Ruggedly beautiful and volcanic in origin, Dominica's narrow coastal shelves, towering green mountains covered in dense tropical forests, deep valleys and countless streams provide magnificent scenic views.

 Photo by: Fred Altrieth–4/2001
Clear, warm water, and the abundance of a great variety of sea life surrounding Dominica, much of which can be experienced by shore diving, makes for a spectacular, dynamic, marine drama constantly changing shape, motion, color and texture. Be sure to look for bat fish.

Photo by: Fred Altrieth–4/2001 

Diving!—From the newly-certified to the experienced olde-pro underwater photographers, Dominica offers a very safe, pristine underwater environment. Occasionally on some sites, there is a gentle current and the easy drift diving makes for a very relaxing exploration.

 Photo by: Fred Altrieth–4/2001
Most dive sites are about a 20– to 30–minute boat ride away. Many of the dive operators use the large social boats, making for more comfort all around—shade, drinking water, room to spread out, relax, play "one-up-man-ship" about the biggest or strangest fish you ever saw and other spectacular dive adventures you ever had, while you assemble your gear.

Whale and Dolphin Watching—Best time is October–April. You will see Sperm Whales, Short Finned Pilot Whales, Humpback Whales, Spinner Dolphins, Bottle Nosed Dolphins, and Atlantic Spotted Dolphins.

Weather & Water—Year round air temperature averages—60–85 deg.F. Water temperature ranges between 75 deg.F. to 82 deg.F. Visibility runs between 75 to 120 feet.

Price Validity—All Package Prices are subject to change without notice, unless Paid-In-Full. Changes may be required in the event of increases or decreases in the cost of services imposed by hotels, dive operators, air carriers (if included in package), or other contractors. Government taxes can change at any time.

You are going to see a lot! There are over 400 species of fish, crab, anemones, colorful sponges and coral—Flamingo Tongue Snail, Chromis, Creole Wrasse, bat fish, black coral, seahorses, Angel Fish, Slipper Lobster and more.

Photo by: Fred Altrieth–4/2001

• The Suburbs and The Village—richly covered, rocky dropoffs visited by schools of black durgons, huge barracuda, turtles, big stingrays, huge barrel sponges, dense deepwater seafans, seahorses, colorful crinoids and sponges. This is a much wilder area and one never knows what will pass by.
• The Condo—on Atlantic side, is a huge chunk of rock sitting in 60fsw on a sandy slope. Swimthroughs, overhangs and recesses.
• Scott's Head Pinnacle—both Atlantic and Caribbean sides. Begin dive at Swiss Cheese, a large rock formation including Soldierfish Cave, a swimthrough usually packed with soldierfish and grunts. Then comes the Pinnacle with a 35fsw swimthrough bisecting the pinnacle to bring you to a steep wall on the inside of a volcanic crater that falls off to more than 120fsw.
• Crater's Edge—volcanic ridge with huge schools of black jacks, bar jacks, rainbow runners, tuna, yellowtail snapper and cero—all pursuing schools of baitfish. You might be escorted by two huge barracuda.
• Scott's Drop–Off—on the sheltered Soufriere/Scott's Bay side, this wall drops from 40—100fsw. Pink and azure vase sponges, orange icing sponges, yellow tube sponges and green rope sponges are home to lobster, crabs, and various kinds of cleaner shrimp.
• Soufriere Pinnacles—north of the village of Soufriere, is a popular 2nd dive site. 6 frogfish and 2 seahorses have been recorded to date. This dive leads to L'Abym, a 1500–foot wall that plunges straight down from the cliff face and down into the deep. Frogfish and seahorses.
• Dangleben's Pinnacles—a series of 5 pinnacles ranging in depth 40–80fsw, and covered with every imaginable form of sponge and coral. During winter months the southernmost pinnacle becomes a feeding frenzy of barjacks, horse–eye jacks, crevalle jacks, cero and occasional barracuda all chasing schools of baitfish. As a backdrop there are waterfalls of mating blue creole wrasse.
• Coral Gardens—toward shore from Dangleben's, a small and colorful dive with finger and pencil coral. Just to the north is Point Guignard, a gradual slope with smaller creatures—seahorses, nudibranch and sea slugs.
• Champagne Reef—is the northernmost site in the Marine Reserve and is Dominica's most famous dive/snorkel site. This sub-aquatic hotspring is in about 15fsw and spews forth hot water and bubbles, giving the effect of diving in champagne. You will likely see schools of squid and huge stoplight parrotfish around this site.

