Sandals Bahamas

[MDDIVER]

I posted this question a few months ago on Scubaboard looking to see if anyone had any information about diving with Sandals in the Bahamas. I did not get very many responses so I am going to give it a try here.

We will be down there for the week starting 10/5 for are honeymoon. I would like to get a morning or two of diving in. Just would like to know if anyone has experiences with this dive op.

Thanks

[jpep]

MDDIVER,

First of all congratulations on your upcoming wedding and honeymoon.

Sounds like you are staying at the Sandals Royal Bahamian. It is a nice property.

We stayed there in March 2001 and March 2004.... so it has been a while since I dived with the on-site operator. If nothing has changed since then, they will require a brief skills demonstration in the pool before permitting you to dive. Essentially, this consists of you demonstrating you can assemble your gear, doff/don your mask and bcd u/w. Then you can make a reservation for the 2 tank morning dives. This demonstration was in the afternoon if I remember correctly, and was usually after the next morning's reservations were already booked. Therefore, if you prefer the morning dives, I'd recommend seeing the dive-op on arrival, scheduling the skills demonstration and immediately booking the days/times to dive. If not, you may miss out on some dives.

Dives are guided, no deeper than 60'. Despite a multi level profile, your computer and/or good air consumption skills, the dive will last no longer than 30 minutes.

Depending on the sites/weather/water conditions you may have a long or short bus ride from the property to the boat. I dimly recall sites called Fish Hotel, Trinity Caves and I think the James Bond/Thundeball site. Fun, but definitely not world class diving.

If you can, be sure to make reservations upon arrival at Baccarat and The Crystal Room, which are the 2 finer restaurants on property.

Enjoy and safe diving!

[MDDIVER]

Thanks for the good info. This is what I was hoping for. I hate running around to these travel website just to hear people complain about everything and not provided and important info. Like where to eat! The info that we got in the mail the other day advised us to bring are dive logs and check in and reserve are dives just as soon as we get there. I hope it will be fun.

[jpep]

You're welcome. Glad I could help.

Baccarat is smaller than the Crystal Room, and hence has less seating and books up quicker. If you want to eat there, make a reservation immediately upon arrival, otherwise you'll be out of luck, or may get stuck with either a very early or very late dinner. Same with The Crystal Room.

Definitely bring your log book and obviously your C-card.

I'd also suggest checking Sandals' website, and specifically the scuba diving section. I seem to recall they had a medical clearance form that you mustcomplete and possibly have your physician sign certifying you are fit to dive, if you are over a certain age or have certain medical conditions.

One last suggestion... if possible/available try to get a room in the Windsor building rather than the Manor buiilding. The Windsor building is newer.

Good Luck & enjoy.

[MDDIVER]

I am not sure what building and all that we are staying in but we will make a point to get are reservations when we get there. I am very surprised that no one else has had anything to add about the diving. I have searched the internet and cant find anything about them. Kind of makes me worried.

[jpep]

Originally Posted by MDDIVER

I am not sure what building and all that we are staying in but we will make a point to get are reservations when we get there. I am very surprised that no one else has had anything to add about the diving. I have searched the internet and cant find anything about them. Kind of makes me worried.

Not sure why, except that perhaps many Sandals Royal Bahamian's guests that dived with the on-site operator may not have posted regarding their experiences.

Perhaps you may want to contact the hotel directly regarding the name of the on-site dive operator and search the internet that way. Alternatively, if you have not done so, take a look at tripadvisor and see what the hotel reviews and the forum has regarding comments.

[jpep]

Perhaps another reason there is not much infor on Sandal's on -site dive operator is because more divers have booked with other operators like Stuart Cove's. Not sure, but just a guess.

Good Luck

[MDDIVER]

This is the message I sent to Sandals:

Subject: Dive Operation
Message: I will be at the Sandals Bahamas location in a few weeks and I am wondering who the on site dive operation is for that location. I would like to know as soon as I can so that I can contact them to see if I am going to have to make other reservations to do the type of diving I want to do.

