Single Travel Packages - British Virgin Islands Diving -- Club1 Travel

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British Virgin Islands
Scuba Diving, Dive Boats, Equipment Rental Rates, Diving Courses Available, Diving Conditions in the BVIs, Photo & Video Services.

Bountiful sea life

Spotted Eagle Ray

The RMS Rhone, British ship sunk 1847

Scuba Diving
Three optional dives are planned each day, including a morning dive after breakfast, an afternoon dive after lunch and a night dive. In between there is time for kayaking, Hobie Cat sailing, snorkeling or even additional diving. Included in your package are tanks (aluminum 63s, 80s and 100s), weights, belts, masks, fins, snorkels and air. If you choose to avoid the hassles of lugging heavy dive gear from home, the trimaran offers high quality rental dive equipment onboard including regulators (see rates below), BCs and Genesis dive computers. Dive gear is all recent Genesis and is replaced with new equipment annually. You have the choice to follow a dive guide or venture off on your own. You'll always get a full tank on your dives. Below deck, there are two air compressors efficiently pumping the 3,000 psi aluminum 100's, 80's, and 63's. Two equipment rinse tanks and fresh water shower hoses are located at the back of the deck

Only a dive skin is necessary for the 82'F summertime water temperature and a light wet suit should be comfortable in the winter, when the water temperature drops to about 78'F. Thermal full body suits are for rent or sale on board but if you need thicker neoprene wet suits, they have to be rented from a local dive shop when you arrive.
"Swimmer's ear" can be a problem in the tropics so please take precautions. Wash out your ears with fresh water after every dive. Don't forget to bring with you a good supply of any personal medicines.

Guests aboard handle their tanks as little as possible. Set up your tank for the first dive and the crew handles it from there. You simply step up to the waist-high tank deck, where a crew member has your tank waiting for you to slip into your BC. From there you either giant stride off the aft deck or board the inflatable. After the dive you step up to the tank deck and your tank is taken by the crew to be filled for the next dive and stored out of the way. Almost like checking your coat at a fine restaurant. Tanks with BCs and regs in place are stored on the back aft deck out of view of the canopied aft deck. Masks, snorkels and dive accessories are stored conveniently in dive bins located under the seating area which keeps the dive deck from becoming cluttered.

Dive Boats
Most of the dives are made from the two 21-foot, 115-hp, four cycle custom rigid hull inflatable boats. A wide stairway with sturdy handrails leads down to a large platform where the tender wedges between the platform and the main hull. This is the safest and most stable system in the liveaboard world. All the tubes, the steps and the flat floor are carpeted for a sure grip for the feet. Fins, masks and cameras are handed down separately to avoid any slips.
At the dive site divers simply back roll into the water from the normal sitting position. Getting back into the boat is almost as simple. A sturdy angled stainless steel ladder with wooden steps swings down from the transom, extending about four feet below the surface, and there are several convenient grab handles so your water exit is safe and easy. The inflatables are manned continuously during dives so you are always assured of a quick pickup, no matter where you surface. With both of the dinghies in the water and the trimaran moored over a dive site, three different locations can be dived simultaneously, ensuring you won't have to dive with a crowd. The tenders are also used for shore expeditions and water skiing
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Equipment Rental Rates:

Regulator with octopus, pressure and depth gauge	$50 per week
Jacket BC with power inflator	$40 per week
Daily rate for rental of both	$15 per day
Genesis Source Diving Computer	$40 per week
Thermalskins full body suits (Available on board for purchase at $140 each ) Diver Propulsion Vehicle	$30 per week $25 per dive

We are offering "Introduction to Nitrox" courses so you can try Nitrox diving under supervision of an instructor. We also offer Nitrox certification courses. Of course for a limited number of certified Nitrox divers we supply Nitrox at $10 per tank. Package prices available.

