We had booked the Sunset Bay Club based on a recommendation from a fellow diver that we had met on another trip. Since then the dive staff has changed. The diving in Dominica is some of the best and the shore diving in front of the hotel is excellent. However, we did have problems with the shore diving arrrangements at the hotel. The hotel listed the diving as "unlimited shore diving". Based on our previous experience at other islands, unlimited shore diving usually meant 24 hour diving. This was not the case here. They limited the shore diving to 1 shore dive per day. We had wanted to do a night dive, but they required that a dive master be on site and the one divemaster (employee) they had did not want to come back at night. The boat diving was excellent with freelance divemasters, one of whom was a marine biologist.

The hotel is well-maintained and has beautiful landscaped grounds. The rooms are not air-conditioned and did get hot during the night, but cooled off in the early morning hours.

The food tended to be boring and monotonous. We were on the all-inclusive plan and had only a choice of fish or chicken for dinner each night. For three nights in a row, we had tuna. We did not get the lobster dinner that was part of the all-inclusive 7 night package because no lobster was available that night. If you are on this package, make sure you get the lobster dinner when you see that they are serving lobster. Lunches were some combination of ham, cheese or hamburger (though the hamburgers were quite good). The restaurant wait staff is wonderful. They are always pleasant and served with a smile! Overall, we were quite disappointed in the food. First, since this is a Caribbean island, we were expecting more local food and more fresh vegetables. Second, since the chef is Belgian, we did expect more variety and better presentation.

We felt that the hotel management treated guests differently based on the language they spoke. As this is a Belgian owned operation, French and German guests seemed to be treated better (i.e. friendlier) than we were. We were the only Americans at the resort at this time.

Sunset Bay Club was even prettier than their website gave them credit
for! The landscaping was incredible with loads of green trees, plants, flowers and even a freshwater area with water plants and lots
of crabs. They made their resort as pretty as the lush island itself and it was very peaceful. The rooms were nice and clean and the fan worked quite well - we were actually glad there wasn't any air-conditioning... the only sounds heard were from the frogs and insects
at night and all the singing birds in the morning. Around lunch time,
there were a lot of large iguanas roaming the resort and we must have
taken over 20 pictures of them.


The four of us rented a car on this second trip to Dominica as our only regret two years ago was that Dan and I didn't experience enough
of the beautiful island. Last time we swam in Middleham Falls and Tituo Gorge. This year we ventured out four times in the afternoons after diving. After we figured out driving on the opposite side of the narrow twisty roads, we hiked the easy trail leading to Trafalgar
Falls on Sunday and brought our masks and snorkels. We found lots of freshwater gobies, crabs and even a pair of sunglasses after we adjusted to the cold water. Another day we hiked into Spanny Falls and loved it. One of our dive masters, Izzy, told us to make sure we found the second waterfall that most people didn't know about. He said to look for a rope coming down the hills and pull yourself up and over. We were rewarded with another pretty waterfall to swim in. On Wednesday, we had the day off from diving and ate breakfast and drove to Boiling Lake. Wow, what an adventure that was in the rainforest!!! It rained a few times while we hiked and it felt great.
The really interesting part of the hike was going through the Valley of Desolation. It looked like a mini "Yellowstone" with all the bubbling mud and steam releasing from the ground all over the place. The colors were spectacular! Then we reached Boiling Lake and ate the
lunch the resort packed for us and enjoyed seeing the middle boil every few minutes. The steam and sulfur were everywhere up top. When the wind blew, we managed to take a few pictures showing what it looked like. Then we headed back down. It was a very fun six hour round trip hike! My calf muscles reminded me of the hike the next two days. :^) The final spot we checked out was the Freshwater Lake.

The diving pace was very easy... breakfast (watching all the humming birds) and then when everyone was done, off we went - no real schedule. The boats were very small, but did the job. We normally had
6 divers on board and one day there were the maximum of 8. The five days of two tank morning dives were enjoyable - we saw three Seahorses, lots of Ballonfish, Eels, one Turtle and tons of Channel Crabs. Rina's Hole was among the best of the week. Diving is my favorite sport ever, so I can't complain... however, the diving in the Southern part of the island at Scott's Head Marine Reserve is significantly prettier than this area was. Unfortunately, there is a lot of fishing activity on this side of the island and the marine life is much less. If you can afford to do so, I recommend paying the
extra fee to get to go to Scott's Head.


