USVI St. Thomas

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Trever

Contributor
Messages
146
Reaction score
0
Location
Fort Worth, TX
# of dives
100 - 199
OK I just got back from my cruise last night at midnight. I had a very long day of traveling yesterday. Let me first say that it was an awesome cruise. I got to relax for almost an entire week. Delta lost our luggage and almost made us miss a connection flight, but everything arrived on the ship on time and in good condition. Now to the important stuff....diving.

OK you are all going to be disappointed in me I only got one dive in. I really wanted to focus on this vacation as being more family oriented so I made diving secondary. I decided to do my one dive in St Thomas. It was a shore dive using "Dive World" as the dive shop.

Let me first start out by saying never ever ever use "Dive World" They are absolutely pathetic, more on this later.. We boarded the cattle trucks off of the ship and proceeded on a 1/2 hour journey to "Cokie Beach". There were 3 cattle trucks full of Snorkelers, Discover SCUBA, SNUBA, and 5 Certified divers. I was the only person that had their own equipment, minus the tanks and weights. Before getting to the beach we had to stop by the "Dive Shop" to pick up the equipment. When I saw the quality and condition of the "rental" equipment I was SOOOOO happy that I decided to hump my 48 pound of equipment. The fins and masks were Wal-mart Quality. The regulator sets had no timing device or depth gauge. and some of the BCD's were so UV faded that they almost appeared to be white. O well at least I had my own equipment.

So anyway after one of the dive shop employees completely chewed out the *** of one of the snorkelers for sitting in the wrong place to try on the fins, we headed to Cokie Beach. Now at this time I was still pretty happy. Cause I was going diving in warm salt water. So we get to the beach and they start getting the snorkelers and SNUBA people set up. and The discover SCUBA peeps head off with some dude. mean while We are sitting on the beach and I am wondering why they have so many 50cf stage bottles around. Yes you guessed it. Our single tank dive was with a 50cf tank. I was f-ing pissed. I went off. I told them that industry standard was an 80 cf tank and they totally agreed with me, she didn't argue one bit. Then she told me if I was unhappy I should fill out a comment card with the ships excursion desk. She also assured me that all of the tanks were full to 3000psi

So I get my 50cf hooked up and my gear all set up and my PSI was at 2700. Another divers was at 2500. When we mention this she said that she did not have any more tanks left. At that point I said fine give me my money back and I will just call it a day. So she drove back to the dive shack, (I can't justify calling it a shop) to get some more tanks, this time they were full. So now we don our gear and head into the water, remember there are 5 divers and one DM that could care less about customer satisfaction.

I asked "would this be a good time to buddy up with someone" The DM says "this is a real easy dive just stay close to me and you will not need a buddy" So we all looked at each other and a husband/wife team buddied up and I buddied up with the two remaining folks. I then ask "what is the dive plan?" DM says "what do you need to know?" I reply "How deep, how long, at what psi do we surface etc etc." The DM says "Just stay behind me you will all be fine". So I say "don't we need a dive flag with us?" and she says "why are you trying to upset the other divers?" I said that I wasn't trying to upset the other divers and finaly another diver spoke up and said that he wanted to know the same things. So she said and I quote " there are not that many boats out here today so we don't need a dive flag, I don't have anymore time for questions we need to go if we are going to go otherwise we can all go back on shore and snorkel the rest of the day." end quote.

SO me being a dumb *** I shut my mouth and dove, even though I knew how *****ed up everything was. I pretty much stayed way back with my two buddies a guy in his 50's who dives once a year on vacation and a woman who just got certified a week before and was on her first real dive. They were both good buddies and we had a great time point out the sea life to each other. I was impressed with how comfortable that lady was for her first dive. We did see a sea turtle, that was a first for me. several different types of coral, tons of fish. It was really a great dive all 32 minutes of it. The water temp was 80f our max depth was 53' Vis was 40 feet. It sure would have been nice to have 80 cf strapped to my back.

So we get back to the dive shack and the DM asked me why I was so upset. and I went down my laundry list of previously mentioned items, and told her that I would be talking to the excursion desk about the lack of safety and failure to meet minimum safety standards. And she said fine. What amazed me was that they acknowledged that they overlook certain safety standards because they have been doing this for so long and that it is an easy dive. And she said that they have never had a serious accident. I hope it stays that way.

BTW no one left a tip. On another note I got the exact response from the ships excursion desk that I expected, they could care less. They sell their excursions to the lowest bidder. I am thinking about writing PADI. Dive World is a 5 star PADI dealer. but I doubt that Padi gives a **** either. so I will just attempt to let everyone know what I thought.

On the plus side I would recommend the Cokie Beach Shore Dive to anyone. Just find a better operator than "Dive World"
 
Sorry to hear about your experience although I must admit I'm not surprised. Coki is the standard cruise ship cattle dump and far from the best the island has to offer. There are some excellent, professional operators on the island and outstanding dive spots.

The more time I spend on the island watching the ships come and go, the more resolved I am to avoid any cruise.

Cheers!
 
Yeah...lesson learned. The cruise was great, and I even enjoyed Cokie Beach the operators was the main problem. If I would have done a little more research I would have found some better operators.
 
My wife and I just got back also from a weekend of diving in St Thomas. Dove 3 times on Saturday and 3 times on Sunday with Chris Sawyer Diving Center. Was very very impressed with the total experience. Uncrowded boats, good staff, uncrowded dive sites. Maybe the lack of divers was related to the time of year?? No cruisers at all on our boats. Need to recommend Chris Sawyer for anyone planning trip to U.S.V.I.
 
Second the props for Chris Sawyer. Only problem is they dive out of Red Hook which is on the other side of the island from the port. 1/2 hour each way depending on traffic.
 
Well Chris Sawyer is getting rave reviews in cruise critic also. Must be good.
 
I just got back from a cruise to St. Thomas and did a two tank dive with Blue Island. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them either. Picked me up right at the cruise ship dock, they guys were great, and best of all there were only three customers plus the DM! We dove the Kennedy wreck and Limestone (reef). Way laid back crew - both guys were great. PM me if you have any specific questions.

Brian
 
Definitely contact PADI--the failure to include basic safety information in a briefing is inexcusable in any facility, let alone a PADI 5 star. That is a major concern.

I will also second the props to Blue Island. They are great for cruise ships since they are located right there and do not tend to be cattle boat operators.
 
Hi,

I'm an Advanced PADI diver who has been to all of the great dive locales in the Caribbean (Cozumel, Caymans, Belize, Bonaire, Roatan, Turks & Caicos, Bahamas, Fla. Keys, etc.) However, I've never gone to the USVI.

I would love to hear from those who have & get advice on the best places to stay & the best dives in these Islands.
I'm not a big fan of cruises & would rather stay on the islands & dive each day.

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

Barry

P.S. If anyone would like to know about my experiences at the above locations, just let me know.
 
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