profile was conservative by my Marathon, but you could not do the three dives on the PADI tables. Several novices had no idea how to figure their times."

Stuart Cove's/South Ocean Resort, August 1995, Steve Nelson. "Stuart takes personal role in the operation. Clean dock and boats, staff good. Convenient to resort, well equipped. No reasonably priced food at this end of island; resort food not good, except at beach grill. Avery's restaurant provides free shuttle, food better, still pricey. Beach at resort is excellent, all rooms in new building on beach are oceanfront. Kids on trip had good time. vis: 40­80 ft. water: 84°­87°."

Stuart Cove's/South Ocean Resort, August 1995, Mike Fazzio, Tampa, FL. "Shark dive awesome. 20­25 sharks as close as 3 feet, bumping my Nikonos. Largest 8', huge 80­100 lb Nassau and black groupers hanging around."

Stuart Cove's, September 1995, Walter Oliver, Indianapolis, IN. "Fantastic. Mid 80's, sunny, little rain. Water 84 deg. Vis 60'+; 80'. No dives duplicates: walls, reefs, air wrecks, ship wrecks, caverns. 7 sharks on one dive), eels, rays. Four boats with knowledgeable, experienced crew. Shop staff was courteous and friendly."

Stuart Cove's, November 1995, Mary Ann Wiggins, Sag Harbor, NY. "Excellent shark feed, maybe 20 reef sharks, experienced dive crew, rinse place for cameras. Wall nice, large groupers. Vis 125'."

Stuart Cove's/South Ocean Beach Resort, April 1996, Jeffrey Benario, New Rochelle, NY. "U.S. reservation office had trouble getting our travel dates correct. Took several phone calls. Desk clerk told us room would not be ready for several hours, yet the hotel was far from full. Rooms large, air conditioned, with private terraces. Hotel run down, shower barely worked, and nonchalance the prevailing attitude. Service at hotel terrible as was food. Prices very high. To go out to eat, request a taxi (hard to come by), or follow the bus schedule which is prompt, albeit infrequent. Traveler's Restaurant (terrible), Compass Point (lovely), and Cafe Johnny Canoe (terrific!). . . . Dive shop short walk from ocean front accommodations. Personnel courteous and friendly. Boats spacious and uncrowded. Good briefing; buddy teams free to do own thing. Vis 50 feet, water 74°. Several turtles and eels. First dive on the wall, second a shark feeding. Many good sized black tips. Up to 20 sharks; 15 mm lense was focused at one foot! A divemaster videoed the dive, worth the reasonable price. . . . Free pickups and drop offs for those staying at other resorts, our choice next time."

Stuart Cove's/South Ocean Resort, May 1996, Roger Chair, New York, NY. "Reef is unremarkable, fish life active. Lots of morays, turtles, large loggerheads, eagle rays. Wrecks big and easy to enter. Shark feedings: 30­40 at a time, most 3'­6', but some 7'­8', inches from your face. Stay calm, everything is safe. vis: 60 ft. Water: 77°­80°. Shop well run, staff helpful and friendly. Dive boats roomy; leave late (9­9:30a.m. ) to wait for divers from other hotels, so cuts into dive time."

Stuart Cove's/South Ocean Resort, May 1996, Jean and Bob Kirkpatrick, Russellville, KY. "Oceanfront rooms spacious and clean (friend's had AC problems and was missing furniture). Pool beautiful, lunch and bar facilities nice. Breakfast in main dining room OK. Dinner in fancy resort restaurant excellent but pricey. Inexpensive buses run frequently into Nassau. . . . Dive operation good; friendly and helpful divemasters. Diving off SW corner of island is excellent. Sites close and varied. Shark feeding dive - fewer sharks than usual. Gone to different spot for mating season? Did not like time limits; because they do 2 am and 2 pm dives they limit your time to make the operation work. Big operation, 5­6 boats, runs smoothly. No shore diving or snorkeling, but the beach is long and pretty. vis: 50­150ft. water: 76­78.°"

Stuart Coves/South Ocean Resort, June 1996, Gloria Davis, St. James, MO. "Room large, big bathroom, refrigerator and safe, adequate AC, balcony overlooking the ocean. Resort and grounds beautiful, restaurants the pits. Unfriendly servers, poor food, high prices, not many places nearby (exception: AVERY'S, great food; they pick you up and bring you back, even deliver your meal). Dive operation top notch, personnel great. Great dive boats, oxygen on board, no head. Reefs close; first day's diving mediocre and disappointing, but it got better. Shark dives in the pm: within arms reach of 8 sharks reaching 7 ft and one large nurse shark. Free swim with sharks along the wall; they were curious not aggressive. . . . Got sea lice - spores from thimble jellyfish making painful itchy red spots everywhere they touch you; use ice immediately or AN-AMMONIA STICK - carry one. Divemaster said spores are gone by July. . . . Andros all day trip - dove a blue hole, a mini wall (so-so) and shark buoy - only two silky sharks showed, entertaining us with their attempts to discover who had the chum. They circle your body, almost touching you, looking for food. . . . Pilot whales played around the boat for 15 min. Hooked 50 lb yellow fin tuna and spent 45 min. landing him; were invited to come back before dinner and get some of his meat! Water: 74­80 degrees, Vis: 60­100 feet."

