For as long as I’ve been vacationing to Bermuda, I’ve longed to dive into the beautiful blue waters Bermuda offers up. The island is so unique and beautiful in so many ways. Number one, the people are amazing. Number two, the water is amazing. When you’re driving around, you’re almost always looking out at the beautiful water while driving. It’s always calling your name.
Since, I vacation to Bermuda as often as I can my Bermudian friends and I laugh and joke that I’m part Bermudian. But, scuba diving in Bermuda is a first for me as a brand-new diver.
Who to dive with? As anyone does this day in age, I took to the internet and I was able to find 5 or 6 dive operations and couldn’t decide which one to go with. I sent out emails to each business (secretly ranking the response time in my mind) but that didn’t work out as they all responded very quickly, politely, pricing was all similar, and they all seemed to have the same schedule. It just so happened that my awesome friend Jen had invited Meghan and I to this amazing beach party in Tuckers Point where I met a Bermudian who was a former dive master! He was able to recommend Dive Bermuda. This links back into why I preach that chatting with locals is something you should learn how to do while traveling.
Dive: 1 of 4
Shipwreck: H e r m e s
Primary Objective: As always, all divers return to the boat safely.
Brief History: The beautiful vessel was built in Pennsylvania, USA in 1943 for the US Navy. Being that I’m from the US and we are about 700 miles away from the US I was a little surprised and very interested in getting some of the where, what, and whys of this beauty.
Hermes was on a mission to the Cape Verde Islands when the crew began to experience some engine troubles right around Bermuda.
Being that the cost to repair her was more than what the ship was worth she was abandoned by crew and she was eventually awarded to The Bermuda Divers Association. The association then modified Hermes to be dive safe and was brought to her final resting ground on May of 1985.
Watch the full video here:
Dive: 2 of 4
Reef: Hangover Hole
Primary Objective: As always, all divers return to the boat safely.
Secondary Objective: Photos, videography, and fun!
The dive was around 50 feet and 40 minutes. It's loaded with gorgeous swim throughs and so many beautiful colors!! Bermuda waters in general are amazing above water but even better below. Adding in the marvelous purple sea fans, and the classy golds I found myself wondering, why have I been snorkeling all these years?
Since I was certified in San Diego with about 6-8 of visibility jumping into the sapphire blue waters of Bermuda with visibility of 165 feet I was beyond excited!! Already knowing that sharks do not really hang around Bermuda my nerves were calmed. Not that I don’t want to ever dive with sharks or run into one, I just want to pace myself as a diver.
D I V I N G I N B E R M U D A
The dive guides of Dive Bermuda made the experience truly exceptional. They offer up a beautiful boat with concierge service. The dive schedule is very simple, your first and deepest dive, of course, is a wreck dive and then your second dive will be a nice, relaxing reef dive. Best of both worlds right!
You can really tell that the captain runs a tight ship! They were all incredibly knowledgeable about their dive sites! So, make sure you listen closely to the dive briefing!! Next time I go I’m going to GoPro the whole dive brief.
Being that Meghan and I were brand new divers we immediately felt a higher level of safety with this crew. If you make the same major mistake that we did by shipping our dive gear to the island ahead of time (then not having it for your actual dives) they will happily rent out some wetsuits, borrow you a mask, or some dive socks.
M Y P E R S O N A L E X P E R I E N C E
Dive Bermuda offers up great diving and I’ll be a returning year after year! No, I’m not being paid to say any of this, they really are amazing, and I love Bermuda.
Interested in booking your own dive adventure?
Check out Dive Bermuda Southampton and Dive Bermuda Grotto Bay
Read Next: Bermuda
As always, thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.