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Dive Review of Seaside Dive Resort/Sunset Bay Club in
Dominica

Seaside Dive Resort/Sunset Bay Club, May, 2007,

by Michael Judd, OR, USA (Sr. Reviewer Sr. Reviewer 11 reports). Report 3405.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 3 stars Food 3 stars
Service and Attitude 4 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 4 stars Shore Diving 1 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 3 stars
Comments "Seaside Dive" is at, and part of the same operation as, "Sunset Bay Club". Best thing about Sunset is the location, along the shore in it's own little valley. Driving around, we saw that most of the other "resorts" are right in towns. Rooms, all ground level, were OK, but not great. Hot water most of the time. Bed not too comfortable. AC would have helped. Rooms cleaned properly every day. The grounds very nice, with one of the few nice sand beaches on the west side of the island. The restaurant had mediocre food, with the same few selections most days, but the service was good. The all-inclusive package was a bargain, if you're not looking for gourmet fare. Dive shop is just a few steps from the lodging.
The island is beautiful, with great green mountains and seascapes. We rented a car for the week, and found an interesting place to drive to most afternoon/evenings. Roads are in terrible shape, even by Caribbean standards, but it's not so bad if you think of it as a live video game or skiing moguls. Dominica is not yet "over-touristed" - not a single Club Med or Sandels yet.
Dive operation gets mixed reviews. The two guides we had were pleasant, and one was knowledgable. The boat was not very comfortable or functional, especially when it had nine or ten divers; breaking out the second boat was apparently out of the question. Having the shop a few steps from the beach where the boat landed was convenient. We started out most dives as a group, but drifted apart, which was fine since there was little or no current on most dives. Most dives were in the 40 - 70 foot range, but we could go deeper if warranted.
The fish life was nothing spectacular, but something interesting on most dives. Lots of stingrays and eels. Also a fine place for scorpionfish, if you're into testing your eyes. Good variety of corals, and impressive barrel sponges. Rodney Rock is a shallow dive with lots of interesting critters, most notably a number of large seahorses. Most of the big fish are apparently fished out; something about people wanting to eat. From Sunset you mostly dive the central portion of the west coast, although they were talking about a trip down to the more popular Scotts Head area the day we left.
All in all, not exciting, but every dive was enjoyable.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 101-250 dives
Where else diving Palau, Philippines, Maldives, Thailand, St. Lucia, Cayman, Cozumel, Fiji, Maui
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas
Water Temp 78-80°F / 26-27°C Wetsuit Thickness 2
Water Visibility 60-80 Ft/ 18-24 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile no
Enforced diving restrictions More or less follow divemaster, no time limit
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles 1 or 2 Whales None
Corals 3 stars Tropical Fish 3 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish 1 stars
Large Pelagics 1 stars

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 [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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