Trip report: Diving with Barbados Blue PADI Divers

Trip report: A week in Barbados on points. Diversification matters
Trip report: Radisson Aquatica Resort Barbados by Club Carlson
Trip report: Concorde Museum in Barbados BGI airport
Trip report: Harrison’s Caves Barbados
Trip report: Diving with Barbados Blue Padi Divers
Trip report: Airlines Executive Lounge Barbados BGI airport
Trip report: Final thoughts the island of Barbados – would I go back?

I am really missing Barbados and the amazing clear water of the Caribbean. This round of dives was a bit of a milestone for me as I reached, and passed, the 50 dive mark. Next marks to tick off will be 100 as well as 100 hours of bottom time (I still need to work on my breathing control, I readily admit).

I have already popped up a raw unedited GoPro video of part of one of our dives (yeah, it’s really kool btw). It was a neat day of experiences including a neat wreck dive. The above video is a quick set of clips from another day of dives in the marine park that has a number of ships at the bottom. Some you can enter, others just do a “fly over” if you will. Fun stuff!

But this is about my review of the Barbados Blue folks. They are located VERY handy if you are staying at the Hilton but also just a short walk (or very short drive) if you are at the Radisson Aquatica Resort Barbados.

Prices were reasonable. We were offend 10% off with our own BCD & regulator. I also I prepaid in advance and as mentioned before used my Capital One points to pay myself back for the boat trip if you will 🙂

The crews were all very nice and helpful. They let us setup our own stuff without pushing to “help” when it is not needed. I really respect that as I personally both know my own stuff and want to check everything works as it should. I will be the one out of air if things are not right not the person on the boat after all. They did check, as all places do, that my tank was “on”. Appreciated.

Loading was from the beach. Let me say I am not a fan of this kind of loading. Yes they tie up the boat (a pontoon boat as you can see in the video) but the loading steps tend to go up and down. They do not load your gear for you and this can be scary with big waves. I like a dock that is more secure for loading gear.

Under water the dive masters were great. Some dives the groups were big enough to have one in front and one in back. Other times just the one. I like two as if you stop to check something out, when there is a current, the group can be gone in no time and the dive master in back is paying attention what direction to go to catch up.

Getting back on any dive boat from the water is always fun with all your gear. The dive master stayed at the steps and took your fins and helped you up and there was another crew at the top helping to sit. Like this very much. All our dives were two tank that is one dive, a surface interval, then another dive. I hate all the work for just a one tank dive. At the switch new tanks were ready where we started. They allowed us to switch our own gear if we wanted or were willing to help those who needed it.

Water was from a cooler and oranges were passed out to get the salt out of your mouth. I always go to a store and buy a few bags of cookies to share with the group and encourage you to do the same. It is nice to have something with the above during the surface interval.

Now more on the boat itself. Seating was so-so. I am not a fan of pontoon boats for diving. You get splashed and can block the driver if you are standing up and on and on. I would love to see them have a better boat but that would likely require a dock they don’t have either. Just a minor point I guess.

So would I go back and dive with Barbados Blue again? Yep, because the price was right, the folks were great and the diving was fun. That is not to say I may not check out another outfit if I return to Barbados! – René