This last cruise aboard the Equinox, we stopped in Dominica again. The first time we were there several years ago, we went whale watching and were disappointed. (I got my whale watching fix in Hawaii). This time we decided to try scuba diving. We are divers and have been disappointed in the past with booking dive excursions off the ships. There is generally not enough time to get you to the good dive sites and then back to the ship before it sails.

This time was different. The excursion was with Dive Dominica and right from the start we were impressed with the operation. They asked a day ahead for us to give our equipment needs and sizes. When we got on the dive boat (which met us near the ship), all was ready for us except for a quick last minute piece of equipement need which we satisfied with a stop at their nearby dive shop. The safety talk and dive briefing was thorough and there was a no nonsense attitude backed up by their not letting one guy dive the second dive because he didn't follow the profile and left his dive buddy in the lurch.

The dive sites were outstanding. Especially the second one where every couple of feet there was something to see: eels, arrow crabs, juvenile drums, parrot fish, sea urchins, sea slugs, sea cucumbers (in a variety of colors), and on and on. We have done almost 300 dives. This one was one of the memorable ones.

I don't know that you can book through the dive shop directly if you are on a ship. They seemed to be very busy with snorkeling excursions too and I think they also do the whale watches. It was worth the extra money though for the excursion and we were happy we did it.