The Trip to SCUBA Diving with Stuart Cove’s Dive Bahamas – New Providence, Bahamas

On January 31, 2019
By Kimberly

Diving with Stuart’s Cove’s Dive Bahamas on New Providence Island was a really fun experience! This is an account of traveling from downtown Nassau to Stuart Cove’s Dive Bahamas docks and return. Dive article here.

Greeted in Nassau

We began our dive with meeting Stuart’s Cove’s Florabelle at the cruise ship port. She was wearing their signature hot pink shirt. I suspect she actually was there to greet divers who had booked a dive through Royal Caribbean, but we were glad to see her all the same!

She had a cell phone, and a radio, and she knew that we were coming along with some others, so we were in great hands.

Quick Trip Through Customs

From the pier to the shuttle, we had to make a brief detour through Bahamian Immigrations and Customs. Here, they took a quick look at our large dive bags, asked what we were doing that day in the Bahamas. They gave us stickers to indicate that we had been through.

We headed through the little market area, admiring the wares, and headed out the gates from Festival Place. This is South of where the cruise ships dock. In about the length of two cars, we arrived at the loading spot for Stuart Cove’s shuttle bus.

Riding in the Jump Seat!

I’ve been riding Bahamian shuttle buses my entire life, but I think my diving partners were a bit surprised at how passengers fill the bus! Fuel is incredibly expensive in the islands. So, any moving vehicle is set up to carry the max number of passengers that the floor space will allow.

There were bench seats along the right side of the bus, that held two people. Then there was a row of seats along the left to hold one person. In between every single aisle, there was a jump seat that folds down to make the entire row complete. While this does mean that at every stop, the bus might have to almost empty and refill. That’s just the way it is when fuel is at a premium.

Across the Island!

Because we arrived at the crew ship pier, we had about a 45 minute drive across the island to reach our destination. Stuart Cove’s is located on the south western corner of the island, past the airport, somewhat near the Bacardi plant, and near where the fuel tankers fill up.

I was so thrilled, because no one in our group had ever been to the Bahamas or New Providence, and they got a bit of a taste of the island outside of the tourist area.

We headed past fish fry, and a place where locals and visitors like to enjoy dining and drinking. We passed Sandy Port, and several casinos and resorts.

Scenic Tour

It was a Saturday, and I had told everybody to look and watch for wedding parties. They enjoying posing for their photographers around the incredible landscaping around the resort. Sure enough, I think we saw about three separate wedding parties!

Everyone got a good look at the local flora, like the silver Thatch palm, the local slow markets. Right before Orange Hill, we turned south into the island, passing the airport and crossing toward the flats.

Everyone was interested in Baha Mar, especially those of us who are followed the financial woes, the bankruptcy, the sale to the Japanese, and all of the delays that had occurred in building it.

Bill had been there two years before, and I have been seeing those cranes for what seemed like about 10 years. The place is deceptively huge.

Arriving at Stuart Cove’s Dive Bahamas

When we arrived at Stuarts Cove’s, we wheeled our bags down the dock and got a good look at the dive boats. Then we headed into the dive shop, rented some equipment, and loaded onto the dive boat.

Private Dive Boat

There were eight of us, plus another two or three divers, so it was like a private charter boat! We headed out their private cut, and saw their other boats along the way. We saw one with those individual submarine type things!

Heading out to Dive!

We headed out toward the dive site where we saw some enormous yachts moored in the protection of the island.

Returning

When we arrived back at the dock, the dive crew helped us unload our gear. We tipped everyone generously, left behind a NAS JAX Skin and Scuba Club Diver T-shirt for our dive leader Tatiana, and headed for the showers.

They had hot and cold fresh water showers. I’m not sure if everyone knows what a luxury that was. We were able to rinse off our dive gear in their rinse tanks, take a hot shower, and get loaded up on the bus.

Quick Dive Recap

Our dive began around 1:00 p.m. and ended around 5:00 p.m. It was a two-tank dive; first dive on a wreck, second dive shallower on a reef. We saw so much! Sharks! We saw sharks! Read about it: Diving With Stuart Cove’s.

Returning to the Cruise Ship Port

On the return bus ride, we were treated to a spectacular view of the sunset over Orange Hill. We made a couple stops to drop off other divers along the way. One of the stops was at Baha Mar, so we were able to go past the security gates, and see the entrance and lobby of this spectacular resort.

We had hoped that we would have enough time to go by Graycliff Hotel & Restaurant for a cigar and a tropical cocktail, but we arrived back at the crew ship pier around 6:00 p.m.

Customs and Immigration

We went through the security gate, backtracked through the customs and immigration to have them glance at our sticker again. There we had a bit of a chat with one of the guards about his day of fishing and our day of diving. After that, we headed back to the cruse ship to take another quick shower and get dressed up for formal night.

Saving the Memories

At dinner, the eight of us pulled out all of our fish identifying cards and books, and compared notes on what we had seen and experienced. What a great experience to see the length of New Providence, dive with Stuart Cove’s and spend a bit of time underwater in the beautiful Bahamas!