Riding Rock Inn
                San Salvador Island, Bahamas
                   September 22-30, 1995
                       by Carl Wilson
                    clwilson@citynet.net
                     FidoNet @ 1:279/14
                          Part One
This visit to Riding Rock Inn (RRI) on the island of San
Salvador, Bahamas was my third visit there.  I previously
visited with The Mountaineer Dive Club in 1992 and 1994.
A friend of my having just completed a 2 year contract
wanted to go diving, he wasn't particular, just as long as
it was some place with good diving.  My reason for
returning was simple, I have made 11 dive trips to the
Bahamas and Caribbean and this resort had the most to
offer.  This is the only resort I have been to more than
once.
This is really a very professional dive resort.  Getting on
the Dive Boat for the first time, you set up your gear on a
tank and place it where you wish for it to be the rest of
the week---this is the last time you need to handle your
gear until you leave.  When diving, one walks to the back of
the boat with your flippers and mask, when its your turn to
go in the water, the crew brings up your BC and places it on
you!  When you exit, you hand your flippers up to a waiting
hand who stacks them beside the air tank rack.  As you stand
on the dive platform, a crew member asks you to
unbuckle/unsnap your BC and he will carry it on the boat and
replace the tank with a fresh  full one.  As you can
imagine, after a week of this kind of service, I am
thoroughly spoiled.  What I used to think of as a good dive
operation has been downgraded a notch or two after
experiencing the superior service at Riding Rock Inn.
I made 17 dives while there for a week, I had to skip the
last four due to having problems with an ear.  The standard
routine is to board the dive boat at 9:00 AM, make a deep or
wall dive around 9:30 AM and make a second dive starting
around 10:30 AM before the boat returns for lunch. We
usually arrived back at the dock by noon which made it easy
to meet the 12:30 lunch time.  Around 2:30 PM the boat
leaves for an afternoon deep/wall dive.
Water temperature was around 82-86F.  Air temperature was in
the 90's, in June and July the air temp is in the 100's.
Visibility was virtually unlimited--as good if not better
than Grand Cayman.  I was able to see several sharks and
yes, the hammerheads where out when I was there. Returning
from a dive one day we passed 3 pilot whales which was
interesting.  The night dive was very good with a lot of
marine life out, ie., crabs, octopus, ect.
The diveboat is located at the marina which is about 100
yds from the resort.  This makes a nice walk and due to
trees and terrain one does not hear the compressors filling
tanks.
Kevin Collins is the Manager of the Dive Operations and
Marina.  When I dived RRI in 1992 Kevin was one of the
divemasters assigned to our boat.  He still works as a
divemaster on the boats in addition to his considerable
other duties.  I would recommend asking to be on the boat
that Kevin is working on, he runs a first class diveboat and
is more accomodating than any other divemaster I have dived
with.
One characteristic I liked about the divemasters was that
they asked what our group wanted and then did their best to
please us.  As the group on the boat was all experienced
divers, we all voted for Walls, Walls, and more Walls.
The longest boat ride we had to a dive site was 35 min, with
the vast majority of the boat rides falling into the 5-15
min. range. Some of our group likes chutes, chimney, and
wall cracks.  So, we got cracks, chimney and chutes.  How
about a wall chimney that starts at 50 feet and exits at 120
ft.?  We dived two like that!!!
The Resort has completed one phase of their upgrade and
remodeling plan.  The new building housing  the deluxe rooms
is complete and the rooms are nice.  The deluxe rooms have
telephone, Satellite TV, air-conditioning (standard rooms
are air-conditioned also) and a refrigerator. If you have a
refrigerator, beer can be purchased in town for $40 per
case, which is cheap on this island.  The standard rooms are
located in two older building and are slated to be upgraded
soon. I would recommend the Deluxe room for the $85.00
difference a week.
End of Part One of Two
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