Dive Review of Dive Dominica/Fort Young in
Dominica

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Dive Dominica/Fort Young: "Not easy to get there, but worth it!", May, 2021, by Leslie Russum, CO, US ( Reviewer 6 reports with 9 Helpful votes). Report 11547 has 3 Helpful votes.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	The govt of Dominica is being extremely careful with the Covid situation. In May, you needed a negative PCR test 72 hours before ARRIVAL (not departure). The airlines require this at your first flight segment (which, for me, was 15 hours before arrival). Luckily, testing in Colorado is fast and I got my results back in 1 day. You also have to submit your results and fill out a health survey before you are allowed to travel (also checked by the airline). This is where the problems arise. The govt is NOT responsive to the forms and I had to call several times to get my forms reviewed. I finally got the green light at 6pm (in time for my midnight flight). My friend, who was coming from MN had an even worse time. The Dr reviewing the forms in Dominica didn't like her test results because they didn't look like mine. The hotel was able to intervene and helped explain that we have many labs in the US and they all have different forms. Upon arrival, you take a rapid test and if that is negative, you are allowed to go to your hotel (with a "quarantine" wristband). The drive to the hotel is a full hour on a VERY serpentine road (recommend Dramamine) At this point, you can dive, but you are not allowed to leave the hotel on your own until your follow-up PCR test on day 5 with negative results. Luckily, the hotel was nice and the food was excellent. The hotel is still recovering from Hurricane Maria in 2017. The elevator is still not working and only about 20% of the rooms are open. There were some more rooms open, but without AC. The staff were all very professional and welcoming -- they are extremely glad to see tourists again. The dining areas are split into quarantine and non-quarantine areas. Your temp is taken every morning and hand sanitizers are located throughout the resort. You are required to wear a mask while not in your room or at your table. All the staff also complies with the mask rules. We were a group of 2 so our dives were essentially private. We only were able to do 2/day (it probably wasn't profitable to keep taking us out) plus we did 1 night dive. The water was warm (80-81F) and virtually no swell or currents. The corals and sponges were plentiful and there was a ton of small critters. One wall has numerous frogfish. The colors were vibrant and overall the health of the marine life was dazzling. I don't know if it was spawning season but there were tons of baby fish of all types. We saw a wide variety of eels, crabs and shrimp. With only 2 of us, we were able to dive 60+ min each dive and the DM quickly knew what we liked to see. The dives were slow and relaxing. We were on a smaller boat, but it was well laid out (rinse bucket for camera and separate for masks). The boat had shade, but only a small head. The captain was warm and friendly and during one surface interval, they approached the shore and got us fry bread which was a nice treat. We didn't find any sea horses, but it sounded like there hadn't been enough divers for the DMs to keep tabs on the locations. The plant and coral life was so diverse - nothing like anywhere else I had been in the Caribbean. The town of Roseau is not really worth wandering around -- we were finally released from quarantine on our last day but there is nothing in the town, not even a tourist shop or restaurant. I do plan on returning again in the future - there is still more to see once things open up and you can get more dives (seahorses, batfish)
Websites	Dive Dominica Fort Young
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Cook Islands, Galapagos, Guadeloupe, Tortola, Cozumel, Belize, Roatan
Closest Airport	Douglas-Charles Airport (DOM)	Getting There	Requires a red-eye from Denver (Denver to Miami, Miami to Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico to DOM.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	80-81°F / 27-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	50-80 Ft/ 15-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	None -- it was just 2 of us plus the DM (sometimes just 1:1)
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 3 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Dive Dominica/Fort Young in Dominica

Dive Dominica/Fort Young: "Not easy to get there, but worth it!", May, 2021,

Photos Submitted with this Report

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 Dive Dominica/Fort Young in
Dominica