Getting to Nassau is very easy from Chicago; it is a two hour + flight to Miami and then a very short flight to Nassau. Fortunately I was able to take American Airlines for both segments of the trip; this is for me an airline that has been reliable in terms of baggage transport and on time schedule. Arriving in Nassau on New Providence Island is a little different than most Caribbean locations as the airport is fairly modern; it is similar to the airport in Grand Cayman. There are several choices of location to stay but I chose Dive South Ocean because it is close to Stuart Cove and allows me to walk back and forth between my hotel room and the dive shop. Dive South Ocean is about a 15 minute taxi ride from the airport.
Dive South Ocean is a fairly large hotel which is spread out geographically so that transportation between the front desk and your room is via golf cart. It has a golf course, two restaurants, and at least one swimming pool which is near the ocean. The rooms are spacious but they are a little run down. That is not to say they are shabby, it is just that they are not highly maintained and small things are broken. For example, in my case, one of the cabinet doors was broken. There is adequate storage for any camera equipment or excess dive equipment. While I had a nice ocean view it was also overlooking the pool which at times can be a tad noisy even into the evening hours. The restaurants at Dive South Ocean were a bit on the high priced side for what you got. I don't mind paying top dollar for an elegant meal; I do mind paying top dollar if the food is only fair. In retrospect, it may have been possible to stay elsewhere for more value at the same price at the sacrifice of some convenience. Stuart Cove does pick you up from adjoining hotels but these are not walking distance.
But you don't come to the Bahamas to eat or stay in your hotel, you come to
dive. 
And
dive I did! Stuart Cove is adjacent to the hotel in a small marina capable of
holding six to seven dive boats; when I was there, all dive boats were fully
booked and this was at a time when their business was relatively minimal. The
dive shop is nicely run and it is quite easy to check in and find out what boat
you are assigned to dive with that day. Glenna seems to be in charge of the
dive shop operation, Michelle seems to run the business side of the operation,
and Stuart seems to be general manager. The dive shop is well stocked and seems
to have adequate rental gear available if so desired. There is a secure room
for overnight storage of your dive gear at no cost. Although I did not use this,
there seems to be a well stocked photo and video shop upstairs which has rental
gear and presumably nightly E6 processing. There is at least one light table
available and there is adequate room to work on camera equipment.
All of the boats seem to be the same with perhaps one boat that seemed larger.
All boats seemed well equipped and clean. Stuart is visibly present and clearly
wants to insure that the operation runs smoothly.
I came to Stuart Cove specifically to photograph sharks so I signed up for
two full days of shark diving. 
The
shark dives require prior reservation and are normally in the afternoon. They
can be scheduled by special arrangement in the mornings as well. Stuart
Cove also is able to provide certification in nitrox (which I availed myself
of) and certification on the Atlantis semi-closed circuit rebreather. I did
not choose to take advantage of the latter certification only because I was
not there long enough. I found diving with nitrox to be a pleasure despite the
need to carefully monitor depth and total exposure to oxygen (CNS); I felt less
tired after diving a full day of nitrox compared to diving compressed air.
The Stuart Cove shark experience is a combination of two dives. The first
dive is in the vicinity of the sharks where the sharks swim around you hoping
that you will feed them. The sharks come very close, close enough to
shoot them with a 15 mm or 13 mm lens. 
I found myself able to take pictures from as close as 18 inches. However the
sharks move rather quickly and you need to be able to compose and shoot equally
quickly. When I was there we had about 20 sharks varying from 3 feet to seven
feet in length. All of the sharks were Caribbean reef sharks. There were many
Nassau Groupers hanging around waiting for a hand out; they were tame enough
to be pests.
The second dive in the shark diving experience is an actual shark feed. Fish
are placed in a container taken down to the shark feeding area. Guests are arranged
in a semi-circle at a close but safe distance from the shark feeding. The divemaster
takes piece of fish out of the closed container with a wooden handled probe
with a needle like appendage. This is done so the sharks do not associate food
with humans. The divemaster does, however, wear metallic mesh gloves.
The action is very quick and photography is more difficult than on the first
dive. I would characterize the second shark dive as very safe but the sharks
are only marginally in control. At no time did I feel that I was in danger but
Mike was forced to punch out a couple of sharks that got too aggressive. In
total, I did two shark feeding dives and two shark contact dives. 
Despite the attraction of the shark dives I did not do only shark dives on any given day. I found that there are also some very nice reef dives available. There seemed to be many Queen Angelfish, some Gray angelfish but no French angelfish in the areas we dove. There were nice groupers of various kinds, cowfish, squirrelfish, etc.
Seas were relatively calm in July and water temperatures were in the low eighties. I would not hesitate to recommend Stuart Cove as a shark diving experience but I might consider staying at a nicer hotel despite the convenience of Dive South Ocean. I hope to return to for certification on the Atlantis rebreather at some later time.