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For Divers since 1975 The Private, Exclusive Guide for Serious Divers Since 1975 |
"Best of the Web: scuba tips no other source dares to publish" -- Forbes |
Riding Rock Inn, Apr, 2009,by Tripp Jones, SC, USA ( Top Contributor 72 reports with 29 Helpful votes). Report 4762.
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No photos available at this time | |||
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best): |
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| Accommodations |  |
Food | |
| Service and Attitude |  |
Environmental Sensitivity | |
| Dive Operation | |
Shore Diving | N/A |
| Snorkeling | N/A | ||
Overall Rating |
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| Value for $$ | |
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| Beginners | |
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| Advanced | |
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| Comments |
This was our 6th trip to Riding Rock Inn with Wateree Dive Center in Columbia, SC. We flew over on the Spirit Air Club Med Charter flight from Ft. Lauderdale. We went through immigration and customs without any problems. The Inn has good, clean rooms and staff gives a 1.5 liter bottle of water on arrival since water in rooms is suboptimal, but no one got sick and no odor. The food is served buffett style in morning and was quite good. We had choices of 2 entrees at lunch and 2 entrees at dinner. The conch chowder is wonderful and was served every day at lunch. It is the best in the Carribean. The breakfast was at 7:30 AM and lunch at 12:30 pm after the 2 morning dives. Dinner was at 6:30 PM.The fish entrees were quite good and fresh local wahoo, mahi, and grouper were served and overall excellent. The Driftwood Bar is my favorite in the Carribean and Peaches makes great drinks. This bar has a great personality of its own. The dive operation is quite good. The boat was roomy and fine with about 16 divers easily handled. The water temp was 75 degrees consistently and we used about 3-5 mm suits.We generally dived with 45 minute limits and 500 lb with computers, but some flexibility was not a problem. The visibility was about 100 ft + on most of the 17 dives during the week. As reported in Undercurrent in the most recent issue, I would wait until the water is a little warmer, but then we might have missed the hammerheads, which prefer cooler water. We saw at least 1 hammerhead on each dive along with reef sharks. The overall fish life was good, but a big concern is the number of lionfish seen on 16 of the 17 dives. We saw as many as 8 on a dive and saw these predators consume multiple juveniles and that is a forboding sign for the future. When lionfish were sacraficed in the past, the sharks began to show very active interest and became more aggressive, so the staff does not do this anymore.It will be necessary to find a way to control these predators in the future. Captain Bruce has been there many years and is superb. Lynn, a likeable Brit, is also good.We decided to do an afternoon dive instead of a night dive due to the cool water. The daytime temp was about 74-78 degrees. The wind was variable, but cool when on surface. The departure process is handled well and no problems with that in San Salvador. Spirit Air was very slow with baggage in Ft. Lauderdale. All in all, the Riding Rock Inn is a very good destination. They do a very nice job in caring for divers and the staff is very good. We spent Hurricane Floyd ( Category 4 in church where we were) at Riding Rock in 1999 so the staff is A+. We will return and look forward to another trip soon. |
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Reporter and Travel |
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| Dive Experience | 501-1000 dives | ||
| Where else diving | Cayman Islands ( all 3), Belize, Truk, St. Kitts, Cozumel, Turks and Caicos, Roatan, Bonaire, Curacao | ||
| Closest Airport | Getting There | ||
Dive Conditions |
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| Weather | sunny, windy, dry | Seas | calm, choppy, no currents |
| Water Temp | 75-°F / 24-°C | Wetsuit Thickness | 3 |
| Water Visibility | 50-125 Ft/ 15-38 M | ||
Dive Policy |
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| Dive own profile | yes | ||
| Enforced diving restrictions | Varied; usually 45 minutes, and 500 lbs. | ||
| Liveaboard? | no | Nitrox Available? | N/A |
What I Saw |
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| Sharks | Lots | Mantas | None |
| Dolphins | None | Whale Sharks | None |
| Turtles | > 2 | Whales | None |
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best): |
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| Corals |  |
Tropical Fish | |
| Small Critters | |
Large Fish | |
| Large Pelagics | |
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Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best): |
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| Subject Matter | |
Boat Facilities | |
| Overall rating for UWP's | |
Shore Facilities | N/A |
| UW Photo Comments | [None] | ||
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above. |
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