Scuba Dive

Dinner time!

With approximately 700 islands, over 2,500 cays, and 100,000 square miles of ocean, the Bahamas collectively comprise a massive scuba paradise.   Grand Bahama Island, long one of the hubs of Bahamian tourism, is currently being rediscovered by divers and developers alike. Commerce and tourism has always centered on Freeport, the second-largest city in the Bahamas. But in the past few years, West End, Grand Bahama, is getting significant attention as well. Still, Freeport remains the home of most of the dive activity, and a true jewel in the crown of Bahamian diving.

Diving Grand Bahama is a lesson in diversity, from outrageous walls to high-octane animal encounters, shallow- to medium-depth reefs, excellent wrecks and even freshwater caverns. There is also an array of specialty dive programs like shark feeding dives, dolphin dives, diving with rebreathers, and riding underwater scooters. While the walls bordering the island’s south coast are accessible to casual divers, depths can exceed recreational limits. Most diving is done on shallow- to medium-depth reefs, where several excellent wrecks are found. Winter water temps drop to the 70s, while summer temps peak in the high 80s. The seas are calm year-round, except during winter storms. Visibility averages 80 to 100 feet.  Some of the dive highlights around Grand Bahama Island include:

Cave Diving – The expansive Lucayan cavern system honeycombs Grand Bahama and offers several points of access at both inland and oceanic blue holes. Advanced divers can explore spectacular sites such as Ben’s Cavern, a sinkhole located in the Lucayan Caves National Park.  Here stalactites and stalagmites provide dramatic underwater scenery while migratory bats steal the show topside. Other caverns to explore include, Owl’s Hole and Mermaids Lair.

Shark diving/Shark feeding – In scuba diving circles, the Bahamas are pretty well known for their sharks.  Divers commonly see black tips, white tips, grey reef, and nurse sharks on dives.  The only way to pack more of them into a dive is to feed them, which is what several companies have started offering in the Bahamas.  Venture to a depth of 50 feet where instructors in protective chain mail lure dozens of sharks into close range with tasty tidbits.

Dolphin experiences – A company called UNEXSO offers “The Dolphin Experience,” the chance to scuba dive with one or more of its resident dolphins out in the open ocean.  The company houses 16 bottlenose dolphins maintained in an enclosure at Sanctuary Bay, 10 of which have been born in captivity.   If wild dolphins are more of your thing, White Sand Ridge north of West End, Grand Bahama won’t disappoint.  Here, bottlenose dolphins are commonly seen rooting around in the shallow sand bank, and a resident pod of spotted dolphins is frequently seen.

Theo’s Wreck – Purposefully sunk in 1982 to create an artificial reef, Theo’s Wreck is located just east of Xanadu Beach.  The wreck is about 230 feet long and rests on a flat sandy patch of the ocean floor on its port side, between the deep reef and the drop-off at a depth of about 101 feet. Over the past two decades the structure has become a haven for a mass of marine life. The wreck is intact and is covered in a blanket of yellow and orange cup corals and pink and red sponges, as well as colorful algae. The bow anchor chain in particular has splendid gorgonian sea fans. The shaded part of the hull is completely smothered in orange false gorgonians.  Sea life found here includes barracuda, parrotfish, angelfish, snappers and moray eels. At the nearby reef drop-off, divers are likely to find larger fish and turtles.