Added by Steven Backerman from his trip to Dominica in July 2016.
Dominica is an island nation, part of the Windward Islands in the Lesser Antilles. It’s a beautiful paradise consisting of 9 active volcanoes with lush rainforests, waterfalls, 365 rivers and a thermally active lake.
The diving is superb, though, because of the number of rivers that flow into the sea, visibility can be more challenging than other Caribbean islands, but you can still expect at least 50′.
Getting the Dominica can be a bit of a challenge, as there are no direct flights from mainland U.S., requiring you to fly via Puerto Rico or another Caribbean Island.
However, the beauty of the island and the incredible diving more than make up for the inconvenience of the flights.
I stayed at the Tamarind Tree Hotel and opted for an all-inclusive package that included not only a great hotel room with fantastic views and 3 meals a day, but also local rum and beer. I was also able to package a week of diving through the hotel at East Carib Dive Center.
East Carib and Tamarind Tree are centrally located on the westside of Dominica, near the town of Salisbury.
East Carib is a small dive operation but the owners, who are also the DiveMasters, are very experienced, knowledgeable and friendly. We had boat troubles, but they were more than made up for by the superb house reef.
I high recommend Rina’s Hole, Easy Street, Rodney’s Rock, Berry’s Dream (a deep dive with many interesting formations) and Nose Reef.
Be sure to include at least one day to explore the island and the beauty of the rainforests and rivers. Hiking to Emerald Pool, located in the middle of a beautiful rainforest, and the boat trip on Indian River are both well worth the time and effort. The kind folks at Tamarind Tree will arrange transportation and tours.
For more Caribbean diving photos and info, check out our post on Roatan, Honduras.