jasonreid50
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Hi guys -
I wanted to get this down while it was still fresh in my mind. Just returned from 4 nights/8 dive trip to Statia, diving with Golden Rock Divers. Summary: Statia's diving is truly fantastic and facinatingly untouched. Don't expect much excitement above ground, but there is more than enough underwater to keep you engrossed and wanting to return. Highly recommended.
Getting there: We flew into St. Maarten and then took Winair for the 20 minute hop to Statia. The flight was uneventful, unlike prior posters' bad experiences with Winnair. Winnair left on time, all our bags arrived. There is a 1-free checked bag allowance, the second checked bag costs $25.
Hotel: We stayed at the Old Gin House (OGH), in an oceanview room. It is a small hotel (probably 20 rooms?) on both sides of a narrow road alongside the shore. The rooms are clean, but pretty basic. Cable TV works sometimes. Water temperature in the bathroom fluctuates between warm, scalding and sometimes cold. The AC is freezing. The oceanfront rooms are right on the waterfront, so the views are unimpeded and amazing. Breakfast is on a little patio on the waterfront, next to the oceanview rooms. Breakfast is also decent. All in all, it works very well as a base very near the dive shop (you're not going for the hotel anyway).
Food: Despite Statia being a VERY VERY quiet island with no real nightlife to speak of, there are a number of pretty good places to eat. Ocean View Terrace, Frankie's, Fruit Tree and Cool Corner are a few. We also ate at the hotel next door to OGH - the Golden Era Hotel. The food was pretty good. They serve lots of food on this island....you're always stuffed after a meal.
Beaches: There are 2 small black sand beaches near OGH. Certainly not Anguilla, but there if you want a beach. The locals flock there with their kids, grilling equipment and music on weekends. It is fun to watch!
Dive Operator: Golden Rock Divers is one of 2, maybe 3, dive operators on the island. We had a great, great time with them. The outfit is run by Glenn and Michelle Faires, transplanted Americans who have been on Statia for 18 years. Glenn is a TRIP! Very knowledgable about Statia and its history, willing to share his knowledge and overall a great host. Michelle is very pleasant and a joy to speak with. The dive instructors are Ray and Kayley, a young British couple from Newcastle. They work their butts off and ensure that you always have a great experience. Golden Rock is on the water's edge, a 5 minute walk from the OGH. They have 2 dive boats. For our 3 days of diving, there were 4 divers, along with Ray and Kayley. The boat was never crowded and always felt like we had very personalized service.
Quality of Diving: Just great. Truly spectacular. Most dive sites are less than 10 minutes away by boat. Statia is volcanic, and much of the reef has grown on ancient lava flows or volcanic rocks. The coral is superbly healthy. There was no - repeat no - evidence of bleaching or dead/damaged coral in my dives. Visbility is excellent - most days we experienced 75-100 foot viz. Current was pretty much non-existent (when asking Glenn what the current was like, he responded "110 and 220." Nut! He was right though....no current. Our boat would moor to a buoy, you'd dive and return right back to the boat - very easy diving. The diving was a combination of 40-50 ft coral reefs and some deeper (80-100 ft) wrecks - which were in very good condition. One in particular - Charlie Brown - was penetrable. As for the marine life - wow! On every dive - every dive - we saw hawksbill turtles. On some dives we saw up to 3 or 4 turtles (nope - not counting the same turtle 4 times!). At a dive site called Double Wreck (funny - no wrecks there) we saw easily 6 spotted eels, between 7-10 rays and about a dozen lobsters. At another site - Aquarium - we saw a 4 foot barracuda stalking a school of baitfish. At one of the wrecks, we saw octopi, nurse and reef sharks. There are large schools of horse-eye jack, and a plethora of the usual coral reef fish that you see throughout the Caribbean. I left every dive very pleased - there is just a lot to see in optimal diving conditions.
Having traveled a fair bit, Statia reinforced to me that most great dive destinations have to be far removed from major tourist hotspots. I suspect that one of the reasons that the diving experience on Statia is so excellent is that it really doesn't have a developed tourist industry - this place is NOT Jamaica, Aruba or the USVI. It is the Caribbean as it was 40 years ago - a place where you see calves and goats gambolling in the streets. Believe it.
I have logged 500+ dives over 20 years (all over the Caribbean, Fiji, Thailand, Vietnam, Red Sea, Mediterranean, Costa Rica, Belize, Cozumel, Florida Keys) and rate this as one of my top 5 destinations ever. I'd recommend it to any serious diver who wants a seriously high quality, off-the-beaten-track Caribbean dive location (yup, an oxymoron.) Golden Rock Divers is highly recommended.
