Diving in Barbados

[Jeanne]

Can anyone recommend a good diving outfit in Barbados? I have visited all the websites and found a plethora of stuff on offer, but recommendations would be great to help make a learned choice!

Also a view on good sites, we will be staying on the west coast near Holetown.

Thanks in anticipation,

Jeanne

[Melanopterus]

Can anyone recommend a good diving outfit in Barbados?

West Side Scuba

Good outfit.

[Jeanne]

:=Can anyone recommend a good diving outfit in Barbados?

West Side Scuba

Good outfit.

Thanks for the advice!

Jeanne

[scott laddiman]

Can anyone recommend a good diving outfit in Barbados? I have visited all the websites and found a plethora of stuff on offer, but recommendations would be great to help make a learned choice!

Also a view on good sites, we will be staying on the west coast near Holetown.

Thanks in anticipation,

Jeanne


Hi Jeanne,
Ha! I should be able to help you!
I am actually going to Barbados this weekend (14th of September) for two weeks and will be staying at the Crystal Cove. I have been to Barbados before and it really depends on where on the island you want to dive. If you want to dive the North of the Island I can suggest 'Reefers & Wreckers'. The two guys who run that are called Mike and Philip.
If you want to dive the more popular South then there is a hugh choice but I have booked some diving with the BSAC dive shop there www.divebarbados.net, the guy is called John Moore. If you prefer a PADI dive shop then try www.divehightide.com and the guy to speak to there is Willie Hewitt
There is a BSAC club on the island and they have club dives every Sunday and sometimes combine there dives with BADASS
(Barbados American Divers Association). The best person to contact regarding the BSAC Club is - Rob Bateson (is <a href="mailto:R-Bateson@dfid.gov.uk">R-Bateson@dfid.gov.uk</a>)
If your into you're wrecks then you must do - 1 Stavronikita,2 Carlisle Bay,3 Friars Craig,4 Pamir and see - www.caribdiveguide.com/index.htm

Anyway either I have helped you or made your choice impossible!
If you have any questions or will be in Barbados the same time then drop me a line.
Have fun and make sure you go on the Jolly Roger but watch the run punch!!!!!!!!!

Scott.

[nb]

We went to Barbados last year and had a great time diving with Hightide Watersports based near Holetown in St. James (I think). St JAmes in on the west Coast of the Isalnd and all of the main diving sites are very short boat rides from their centre.

When we were there Hightide were awaiting some building work to be finished so were in a temporary building but I think they are now based back at one of the really expensive hotels in that area (could be the Sandy Lane or the one next door) but you certainly don't have to stay at the hotel to dive with them.

We had contacted the local BSAC club but as they had their boat out of the water we couldn't dive with them. We asked them about Hightide and they said they were a good eco friendly centre and good people.

We went with Hightide because they are involved with a turtle monitoring programme with the University of the West Indies. On most trips there would be a couple of marine biologists who would dive and they would be working to track and monitor the turtles. They would try and catch them (with varying degrees of success!) and then bring the turtle back to the boat for weighing, checking the condition and recording, photographing and, if it hadn't been seen before, applying a harmless tag so that it was recorded. It was very informative and enjoyable to be alongside people doing some good in the marine environment of Barbados.

The dive guide was very friendly and totally relaxed and the staff at the dive centre were well informed and welcoming. Conditions were easy and the dive sites varied from really shallow to around 40m max (Stavronikita). I think we did around 12 dives each in the time we were there and as such were allowed a good discount on the prices too, which really helped. Worked out about the same price as UK diving.

Would dive with Hightide again, thoroughly recommended.

[scott laddiman]

We went to Barbados last year and had a great time diving with Hightide Watersports based near Holetown in St. James (I think). St JAmes in on the west Coast of the Isalnd and all of the main diving sites are very short boat rides from their centre.

When we were there Hightide were awaiting some building work to be finished so were in a temporary building but I think they are now based back at one of the really expensive hotels in that area (could be the Sandy Lane or the one next door) but you certainly don't have to stay at the hotel to dive with them.

We had contacted the local BSAC club but as they had their boat out of the water we couldn't dive with them. We asked them about Hightide and they said they were a good eco friendly centre and good people.

