August 11 to 18, 2000 : To start my dive report, I want to thank everybody that was kind enough to recommend dive operators to me for my trip to Nassau. My girlfriend and I arrived at Nassau Airport on Friday August 11 and stayed through Friday August 18. I decided to dive on 3 of those days and also do a bit of snorkeling from the beach immediately in front of our hotel. Since I wanted to try diving at as many different locations as possible, I decided to try using 3 different dive operators located at different parts of the island. Before I went on an actual dive trip, I put on my fins and mask to try a bit of snorkeling in front of our hotel (Nassau Beach Hotel at Cable Beach). To my surprise, there was much to see. I saw many things while snorkeling that I didn't see while diving in deeper water. In the sea grass beds just off the beach, I saw various types of moray eels. Most of them were only 1 to 2 feet long. The adjacent sandy areas were home to many typical tropicals (grunts, wrasses, colorful juvenile damsels, barracuda etc) and many purple-tip anemones. While out in the sand, I also saw a tropical-looking type of crab scurrying around that I wasn't able to identify. I happened to notice this one particular clump of seaweed, and when I turned it over, I found it was home to a group of about 200 hermit crabs. Each crab was about the size of a BB. Many of them immediately started "heading for the hills" in a big hurry, while others just clung for "dear life" to the base of the seaweed. After watching them for 5 or 10 seconds, I turned the clump of seaweed back over to "restore" their home. However, the most interesting part of snorkeling was seeing the variety of sea life that had managed to accumulate around a couple of old, discarded engine blocks located next to each other in about 5 or 6 feet of water. I counted no fewer than 9 anemones on the engine blocks alone. Many of these had Pederson's and banded-coral shrimp that I could see scurrying in and around the tentacles. Some of these critters were only ½ to ¾ of an inch long. Of course, I also saw all the usual typical tropicals swimming in and around the nooks on the structures. The ones I noticed most included a damsel that kept pecking at the back of my head, what I think were a few juvenile groupers, and a juvenile angelfish that was deep-black with yellow bars. Looking deeper into and under the structure, I noticed a couple sets of antennae that belonged to a couple banded coral shrimp. I also found one on the other engine block, too. I used a twig to coax one out and onto my hand so that I could get a few pictures with my aquashot camera. While putting it back, I disturbed a small moray eel that I caught swimming over to the next engine block out of the corner of my eye. After looking at so many things up-close, I swam back about 5 or 10 feet to just look at the "cloud of life" surrounding these 2 pieces of "junk" in the water. I must confess I felt a small sense of relief and gratitude knowing that good ol' Mother Nature had her way of taking something that had been so casually and thoughtlessly "trashed" and which otherwise might be considered an eyesore and turn it into something that could enable such a wide variety of creatures to coexist and flourish. My first day diving was on Monday August 14, and for this trip I decided to try using Stuart Cove's Dive Center. Many of you mentioned this was a "cattle" operation. Well you were right. While I was at this shop, there were probably about 50 people waiting to be "processed" before departure. The dive sites we went to that day included the "James Bond Wreck," a nearby wall, and a structure that resembled a jungle-gym for dive #1, and the Carib Breeze wreck for dive #2. During dive #1 on 8/14/2000, I went down with a group of about 6 people to check out the "James Bond Wreck," the nearby wall, and a structure that resembled a king-size Jungle Gym. I must say I found the "James Bond Wreck" more interesting than I had anticipated (depth of wreck was approx. 