Anchorage Dive Center/Anchorage Hotel, April 1995, Brad and Melissa Caudle, Tomball, TX. "Diving every morning, spent afternoons on hikes through the rain forest. Swiss Cheese: swim throughs and the highly decorated pinnacles. Champagne overrated: sure bubbles come up through vents, but not much corals and sponges. Excellent trip."

Anchorage Dive Center/Anchorage Hotel, June 1995, Sue Aitkin, Melbourne, FL. "2nd trip to Anchorage Hotel and were just as thrilled. Miguel combs the reefs at a leisurely pace and always finds lots of interesting creatures. Vis excellent. Diving off Hotel dock is great. Small reefs on either side provide prolific sealife day or night. Anchorage hiking guide, Filbert, happy to share his knowledge of the island animal and plant life."

Anchorage Dive Center/Anchorage Hotel, April 1995, Bill Costa, Durham, NH. "Pinnacles like Saba - but like Bonaire, no large fish. Conditions, both above and below the water, tend to be gentle. only one dive, near Stanley's point, was there current. The condition of the corals is very good, but I'd like to see more moorings rather than dropping anchor as we did."

Dive Dominica/Castle Comfort, 1995 Melanie Katzmann, Loveladies, NJ. "Ambiance of a small guest house where you are treated like art of the family. First rate dining facilities, equipment and staff. Diving can be easy or as difficult as you wish - the staff is accommodating. In my many visits to Dive Dominica, the conditions were uniform, perfect, in all seasons."

Dive Dominica/Castle Comfort, April 1995, Bill and Laurel Chisels, Addison, IL. "Rooms that are not seaside are small and noisy. Divemasters were friendly and helpful. Frequently found seahorses, frogfish. Island is fished out; no large fish; only one small pair of angels during a whole week. Diving in front of resort easy; lots of small fish. . . . Hiking and tours by Ken's Tours are well worth the cost."

Dive Dominica/Castle Comfort, March 1995, Dan Lynn, Fairfax Station, VA. "Resort staff courteous, friendly and helpful. Rooms small, but clean. Meals family-style; excellently prepared from local food, fresh daily. . . . Dive staff knowledgeable, helpful, Most sites close on both Caribbean and Atlantic sides; divemasters pointed out batfish, frogfish. Guided dive explore on own. . . . During non-diving hours most guests took guided island tours, hikes, and nature walks, some lasting all day."

Dive Dominica/Evergreen Hotel, June 1995, Milton Lodge. "Rent a car. Mountains, rain forests, waterfalls, and interesting villages. Evergreen Hotel next door to Castle Comfort and Dive Dominica. Clean, friendly staff, very good food. Worthwhile going to town (5 minutes) for good meals. Saturday morning is market day. . . . Dive Dominica first-class operation: Four or fewer divers per two-tank trip. Divemasters excellent: leisurely dives at 40­60 feet for an hour. You could go off with a buddy. Beaches are narrow, black sand and rocky."

Dive Dominica/Evergreen Hotel, August, 1995, Phyllis Robinson and Nick Hughes, Silver Spring, MD "People friendly, scenery lovely, food delicious. Narrow roads (when paved) have deep concrete ditches on the sides (for rainwater) and they'll eat your car tires while you navigate past chickens, children, and haphazardly parked vehicles. . . . Diving beautiful. Izzy and Billy competent, capable divemasters, good at finding critters."

Dive Dominica/Castle Comfort, March 1996, Heather Bolyn-Becker, Pottstown, PA. "LIAT shuttles to 3­4 islands before Dominica. Best rooms are three with porch facing the ocean. Meals excellent! Homey atmosphere, laid back, efficient. Dive operation good, new big boats. Tropical rain forest with an inactive volcano with sulphur mud pools. Waterfalls to hike to, baskets made by Carib Indians, fresh coconut milk to refresh you at every stop. Driving is on the left; watch for the ditch on either side of the roadways (rain water run-off). Raw beauty in a time warp. vis: 75 ft. water:80°."

Dive Dominica/Castle Comfort, June 1996, Thom & Betty Hall, Myrtle Beach, SC. "Mano was great; saw seahorses, laughing scallop, eels, frogfish in various colors, pufferfish, jacks. Divemasters took their time; you could dive at your speed. Bus ride $.35 to town. Champagne dive a wonderful shallow dive. Relaxed schedule. Shore dives at no extra cost. vis: 40­50 ft. water: 80°­82°. Tea (iced or hot) not included with meals. Service slow in restaurants, limited shopping, air fare expensive. Had to abort a dive when ran into a strong current on top of surge."

Dive Dominica/Castle Comfort, July 1996, Ronald Bailey, VA. "Lost a day in Dominica because of Liat Air. Insist upon seeing your luggage in cargo hold on any flight. They will pull a bag when you are not looking. . . . Castle Comfort has a new dock and hot tub. Rooms comfortable. Food good, but 2 days dinner portions of fish/meat were skimpy. Vegetables plentiful. World class dives off Scotts Head at the pinnacles. Diving in Soufriere Bay next best. Last dive in strong current should have been changed to another site. Trips into mountains well worth taking."

East Carib Dive/Lauro Club, April 1995, Kathy E. Smith, Brooklyn, NY. "Great trip, great diving. 2 night dives, went north to Portsmouth and south to Scottshead. Kevin and Gunther made certain that every dive was special."

East Carib Dive, May 1995, Ralph and Linda DiVircilio, Flushing, NY. "Took advanced certification, wife took basic. Each received personal attention."

East Carib Dive, June 1995, Deanne Alen & Michael O'Rourke, Sleepy Hollow. "Good vis, untouched reefs, variety of schooling fish. Relaxed and enjoyable dives. Competent, organized operation; friendly staff. Well-maintained equipment. People are beautiful."

Nature Island Dive, July 1995, Kean Oh, Poland, OH. "First dive 60­80 ft max. second dive 40­50 ft, both an hour. Diving easy, vis 30­100 ft. Scott's Head Pinnacle and Dangleben's Pinnacle had moderate current. They individualize their friendly and efficient service - especially for photographers."

Nature Island Dive, December 1995, Philip Herron, Arlington, Va. "Some currents. Good boats, shop, fills. Package included rental cottage with kitchen. Staff excellent; all marine biologists. Two AM or PM dives with kayaking or mountain biking in afternoon. Shop and locals friendly. No real beaches, not many tourists. Mortal combat between an octopus and an eel. Huge almost man sized octopus in a wreck. Pod of 100+ porpoise on two separate days. Good trip."

Nature Island Dive, March 1996, Helen Donoghue, Washington, DC. "Diving restrictions: Not lower than the guide, nice, long dives."

Windward Divers/Pitchard Cottages, August 1995, Milo Schmidt, San Francisco, CA. "Nice trip, people friendly."

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.