We now have some diver propulsion vehicles for rent. These are quiet and powerful electric tow sleds with one hours duration. We also offer "DPV Experience" and "DPV Diver" courses. These machines are great for physically challenged divers as well as those just wanting fun.
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Diving Courses Available:
There are usually a few guests aboard that arrive as non-divers, but don't stay that way. If you decide that snorkeling just doesn't get you close enough, the instructors offer a resort course and a 1 week PADI certification course. The warm clear waters of the BVI serve as your classroom and open water test ground. Divers are also offered advanced and specialty courses. Ken and Gerry are both PADI instructors, so you can take any course from resort to rescue diver during your vacation.

Open Water Diver Certification (training + 4 dives) Earns the PADI Open Water Diver certification, enabling you to buy/rent scuba equipment and dive without direct instructor supervision.	$300
Open Water Referral (4 dives) We strongly advise people to do their pool and classwork at home, come with a referral letter from your instructor and complete your open water dives on board. This way you will not waste your vacation time in a 'classroom'.	$150
Advanced Open Water Certification (5 dives) Develops skills and introduces you to night diving, deep diving, underwater navigation and two to six other specialties you and your instructor choose.	$120
Resort Course (Discover Scuba Diving) 3 dives The PADI Discover Scuba Diving program allows those who have never tried diving to safely experience the same sense of wonder and excitement shared every day by scuba divers throughout the world. Under the careful supervision of a PADI Instructor, participants actually go on up to five scuba dives in shallow, calm water.	$75
Scuba Diver Course training + 2 dives	$150
Underwater Navigation (3 dives)	$95
Search and Recovery (4 dives)	$95
Drift Diver (2 dives)	$60
Wreck Diver (4 dives)	$95
Ultimate Buoyancy Control (2 dives)	$50

* Charges for instruction do not include equipment.
* Due to regulations by American Certifying Authorities, we cannot take uncertified divers below 40'.
* All certified divers must produce their 'C' card before they do their first dive with us and a PADI self declaration medical form. When you board you will be asked to sign a liability release form.

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Diving Conditions in the British Virgin Islands
Most of the dives are not deep or demanding. There are some deep sites in the BVI but most of the diving is shallower than 80 feet. Surface conditions are normally quite calm. The 8 to 10 inch tidal range normally doesn't generate the swift currents found elsewhere. Another advantage of diving aboard the trimaran is that Captain won't hesitate to crisscross the islands to put you into the best conditions each day.

You'll see a year's worth of critters and coral no matter where you go. Although large animals such as Caribbean reef sharks, manta rays, and spotted eagle rays are not uncommon, the British Virgin Islands are known for the incredible diversity of reef fish. Pick up a fish ID book for the Caribbean and you can find almost everything in it here. You will likely see huge jewfish and culebra snapper, green and spotted morays, nurse sharks, and virtually every manner of "pretty fishes" you'd ever hope to see.

All of the waters of the British Virgin Islands are protected under the National Parks Trust who works in association with the BVI dive operators to protect the natural abundance of the reefs. Several special areas, such as the wreck of the Rhone, receive extra protection as marine parks. As a result, divers enjoy healthy reefs with an enormous variety of fish. Mooring buoys minimize anchor damage and regulations prohibit damaging or removing any plant or animal, keeping the reefs packed with life.

Visibility is normally in the 60 to 100 foot range, with occasional days of 120 feet at some dive sites. The water temperature stays between 80 and 84'F most of the year, dropping to around 77'F in the winter. Dive skins are the favorite apparel onboard but a shorty wetsuit will probably keep you comfortable any time of the year.

There are literally scores of dive sites in the British Virgin Islands, many only visited by our trimaran.

Photo & Video Services

Underwater photographers will love the many photo ops this trip allows. Your option to dive at your leisure gives you the chance to capture some of the scenes just not possible when diving with a big group.

The crew members are experienced in handling photo gear. When you hand your camera up after a dive, they will place it carefully in a special rinse barrel. The rinse water is renewed frequently and an extra towel is available for drying your photo equipment. Camera rinse tanks are kept separate from gear rinse tanks. There are six dive deck tables to use for camera gear and set up.

There is ample space in the cabins for storing and reloading cameras. Each cabin has a double 110 volt outlet for convenient battery charging.
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