As always, our trip was wonderful and it was nice to get away from everything (no phones, tv's or radios). The only piece of information
that I think is important to note is that while Sunset Bay Club is a beautiful resort, it really is not a true dedicated dive resort. We expected to get to dive the reef off the shore and were not allowed to until we pleaded with management one day. The package posts "free unlimited shore diving from Batalie Reef" and this was not true. We would have liked to have done this more than once, but there was confusion within the dive shop and resort management. The trip was still excellent, but if someone is looking to be a "diveaholic" as we normally are, it won't happen here. But hopefully that won't prevent anyone from coming since there are plenty of other activities
to do in the rainforest!

Another interesting tidbit is that they are filming Survivor Dominica
right now!!! We even have pictures! Ha! Two years ago it was the Pirates of the Caribbean II & III. Dominica is becoming a name people
will know! My advise is to get there before everyone finds out about this jewel of an island.

Thanks,
Traci Bash

PS. one last thing to consider is the "All inclusive plan" - breakfast is good (fresh fruit & juice every day), lunches were great
with many choices, but the dinners were below average. The soups were
wonderful, but the meal choices were the same EVERY night all week - chicken wings/thigh, a thin steak or one type of fish. The menu for the non-inclusive had many more choices that would have been nice.

5 of our 10 day trip to Dominica was spent at the Sunset Bay Club. We felt it was2 days too many at this hotel. The Dive shop and dive staff are firet rate. The diving is easy and beautiful. The hotel is immaculate. What we were dissipointed in is the so called "all inclusive" plan. If you choose this know that you will have a different menu from everbody else. The way we found out was on the first night we were there, the people on the table next to us were dining on a big pile of lobsters the people on the other side of us had big swordfish steaks. We were told we could not have these choices because were on the "All incl "plan and if we did it wld be an extra charge. We had a choice of chicken or steak and a salad. The chicken was one small dried out piece of thigh and the salad was a couple of leaves of lettuce with a pile of shredded carrots in the middle, one slice of tomato, one slice of cucumber, one slice of christophene. The main entre choices are the same every night for the all inclusives. The real menu is varied and interesting and the prices are reasonable. Weactually would have saved money by paying for each meal.The only good thing about "all inclusive is all the alcohol you can drink.

This resort is a little bit of paradise with old world ambiance. The owners, Roger and Marcella (Madame), are from Belgium and were very friendly and solicitous of our every need. While this resort isn't luxurious the ambiance and the service of the owners and the staff pushed my rating up to the "excellent" level. The resort is meticulously maintained and beautifull landscaped with a wide variety of trees, bushes, flowers, etc.

We were four gentlemen in our 50's/60's who came here specifically for scuba diving. The diving is very good with healthy reefs full of color and a blend of wide angle/macro opportunities for u/w photo and videos. This was the first time I got video of an octopus "inking" me when it was trying to avoid my dive buddy and blundered into me. Also got footage of sea horses, squid, flying gunards, turtles and many colorful reef fish. The house reef excellent for shore dives and night dives. Location of resort allows dive trips to both the north and south ends of the island for the best diving in volcanic caldera's.

We are used to "roughing" it but others may be a little uncomfortable with wading into the water thigh deep on fist sized,rounded rocks and loading their dive gear onto the back of the dive boat. The two boats are "six packs" and, while not spacious, are adequate and fast. Entry is a back roll, exit from water on rear ladder. Dive shop, rinse tank, and hanging rack are onsite by the beach. Gear can be left there safely overnight.

We enthusiastically recommend the all inclusive plan. Roger is a gourmet cook and you will not find better food on the island. Many locals come there for evening dinners.

We will never forget the lobster tail night when we stuffed ourselves with perfectly prepared and seasoned tails. Don't pass up Roger's soups for even one night.!!! Oh, did I mention the desserts!!!

The food and drinks were all first rate and we enjoyed them every day while sitting in the open air restaurant watching the humming birds or on the patio under the almond trees watching the Caribbean and the magnificent sunsets.

On the last day Marcella arranged a whole day tour of the island for us. (She furnishes lunch coolers for longsightseeing, dive, snorkling or whale watching trips.) We visted the emerald pool, beautiful falls, rainforest, hot springs and the town of Rousseau. Excellent trip, but be prepared for narrow, bumpy roads up through the mountains.

If you want luxury go someplace else. If you want a jewel of a small resort and personallized catering to your every need make reservations here!!!!

Thank you Roger and Marcella for a truly unforgettable vacation!!