At DEMA last year, Stuart Cove's was giving away a weekend dive package for three days of morning dives for two people. You had to get there and get your own accommodations—all in all, not a bad deal.
I figured I would ask my daughter Meg if she wants to be my dive buddy for this trip while at dinner one night in January. Naturally, Steven, her husband, had joined us for dinner and said: "I always wanted to learn to dive."
Later that month, we all got together for a family dinner. We told the group our plan. Chris said he wanted to learn to dive. Patti and Robert would be happy to spend the weekend in the Bahamas; I couldn't dive this trip; someone had to hang out with my granddaughter.
There you have it, a family weekend in New Providence.
Worked at finding a place that we could all be together that would not break the bank. Patti had recommended looking at AirBnB. After a bunch of searches, we found a place on the edge of Nassau a block from Junkanoo beach and two blocks from downtown. The shuttle bus from the Stuart Cove's picked up from across the street it could not have worked out better.
The plan: the divers would do two-morning dives; the rest of the group would head to the beach for a morning of fun or find some other adventures to explore. Then we would all get together for lunch and explore Nassau for the rest of day.
Flying in on three different airlines with three different arrival times. Meg and Steven arrived early in the day and spent some time on the beach. Chris and I arrived early and found that Patti and Robert had just cleared customs so we meet them outside of customs.
Our AirBnB host offer to pick us up at the airport with a quick stop at the grocery store. Then our host gave us a tour of the place we were staying.
Once we got the sleeping arrangement sorted and some dinner we reviewed the plan for the following day.
The divers were up and out early Friday morning to meet the dive shop bus. Which took us to the other end of the island to Stuart Cove's. Checked in, found our boat, they have a bunch of them. In short order we setup up our gear, boat captain briefing done, we headed out. A short ride off the to the south west of the island to the wreck of the David Tucker. It sits in 60 ft of water with ledge a short distance away.
Top of the ledge was at ~60 ft the bottom was estimated around 3000 ft.
Hearing there was a ledge that looked into the abyss, Steven and Chris wanted to go there first. After the divemaster briefing, I give our crew an additional briefing about ledges, up-wells, walls and monitoring depth. Since this was their first ocean dive we did not want to go too crazy with first.
Little to no current, good, not great viz. We were moored to the stern of the wreck. Once we all got in the water, weighting sorted out, we headed to the down the line and out to the edge. To be honest diving ledges is in my top five favorite types of dives, there is usually so much to see. Today was me making sure of dive group safety. Everyone did well on the ledge and yes they pushed their depth limits, I stayed below them and told them not one goes deeper than me. I was at 75 feet so they all came to join me at one point so I eased our way back to 60 feet. We found a natural break in the reef and swam back to the top of the reef then did a tour around the wreck. Everyone's air consumption was very good, we reach our dive time completed our safety stop and headed back top side. Ending a great first dive for the weekend and a great ocean dive 1 for Chris and Steven.
Conditions as we are heading back to the dock after our second dive of the day on Friday on Elk Horn Reef
The second dive was to Elk Horn reef a great 25-35 ft shallow dive, great viz and no current. A good healthy reef with a good mix of fish. A nice hour long dive then back to shore.
Oh yeah, I had planned my dives this year so I would hit my 900th dive during this trip. Check another accomplishment off as done, this dive was #900. Next goal Dive #1000 hoping to get it by the end of 2017 but we will see.
The Queen's Staircase Nassau Bahamas
After the bus drive back to Nassau we meet up with the rest of the group. We walked through town and made our way to The Queens Staircase. Since Patti and Robert had recently been to Nassau on a cruise they knew the best way to approach the stairs was from the top and walk down. We did our tour through town so we would end up at the top.
Impressive structure considering it was all cut by manual labor. Lots of old structures and having been a fan of the "Black Sails" series TV I wanted to see downtown Nassau. This is my fourth trip to downtown Nassau but this would be my first time to really walk around town.
I had to walk around a little the first time I was here in 1998 or 1999 just as Atlantis was opening, From what I can remember a lot has changed. Not all of it for the better. There was an old-world island feel to the place, now it is gear toward the cruise ships. I understand progress but it is not the same.
Day 2 the divers head out early hoping for different part of the sea to explore but we ended up on the wreck of the Tucker again. I mention it to the crew and they offered to change the 2nd dive to a different location. That was nice since it was a full boat. Today the guys wanted to do a quick dip off of the ledge then back to the wreck to explore. The David Tucker is the model boat as the Austin Smith further down in the Exuma's. An old coast guard patrol boat, once it was decommissioned it was sunk as part of Nassau’s artificial reef program. The boat is just the right size to explore the exterior at this depth. The was a bit more surface current on this dive then what we had yesterday but no big deal. Another good dive.
The second dive was to the Hollywood Bowl, A sandy spot on the lee side a reef outcropping that creates a bowl shape, and as you would guess this is where just about every underwater movie scene in the Bahamas is shot. Due to the clear water, shallow depth, easy to get to by boat from shore. A very fun dive. You can explore the bowl then work your way back into the shallow breakers, Great shallow dive.
Met up with the rest of the group, they went to the Zoo for the morning and had a great time. We headed back downtown to see the sites. Today we walked the waterfront, all geared toward the cruise ship population.; There were three ships in port today. We figured most of them must have been downtown in the morning because it was not that crowded. Those of legal aged sampled the adult beverages as we strolled. For the record that was not me. heat and adult beverages are not a good mix.
We did stop for lunch at the Pirate Republic. The beer was good, the food was okay but very pricey for what you got. In the end, it is the location. Can't fault anyone for trying to make a buck.
Day 3 our last day of diving. One cool thing about today's dive, we were on a flat top boat. Once the boat was secured and you got the all clear to dive you just step to the edge of the deck and did a giant stride in. The crew told us they use this boat when film crews are in town, Allows a lot of people to get in the water quickly.
Today had its challenge and the challenge was the current. My new divers were not expecting it. We had discussed the possibles and options, but when you encounter it, it makes it real. It was a strong two knot for the most part. We were on the wreck BBC and there was another wreck beyond the BBC but we did not make it that far. We got our dive crew to the lee side of this listing tug. I attempted to swim around the bow and head to the other wreck the current was strong enough after about five kick cycles of me going nowhere I let them know we are going to stay here and explore the lee side of the tug, out of the current. We checked out the wheelhouse, the deck, we could get to the screws and rudder but could not get much further. Others from the boat seem to sail past toward the other wreck but my group was content to explore this area Coming up the line and for our safety stop we looked like flags on the line due to the current. It added a level of respect for the power of the sea even at 2 knots for my group. I have done drift dives in a 3-4 knot current, you are basically flying through the water. But fixed location dives are a challenge with the stronger current.
Picture by Patti Yao
Our shore crew spent the morning at the beach. Once we were all together we caught a ferry to Atlantis, we stopped at Margaritaville for lunch then over to Atlantis to walk the grounds and check out the aquarium, we divers wanted to our shore crew to share in some of what we saw diving. They did tell us they saw a lot of fish in the water at the beach as well.
That brought our weekend trip to a close. Monday morning we started flying out. Patti and Robert caught the first flight out. Meg and Steven had a mid-morning flight.
Chris and I had an afternoon fight. We pack up the luggage and put it by the door then headed back downtown to do some last minute gift shopping.
Found our items, went back grabbed our bags, made our way to the airport and our weekend adventure was done. We had a get time!
Now to start planning our next group adventure.