If you're coming to The Bahamas and you have never done any diving before then Stuart Cove's Dive is a great place to have your first experience!

Having never dived before, we booked the 'Sub Bahamas' experience, which is a kind of half-way house between snorkeling and scuba-diving.

We decided to book online, and we're glad we did as the subs were fully booked for the week when we arrived! The booking process was straight-forward, but we were a little concerned when we phoned to confirm we arrived on the island and they had no record! They said to get on the coutesy bus anyway so we did. Stuart Cove runs a number of purple coloured buses (all with the Stuart Cove logo so you can't miss them) that pick customers up from all the main hotels on the island.

On the bus you'll be given some forms to fill in - one of which absolves Stuart Cove of all liability!! There is a tick box for a wetsuit (another $10), but as we dived in June you really don't need one - the water was fine.

Arriving at the centre it was clear that this was a fairly large operation with many large boats being prepared to go out for the day. Everything had a relaxed, but professional feel to it - we were all given a training course before we boarded the boat and headed off to the diving location, about 20 minutes away. The ride was good; the boats were pretty fast given their size.

Our group was 24 people so we split into 3 groups, one taking the subs and the rest snorkelling (this is complimentary with the sub package).

Essentially the 'sub' is a personal submarine unit that allows you to dive about 15-20 feet below the surface, with air provided automatically into a large 'goldfish bowl' that you place your head into. There are controls for left/right movement and a kill switch for the motor. Underwater the units move slowly and gracefully - they are noisy because of the air bubbles and you will find it tricky to take photographs (you can buy disposable underwater cameras at the centre for about $20).

If you don't have a camera, don't worry; the whole experience is filmed - there is a diver with a top of the range underwater camera who takes footage of every member of the party then edits everything into a 20 minute film ready for purchase ($40) about 1/2 hour after you get back to he centre.

In the subs you are not really allowed to go where you want, instead the divers guide the group around a pre-prepared course, which includes the wreckage of a light aircraft that was apparently used in a Jaws film.

The whole experience takes a complete morning or afternoon - so remember to bring some water and suncream!

The stuart cove divers on the boat (that are responsible for coordinating the whole sub bahamas event) don't seem too enthusiatic or friendly. The excursion itself is over-rated. It was so freaken noisy (from the oxygen tank) that you can't really hear yourself think. It was boring after 5 minutes.

I went with my daughter and her friend both new divers <3 mo.
The hotel pick-up was on time, free and they were very courteous. They boat was not crowded at all (a total of six divers). The divemaster Ed was very patient with the girls and very helpful. He made sure they were very comfortable. The first dive was to a wreck and the wall. It was a very good dive (depth 60) feet. We could have gone deeper but not for new divers. 2nd dive was to a James Bond movie scene an airplane used in Thunderball. 40 foot deep. Lots of fish and good coral. I would highly recommend Stuart Cove's Dive center. Once again Ed was Great!!!

We just returned from Nassau, Bahamas after a week long trip in Arpil 2008 We did the Sub dive at Stuart Cove's.

There were a total of 8 folks being helped by 4 divers at a depth of 15 feet under sea. My husband and I took turns to go underneath since we needed one of us to stay on the boat and watch our kids.

Both my husband and I do not know how to swim. My husband had a wonderful time and the staff were very helpful the entire time he was underneath.

I had a mixed experience. When we went underneath, the first few had to wait until everyone was down. All 8 were then instructed to follow the divers who showed where to 'drive' the subs while underwater.

When I started the power on my 'sub' , I noticed the gas cylinder on my sub was showing about 10 minutes (normally it shows around 25 -30 minutes or more) and falling fast. Unfortunately no divers noticed me giving the hand signals to indicate I felt something was wrong and wanted to go up. The entire group started following the divers who were upfront. I turned my sub to follow them and the next thing I know, the power died on the sub. I was underwater with very little oxygen, no power to manuover and no one to notice I wasnt with the group. For a while, I was sure I was going to be unconcious if not dead in a few minutes.

After more than 7 minutes like that, with the oxygen tank completely stopping to pump any more after 4 minutes or so ( the bubbles stopped and my glass slowly started to fog up) , I saw a diver come towards me. I was so relieved. Next thing I know, there were 2 divers, changing the O2 tank, but since the sub would not move at all, they manually pushed it around the reef for me to see it. Needless to say even though I totally appreciated the divers help and effort to show me around, the place lost its charm for me. I couldnt wait to get back on the boat.

Of course, at all times, the guys on the boat know where the visitors are underground since there is a big 'bubble' like stucture floating on the water surface to indicate the exact location of each sub underwater so I probably wasnt in any real danger.

That said, out of 16 folks who went down, I was the only one who had this problem. My suggestion would be to check everything before you start going down to avoid something like this. Also, I wish the folks would come up with some kind of voice or light transmission method underwater to give some added sense of security to folks going down. Inspite of my strange exerpience, I would totally try this again in a couple of years or so after my initial shock has worn out.

Hope this helps. My intention is not to give a bad name to the guys there who actually were very very helpful but to give a true account of what happened.