Atlantis Diving or Dive Bus for Curacao?

[OkieCruisers]

Just keep reading here how good the diving is at Curacao and have seen both of these dive companies recommended here. We will be there the first week of November, just a few weeks away now so any advise?

Also, does anyone know if diving is any good at Samana Dominican Republic? Otherwise, what should we plan to do there?

[bruce-r]

Just keep reading here how good the diving is at Curacao and have seen both of these dive companies recommended here. We will be there the first week of November, just a few weeks away now so any advise?

Based on the glowing recommendations I've read for The Dive Bus, that is who I'd go with. I can't recall any recommendation here for Atlantis Diving.

[King Neptune]

Definitely go with the Dive Bus. Their personal service is the best, you won't go wrong here.

[OkieCruisers]

Thanks Guys, I had a feeling that is what you would say. I just saw on one thread where someone had used Atlantis Diving and had a great time, they took them from site to site in the back of a truck and had excellent service. But So many here say go with Dive Bus, thanks guys! Glynna

[jtonra]

The dive bus has great diving right outside their "door". You can't go wrong with them in my opinion. To top it off, they are without a doubt some of the friendliest people I've ever met in my travels.

[Pilot70D]

We have been diving with the friendly folks at The Dive Bus for several dives. They are unquestionably the friendliest and the most fun dive operator we have been diving with EVER.

 

As the previous poster said they have great diving right on their doorstep. There also is a really good small restaurant next to them as well and it has great food. Life doesn't get much better than doing a two tank dive with them in the morning then having a relaxed lunch at the restaurant followed by an afternoon dive.

 

Enjoy that next dive and if it's with The Dive Bus tell them I said hi.

[w&k]

It's simply the best, hands down. Tell Suzy & Mark you heard it here (and they will let you come diving anyway!).

 

We've been nicknamed the 'Serial Cruise Shippers' - because we keep showing up from cruise ships. Right now, we're scheduled for two trips next year - spring and fall.

 

We would love to go down there for a week, but the airfare from here is absolutely outrageous.

 

Beware the blackmail pictures that Suzy takes, though. There is a particularly funny one of us in the March 2008 newsletter. ;)

 

Wendy

 

dive pix

http://community.webshots.com/user/wendyandkeith

 

here's one of the usual suspects

 

[OkieCruisers]

Thanks so much to all of you. The Dive Bus it is. They just sound perfect.

Wendy, how far are they located from where the ship will be docked? Do we just grab a cab and head over there? Is that how you always do it? This day there is going to be so fun, thanks so much to every one of you! Glynna

[Pilot70D]

Upon our arrival (cruise shippers too) we took a cab. It is a short cab ride taking no more than eight to ten minutes. Suzy brought us back to the dock after a full day of diving.

 

The mermaid that lives near Car Pile Reef was sunbathing topless the last time we were there so they couldn't share the pictures on a family rated website.:D

[w&k]

Glynna-

 

We usually have a group of us going, so we just stack in a cab for $4 a person, and Suzy calls a cab for us to get back.

 

It's about a 10-15 minute ride - you go up, up, up and over the bridge, and head down to the coast. The Dive Bus Hut is right next to Breezes hotel, but most of the cab drivers know where it is by now.

 

Another thing to consider is if some folks want to do a tour - Cheraldine with Coast-2-Coast tours does a lot of their cabbing, and she gives a really great tour according to our folks that have done it.

 

We usually do our day a little differently... we do our dives back to back with a short interval for gear switchover and a soda. DH doesn't like to eat before diving as he tends to get the burps. Then when we get out after #2, I rinse out & hang the gear while he organizes lunch & fetches the first couple of beers. Then, we sit around for the rest of the afternoon eating fish, drinking beer, and swapping dive stories.

 

It just doesn't get any better than that!

 

Wendy

 

I put up cheezy little websites for our threads - some of the info might help you out. You will notice the striking similarity of the ports... and that's no coincidence!

 

http://www.freewebs.com/galaxy-02-25-08

http://www.freewebs.com/grandprincess-02-27-09

http://www.freewebs.com/grandeur-11-19-09

[OkieCruisers]

Thanks so much! I sent them an email last night and she got right back to me this morning. We are booking our day with them, it sounds just great! Glynna

[surfguy]

My wife and I are going to be on this cruise. I am the only diver and am looking for others to dive with. During a "scuba" search of this cruise, you are the only name that popped up. I have already booked a dive in Samana as that seems like the only thing worth doing there. I also want to dive Curacao but have not made any plans as of yet. Are you interested in meeting up for one or both dives?

[scubadiver888]

A word of warning, Suzy and Mark just sent me videos of hurricane Omar. Last Wednesday they got hit hard and the place is a mess. I suspect diving in Curacao will be a little less than stellar by November. There is probably going to be a lot of coral damage.

 

Be interesting to see what the hurricane did to the car pile. OkieCruisers, just to the left of The Dive Bus is a site called the car pile (lots of large metal and cars dumped in the sea). The hurricane should have mixed this up a lot. Could be interesting.

 

I would still dive Curacao and I would definitely dive with Mark and Suzy at The Dive Bus. I would just lower my expectations a little. But a bad dive with The Dive Bus is still a darn good dive. :)

 

I'm going to try to be in Samana April 2009. Princess does not have a shore excursion. I checked a few other lines; of the lines I found going to Samana, none of them have a scuba excursion. Makes me wonder why not. If you end up diving Samana I'd appreciate a follow up posting of how it went, who you dove with, etc.