65'). Since the shooting of the movie, the wreck had broken up considerably and attracted numerous fish. Coral heads surrounded the wreck, along with many types of nearby sponges (stovepipe, basket, etc.) and fans. The surrounding seascape contributed to making this a really different experience for me because most of the wrecks that I've been on are surrounded by vast expanses of sand. Usually, it seems that it's the wreck itself that provides the substrate for coral and plants and habitat for fish and animals, but in this case, the wreck was in the midst of an already well-developed reef system. After viewing the wreck, we swam over to the wall (part of the "Tongue of the Ocean") and allowed a slow current to carry us along. Generally, on this wall, we tried to stay above the 80-foot level. Most parts of this wall were shear drop-offs. As you can probably imagine, it was GREAT. The relief of the wall itself I found fascinating, not to mention the variety of life. Fans, sponges, and coral were plentiful. What I found most memorable and beautiful, however, were the numerous small schools of neon purple and yellow fairy basslets that clung to the reef like small neon clouds. After about 10 minutes the group swam up the wall and over to a structure that resembled a king-size jungle gym. My guess was that this was some sort of a truss structure that was assembled for and used during the filming of the James Bond movie. Visibility was better than 100 feet. Total down-time (with safety stop) was 38 minutes and max. depth was 78 feet. For Dive #2 on 8/14/2000, we went over to the wreck of the Carib Breeze. The wreck is about 200 feet long, with the bow lying in about 75 feet of water and the stern in about 50 feet. The wreck is perfectly up-right, intact, sanitized, had almost no growth on it in short I thought this wreck was a bit BORING (compared to other dives that is). My buddy for that dive, a "chap" from the UK named Paul Mayor and a member of the British Sub-Aqua Club, had similar sentiments. While on the bottom I found an empty beer bottle lying off in the sand. I picked it up, cleaned the sand out of it, inverted it, and filled it with air from my octopus. I turned over so that I was facing the surface, let the bottle go, and watched it shoot toward the surface while watching silhouettes of barracudas chase after them. Paul and I managed to find more bottles, and repeated. Once on the surface, we both agreed that "shooting bottles" was probably the highlight of the dive. Max depth was 72 feet with a total down-time (with safety stop) of 28 minutes. On Wednesday, I used the Nassau Scuba Center on the South coast of the island. Of the 3 dive operators I used, I would say this was the best. The people working for this operator, both in the shop and on the boat, I found to be very friendly, helpful, and courteous. The shop personnel and crew members seemed to treat everyone as individuals. Other people that I spoke to on other trips had similar good experiences with Nassau Scuba Center as well. As we were heading out to the dive site, I asked the boat's captain where we were going. He flashed a big smile, and then with a thick Caribbean accent said, "Oh, I don't know mon, where would you like to go I'll take you wherever you wish !" I mentioned to him I was hoping for a wall, or a wreck, or a shallow reef, and he replied, "...then that's what we'll do mon !"...again with a big, friendly, Caribbean-style grin and accent. For Dive #1 on 8/16/2000 we dove the Bahama Mama wreck, a nearby wall, and then swam back to the Bahama Mama wreck. I seem to remember hearing that the Bahama Mama wreck was an old "booze 'n cruise" party boat. Well business was a bit slow for the Bahama Mama and, ?? somehow ??, it ended up on the bottom. While this boat didn't have all that much growth on it, at least it wasn't perfectly upright and it was twisted a bit out of shape. Also, there was something else Caribbean Reef Sharks ! A few of these sharks were spotted on this wreck, and the numbers of them only grew as the dive progressed (and I didn't even have to pay the extra money for a "shark dive"!). We stayed at the wreck for about 5 minutes and then moved on to the wall. This part of the wall dropped-off at a relatively shallow angle compared to the section from 2 days before. While the part of the wall I saw 2 days before seemed in most places to be a sheer drop-off, this part of the wall only dropped-off at about a 1:1 slope. Again, I thought this was the best part of the dive. Lots of coral, sponges, fans, and as I mentioned, at any time you generally could see between 3 or 4 Caribbean reef sharks (and sometimes maybe as many as 10). After 10 to 15 minutes of exploring the wall, we swam up and spent about 10 to 15 minutes making our way across an underwater "plain" studded with coral heads, sea fans, and sponges to get back to the wreck and mooring line. Once back at the wreck, we explored a few more minutes and then made our way up the mooring line. While doing our safety stop, the presence of sharks continued. Once everybody was