Cruise stops and diving suggestions

[ljshooter]

Thanks for being interested enough to read my post...

Cruising in a few weeks and finally getting around to thinking about our dive spots...cruised once before and wasn't overly excited about the "ship arranged" diving. Like I read elsewhere, they tend to be overly conservative. Each of these stops will afford us all day to reboard the big boat, so not concerned about missing it.

First of all, I'd like to ask for recommendations on which of these 5 stops you'd dive. And of course, if you recall, who would you use in that location.

Thanks again!

St. Thomas
Tortolla
Antigua
St. Lucia
Barbados

Cheers!

 

[diversteve]

On St. Thomas try AdmiraltyDive or Blue Island Divers. Both will pick you up off the Cruise pier. The cruise dive is often Coki Beach - it's good for beginners but not much else - shallow and not a lot of reef structure - nice locals beach though for non-divers. Cays or wreck dives just offshore are so much better.

Tortola you'll want someone near Roadtown where the ship will dock. (it's a pretty long island) Aquaventure is adjacent to the cruise pier. Welcome to BVIScuba lists pretty much all your options.

If I had to pick between St. Thomas and Tortola, it would be Tortola. Some of the better diving there is a short boat ride away near some of the smaller islands - the Indians, Dog Islands etc. And maybe you can find someone that will take you to the Rhone - they filmed The Deep there.

I've moved this post to the cruise forum for more visibility. This question is posed there frequently.