Diving in Antigua

[rsingleton]

Is there good diving in Antigua.. If so, any recommendation on dive operators..

[cmdchiefthom]

I just got off the NCL Pearl on Sunday, and we dived Antigua. I've dived there before, on the west side, which would be where the cruise ships dock. That dive was so ordinary, I forgot most everything about it, other than it was very shallow, without much of a reef system. So this time, I did some homework and contacted Carlo Costantini, a transplanted Canadian, who works out of the National Park at Nelson's Dockyard on the south coast. All I can say is wow!!!!:D Carlo's operation is Antigua SCUBA Center, http://www.antiguascuba.com His boat is tied up right behind the old officers quarters, can handle 8 divers, and the dive sites are no more than ten minutes from the dock. There are no beaches on the south end of the island, but rather cliffs and drop straight down into the water 60'+ right off land. Large bolders have fallen from the cliffs creating tunnels, walls, and plenty of large structure for the local sealife. On our two dives, there were 3 of us from our ship, and Carlo, which was fantastically uncrowded compared to the typical cattleboat.;)

 

The dockyard is a 35 minute taxi ride through the countryside, but worth the trip, and Carlo subtracts the taxi fare from the price of the dives. This was a class act diving operation!!!!!:D

[gvre]

Hi Thom,

We also dove with Carlos last month. The fort area was very cool and the dive was good. Interesting location. Carlo is a funny guy, has all the inside on the local gossip, which included mainly him. There was just 4 of us and we enjoyed the ride over to nelson's boatyard.

Were you going next?? We are planning another B2B on the TP April 2008, cabin 6091, but not sure if we would rather try a different location in the South Pacific on a dive boat or resort.

Richard

[cmdchiefthom]

Hey Richard,

 

Carlo was a real trip, and we had some good diving on an uncrowded boat. As for upcoming dive trips, my wife and I are doing some wreck diving up near Mackinac Island in July, and are booked on the Emeral Princess for 10 days at New Years, and the NCL Pearl for 9 days the first part of April.

 

We'd do the TP again in a heartbeat, especially BTB, but as teachers, our schedule is somewhat limited to two weeks at Christmas and the first full week of April. However, we have 4 years left until we retire, and then watch out.:D You make sure the folks on the Princess know we're coming back and to keep the owner's suite ready for us!;)

[gvre]

Hi Thom,

I posted this on another thread about our dive with Carlo.

 

Antigua,

we dove with Carlo at Antigua Scuba center.

http://www.antiguascuba.com

A neat location at Nelson Boatyard an old English Naval Fort.

The diving was OK. Carlo the DM was kinda kooky. He took us out to the dive site and said, OK you guys go dive with out me, stick along the reef wall and watch the current. Well I was kinda paranoid about diving a new site without a good briefing. My wife told Carlo he was going too because she wasn't sure he would be there when we surfaced! Any way it was an interesting dive as it was a face of a large cliff where huge block and rocks had fallen off over eons creating a nice coral wall and caves. There was a strong surge, and about half way through the dive he left us and signaled us to swim around about 15 minutes latter we found the mooring line but there was no boat attached to it.

This was about 45 minutes into the dive so we decided to surface. As we did another dive boat came up an anchored on the mooring line. We then saw Carlo about 150' away and he came and got us.

The reason he left us was because that mooring line does not belong to him, but the other dive operator and he is not suppose to use it. That's why he want us to dive without him in case the other dive operator came to use it he could leave.

Anyway if your an advanced diver or better I would use him again we had a good time.

Wow 4 years to retire, thats just about our schedule to 5-7 years. Don't you get summers off? We are gonna a do a land base dive vacation next. Looking at Cozumel, Grand Cayman, or Fiji.

We are booked on the Royal princess for 12 days Europe cruise in 6091, but we probably are canceling it. Our business is slow and can't see paying $12,000, yep thats the cost with out air, for a 12 day cruise with no diving. Thats about 1/2 of what we pay for a 10 day cruise on the TP in 6091.

Richard

[cmdchiefthom]

Richard,

 

I'm military, so my contract is different from other teachers. I get the month of July off, but work until June 30th, and come back the first of August. My wife is the director of a medical magnet program, and only gets 3 weeks in the summer, and has to be back the 23rd of July, so it doesn't give us much time off, and we get no vacation days, other than Christmas, and spring break. So we're limited on our cruising and diving until we hang it up in four years. :D

 

We tried to book a suite on the Emerald P, but nothing was available, so were on a waiting list, and have a BA in hand. We have a AC on the NCL Pearl for spring break, and its the next cabin over from the one we had a couple of weeks ago, and that was very nice, but nothing compared the OS on the TP.

 

Anyway, its always great to cruise, especially when you can dive, so we'll just keep doing it.

 

You guys enjoy!;)