We went with Hightide because they are involved with a turtle monitoring programme with the University of the West Indies. On most trips there would be a couple of marine biologists who would dive and they would be working to track and monitor the turtles. They would try and catch them (with varying degrees of success!) and then bring the turtle back to the boat for weighing, checking the condition and recording, photographing and, if it hadn't been seen before, applying a harmless tag so that it was recorded. It was very informative and enjoyable to be alongside people doing some good in the marine environment of Barbados.

The dive guide was very friendly and totally relaxed and the staff at the dive centre were well informed and welcoming. Conditions were easy and the dive sites varied from really shallow to around 40m max (Stavronikita). I think we did around 12 dives each in the time we were there and as such were allowed a good discount on the prices too, which really helped. Worked out about the same price as UK diving.

Would dive with Hightide again, thoroughly recommended.



After returning from Barbados I would have to say that we were not impressed with Hightide. We did one dive with them and were treated like sheep. Some people are happy with this type of diving but the wife and I are not, we prefer to be able to plan and do basically our own thing. We booked two dives with Hightide but was told when we arrived that we could only do one as there was a block booking, so that took priority?
The one dive we did with them was suppose to be a drift dive but we spent the whole time swimming against the tide (as we were told to follow the dive guide)???
The Reef we went on was boring and quite dead.
As we only decided to do the one dive and then go elsewhere then unfortunatly our opinion is only based on that experience.
We then did 6 dives with Dive Barbados (BSAC & PADI shop) which were much better and then did one dive with the BSAC Club on Carlisle Bay which was excellent.
The BSAC Barbados club go out every weekend and sometimes join up with BADASS (Barbados American Dive club).
My order of preference with who to dive with in Barbados (depending on you're location of your hotel) would be-
1)BSAC Barbados Dive club
2)Dive Barbados Dive shop (BSAC & PADI)
3)Reefers & Wreckers Dive Shop (PADI Only)

You MUST do The Wreck of the Stavronikita and The Wrecks of Carlisle Bay.

Scott (BSAC Club Instructor)

[alison boler]

Scott/Jeanne
We would love to have more detailed trip reports from you for the BSAC website! One or two sides of A4 is all that's required plus if possible a couple of pix - land based ones are best. You might even win yourself a free holiday because everyone who writes one in 2003 is eligible for our prize draw.

Please send your reports to
<a href="mailto:webmaster@bsac.com">webmaster@bsac.com</a>

Thanks

Alison Boler

[nb]

Wow what a difference! I'm sorry Scott didn't have good time with Hightide - it's difficult to believe its the same dive centre!

Maybe we were treated better because we dived a little out of season, there were only 4 or 6 of us on the boat at the most. I'm only guessing because his experience is so different to what we experienced at Hightide.

If we had been treated like Scott had I wouldn't recommend going with them either!

We did the Stavronikita, the Carlisle Bay wrecks and numerous others and found Hightide to be as I described them. No big groups, no sheep like diving.

But I guess the good thing about the forum is that we get to hear about different people's experience of the same place with the same dive centre and if nothing else it shows the lack of consistency in the way divers can be treated.

What we certainly agree on is chatting to the local BSAC Barbados club - we had a good chat with them. They invited us to watch the world cup games with them in a local bar in St James!

nb (BSAC Open Water Instructor)

[Scott Laddiman]

Hi Alison,
I have sent my report to David Dixon. Do you want me to send it to <a href="mailto:webmaster@bsac.com">webmaster@bsac.com</a> as well?
A free holiday would be nice, as this last Barbados holiday, which I went on to get married, will be paid off in 2010!!! :)
So Im kinda skint! :)

Scott.

Scott/Jeanne
We would love to have more detailed trip reports from you for the BSAC website! One or two sides of A4 is all that's required plus if possible a couple of pix - land based ones are best. You might even win yourself a free holiday because everyone who writes one in 2003 is eligible for our prize draw.

Please send your reports to
<a href="mailto:<a href="mailto:webmaster@bsac.com">webmaster@bsac.com</a>"><a href="mailto:webmaster@bsac.com">webmaster@bsac.com</a></a>

Thanks

Alison Boler