Best island to dive: St. Maarten, Barbados, St. Lucia?

[boastud]

We are taking a cruise the second week of july for 7 days through the southern carribean. We have tons of activities planned, and i only have 2 days to dive. Which island would you dive? Any replies would be much appreciated. This is my first time diving anywhere south of florida, so im sure i will love any!

Barbados
St. Lucia
St. Thomas
St. Maarten
Antigua

 

[diveborg]

St. Maarten would be my last choice, I do know that.

I'd definitely dive St Thomas St. Lucia, and probably Barbados.

I don't know about Antigua.

 

[trigfunctions]

St. Lucia is great. I haven't been on the others.

 

[Matt_NJ]

of those I have dove in Barbados and St. Lucia - Either is beutifull although I went off a boat in Barbados and a shore dive in St. Lucia. The dive I did at St. Lucia was a marine preserve by the Piton's and I was a little annoyed about some of there rules - IE: Could not dive with a knife, or wearing gloves. Did not mind the gloves so much since it's warm water, but a knife is just practicle.

If the stop in St. Thomas on the cruise is long enough for a dive at "The Bath's" in Virgin Gorda I would deffinately recommend that. Baths is short for "Batholith's" (No idea if I spelled that right!) which are supposedly where the continental plates meet. I was told that this site is the only place reachable that is in temperate water but I have no idea if it's true, but either way it's unique and a great trip - I did it while staying in St. Thomas it was about a 35 minute boat ride away if memory serves so you should be able to arrange from your cruise. BTW - That was not a "Dive" it was snorkeling. The baths is primarily a beach area with huge boulders to swim around by. Not sure if there is good diving there but it's worth a mention!
Enjoy!

 

[NJdiverTony]

I did 10 days of diving in St. Lucia for my honeymoon a couple of years ago and I loved it. Did some nice wall dives, drift dives, and checked out some beautiful reefs and saw lots of sea life Even snorkeling off the beach, I was able to get to some shallow reefs and was able to check out sea turtles, barracuda, morray eels, and etc...

Not to mention that St. Lucia is a beautiful island and the people that live on the island are so incredibly nice.

 

[NJdiverTony]

of those I have dove in Barbados and St. Lucia - Either is beutifull although I went off a boat in Barbados and a shore dive in St. Lucia. The dive I did at St. Lucia was a marine preserve by the Piton's and I was a little annoyed about some of there rules - IE: Could not dive with a knife, or wearing gloves. Did not mind the gloves so much since it's warm water, but a knife is just practicle.

They have very strict rules in St. Lucia as far as protecting the coral reefs go. I think I remember that you could be fined up to $25,000 if you were found to have removed coral from St. Lucian waters. I think that is the reason why they restrict knives and gloves. But as you said, the water is pretty warm. I had been there in March/April timeframe and the water temps averaged at around 82 degrees. Viz was fantastic too.

 

[boastud]

Thanks for all the great replies. I had St. Lucia down as a for sure, i was considering taking a short trip over to st. croix for an afternoon dive. I heard that the diving is great over there also.

 

[jaybombs25]

you should luvv st. lucia.. I live there and cannot get ENOUGH of it.. addded to th fact that you can see new things on almost every dive no matter how many you have... people have reffered to it as "the place where the unusual.. is usual"... great diving

 

[Scubadonna]

Your going to have a hard time making short trip to St.Croix - its not close to the islands you listed. St. croix sits alone

but your right - the diving IS great on St croix

 

[torontoscubagirl]

Went diving in St. Lucia about a year ago - amazing diving. Especially loved diving by the Pitons and Superman's Fly. Would go back in a second : )

Have no clue about Antigua though.

Happy Diving !