Sandals Grande Antigua

We did 1 dive trip with the Sandals dive operation and were not overly impressed. Dove with DiveCarib for the rest of our trip. Its a great resort, but diving is certainly not their priority.

Visited Jan. 2024

Helpful

At SGA last week of August 2022. I'm Adv. Open Water level. Logged 9 dives #s 72 - 81. Very used to Sandals/Beaches resorts dive centers. So I know that if you haven't logged a dive in a year you'll need a refresher. Some S/B resorts charge for this and some don't and the type of refresher may depend upon the divemaster's evaluation of your experience and ability as well as whether they already have someone doing basic instruction in the pool. In the past 15 years there's been 3 times I've been 12 to 18 months out from my last dive and had to do a refresher - was only charged once and that was when I was basic OW cert. This was not one of them. At times it's just jump in put on all your gear clear your mask, swim to the other side of the pool, and done - others it's more intense (the one time I was charged I had to do bookwork for a full PADI Tune Up). My experience is that if you step up and put your gear together with confidence, put it on with no issue, and are obviously not rusty, they're good with you getting on the roster - but they do have to evaluate where you are with your ability.
Since they see tons of folks they don't know at different experience levels, I do see this as a necessary precaution on their behalf and not a slam on the diver and never take it personal. Understand, as with all group providers, they must cater to the lowest common denominator on the boat. So, if everyone on the boat is ADV to Divemaster then you'll have a different experience than if you have multiple newbies onboard. Schedule at SGA is a bit wonkey and different from other S/B resorts- Sun only 1 tank 0900 hrs. Mon=2 Tank AM. Tue is one tank 0900 and one at 1300. Wed=Two tank AM; Thurs=1 in AM and 1 in PM; Fri=Two tank AM. I've never been to Sandals where they weren't doing two tank dives in AM and PM, but that gave me more time with non-diving family. Flew on Saturdays so not sure about schedule. Sign up 24 hours in advance of the day you want to dive to reserve a spot on boat. All dive sites were good, typical Caribbean diving. Divemasters were patient, personal, and knowledgeable. Equipment is in good shape and typical rental - Scuba Pro Pilot BCD's and ScubaPro first/second stage and pressure/depth console. Mask and snorkel is typical rental and good shape. Fins are single bootie type so bring water socks to prevent blisters (if you're used to straps). Know your needed weight, belts and weights are on the boat. You do need to remember how to put your equipment together, so stay practiced. They provided each diver with surface markers, which was a first for me at S/B resorts. You can rent dive computer for $20 a day. If you do AM and PM dives, you can leave equipment on the boat (if you ask). Wetsuits are available for rent. Dive sites were all good. To get to the best ones you may experience a bit more waves than is typical. If you're keeping a log book get signatures before leaving boat and stamp at shop. Overall GREAT! ... Show More

Visited Aug. 2022

Helpful 2

We had a very disappointing experience with this dive center which was offered through our hotel stay at the Sandals Grande Antigua resort. We are novice divers. Everything went well during our morning training sessions in the pool. After lunch we headed out on the boat with at least 8 other divers of whom 7 were very experienced.

Very quickly the water turned rough to the point where one of the veterans was losing his lunch over the side of the boat. By the time we finally got to the dive site the swells were significant. That's when the chaos started. The veteran divers were quickly jumping into the water and descending for their dives. The swells were so high that we had to time our jumps into the water to avoid leaping from at last 10 feet in the air. Our Dive instructor was yelling at us to "hurry, hurry, get in the water". I have sinus issues and decompressing is always a slow, methodical process for me. My husband knows this and was following me slowly down the descent line when suddenly he came crashing down on my head from above. This caused both of us to panic and pop back up to the top. Apparently our Dive Instructor was impatient with how long my husband was taking so he pulled the cord on his BCD causing it to deflate quickly. Two things we had been told over and over in our pool training sessions: 1) always take your time and do everything nice and slow while diving and 2) NEVER touch a diver from behind. Apparently these were rules for everyone except the Dive Instructor.

After this episode we no longer trusted our instructor and did not continue in the water -- resulting in sitting in the boat for the duration of the tour. When the group returned to the boat our Instructor would not meet us in the eye and in fact never acknowledged that we were unable to complete our dive -- he simply didn't speak to us at all.

I would not recommend this dive center unless and until they get a new Dive Instructor.... Show More

Visited Jan. 2016

Helpful 1