Dive Review of Blue Reed Divers in
Barbados

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Blue Reed Divers, Apr, 2003, by J Kelley, Ma, USA . Report 467.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	BARBADOS AND BLUE REEF DIVERS TRIP REPORT Last fall my best friend, a non-diver, and I went to a charity auction. We bid on and won two American Airline tickets to anywhere in the Caribbean, for $550, a great deal. When we called American to get reservations, in November for an April vacation, we were told that the only island that was available for our ticket category and travel dates was Barbados. Given the choice of Barbados or Barbados we took Barbados. It wasn’t on our long list of choices but a trip to warm air and water is always a delight. After reading my Undercurrent chapbooks, which pretty much panned Barbados as a dive destination, I was really thinking about not packing my dive gear and not diving on Barbados. Heresy you say? Well wouldn’t it be wonderful to just take a light carry on bag rather than lugging that huge, heavy, unwieldy bag which is jammed with gear? Then I turned to Rodale’s Scuba Diving Diver to Diver Forum and had a change of heart. From the comments there I gleaned that Barbados diving was average for the Caribbean and while it was not electric it was worth diving. Also several divers recommended John Moore who operates Blue Reef Divers. This was a fortuitous happenstance as I took this advice and I have never had a better experience with a dive shop and I have almost 300 dives at many locations in the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. We arrived on Barbados a day late because American Airlines over booked the flight from San Juan to Barbados and we were bumped involuntarily. It was April 2003. The weather was great for the week we were there. It was sunny, hot and there were occasional clouds and a rain shower or two. The seas were calm on the west side of the island where I dove. The viz was about 50 feet and the water temp hovered around 82f. Mary and John Moore own and operate Blue Reef Divers on the west coast in Mt Standfast, which is just north of Holetown. The shop is right on the beach. Mary provides free transportation to and from your hotel. As I was staying on the South coast of Barbados, this was a fabulous bit of luck for me. Even though the ride was 40 to 60 minutes each way, depending on the rush hour traffic, Mary arrived each morning with a smile and an affable attitude. The rides were a treat as I got to see the island and Mary’s island commentary and conversation were great fun. While Mary is in charge of the transportation and managing the dive shop John handles the diving end of the operation. John is the dive master while a lifelong Bajan named Bob steers the boat and changes over your equipment between dives. The boat is small so the dive group is limited to a maximum of six. This makes for great diving as the group is small. And there was plenty of space on the boat for the group size. The dive sites were varied and we did a few drift dives with mild current. The dive that most people like best is the wreck of the freighter Stavronika, which at its deepest point is in about 120 to 130ft of water. John lead the group through some remarkably small swim throughs that I wouldn’t have tried on my own but with John’s leadership and knowledge of the freighter were perfectly safe and fun. The morning we dove the Stavronika we left a little early to be the first ones to the site as it is popular. There are other wreck sites and we dove another one which was shallower with lots of fish life although I can’t remember the name of it just now. Overall I found the reefs to be in good health with hard and soft coral with gorgonians and sponges. At most dive sites there were plenty of smaller fish, but larger fish were in shorter supply. Barbados had more turtles than I’ve ever seen on any other island. I did ten dives and saw large Hawksbill turtles on nine of them. Usually we saw several turtles and on one dive I saw five of them. And no it wasn’t one turtle circling me five times. Many of the turtles in Bajan waters are tagged. I usually saw at least one spotted eel and there were quite a few multiple sightings. There was even one huge green moray at the Stavronika who rivals Chester at the Habitat Curacao house reef in size. John was remarkably personable and very good at striking up conversations he took a real interest in the people with whom he was diving. Both John and Mary are amiable, easy going and good-natured. I really felt I was diving with friends. Although the diving on Barbados isn’t rip-snorting, it’s fine. There are a lot of things to do topside including a tour of rum distilleries and a brewery. A visit to the wild and less populated east side of the island was at the top of my friend’s favorite activities. The island is loaded with pretty beaches and activities so this might be a good vacation for a couple where only one of the partners is a diver. The people were friendly and easy going and very helpful in getting us to and from our destinations. Barbados has a good and cheap transportation system (although some of the small van rides can be hairy) so we didn’t bother with a car and driving on the left side of the road. You can contact Blue Reef Divers at Website – bluereef.com E-mail – bluereef@sunbeach.net
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Many Atlantic and Pacific locations
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	82-0°F / 28--18°C	Wetsuit Thickness	0
Water Visibility	0-50 Ft/ 0-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Don't dive alone
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	There wasn't a dunk tank on board.

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Dive Review of Blue Reed Divers in Barbados

Blue Reed Divers, Apr, 2003,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Blue Reed Divers in
Barbados