Central

Photo by: Fred Altrieth–4/2001

• Rodney's Rock—max. 50fsw and loaded with sea critters—mini–caves and overhangs for spiny and slipper lobster, crabs and morays, sandy patches with seagrass for red heart urchins, sea cucumbers, sting rays, spotted snake eels, and the rare and elusive batfish. The walls are carpeted with corals and sponges providing home to octopus, frogfish, seahorses and numerous grunts and snappers. A great site for night dives when squid, lobster, octopii and crab are in full view.
• Nose Reef and Whaleshark Reef—are located on the south dropoff of Grand Savanne flats and begin at 55fsw, dropping off to 130+fsw. Arrow Crab, banded and Pedersen cleaner shrimp, spotted flamingo tongue snail. Whaleshark has a vertical face is covered with giant barrel sponges, brilliant yellow tube sponges, azure vases and many colorful hard corals—all teeming with tropical fish. Also, spotted are barracuda, Spanish mackerel and jacks
• Rina's Hole—a shallow dive with a beautiful swimthrough leading to a cluster of rock formations encrusted with corals, teeming with moray eels giant anemones, delicate sea fans and beds of sea plumes. Colors are vibrant due to the shallowness and white sand as backdrop. A perfect environment for all kinds of marine life. also, seen are schools of chub and an occasional sting ray, spotted eagle ray and nurse shark.
• Coral Gardens and Batali Pinnacle—2 of the most sheltered sites in Batali Bay, begin in 20–30fsw, where rocks are covered with corals and sponges. Home to frogfish of various sizes and colors—pink, yellow, brown and black. Ornate lettuce leaf sea slugs inch along beds of y-branched algae and lizard fish and sand divers hang out at cleaning stations getting cleaned by Pedersen shrimp. Sloping away is a stretch of sand with red heart sea urchins and garden eels.

North

• Pointe Ronde and The Craters—abundant with healthy marine life, starting off about 70fsw, upon reaching the craters, the reef drops off respectively to 92fsw and 120fsw. Upon reaching the bottoms of these craters, you will find sand with small holes from which occasionally escape streams of bubbles. The water is warm and if you dig down a little below the warm sand, you could get burned..
• The Cabrits—Cabrits South and West drop off respectively to 155fsw and 110fsw. Further to the south it drops below 185fsw. these sites often have currents and you will enjoy a great drift dive over barrel sponges and schools of creole wrasse.
• Douglas Point—at the southern end there is a canyon and tunnel covered with corals and sponges. The western end goes to 100fsw, where will be found abundant flamingo tongue snails. Douglas Point Wall begins at 50fsw and slopes down to 180fsw. Here are found lobster, large barracuda and cero mackerel. They are curious and will approach within 2 ft. of divers.
• Toucari Bay and Cottage Point—is a secluded area with coral covered rocks beginning at the beach and sloping to the main reef at 40fsw. There are some tunnels and swimthroughs harboring schools of French grunts. The reef then drops to 110fsw where are found mahogany snappers, big crabs and frogfish. There is a wreck at Cottage Point in 15–35fsw which sand during the 18th Century. Then move over to more pinnacles abundant with invertebrates.
• Pinard—a pinnacle with a 300 foot long tunnel packed solid with fish—constantly moving.

Dive Adventures with Castle Comfort

High Season and Low Season—High season generally begins mid-December and ends mid-April. Higher rates are found during High Season and some holidays.

Photo by: Fred Altrieth–4/2001 

Castle Comfort—(Low season rates around $1045 diver, $735 non-diver— Adventure per person, double occupancy includes: 7 Nights Accommodations (all rooms), airport transfers, breakfast and dinner daily, hotel tax, five 2-tank[AM] boat dives, unlimited [PM] shore dives off dive shop's dock, one 1-tank Night Dive, tank, weights, belt, air refills. Free kayaking. For guarantee of oceanview room, add $100pp. Note: These rates are as of 2006. Discover lower rates available until them!

Castle Comfort is a small guest house style hotel with only 15 rooms, some with their own patio. It is family owned and operated with first class service. All rooms have air conditioning, ceiling fans and are simple, clean and comfortable.

They are all set below, above and around an open air living room and dining area. The living area at Castle Comfort has a TV and VCR for viewing your underwater videos. The hotel is directly on the water giving some of the rooms an ocean view. Their restaurant specializes in local cuisine. New at Castle Comfort is a spa for 8 people, pool and a sundeck terrace. Dive Dominica Dive Shop is conveniently located a few feet from shore.

Dive Adventures with Fort Young Hotel

High Season and Low Season—High season generally begins mid-December and ends mid-April. Higher rates are found during High Season and some holidays.

Fort Young Hotel—(Low season rates around $775 diver, $479 non-diver)— Adventure per person, double occupancy includes: 7 Nights Accommodations (Standard Room), airport transfers, full breakfast daily, hotel tax, service charge, five 2-tank[AM] boat dives, tank, weights, belt, air refills.

Fort Young Hotel—is a unique hotel with 53 rooms (21 are new). The hotel is located on a cliff overlooking the ocean and is an historic building which lies within the walls of the original fort built in 1770. The Fort Young Hotel offers facilities such as a pool, conference rooms, full restaurant and bar, fitness center and massage facility. It is only five minutes walk from the city center (Roseau). All the facilities give the hotel appeal to those who do not want an entirely dive oriented vacation, and is popular with adventurers as well as divers.

Dive Dominica

Dive Dominica—is one of the most respected operators on the island. The three boats are well prepared and manned by the island crew personally trained by the owner, Derek Perryman. Dive Dominica is a PADI Dive Center, a NAUI Dream Resort and an SSI resort member.

Other Dive Adventure Options

The above standard dive adventures can be somewhat custom-tailored re: length of stay, number of dives, type of room, and divers vs. non-divers in party. Do you want a Resort Course, become certified, go for advanced certifications and specialties, use the OW Referral to complete your basic certification? If you don't see what you are looking for here, contact us and ask.

We are also able to custom-tailor your dive adventure using other accommodations and dive operators. It is not difficult to find good value for any of our clients.

In order to provide you your best–valued, customized Dive Adventure, please tell us more about yourself(ves)—

My Dive Adventure Preferences

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