Dive Review of The Dive Shop Ltd./Villa Bruadair in
Barbados

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The Dive Shop Ltd./Villa Bruadair, Mar, 2010, by Edward Monat, ME, US ( 1 report). Report 5430.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food	N/A
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	First I want to say that we were a group of 15 year-round cold water divers from the League of Underwater Superheroes in Bar Harbor, Maine. Our group can not stop talking about our trip. The whole experience was truly amazing. We picked Barbados for many reasons, but you don't hear much about the diving there. I read some reviews online and divers seemed to really enjoy it. Well so did we! It was easy to get to. Portland to JFK to Barbados on Jet Blue was easy and comfortable. We arrived at 1:30 in the afternoon and were snorkeling the first day. Barbados is really beautiful. You need to get away from the hustle and bustle and visit the whole island. We did on our last day. It was well worth it. The people are really friendly, there is almost no crime, and there were no bugs. The transportation is by cab or bus. The bus system is cheap but long and a bit scary. You could rent a car, but I think you would be taking your life into your own hands. Order fish balls at the Surfside in Holetown, eat $3 fish sandwiches at the little fish shack, a short walk down the beach from the Dive Shop, and go to Oistins on Friday night. Most restaurants are wicked expensive, so we ate most of our meals in our villa. We were a 15 minute walk to town. Our villa was just beautiful and really well thought out. Built in 2007, it was 3 stories tall with 7 bedrooms with a/c, 8 bathrooms, 2 kitchens, 2 pools, balconies and decks everywhere. There was also a bar, entertainment area, gazebo, and great landscaping. The back of the villa bordered the rainforest. The top of the villa was actually level with the rainforest canopy. We were visited daily by tons of monkees and birds. The staff was great also. The Dive Shop rocks! Fatema and her crew were awesome. They are all knowledgeable, fun, helpful, and accomodating. They boat captain Michael and our divemaster Dave would help divers get in the water if they wanted it. Michael was excellent at handling the boat and picking up divers. Dave was great at finding unbelievable marine life and pointing it out. Fatema and friends or family would come to our villa and pick us up and bring us back for our dives. She would also go way out of her way to wait for us to get food, stop at the rum shop, or be brought to an alternative location. The dive boat was a little small for our group, but we didn't mind at all. They anchor the boat near the beach and you have to walk your gear and tanks out to the boat. We did 13 dives over 6 days. This included a night dive and a shore dive. Most dives are easy drift dives. The wrecks of Carlisle Bay are right at the beach of the Dive Shop. Shore diving was an excellent addition to our dives. We also used The Dive Shop for a snorkel with the turtles, stingrays, and puffer. This was an incredible experience also. After our last dive Fatema gave everyone a Dive Shop T-shirt and she held a huge party with lots of beer and tons of the best-tasting Bajan cooked food. Call or email Fatema and she'll set you up. Our diving included: awesome 365 wreck "Stav", Carlisle Bay wrecks, turtles galore, stingrays, amazingly massive and beautiful sponges, tons of eels, frog fish, sea horses, octopus, squid, slipper and spiny lobsters, all kinds of crabs, conch, hermits, jawfish, flying gunards, peacock flounders, cleaner shrimp, anemones, all kinds of beautiful fish, a huge porcupine fish with a remora, and humpback whale singing on every dive. We even hunted for old bottles and found some really old and cool ones too. You can keep the bottles. Carlisle Bay is loaded with marine life. Do many dives here. We did. Of all the diving I've done around the Caribbean, this was the most varied and exciting for me.
Websites	The Dive Shop Ltd. Villa Bruadair
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Cancun, Belize, Grand Cayman, Curacao, Salt Cay, Florida, Nova Scotia, Massachusetts and home in Maine.
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	80-82°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	40-100 Ft/ 12-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	General guidelines were set but the divemaster let experienced members of the group dive their own profiles.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	no
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	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	There is tons to photograph in Barbados. Fish, invertebrates, wrecks, corals and massive sponges are awesome for photography. The overall undersea landscape had a lot to offer. Sometimes in a large group like ours the sand would get stirred up when divers got excited about the cool stuff to see. You have to lug your camera equipment out to the boat, which does not bother me, and I have a big rig. Doing so you walk through surf which stirs up the sand, so you have to pay careful attention to your o-ring. The rinse bucket is on shore. You can rinse between dives on your suface interval which is also back onshore. This is all worth it. All of the dives the boat picked us up. I was able to go off on my own, take photos, and be picked up later.

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Dive Review of The Dive Shop Ltd./Villa Bruadair in Barbados

The Dive Shop Ltd./Villa Bruadair, Mar, 2010,

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 The Dive Shop Ltd./Villa Bruadair in
Barbados