Enjoy!
I wanted to get this down while it was still fresh in my mind. Just returned from 4 nights/8 dive trip to Statia, diving with Golden Rock Divers. Summary: Statia's diving is truly fantastic and facinatingly untouched. Don't expect much excitement above ground, but there is more than enough underwater to keep you engrossed and wanting to return. Highly recommended.
Getting there: We flew into St. Maarten and then took Winair for the 20 minute hop to Statia. The flight was uneventful, unlike prior posters' bad experiences with Winnair. Winnair left on time, all our bags arrived. There is a 1-free checked bag allowance, the second checked bag costs $25.
Hotel: We stayed at the Old Gin House (OGH), in an oceanview room. It is a small hotel (probably 20 rooms?) on both sides of a narrow road alongside the shore. The rooms are clean, but pretty basic. Cable TV works sometimes. Water temperature in the bathroom fluctuates between warm, scalding and sometimes cold. The AC is freezing. The oceanfront rooms are right on the waterfront, so the views are unimpeded and amazing. Breakfast is on a little patio on the waterfront, next to the oceanview rooms. Breakfast is also decent. All in all, it works very well as a base very near the dive shop (you're not going for the hotel anyway).
Food: Despite Statia being a VERY VERY quiet island with no real nightlife to speak of, there are a number of pretty good places to eat. Ocean View Terrace, Frankie's, Fruit Tree and Cool Corner are a few. We also ate at the hotel next door to OGH - the Golden Era Hotel. The food was pretty good. They serve lots of food on this island....you're always stuffed after a meal.
Beaches: There are 2 small black sand beaches near OGH. Certainly not Anguilla, but there if you want a beach. The locals flock there with their kids, grilling equipment and music on weekends. It is fun to watch!
Dive Operator: Golden Rock Divers is one of 2, maybe 3, dive operators on the island. We had a great, great time with them. The outfit is run by Glenn and Michelle Faires, transplanted Americans who have been on Statia for 18 years. Glenn is a TRIP! Very knowledgable about Statia and its history, willing to share his knowledge and overall a great host. Michelle is very pleasant and a joy to speak with. The dive instructors are Ray and Kayley, a young British couple from Newcastle. They work their butts off and ensure that you always have a great experience. Golden Rock is on the water's edge, a 5 minute walk from the OGH. They have 2 dive boats. For our 3 days of diving, there were 4 divers, along with Ray and Kayley. The boat was never crowded and always felt like we had very personalized service.
Quality of Diving: Just great. Truly spectacular. Most dive sites are less than 10 minutes away by boat. Statia is volcanic, and much of the reef has grown on ancient lava flows or volcanic rocks. The coral is superbly healthy. There was no - repeat no - evidence of bleaching or dead/damaged coral in my dives. Visbility is excellent - most days we experienced 75-100 foot viz. Current was pretty much non-existent (when asking Glenn what the current was like, he responded "110 and 220." Nut! He was right though....no current. Our boat would moor to a buoy, you'd dive and return right back to the boat - very easy diving. The diving was a combination of 40-50 ft coral reefs and some deeper (80-100 ft) wrecks - which were in very good condition. One in particular - Charlie Brown - was penetrable. As for the marine life - wow! On every dive - every dive - we saw hawksbill turtles. On some dives we saw up to 3 or 4 turtles (nope - not counting the same turtle 4 times!). At a dive site called Double Wreck (funny - no wrecks there) we saw easily 6 spotted eels, between 7-10 rays and about a dozen lobsters. At another site - Aquarium - we saw a 4 foot barracuda stalking a school of baitfish. At one of the wrecks, we saw octopi, nurse and reef sharks. There are large schools of horse-eye jack, and a plethora of the usual coral reef fish that you see throughout the Caribbean. I left every dive very pleased - there is just a lot to see in optimal diving conditions.
Having traveled a fair bit, Statia reinforced to me that most great dive destinations have to be far removed from major tourist hotspots. I suspect that one of the reasons that the diving experience on Statia is so excellent is that it really doesn't have a developed tourist industry - this place is NOT Jamaica, Aruba or the USVI. It is the Caribbean as it was 40 years ago - a place where you see calves and goats gambolling in the streets. Believe it.
I have logged 500+ dives over 20 years (all over the Caribbean, Fiji, Thailand, Vietnam, Red Sea, Mediterranean, Costa Rica, Belize, Cozumel, Florida Keys) and rate this as one of my top 5 destinations ever. I'd recommend it to any serious diver who wants a seriously high quality, off-the-beaten-track Caribbean dive location (yup, an oxymoron.) Golden Rock Divers is highly recommended.
Enjoy!
