Caribbean dive rec's.

[Fishlips_1]

Hello all,
I will be in the Caribbean in Oct. We will be docked in San Jaun P.R., Phillipsburg St. Marten, Charlotte Amile St. Thomas, and Nassau Bahamas. My question is, has ne1 dove in these cities? and if so, Any reccommendations for a safe and pleasant dive experience. Can a guy rent descent gear in these cities, or should he take his own gear.

 

[DiveMaven]

We dove in the Bahamas and St. Thomas on our cruise in December. We went with Nassau Scuba Centre in the Bahamas and Blue Island Divers in St. Thomas. I'd recommend both very highly, and the rental equipment looked to be in good shape with both ops. We took our own gear, so can't speak from the experience of using theirs though.

We didn't dive in St. Maarten since I've rarely read a good review of diving there. It tends to have a lot of current and not much in the way of reefs according to reviews. We spent the day on Orient Beach instead, and I'd definitely recommend that to anyone going to St. Maarten.

 

[Fishlips_1]

Thanks for the advice. I think Blue Island Divers picks up at the dock. Will definately look into Nassau Scuba Centre.
Thanks again,
Joe

 

[DiveMaven]

Yes, Blue Island Divers picks up at the dock right in front of your cruise ship. Also Admiralty does the same thing in St. Thomas, and I've heard good things about them.

Nassau Scuba Centre will pick you up in their bus in front of the cruise pier in Nassau. Very convenient!

 

[Wijbrandus]

I dove in St. Maarten with Blue Island Divers this last February.

IMHO, save your money and do the town instead. Where we dove, the reef was mostly dead. Very little life, poor vis (for the Carib), and just not a good time over all. Blue Island is ok. They have a nice boat, but... to sum it up - moo.

They do have a nice system down to efficiently move you from the cruise ship to the dive shop and back. I'll give them kudos for that. We had plenty of time to get our poop in a group because of this - no rushing around until we hit the dive sites.