Ryan115 -
I recently came back from Sandals in St Lucia. I stayed at the La Toc Regency Golf Course and Spa. If you have any questions about the Sandals resorts, diving, the island of St Lucia, non-Sandals excursions, etc please let me know. If you like hiking, you really need to do the Gros Piton hike, it is amazing!
As far as your diving inquiries:
There is no dock at the resort I stayed at (not sure about the Grande), so we had a 10 minute drive into the town of Castries to pick up the boat.
The staff was very attentive. Keep in mind, this was my first trip post-certification so I do not have a basis of comparison. But as a new diver I felt comfortablable. I needed help adjusting weights (my training was in a fresh water quarry), sizing a BC, etc and they were very helpful. Their dive time was simple; they aim for 35-40 minute dives. Once the first diver hits 1000psi they are asked to go notify the DM. From there, the DM will slowly start to wrap up the trip within a few minutes and take the group to the safety stop. Also, before you go on any dives with Sandals, they make everyone do a "Discover SCUBA" dive. Someone in my group was a DM from Italy with 100's of dives in his logbook, but they required him to do the "Discover SCUBA" dive as well. The "DS" dive is a short dive, usually 30 minutes, and no deeper than 30'. This is their way of testing you to make sure you have the skills required to safely go on other dives during your stay, like the Piton Wall Dive. If you do ok on the "DS" dive you can then do any other dive during your stay at Sandals. The "DS" dive is also used for people who did the resort certification class that morning.
A few other notes:
A) They offer a 2 tank dive at 8am, or a 1 tank afternoon dive leaving the resort sometime between 11-1. They pick the daily dive site based on the talent & size of the group, the weather and water conditions, etc.
B) I was there during Xmas-NYE, but the dive groups were never larger than 10 SCUBA divers and another 10+ snorklers.
C) Sign up in advance, they do cap the amount of divers, so try to sign up at least 1 day in advance, though you can sign up the first day you arrive.
D) they are strict about the 24-hour rule. My flight was at 5:30pm on a Thursday, and they would not let me do a 1 tank dive on Wednesday which would have had me on the surface by 2pm on Wednesday.
E) I had my own mask/snorkel/fins. They do offer those if you need and do not bring your own. I can't comment on the quality because I did not use them. I used their regs, BC, etc and those all seemed in very solid working condition. No one in my group complained or had issues with the rental gear.'
F) I did not get a chance to do the Piton Wall Dive, but we did do a Dive in the South and it was roughly 20 minutes on the boat.
If you have any other questions feel free to post here or PM me.
I recently came back from Sandals in St Lucia. I stayed at the La Toc Regency Golf Course and Spa. If you have any questions about the Sandals resorts, diving, the island of St Lucia, non-Sandals excursions, etc please let me know. If you like hiking, you really need to do the Gros Piton hike, it is amazing!
As far as your diving inquiries:
There is no dock at the resort I stayed at (not sure about the Grande), so we had a 10 minute drive into the town of Castries to pick up the boat.
The staff was very attentive. Keep in mind, this was my first trip post-certification so I do not have a basis of comparison. But as a new diver I felt comfortablable. I needed help adjusting weights (my training was in a fresh water quarry), sizing a BC, etc and they were very helpful. Their dive time was simple; they aim for 35-40 minute dives. Once the first diver hits 1000psi they are asked to go notify the DM. From there, the DM will slowly start to wrap up the trip within a few minutes and take the group to the safety stop. Also, before you go on any dives with Sandals, they make everyone do a "Discover SCUBA" dive. Someone in my group was a DM from Italy with 100's of dives in his logbook, but they required him to do the "Discover SCUBA" dive as well. The "DS" dive is a short dive, usually 30 minutes, and no deeper than 30'. This is their way of testing you to make sure you have the skills required to safely go on other dives during your stay, like the Piton Wall Dive. If you do ok on the "DS" dive you can then do any other dive during your stay at Sandals. The "DS" dive is also used for people who did the resort certification class that morning.
A few other notes:
A) They offer a 2 tank dive at 8am, or a 1 tank afternoon dive leaving the resort sometime between 11-1. They pick the daily dive site based on the talent & size of the group, the weather and water conditions, etc.
B) I was there during Xmas-NYE, but the dive groups were never larger than 10 SCUBA divers and another 10+ snorklers.
C) Sign up in advance, they do cap the amount of divers, so try to sign up at least 1 day in advance, though you can sign up the first day you arrive.
D) they are strict about the 24-hour rule. My flight was at 5:30pm on a Thursday, and they would not let me do a 1 tank dive on Wednesday which would have had me on the surface by 2pm on Wednesday.
E) I had my own mask/snorkel/fins. They do offer those if you need and do not bring your own. I can't comment on the quality because I did not use them. I used their regs, BC, etc and those all seemed in very solid working condition. No one in my group complained or had issues with the rental gear.'
F) I did not get a chance to do the Piton Wall Dive, but we did do a Dive in the South and it was roughly 20 minutes on the boat.
If you have any other questions feel free to post here or PM me.
