North America Dive Operators

Freeport, Bahamas - "Xanadu Dive Center"

Dive Operator Snapshot

Freeport, Grand Bahama Island,
Bahamas

xanadudive@coralwave.com

The office / store is not your typical US dive shop.  It is not meant to be retail shop.  It specializes in dive instruction and diving. 

Those visiting from the US will enjoy the light hearted and relaxed atmosphere of the Bahamas, but remember, things are different in the islands.  Just relax and enjoy!

The Crew:

Captain & Divemaster Ray Lightburn:  Ray has been a professional diver since 2000 and came to Xanadu in 2003.  He has numerous certifications from Padi and Naui including most of the Tech Diving certifications.  Ray was both Boat Captain and Divemaster.  Yes, this is not typical stateside, but remember, this is the Bahamas.  Ray is excellent. He is young, vibrant, and extremely witty and entertaining.  His dive briefing was thorough.  I liked the buoyed descent line he set up at the stern of the boat.  This made descents/ascents a breeze.  They also used a heavy stranded poly rope as opposed to the typical braided.  Stranded rope does not compress or flatten in your hands as you pull yourself along.  Braided line has this problem and can be a slippery pain for divers in neoprene gloves pulling themselves against a current.

Ray was additionally our underwater guide.  That's right, the captain and divemaster jumped into the water and led those who desired to follow on an underwater jaunt.

This vintage 1980's era dive boat worked. It definitely showed its age, but the diesels fired up and never missed a beat.  The good news is that the dive sites were near so the boat's modest speed was not a problem.  This is not a hi-tech modern vessel.  A conveniently placed bungi cord served as cruise control.  A VHF radio was present but no sign of a GPS or chart plotter.  The deck was spacious with room for twenty divers.  Water entrance and exit was excellent with a broad space for a giant stride off the back with two excellent ladders for water exit. 

This is a no frills dive boat that is extremely functional and which I would dive off again.
 

The Tunnels:
This is a 60-80' dive that was wonderful.  The reef runs east/west with deep canyons cutting across it north/south.  The coral formations are about 20' high and there are numerous swim-throughs.  The sea life was excellent.  Upon hitting the water a Caribbean black tip shark made its way up to greet me.  This put me off at first as I am not use to having sharks change course to check me out.  This five footer cruised right up along side of me about four feet away and gave me a quick once over.  Later it dawned upon me that perhaps this is one of the sharks that participates in the shark feeding dives that are held in the Bahamas.  He might have been coming up to see if I was going to feed him.  The remainder of the dive revealed a great diversity of fish including numerous gag groupers.  I saw more large groupers on this one dive than in three years of diving stateside.  And these grouper were big.  Some in the 30+ inch range.  The vis was in the 100 foot range.  This is a 5 Star dive in anyone's book.

Angel's Camp:
This 45' deep dive was very interesting.  Ray led us through a large sandy area with monster coral heads that had been undercut so that they looked liked monster mushrooms.  The trail led past the remains of a small plane and then to an old 40' tugboat wreck called the Badger.  Again there was a great variety of sea life including lobsters and absolutely huge parrot and angel fish.  While not as spectacular as the tunnels, this was an excellent dive that most people would enjoy.

The Bottom Line: This is a solid dive operation with reliable boats and a talented crew.  I would not hesitate to take my family diving with them and will probably use them again in the futre.

http://www.xanadudive.com/

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