Stuart Cove's, June 1996, Roger Roth, Cincinnati, OH. "Certified in Cincinnati on the Atlantis I Rebreather. Used rebreather at Stuart Cove's. Everyone on staff helpful. Graham runs a fabulous 2 tank shark dive. The photo pros are excellent! Overnight developing. Watched gobies clean deep inside the throat of a tiger grouper, pair of spotted eagle rays and twelve pilot whales! Anyone interested in photography should try the rebreather, and Stuart offers full rebreather certification. . . . Oceanfront rooms are good sized and nice.

Stuart Coves's/South Ocean Resort, July 1996, Mike Myers, Carmel, IN. "Resort OK. Convenient. Dive operation well run. Start sometimes delayed but never rushed 2nd dives to get back. 1 hour between return of am boat and departure of pm boat; hard to wolf down lunch. Shark dive fantastic: 6­15 reef sharks, huge groupers. vis: 40­70 ft. water: 80°­83°."

Stuart Cove's/South Ocean Resort, July 1996, A.L. Shuhart, Putnam Valley, NY. "Water: 82­84°, Vis: 70­80 feet. Early AM departure before bell captain arrived, unable to have anyone pick up bags (mile walk). . . . Well organized dive operation, but never heard a boat safety briefing, site briefings were good. Shark wall worth the extra $, but would of liked less time feeding (34 minutes) and more time on the wall with the Pelagics.

San Salvador

Club Med Columbus Isle, October 1995, Tommy Ronan, Lanham, MD. "Diving fantastic, well-organized, safety conscious. Lots of grouper and small tropicals. Food and hotel service were tops. Quiet in the evening. Beach pure white talcum powder. Vis 80' to 100'. Night dive not too good. Club Med gear looked a old."

Club Med Columbus Isle, November 1995, Richard Chaet, Paradise Valle, AZ. "Diving excellent. Super coral growth and abundant fish life. Several hammerheads, rays. Boats are state-of-the-art catamarans, large and stable. Rooms are deluxe and food is super! Sailing and windsurfing and tennis, etc."

Columbus Isle/Club Med, May 1996, Russell Hanover. "For us eight extremely unpleasant. Dive operation unacceptable, Divers should be responsible for their equipment for they stay, not per dive; hassle returning it each time. . . . Fifty divers too much on a boat; GO's irritable; tanks should be filled to 3000 psi to alleviate stress on GO's who complain about helping the diver get a new tank with 3000 psi as opposed to 2500 psi; GO's should assist divers with their fins and getting out of the water. . . . Divemaster acted as general - we were his soldiers; he snapped at divers because he wanted us standing in a line and not touch our chips before being told do so; he was curt, rude, and humiliated others. . . . A young diver accidentally dropped his fin in the water when the boat was anchored. Andres wouldn t let the diver get it before it sunk, then jumped in and came up yelling at the kid like he did it on purpose. . . . A woman lost her mask in the water but was too afraid to say so because of the reprimand the other diver had experienced. Lectured a couple so sternly the woman cried. GO's constantly gossip viciously about customers, in front of other customers. . . didn t have soap in or room for 2 days; didn t receive wake up calls on time. But, the resort is beautiful and some staff pleasant."

Club Med Columbus Isle, July 1996, Evan & Lorri Wolfe, Colfax, CA. "Dive Boat from Hell. On arrival told that they couldn't accommodate us because they had 100 divers. We had paid 5 months earlier so they squeezed us in with 45, while another boat went with 6 divers. Bottom times 30 minutes unless you had a computer, then you got an extra 10 minutes on first dive only. Told that if we didn t follow to the letter we would not dive the rest of the week. 30 minute surface interval. Saw hammerhead and a turtle. Not much fish life compared to Bonaire . One diver wrote on suggestion what had gone on with the diving and received a visit from the head lady who denied everything and basically called the diver a liar. Dive boat went to same sight 3 out of 4 days. No briefing about underwater life.. . . . Accommodations top notch, food outstanding. Wonderful beach."

Club Med Columbus Isle, July 1996, Harry T. Edwards, Washington D.C. "Could be the most overrated dive operation in the world. Cattle-car operation, with divemasters herding divers onto and off of boats as if beef going to market. Packed as many divers as possible onto the boats (carried 35­50 divers) and kept calling out names to make sure that no one got lost along the way. . . . Selection of sites terrible, Club no longer distinguishes between advanced and novice divers in assigning boats. Divemasters go to sites that are nearby and involve easy dives. Dives unchallenging, boring: every wall dive looked the same; virtually no marine life; a number of the sites suffered from dead or decaying coral. . . . Never gave briefings; once, when we got a good briefing, it was for a site that could not be found (no one bothered to tell the divers that the site had been changed!). On another occasion, the divemaster sent divers in the wrong direction in search of the wall, causing a number of divers to swim toward shore before discovering the error. . . . Tanks between 2600 and 2850 psi. On one occasion the Chief of the Club Med caused the sites to be changed so that the boats could be returned early to allow for an excursion she had arranged; surface interval was cut from the usual 45­55 minutes to 25 minutes (after a 130-foot first dive); the substituted dive site was awful. . . . You wait in a long line to get chits for the dive, then in another line to get equipment, then in yet another line to get on your assigned boat. Throngs of divers scurry for space and tanks, with people being pushed and cramped. . . . Rooms, food, and beach are beautiful, albeit poorly managed.

