The Bahamas is one of the best places in the world to learn to dive.
WHAT-TO-DO - NASSAU, CABLE BEACH & PARADISE ISLAND - JAN 2003 EDITION
Visiting The Bahamas without exploring the ocean is like visiting Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower. And diving is by far the best way to explore the warm, clear Bahamian waters. In fact, The Bahamas is one of the best places in the world to dive, with a range of sites that would keep even the most seasoned diver occupied for weeks.
But what if you've never dived before? If that's the case, you've come to the right place. Dive companies on New Providence and Paradise Island are eager to help the first-time diver experience the Bahamian ocean, and possibly launch a hobby that will last a lifetime.
It's so easy
An introductory diving course is the quickest, cheapest and easiest way for the complete novice to get a taste of diving. It's so easy that almost anyone can do it.
"We (teach the Discover Scuba course to) about 3,000 to 4,000 people from cruise ships each year," says Antoine Dias, owner of Nassau Scuba Centre. "They are from age 10 to whatever - people who have never been diving before and want to try it for the first time, people just looking for something to do."
The dive companies here make it easy for visitors to experience diving. Most companies will come to your hotel to teach an introductory scuba course in the hotel pool, or will transport you to the site where they are teaching the course.
"We do the pool work at the Comfort Suites, Sheraton Grand and Holiday Inn on Paradise Island," says Leroy Lowe of Bahama Divers. "It depends on where they are staying. We pick them up and take them there."
Learning the basics
"The learn to scuba dive course involves about a 90-minute pool lesson and that is done prior to the trip," says Lowe. During the pool session, students learn how to use the dive equipment and practice basic skills in the pool, such as breathing through the regulator, swimming comfortably wearing the gear and equalizing the pressure in their ears. They also learn basic hand signals, to ensure they can communicate with the dive master underwater.
Once the pool session is complete and the instructor is satisfied that the students have mastered basic skills, the real fun begins. The new divers board the boat and set out to do a dive in the open ocean. The ocean dive takes 40 to 50 minutes, and provides an opportunity to see a good variety of fish and coral, says Lowe.
"We always try to take them into a place that's calm and about 20 to 25 feet in depth," says David Eads, operations manager at Stuart Cove's Dive Bahamas. Luckily, fish are so plentiful in The Bahamas that even these shallow reefs are teeming with life. "You'll always see yellowtail snappers, sometimes you'll find some lobsters, blue tang, sergeant majors, typical fish that you'll find around here," says Eads.
First open water dive
Your first open water dive is an experience you'll never forget. Once you have donned your equipment, you enter the water, usually from the stern of the boat. You hold onto the rope until the instructor checks your buoyancy and deflates your BCD (buoyancy compensator device) and you are able to sink slowly. Holding onto the descent line you swim to the bottom, equalizing the pressure in your ears on the way down (as you were taught in the pool).
On the bottom, the instructor gathers the group together, checks the air pressure in the tanks, readjusts everyone's buoyancy, then leads the group on a tour of the reef. Along the way, he or she points out vivid purple sea fans, colourful fish and sponges and brain coral.
Once you're comfortable swimming among the corals, you start to relax. You see creatures of such beauty, you suddenly realize you're in a whole new world.
It's difficult for the first-time diver to anticipate the tranquil beauty of the underwater world. It's something you have to experience to understand. Electric blue wrasses and green angelfish swim among the undulating sea fans and sponges. A grouper lurks under a stand of elkhorn coral. A school of sergeant majors parts and reforms as you swim through. The bright flower of a coral polyp vanishes back into its protective cubicle. Visibility on a clear, calm day can be more than 100 ft. It's a silent world of brilliant beauty that anyone can experience for less than $100.
Getting certified
Once you've completed the resort course, there's a good chance you'll be hooked for life. If that's the case, now's the time to get certified as an Open Water Diver, and, once again, you're in the right place.
Tina Penn, a dive master at Divers Haven, thinks The Bahamas is among the best places in the world to do a certification course.
"The weather is good and visibility is really good compared to other places," says Penn. "It's much (better) than going in a lake and you feel something sucking on you and it's a catfish," she laughs.
A full certification course takes anywhere from three to five days. It includes pool sessions, classroom work and a final exam. Students do four ocean dives, three of which are what Penn calls "work" - practising skills learned in the pool sessions - and the last is a fun dive.
Another option is a partial certification that takes only two days and includes two dives, says Dias of Nassau Scuba Centre. After taking this course, graduates may dive but must be with a dive master at all times.
For the less adventurous
If you're not sure about venturing under water, but want to see what all the fuss is about, snorkelling might be for you. Dive companies here offer snorkelling trips at reasonable rates. Most companies offer two trips per day.
The best snorkelling spots are shallow, between 10 and 25 feet. Reefs and wrecks at these depths are teeming with tropical fish, and that's enough for some people.
If you want more adventure than snorkelling, but less than diving, Stuart Cove's Aqua Adventures offers something in between - an underwater scooter ride. It's called SUB Bahamas (Scenic Underwater Bubble). The SUB is an underwater scooter with a clear plastic dome in which you breathe and observe the brilliant reef life as you cruise along about 20 feet beneath the surface. It's a perfect compromise, but don't be surprised
if you're signing up for Open Water Diver certification the minute you're back on land.
Disclaimer: The information in this article/release was accurate at
press time; however, we suggest you confirm all details and prices
directly with vendors.
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