FAQs
Where is Bermuda?
Right here! It’s actually in the North Atlantic, on the same latitude as North Carolina, but because it sits in the Gulf Stream, which flows up past the Caribbean and the Eastern US coast from the Gulf of Mexico, the
islands of Bermuda have evolved into a haven for marine life that is on a par with any of the islands further south. It’s not strictly part of the Caribbean, though – technically, Bermuda is in the North Atlantic!
What is the diving like in Bermuda?
Bermuda has great diving all year round. In particular, Bermuda is famous for being surrounded by hundreds of historical shipwrecks (and even a few we sank on purpose), which are surrounded by a wide variety of corals and marine life very similar to those found throughout the Caribbean and Florida Keys.
The reef areas are widely interspersed with sand holes – which means that the underwater visibility can vary a lot depending on wind strength and direction. If the wind has been calm for a few days, the sand and silt settles to the bottom and makes the visibility very good – but if it’s windy, the visibility can be not-so-good, or even quite low depending on how bad the weather has been.
The best visibility is during calm weather in the colder months – because the temperatures are lower, there’s less particle content in the water, so the visibility can sometimes be twice as far as it is in the summer months! (see the Diving Table for averages by month) In the warmest months, the water temperature is high enough that you only need a dive skin, or don’t need any wetsuit at all; in the winter months, a 5mm all-over suit is generally enough.
If I go diving with BWD, am I going to get lost in the Bermuda Triangle?
Yes! If by “lost” you mean “awesome.” But if you mean Gilligan’s Island-type lost, then no – our Captains
always carry a necklace that prevents mysterious disappearances. At least, we have it somewhere. Now where did I leave that thing......
I don’t like getting up too early when I’m on vacation, so I want to be close to your locations – where should I stay, and how do I get to you?
In general, you want to stay in the central or Western parishes. Our location is at Island Tour Center, located on King’s Wharf (the cruise ship pier) out in Dockyard. If you stay at the Pompano Beach Club, then they can assist you with a taxi to Dockyard, which takes about 15 minutes. Cambridge Beaches is also very close to the Dockyard – less than 10 minutes in a taxi.
I’ve only done my Open Water Course, last time I was on vacation, and I’m a little nervous because I haven’t been diving since then – are there Guides in the water with us or do we go off in our own Buddy teams? Should I do a
Refresher?
We have set Guidelines on when we ask people to do a Refresher course, depending on how many total dives they have done and how long it’s been since they were last diving – ask us about that when you’re booking and we’ll help you figure out the best way to proceed. Generally, we put everyone in the water with a Guide, especially if it’s their first time diving with us, but if they’re diving for multiple days and don’t necessarily want a Guide every day, they don’t have to go with one.
I’ve done hundreds of dives and my last dive was 23 hours before I boarded the flight to Bermuda – I’d rather not go with a Guided group, but I don’t have a Buddy. What are my options?
Experienced divers are covered in our set of Guidelines too (see question just above this one) and if they don’t want to go with a Guide, we do our best to buddy them up with comparable divers, or sometimes with one of our Frequent Diver Club members (residents of Bermuda). We encourage everyone to tell us what they’d prefer, and we’ll do our best to make that work wherever possible, subject to local regulations.
Do I set up my own gear, or do you do it for me?
It depends. Our crew will ask you whether you need help with setting up your gear, and if you prefer to do your own, you certainly can – or if you prefer that we set it up for you, we certainly will. Students in any Course (including a Refresher course) have to set up their own gear, as part of the Course requirements.
Either way, we will definitely check your gear before you get in the water – and if no one asks you whether you need help with your gear, or you don’t think anyone has checked it, please let the Captain know so that he/she can sort it out for you. BWD no longer has a fixed policy that all certified divers set up their own gear – that changed along with new ownership in June 2012. While it is true that dive professionals can gauge a lot about divers from how well they are able to set up their gear, we don’t use that as a reason for a fixed policy – we’re focused on customer service just as much as we are on customer safety.
What types of tanks / tank valves do you use? What brands of Rental gear do you have?
BWD uses aluminum “80s” – which are standard 80 cubic foot capacity tanks. We have a small number of “60s” for kids or smaller adults who are good with air consumption and prefer to use a smaller tank. We have some tanks that accept a DIN adaptor – if you need a DIN adaptor; please let us know when booking so we can check availability. If we don’t have a DIN valve tank available for your regulator when you arrive, you’re welcome to use one of our Rental regs at no extra cost. Our Rental gear is mainly made up of ScubaPro gear.
What time are your trips?
For the boat trips, we have morning and afternoon trips in the high season (summer months) and morning trips only in the shoulder season (winter months). Please try to arrive on time for Check-in so that the boat can leave on time. It’s not necessary to arrive earlier than the Check-in time – we start processing paperwork at that time, and then distribute Rental gear and get set up on the boat prior to departure.
High Season: Morning Check-in – 8:15am, Boat Departs – 9:00am, Boat Returns – 1:00pm.
High Season (Summer Months): Afternoon Check-in 2-Tank – 1:45pm, Boat Departs – 2:30pm, Boat Returns – 6:30pm.
Shoulder Season (Winter Months): Morning Check-in – 9:15am, Boat Departs – 10:00am, Boat Returns 2:00pm.
PLEASE NOTE - it is more likely in the winter time, that we will go to further distant sites and might therefore have travel times longer than the normal times in the summer. We will always primarily be looking for the best conditions on any given day. If you have time constraints - e.g. a ship back-on-board time on the same day - please let us know at check-in.
ALL CHECK IN AND DEPARTURE TIMES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE – PLEASE CONFIRM TIMES WHEN YOU BOOK.
I want to do some diving courses or specialties while I’m on holiday. What can I do with you?
BWD is a PADI dive center, so we offer PADI courses from beginner courses up to and including Assistant
Instructor level training. We also offer a variety of Specialty courses – check out our website’s Courses page for more details. You can bundle Specialty courses in with your dive package, if you want to! You’re diving anyway – why not learn something?
Which beach is closest to the ocean? What time is the Midnight Buffet? Can I take my moped on the bus? Do these stairs go up or down? How deep do I have to go to get underneath the island? Why can’t I scoop any of the turquoise water up into this bottle?
Here at Blue Water Divers, we believe there’s no such thing as a silly question. However, we do get some really interesting questions from time to time.
We’ll do our best to answer anything and everything, but if we look confused, it’s probably just that we haven’t had our coffee yet.....
And yes – if you throw up underwater, the fish will eat it.