Club Med Columbus Isle, September, 1996, Joe and Diane Russell, San Dimas, CA. "Mostly reefs and walls; beautiful fish, moray eels, and barracuda - vis 40­60 feet. Easy entry and exit even in surge. Weather 85­90 days, 75­80 evenings. Water 82 degrees. Dive boats go at 8:00 am promptly and return about 12:30. All new Scubapro equipment, hyperbaric chamber."

Riding Rock Inn, July 1995, Steve Owens, Newburgh, IN. "Almost vertical walls. Friendly grouper, 20 lbs. to 60+ lbs. Only time a diver had to 'handle' his gear was the first and last day. The food good and American. The rooms nice. If you want more modern rooms, get the new rooms. Not much to do on the island."

Riding Rock Inn, September 1995, G. Crawford, Alamo, CA. "New wing is very nice. Nice people, good food, comfortable rooms, beautiful beaches, very accommodating. Diving beautiful: sharks, eels, rays, friendly groupers. Dive staff friendly, not insistent you follow their agenda. Change tanks and lug gear. Reefs still have green algae problem, but definitely worth the visit."

Riding Rock Inn, October 1995, Barry Fidler, South Plainfield, NJ. "Deep wall dive, then 15­25 ft dive, return for lunch and an afternoon wall dive or a night dive. Telephone Pole's groupers swim up to you to be petted. 130' limit is strictly enforced. Snapshot Reef: soft and hard corals, anemones, tropicals, rays, peacock flounder. Didn't see any sharks."

Riding Rock Inn, June 1996, Frank C. Elia. "24 hr E-6 is advertised, but I had to beg to get my slides developed, usually after two days in the to-be-developed bin. Quality of developing was good. Slide mounts extra. Slide table, loupe and projector available. . . . Dive guide Moon and captain Sean great. Rooms Spartan, but comfortable. A/C worked fine. Meals fine, friendly service. No beach diving. Boat clean and fast. Night dive at "Stew Pot" uneventful -few fish. Saw a hammerhead on last dive. Water 77F. We were the only dive boat at each site except one where Club Med pulled up to the buoy next to ours and disgorged what seemed like a thousand divers."

Riding Rock Inn, July, 1996, Jean and Bob Kirkpatrick, Russellville, KY. "Small with island atmosphere. New rooms are spacious and clean. Food good to excellent. Driftwood Bar has great ambience, but deck outside, overlooking water, is too hot for sunset viewing. Pool OK; we wished for shade around pool, only 1 umbrella. Small beach is pretty, with OK snorkeling, but again we wished for shade. . . . Diving and dive operation are great!. Could dive our computers with a 130', 500lb. limit and an occasional time limit after 2nd am dive, which was always at least an hour. Moorings are 30'­40', so you can finish dive at shallow depth under boat and fish watch while doing safety stop. vis: 90­150ft. water: 80­84°."

Walker's Cay

Walker's Cay Hotel & Marina, July 1995, Bill Garner, Pittsburgh, PA. "Shark Rodeo a 9, other dives 3 star. Conch hunt, then prepared on boat with box lunch; nice adventure! Dive shop people wonderful! Our 12 year old twin grandchildren (girls) went on the shark rodeo and loved every minute due to the kindness and encouragement from the divemasters."

Walker's Cay, September, 1995, E.W. Strawbridge, Jacksonville, FL. "Feeding is done so the sharks do not directly associate the divers with the food. They treat divers like a rock they have to swim around. You can be comfortably in awe in the midst of 100 sharks, large groupers, chubs, snappers. Went back on nonfeeding days to photograph 20­30 sharks. Reef diving unremarkable, but shallow and pleasant allows long bottom times. Caverns, tunnels and passages great fun. Water 82° to 84°F., vis 50­100 feet. Occasionally time limits enforced."

Walker's Cay Hotel & Marina, September 1995, Susan Diehl, New Orleans, LA. "Diving excellent. Most sites 10 to 20 minutes away in less then 50 ft. of water. Two shark dives great! Most sites are patch reef; White Hole, has several small swim-through tunnels. Lots of assorted fish. The dive boats roomy, Two large rinse buckets, one for equipment, one for cameras. Staff helpful; our group was allowed free rein of the diving."

Copyright 1997 by DSDL, Inc.Publishers of Undercurrent. All rights reserved. No portions of this report may be reproduced in any way, including photocopying and electronic data storage, without prior written permission from the publisher. For more information, contact DSDL, Inc., P.O. Box 1658, Sausalito, CA 94966.