This is what I got back:

Subject: Scuba Diving
Message:
Thank you for contacting Sandals and Beaches Resorts. We appreciate the opportunity to assist you.

Scuba diving is done on a first come, first serve basis. Each property's sign up procedures differ. When you arrive, make sure you stop by the water sports department to verify your resort's procedure.
Both Sandals and Beaches Resort offer Resort scuba Certification:
Please be advised that guests will be charged additional fees for scuba diving services at Sandals and Beaches Resorts. Fees are as follows:
Resort Course Lesson: $70.00 USD per person
Night Dives: $100.00 USD per person
Scuba Certification Course: $400.00 USD per person

If a guest does both the resort course and the certification, the charge is $400.00 USD per person.

All guests who complete the resort course will receive a certification good for a year at any resort.
These fees will be charged at the resort.

This course allows our non-certified guests to dive everyday once a day for your duration your stay. Guests must arrange this upon arrival at the Water Sports Center for the following day. The course takes 3 to 4 hours (weather permitting). All equipment is provided at no additional cost, however feel free to bring you own equipment if you prefer. All of our resorts offer wetsuit rentals, however, since the Caribbean waters are relatively warm year round, most divers do not require this. If you are PADI. or NAUI. certified, you must bring your certification card and proper documents in order to dive twice daily.

For any diving arrangements guests must take a swim test, meet medical requirements, complete instructions, and fill-out a medical history form in order to dive. If a guest has a medical condition, they must bring a "Bill of Health" signed by their doctor.

For certified divers that have not dived for a period of time, If the resort dive master feels that a certified diver failed the check before diving, he will require the guest to take a refresher course. The guest has two options:

1)Take a 1.5 hour refresher course for certified divers for US$50 per person
or
2)Join in on the resort course which is 3 hours long and with other guests who are not certified. This course is USD $70.

The skills check that we require from you prior to scuba diving is as follows:
1. Equipment set up.
2. Recovery of equipment underwater, clear regulator, put equipment on, and clear your mask.
3. At Beaches Turks & Caicos you are only required to clear mask & recover regulator.

We presently use Cressi Sub Equipment but we are in the process of changing the equipment to Scuba Pro. We change equipment whenever required. We have a service person on each property that services the equipment and make recommendations whenever they need changing.

All properties except Beaches Sandy Bay, located in Negril, Jamaica are PADI certified. Beaches Sandy Bay is NAUI certified but PADI instructors assist them from other properties in Negril when necessary.

Thank you for choosing Sandals and Beaches Resorts.

Best regards


OK DOES ANYONE SEE THE NAME OF THE FIVE OP THERE? YOU WOULD THINK AS MUCH AS ONE PAYS TO GO HERE I COULD GET A BETTER ANSWER THEN THIS.

[beperkins]

I do not know about the Bahamas, but we went to Sandals Jamaica(grande ocho rios) and the dive op was on site therefore no different name or anything and they were just fine and dandy. OK diving to 60 ft or less nothing advanced, 2 dives a day max. SO if you are advanced I would suggest going with a seperate dive op at your own expense.

[dawnvip]

I haven't been to the Sandal's Bahamas, but my husband and I went to the Sandal's St Lucia for our honeymoon. Sandals is definitely high end compared to the other all inclusives I have stayed at. Excellent food, all premium liquor at the bar, gorgeous rooms, etc.

Both hubby and I dive so we picked Sandals because its included and we were planning on doing a lot of diving during our week. Previous post regarding getting down to the water center to book your dives as soon as you get there is great advice, but it also depends on how many other couples are there to dive. The place will be full of honeymooners! Bring your dive logs so you don't have to do the pool session.

I am pretty sure the dive ops are part of Sandals, meaning they're employees and won't have a separate operation for outside guests. We found our guys to be great, professional and very accomodating. Equipment was great, boat was great, not much to complain about really...

Let them know what you want to do, especially if you are planning on doing a lot of diving, they will plan their dives to give you the most variation. Night dives cost extra but are worth it!

Congratulations on the wedding, and hopefully you will enjoy Sandals as much as we did!