Where to dive... in September?

[island_sands]

Dominica sounds great. I like an adventure holiday where you never know what is going to wrong.

Last year John and i went to Zanzibar (here's a few pics). I uploaded some to Facebook as well.

We flew from Dubai via Nairobi. Our onward flight was cancelled and Nairobi airport is sh1t hole, to say the least. We had an 8 hour wait till the next connection. We bribed the immigration officer with just 10USD and got a visa for a day, went to the animal sanctuary, the Carnivore restaurant and paid a cab driver to take us around town. Not really recommended to do if you're not Africa savvy - you need to watch carefully around you. We took the cab driver with us to lunch, I think he was quite chuffed!

Zanzibar was incredible. Old, rustic, mosquitoes, bumpy roads with potholes, spices drying on the side of the road (with people riding over them with bicycles rofl) and little kids and cows on the beach playing like life never had an ending. The tide rose up to the cliffs, and then lowered and spread out to sea, and the Zanzibarians spent hours on the reef, pulling up shell fish.

The food was great, it was quiet, and diving was second to none.

 

[island_sands]

A couple of diving pics from Zanzibar.. you can see the dolphins - they were about 15 metres away from me and we saw them in between dives.

 

[cdavis]

Nice! Healthy coral, lots of diadema, looks like a beautiful area. We don't see much of that anymore.

Try Googling Dominica. You will have to dig a little. There is one website that is very good on dive sites. The best diving is supposed to be at Scots Head, an old volcano on the SW tip of the island, about as far as you can get from the big resorts and the airport. There is a dive shop operation near there which caters to scuba, did not seem to understand freedivers. They can point you to some local accommodations. Good luck getting in touch on your own with the local guest houses, you will need it.

If you make it, I want a FULL, blow by blow description with pics.

Connor

 

[island_sands]

Nice! Healthy coral, lots of diadema, looks like a beautiful area. We don't see much of that anymore.

Try Googling Dominica. You will have to dig a little. There is one website that is very good on dive sites. The best diving is supposed to be at Scots Head, an old volcano on the SW tip of the island, about as far as you can get from the big resorts and the airport. There is a dive shop operation near there which caters to scuba, did not seem to understand freedivers. They can point you to some local accommodations. Good luck getting in touch on your own with the local guest houses, you will need it.

If you make it, I want a FULL, blow by blow description with pics.

Connor

Connor you actually did get my mind going yesterday.... John and I went for a cycle together on the beachfront and all I did was wing his ear about going to Dominica for sailing, cycling, diving, hiking blah blah blah

I did a quick search at home, saw an image of a waterfall (not much water where I live!) and my mind was set... so it will be either Dominica or somewhere in the Lesser Antilles... I will keep you posted.

As for a "full 'blow by blow' description with pictures.... are you sure!?? :chatup
(I know apneaboy and Spaniard would like some rofl )

 

[cdavis]

Only those you can post legally. . . . . Well, on second thought, you could pm me.

Connor

 

[cdavis]

Oh yeah, for non diving stuff(not that we care about that). If you saw "Pirates of the Caribbean" and thought the incredible mountain footage could not possibly be real, must have been computer generated, you would be wrong. It was shoot on Dominica and there is supposed to be lots more.

Connor

 

[TimoP]

Anything new about Dominica?
We are going to be on the area on January 2010, sailing two weeks and then planning to be a week in Dominica. But hard to find anything about freediving in Dominica. We are interested in inland nature, climbing etc, too.

 

[cdavis]

Google "diving dominica" will get you to most of the stuff. try Visit Dominica: all our island's attractions & where to stay; hikes & hotels, dive sites & guest houses, waterfalls, beaches.... Nature Diving is the closest shop to Scots Head. From what I've been able to find out, the Scots head area has the best drop offs and fish life. If you like clear water, almost vertical to your depth limit, Scots Head should do it. As best I could determine, diving in the rest of the island should be good, but not world class.

Freediving seems to be almost unknown. The dive operations I talked to and guest houses I emailed could not even conceive of what we wanted to do. No frame of reference at all.

If you get there, or anywhere else in Dominica, PLEASE post a detailed description. This place is on my short list. Its just hard to get to.

Connor

 

[TimoP]

Thnx, Google finds a lot by:
"Nature Island Dive" "Scotts Head" Dominica

This is their own website:
http://www.natureislanddive.com/

 

[TimoP]

Thnx, Google finds a lot by:
"Nature Island Dive" "Scotts Head" Dominica

This is their own website:
Diving in Dominica with Nature Island Dive - Let the Adventure Begin!

An update: I've booked a week there in Jan 2010. After searching from the web and emailing to Dominica, Scotts Head seems to be, like you cdavis said, the best place to (free)dive in Dominica, and one of the best in Caribbean, especially if you want see much marine life. There are also drop offs very near Scotts Head coastline, it's a submerged old volcano with really nice corals etc.

From other islands there are about 5 flights a day to Dominica (LIAT and Winair 2010-11). In Dominica it is almost a must to rent a 4x4 car. There are mostly mountains and small roads, not suitable for a normal car. Not many taxis or busses. Not so many tourists either because of the lack of sandy beaches (there are many on the other islands in Caribbian).

A very useful link, if going to Dominica:
DOMINICA, Nature Island Destinations, a complete service for the Stay-Over Visitor to Dominica, Commonwealth of Dominica, East Caribbean, West Indies, English speaking.

We are sailing and freediving 2 weeks in Caribbean before going to Dominica. Our local diving club has rented a big sailing boat or better say a ship (some pro sailors on the ship). There are 16 divers on the ship, and it's not expensive for 2 weeks, because we do a part of the work. We will learn how to sail, too.

BTW: don't go to Caribbean in September because of hurricane season (June-Nov), better to go in Dec-April. It's warm year around there.

 

[cdavis]

Looking forward to a full report.

Connor