Please rate these five islands for the diving

[Mike]

I'd be interested in the opinions of those who know to rate these locations in order of their diving from best to worst and why :

St Thomas
St Croix
Grenada
Dominica
St Kitts

Thanks

 

[Wookie]

I've dived 4 of your 5. Haven't been to Dominica, only because the airfare is so scary.

I vacation each year in Grenada, just like a resort diver. I stay at True Blue and dive with the house op, Aquanauts. Their diving suits my wants, I get 3 a day and don't bother night diving. That gives me time for an afternoon nap. The pricing isn't outrageous, and dinner is available from 20 bucks a plate to $100 at the swankier restaurants. The reefs are healthy, although fish are sparce.

I used to sail as engineer on a liveaboard that visited St. Kitts. I quite liked the diving there, with wrecks and very nice healthy reefs. That was 15 years ago. The liveaboard is still there, although has been replaced with a newer boat.

St. Thomas diving is quite deep for the best reefs, in the 95-110 foot range. I would not go to St. Thomas for a dive vacation.

St. Croix has incredible walls, and great macro diving at the Fredericksted pier. The diving towards Christiansted and in the National Park is also quite good.

 

[Chugwhump]

Wookie;
My understanding is that there are not too many fish left on the reefs in St Croix.
I may be misinformed.

Chug
Thinking Roatan

 

[Wookie]

Chug, I've dived a lot of the Caribbean, and, quite frankly (May I be Frank with you?) the fish life can't hold a candle to the crappiest Florida dive site.

 

[Bratface]

St Croix has nice wall dives and under the pier night dives can be fantastic. Chugwhump is misinformed, there are plenty of fish to see. St Thomas diving is not as good as on St Croix due to no walls, but we have some good diving. If you can make it to Roatan or Bonaire, the diving there is outstanding. Saba is great diving but a little tricky to get to. You have to go to St Maarten then take a plane or ferry over, can add to your travel time. Anyhow, the caribbean in the winter has good diving, lots of sun and warm temperatures.

 

[mikeycanuk]

I would like to hit up Dominica some time but having to depend on LIAT..... Ok they've new aircraft but one only has to look at the current strike to wonder "what if". Caribbean Journal is a great site that's sends out regular update on goings on in that part of the world. Even if it's negative re:LIAT! What as mess of an airline.


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[joewr]

I'd be interested in the opinions of those who know to rate these locations in order of their diving from best to worst and why :

St Thomas
St Croix
Grenada
Dominica
St Kitts

Thanks

Hi,

We have dived St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. Kitts. I can only give my summary of them: others may disagree. I would rate St. Croix highest, St. Kitts middle, and St. Thomas lowest.

A quick summary...

St. Croix has some really lovely dives: Salt River Canyon East and West Walls were nice dives--lots of soft coral, gorgonians and sponges along some fairly steep walls. Beware though--they drop to 1000 ft and, so, you need to pay attention to your depth as you descend. There are several wreck dives if you are interested in that type of dive. And there is a nice night dive near Frederiksted Pier. We have dived with Cane Bay and Dive Experience. The former have some very neat Navy Seal Zodiac-type boats that are great! The latter has a boat that accommodates up to 13 divers; that is a bit too many for us. However, both staffs were excellent.

St. Kitts is tiny place with lots of dives within a short distance of the dive shops. Pro Divers is a nice operation; if you do your homework, they will take you to the sites you ask for. Most of the diving is fairly shallow--around 40'-50'. but lots to see and all of it very pretty. There are a couple of wrecks.

St. Thomas is probably the busiest of all the islands. We used to dive with Chris Sawyer's at Red Hook. He has since sold the business and it is now called Red Hook Dive Center. Again, this is very easy diving, but for those of you with excellent bottom times, they might be a bit restrictive. We have also dived with Blue Island Divers--closer to town than Red Hook. They are fine outfit and will take you on some nice dives. When we dove with them, they let those of us with better bottom times stay down as long as we had sufficient air. These dive operations are quite distant from each other and go to very different sites. The diving is nice, but not as spectacular as St. Croix. One very positive note about Red Hook: we went on two really nice night dives with lots of octopi and some great eels that seemed to like winding around the fire coral.

I hope this helps.

joewr

---------- Post added November 10th, 2013 at 03:28 PM ----------

St Croix has nice wall dives and under the pier night dives can be fantastic. Chugwhump is misinformed, there are plenty of fish to see. St Thomas diving is not as good as on St Croix due to no walls, but we have some good diving. If you can make it to Roatan or Bonaire, the diving there is outstanding. Saba is great diving but a little tricky to get to. You have to go to St Maarten then take a plane or ferry over, can add to your travel time. Anyhow, the caribbean in the winter has good diving, lots of sun and warm temperatures.

Hi,

We absolutely loved Saba. It is a pain to get to, but the diving was glorious. And the biggest surprise of all to us were the great restaurants on "the mountain". One thing to remember is that the very best diving is on the pinnacles and good bottom times + bouyancy control are very desirable. The guys at Saba Deep were great. We had neighbors who went with Saba Divers and they were equally delighted.

joewr

 

[agilis]

Dominica. One of the world's most beautiful islands topside, very few people, very few tourists, spectacular diving in the south, excellent diving mid island on the Caribbean side, some good diving in places in the north, including at least two excellent sites, and so much fish life it can seem unreal. Not just the usual stuff: things you never or seldom see in more frequently dived places. It's like St. Vincent in that respect, but easier to get to. There are now two carriers to Dominica. One, LIAT (luggage in another terminal), I'd stay away from. The other, Seaborne, recently took over the San Juan hub from American Eagle. It's based in the US Virgins, and I'll be flying them for the first time in April, when I'll be staying in Dominica for most of the month. Both carriers are expensive.

Dominica is not for everyone. It rains frequently, and it's a volcanic island, so boulders outnumber coral heads. The roads are horrible, but I've always driven a rental jeep there, though most Americans are too fearful, wetting themselves when they look down 600 feet through sheer air from a road that corkscrews on the side of a mountain with just enough space for the tires. I also rent my own little villa (very cheap) and spend a lot of time topside in a mountainous rainforest like no other in the Caribbean.

The diving is nearly pristine, and I've seen everything from unnamed tiny gobies up to and including whales while snorkeling. When scuba diving the array of wonders can be even more
impressive.

Dominica is different. Feels different, looks different, smells different, especially if you get away on your own from the two or three dive dedicated operations in Roseau for more than just the one or two afternoon expeditions they sponsor for their captive divers.

I agree that St Croix has some very nice sites. Saba is amazing but deep. Very deep, every site. It's something like North Carolina in that respect. St Thomas and St Kitts are, for lack of a better word, meh. Expensive meh. Dominica is hellishly expensive to get to, but pretty reasonable to downright cheap when you get there. I usually go once a year, for about 3 to 4 weeks.

 

[Chugwhump]

?.....quite frankly (May I be Frank with you?)

How could you be any other way?

Chug
Has Dominica on the radar screen now.
Many thanks to Agilis.

 

[richard65]

May I put an additional destination in your mind. Little Cayman. I may be biased but I love the diving there, Bloody Bay Wall is fantastic and it feels like you have travelled back to the 1950's when you go.


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