back on the boat (and yes, there was a roll-call), the crew got out the Purina Fish 'n Shark Chow and tossed a few scoops overboard. The grunts came-a-swimin' and the sharks even came to the surface, too. Total down-time (with safety stop) was 37 minutes, with a max. depth of about 75 feet. For Dive #2 on 8/16/2000 we went to Schoolhouse Reef, which consisted of 2 adjacent circular reefs that each appeared to be roughly 60 to 80 feet in diameter. This Reef, I was told, was called "Schoolhouse" because of the large schools of fish that congregate on it. Because of the shallow depth of this dive, it was basically an extended safety stop but with lots of stuff to check out. I spent my time on the larger of the 2 reef structures, circumnavigating it in a leisurely manner. Once in the water and on the bottom, I noticed that the depth to the sand was about 18 to 20 feet, and the center of the reef rose to within 3 or 4 feet of the surface. This dive location did not disappoint the group of us on the boat! The extended bottom time gave us all a chance to "stroll" along underwater, point things out to each other, and soak up all there was to see. Abundant tropical fish, brittle stars, queen conchs (and other large mollusks), hermit crabs, nudibranchs, fans, coral, and sponges abounded. I was also lucky enough to find a flamingo-tongue shell, and even though the mollusk's mantle was only partially extended around its shell, it was still very special and beautiful to see. I highly recommend this dive for nature-lovers and photographers. Visibility was about 90+ feet. Max. Depth was 20 feet, with a total down-time of 52 minutes (I came up with almost half my tank left!). On Thursday, August 17, I dove with Bahama Divers on the North coast located in downtown Nassau near the Paradise Island bridge. While the dives I did with Bahama Divers were memorable, my observations of how things were done left me a bit cold. The pace of the dives seemed unusually hurried, and the boat captain got angry at a few of the divers-in-training when they didn't remove their fins, weight belts, and bc/tank setup before attempting to get back on the boat. Given the kind of weight belts they had and knowing there were divers still below, I couldn't help but feel this was an accident-waiting-to-happen, and that an exiting student diver was going to grab the wrong end of the belt and let the weights slip off and knock somebody down below out-cold. Dive #1 on 8/17/2000 was to the "Shipyard" which consisted of a group of ships sunk as artificial reefs in about 85' of water. I was buddied-up with 2 other people, and down the mooring line we went. Considering the wrecks at the "Shipyard" were sunk as artificial reefs, they were fairly broken-up and had some interesting relief. We spent most of our time in the vicinity of one of the wrecks (I didn't get the wreck's name) as well as poking through some of the fans and coral heads off to the wreck's port side. We saw a few groupers, barracuda, and a few typical tropicals in and around the wreck, but the wreck itself did not seem to have much growth on it. And even though the area off the wreck's port side had numerous coral heads, sea fans, and a few fish, the quantity and diversity of sea life seemed a bit sparse compared to the 2 trips off the island's southwest corner. Total down-time (with safety stop) was 31 minutes and max. depth was 83 feet. Dive #2 on 8/17/2000 took us to the Trinity Caves. The Trinity Caves were so named after the shallow caves, tongue-and-groove formations, and pronounced ledges located in about 30' to 40' of water. Even though there was a lot of particulate matter in the water that limited viz to 50 or 60 feet (and I don't think this resulted from the students), this dive definitely proved interesting. As usual, fish and other sea life were plentiful and diverse, and there were numerous sea fans, and lots of sponges and coral. During the dive, I also came upon fire worms, purple-tip and corkscrew anemones with Pederson's cleaner shrimps, nudibranchs, queen conchs, and hermit crabs, to name a few. This was an enjoyable dive site that I would like to visit again someday. To re-state a few of my findings from my trip to Nassau 1.) The better diving seemed to be off of the southwest tip of the island. 2.) Of the 3 dive operators I used, Nassau Scuba Center provided the best service. 3.) Don't underestimate the quality and diversity of sea life that can be found just offshore from your hotel ! Next dive trip will be down to Morehead City, NC with Patowmack Divers.