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Scuba Diving

New Providence Island

Diving operations are plentiful in Nassau. Most hotels have diving instructors who teach short courses, followed the next day by a reef trip. Many small operations have sprung up in which experienced divers with their own boats run custom dives for one to five people; these are often one-person efforts. In many cases, the custom dive will include a picnic lunch with freshly speared lobster or fish cooked over an open fire on a private island beach.

Dive Sites

New Providence Island has several popular dive sites and a number of dive operators who offer regular trips. The elusive (and thus exclusive) Lost Ocean Hole (east of Nassau, 40-195 feet) is aptly named because it's difficult to find. The rim of the 80-foot opening in 40 feet of water is dotted with coral heads and teeming with small fish -- grunts, margate, and jacks -- as well as larger pompano, amberjack, and sometimes nurse sharks. Divers will find a thermocline at 80 feet, a large cave at 100 feet, and a sand ledge at 185 feet that slopes down to 195 feet. The series of shallow reefs along the 14 mi of Rose Island is known as Rose Island Reefs (Nassau, 5-35 feet). The coral is varied, although the reefs are showing the effects of the heavy traffic. Still, plenty of tropical fish live here, and the wreck of the steel-hulled ship Mahoney is just outside the harbor.

Gambier Deep Reef, off Gambier Village about 15 minutes west of Cable Beach, goes to a depth of 80 feet. Sea Gardens is off Love Beach on the northwestern shore beyond Gambier. Lyford Cay Drop-Off (west of Nassau, 40-200-plus feet) is a cliff that plummets from a 40-foot plateau almost straight into the inky blue mile-deep Tongue of the Ocean. The wall has endless varieties of sponges, black coral, and wire coral. Along the wall, grunts, grouper, hogfish, snapper, and rockfish abound. Off the wall are pelagic game fish such as tuna, bonito, wahoo, and kingfish. The south-side reefs are great for snorkelers as well as divers because of the reefs' shallowness.

Operators

All dive shops listed below are PADI facilities. Expect to pay about $65-$70 for a two-tank dive or beginner's course. Shark dives run $100-$125, and certification may cost $400 and up.

Bahama Divers Ltd. (242/393-1466 or 800/398-3483. www.bahamadivers.com), the largest and most experienced dive operation in the country, offers twice-a-day dive safaris as well as half-day snorkeling trips. PADI certification courses are available for $500 a person, and there's a full line of scuba equipment. Destinations are drop-off sites, wrecks, coral reefs and gardens, and an ocean blue hole. For Paradise Island guests, Bahama Divers has opened a small dive operation (which also carries snorkel equipment for rent) in the Sheraton Grand.

Stuart Cove's Dive South Ocean (242/362-4171 or 800/879-9832), at South Ocean Golf and Beach Resort on the island's south shore, is considered by aficionados to be the island's leading dive shop. Although they're pros at teaching beginners (scuba instruction and guided snorkel tours are available), experienced thrill-seekers flock to Stuart Cove's for the famous shark dives (Cove is one of the world's leading shark handlers). Also popular are his Out Island "Wilderness Safaris," and "Wall Flying Adventures," in which you ride an underwater scooter across the ocean wall. Check out the collection of celebrity photos. The shop runs dive trips to the south-shore reefs twice a day. The shark dives are $145 for a three-hour dive.

Get into the Game!

If you happen to be in Nassau on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, you should drop by Haynes Oval cricket field and watch the Bahamas Cricket Club members play the country's most popular game. You don't have to follow what the men in white are doing, just enjoy the game from the balcony of the Cricket Club Pub over a dinner of bangers and mash, kidney pie, and a Murphy's or Guinness. The field is wedged between Fort Charlotte and a beach -- all the ingredients for a great afternoon.

Grand Bahama Island

An extensive reef system runs along Little Bahama Bank's edge; sea gardens, caves, and colorful reefs rim the bank all the way from the West End to Freeport-Lucaya and beyond. The variety of dive sites suits everyone from the novice to the advanced diver. The island is home to UNEXSO, considered one of the finest diving schools and marine research facilities in the world. It also made shark diving synonymous with Grand Bahama Island. Most dive operators offer a "discover" or "resort" course where first-timers can try out open-water scuba diving with a short pool course and an instructor at their side.

Grand Bahama Island offers dive sites from 10 to 100-plus feet deep.

Ben's Blue Hole is a horseshoe-shaped ledge overlooking a blue hole in 40 to 60 feet of water. Pygmy Caves, for moderately experienced divers, provides a formation of overgrown ledges that cut into the reef. Sea Hunt site is a shallow dive and is named for the Sea Hunt television show, portions of which were filmed here. One of Grand Bahama Island's signature dive sites, made famous by the UNEXSO dive operation, Shark Junction is a 45-foot dive where 4- to 6-foot reef sharks hang out, along with moray eels, stingrays, nurse sharks, and grouper. UNEXSO provides orientation and a shark feeding with its dives here. Spid City has an aircraft wreck, dramatic coral formations, blue parrotfish, and an occasional shark. You'll dive about 40 to 60 feet down. For divers with some experience, Theo's Wreck, a 228-foot cement hauler, was sunk in 1982 in 100 feet of water. Caribbean Divers (Bell Channel Inn, opposite Port Lucaya. 242/373-9111. www.bellchannelinn.com) offers guided tours; NAUI, PADI, and SSI instruction; and equipment rental. A resort course allows you to use equipment in a pool and then in a closely supervised open dive for $89. A one-tank dive costs $35. Shark-feeding (two-tank) dives are $90.

UNEXSO (Underwater Explorers Society) (Box F 2433, Port Lucaya Marketplace. 242/373-1244 or 800/992-3483. www.unexso.com), a world-renowned scuba-diving facility with its own 17-foot dive pool, provides rental equipment, guides, and boats. A wide variety of dives are available for beginners and experienced divers, starting at $85 for a "Discover Scuba Diving" resort course. UNEXSO and its sister company, the Dolphin Experience, are known for their work with Atlantic bottlenose dolphins.

Xanadu Undersea Adventures (Xanadu Beach Resort, Freeport. 242/352-3811 or 800/327-8150) offers a resort course for $99, single dives for $40, shark dives for $80, and night dives for $60.

Harbour Island

Current Cut, the narrow passage between North Eleuthera and Current Island, is loaded with marine life and provides a roller-coaster ride on the currents. Devil's Backbone, in North Eleuthera, offers a tricky reef area with a nearly infinite number of dive sites and a large number of wrecks. Ocean Fox Diving and Deep-sea Fishing Center (242/333-2323) rents scuba equipment and offers instruction, certification, dive packages, and daily dive trips. Pierre's Dive Shop (242/335-3284) rents snorkel and scuba gear and arranges deep-sea fishing charters. It has locations at Spanish Wells and the Cove resort. Valentine's Dive Center (242/333-2142. www.valentinesdive.com) rents and sells equipment and provides all levels of instruction, certification, dive packages, and daily group and custom dives.