Cruising to St Thomas & St Maarten Next week

[harleyxx]

I've got that one solved, my father-in-law is an ex-commercial (oil rig) and resuce (Sheriffs dept) diver...built-in dive buddy! We mostly vacation together.

A suggestion, when you get onboard, check with the excursions desk -- I'll bet they can add you to the St. Thomas dive. They have a hard time turning down $ at RCL.


Cheers

I might just do that. If I do a two tank dive first thing in the morning, I might be back by noon or 1m and meet the wife and in laws for lunch.

 

[Aqualunger]

I know I am late with my post (you get on the ship the same day I was heding back home from the same ship) but I would recomed to bring you own. Or if you want to get some good stuff tell James (DiveShop Manager) you want to test equipment before you buy it and they will give you top of the line stuff. You might like it and even buy it after...you never know...

Good Luck

 

[DougK]

This may be to late for your trip but I will post for the benifit of others.

My wife and I dove with Coki on St. Thomas off the same curise ship. We set up all our trips independent of the curise line and saved a chunk of change. Just be back on time! or better yet early!!!!! Coki's owner picked us up at the dock. I would dive with them again. We used rental and it was fine.

It was fun shallow diving, which is what we were looking for, I only got to 60 by laying on the bottom to look at a shark under a pipe.

I got a good deal on some fins at the ships dive shop.

 

[harleyxx]

My daughter and I got in 3 dives in St. Maarten. It was great! We went out with Dive Safari on a boat with 10 divers & two dive masters. My brother in law was late getting off the cruise ship and missed the pick up boat. He had all my sister in laws gear so they both missed the scheduled dives. Bummer!

The first dive was an 85' wreck dive of a tug boat called the Porpoise. My daughter lost her underwater camera as we did the giant stride of the back of the dive boat so we didn't get any underwater pics. Here are a few on the dive boats; http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=69152
We dropped down on the starboard side of the wreck. Then we swam up to the deck and looked around. My daughter and I stuck close to the guide. We dropped off the deck and swam completely around the outside of the ship. Our Guide led us back to the deck again and pointed to the entrance to the engine room. He took his light out and we followed him and did two swim through's taking two different routes through the ship. This was a huge thrill for my daughter and I.

I found out the my blood looks green at 85'-0 It looked just like algae. I cut my finger on something as we entered the wreck. I reached 1000 on my SPG first so the guide led us back to the mooring line. We accended slowly, did our safety stop. We were coming up in front of the boat so while we were still at 10'-0 we swam back to the ladder and then surfaced. The seas were pretty rough 6 to 8 foot swells. So it was a litle hairy getting back on the boat. The crew earned their tip.
After this dive was over we went to Frenchman's Reef. It was a 35'-0 reef. We saw lots of fish, brain coral, sea fans, 2 moray eels, a small octopus, a sea turtle. It was excellent! I was the first to reach 1000 on my SPG (air hog). The guide led me back to the line and I did my safety stop and got back on the boat. My daughter stayed down with the guide for another 10 min or so. It was an all together excellent couple of dives.

On the walk back to the cruise ship we ran into my brother in law & sister in law. They had just booked a dive with a little stand just outside the gates dock the cruise ship was at. He felt bad about missing the morning dives so he offered to pay for me and my daughter to go on a shallow reef dive with them. We jumped at the chance and did our third dive that day! This was only 25'-0 but we had a lot of current to deal with. Plus the visibility was only about 15 to 20 feet. We still saw a lot of fish. By now the seas were very rough. We all got on the boat OK except for my sister in law. She got slammed into the ladder a couple of times. She just couldn't get up the ladder, so the crew took her weight belt off & then her BC. She was able to grab on and climb up.

All in all , we had a great time! I would recommend Dive Safari to any one going to St. Maarten. The crew was very friendly and did a great job. The next time I go to St. Maarten we will either do a shark awareness dive or go to Saba.

 

[canadianpigeon]

Just thought people should know the diving on the French side of the Island of St. Marteen (called St. Martin) is less crowded and the reefs seem to be in much better shape. We have been going to St. Martin for about 5 years (timeshares) and found the whole 'Cattle Boat' experience lacking in customer service. We now only go diving with Octopus Diving Center in Grand Case (just north of Marigot, the french capital). They only use six-packs but cover the entire island's dive sites. I think the longest ride we have ever had was about 20 minutes. Their gear always looks new (all Scubapro gear and Mares fins so rentals here don't scare me). Probably most importantly, they cater to us.......... whatever we want. We have tried pretty much all the other operators and found these guys to be the best service. In case you want to check them out, their website is www.stmartinscuba.com