Dive Review of Nature Island Dive/Herche's Place in
Dominica

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Nature Island Dive/Herche's Place, Jun, 2003, by Rick Cavanaugh, MD, USA . Report 553.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	The best part of Dominica is the diving. If you are willing to deal with the downsides of the island, Dominica is probably one of the best dive locations in the Caribbean comparing to the dive quality of Little Cayman. Nature Island Dive is an Excellent shop with Excellent dive masters. Most of the week we were the only 2 divers on the boat! Most dives lasted over 1 hour and one night dive lasted 1 ½ hours! The dives in the Soufriere Scott’s Head Marine Reserve are some of the best dives I have done in the Caribbean even though the visibility was only 30 to 50 feet. There was a rare plankton bloom that limited the visibility for our entire trip. The reefs were much more colorful due to the amount of sponge life and healthy corals. What was strange was what was absent. The more common fish found through out the Caribbean were missing. We saw very few angel fish, butterfly fish and no sharks of any kind. . I do not think I have ever dove without see at least 1 nurse shark until diving here. What we did see where not as common. We say many basket stars, Golden Crinoid’s, Magnificent Urchins, Frog Fish, Sea Horses, Lettuce Sea Slugs, Leech Headshield Slug, Bat Fish, Red banded Lobsters, Slipper Lobsters, Pederson Cleaner Shrimp, Spotted Cleaner Shrimps, Squat Anemone Shrimps, Scarlet Striped Cleaning Shrimp, Octopus, Squids, Scorpion fish and much more. Simon Walsh, the owner, is an avid photography and he and his staff is very dedicated in finding the little stuff. On many dives they asked us what we wanted to see and they would take us right to it. They are an excellent choice for photographers as all of the surface intervals are back at the dive shop. This made it very easy to change film, lenses and ports. Simon has big plans to improve his dive shop with the addition of a large 3 story building behind his shop. When the economy improves he wants to have a small restaurant, E6 processing plus more. His plans for those are on halt until things change. There is a $2 Marine Park fee per dive. The trip from Dominica’s airport to Scotts Head area takes around 1 ½ hours. My original intention was to rent a car and drive myself to save the $60 one way taxi fare. After taking a taxi, I was very happy NOT to drive across the island. The roads are very narrow with hairpin turns and cliffs. The roads are not marked and it would be very easy to get lost. If you are interested in renting a car rent it from the other side AFTER you have traveled by taxi to the other side. The center of the island is beautiful. Very high and steep mountains with waterfalls and lots of small rivers surround you as you travel across the island. There are many day hikes into the rainforest. We took a 45 minute muddy hike to Middleham falls. We also visited Trafalgar Falls, which was a very short 5 minute walk from the parking lot to the falls. Upon arrival into Roseau, you enter into the largest city on the island and it is typical of Caribbean cities in construction and appearance. Scotts Head is approximately 20 minutes past Roseau. Scotts head is a fishing village and is NOT very attractive. The town is very run down. This is where Herche’s Place is located. Herche’s place is a small economy style hotel with about 5 rooms available. One week was $636/week and included a basic breakfast of fresh fruit and bread. The rooms are very sparse and small. Ours had an A/C unit that kept the room very cold as the thermostat did not function properly. The room was so small that the bathroom door would not close unless the bed was moved. The area was not attractive and very run down as compared to other islands in the Caribbean. There are not many other hotel choices in the Scotts Head area. When we return to Dominica, we will make sure that we stay at Dive Dominica’s “Cottages” which were booked during our trip. We did not see the interior of the “Cottages” but from the appearance of Simon’s dive operation, I am sure they are significantly better than Herche’s. The final insult from Herche’s place was the unauthorized additional charge of approximately $380 that showed up on my charge card after leaving! The main attraction of Herche’s place was that there was a restaurant with a good reputation for fine food located at the Hotel. Barbara Herche’s husband, Greg, had the reputation of being the best chef on the island. Unfortunately he is now working for the Anchorage Hotel. What remains of the Herche’s restaurant is an average restaurant the frequently ran out of many of the items and was over priced. However, there are not many other choices in Scotts Head. The only other restaurant was Roger’s Place which was a very basic restaurant with not much of a menu. Fish, egg sandwich, ham and cheese sandwich, burgers and such were the only choices. One restaurant worth going to is Andre’s Rainforest Bistro. Reservations are required well in advance as you will probably be the only customers. The meal is large and reasonably priced. Choices are fish, chicken or vegetarian. The meal comes with many varied vegetables grown on his farm. It is a must if you are on the side of the island. Andre will pick you up at you hotel and drop you back off for no extra charge.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Belize, Bonaire, Cozumel, St Croix, BVI, Little Cayman, St Vincent, Grenada, Bequia, Provo Turks and Caicos, Grand Turk, Key Largo, North Carolina, Tobago Cayes.
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	rainy, cloudy	Seas	calm, surge
Water Temp	78-80°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-50 Ft/ 9-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	None
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
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
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	No good E6 on Island

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Dive Review of Nature Island Dive/Herche's Place in Dominica

Nature Island Dive/Herche's Place, Jun, 2003,

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 Nature Island Dive/Herche's Place in
Dominica