Diving from a Cruise Ship (part 1)

[stevsgarage]

Diving from a Cruise Ship (Six Islands in seven days)

It all began last fall, after much debate I gave in to my wife and our (non-diving) friends and traveling companions to book a cruise on the luxury cruise liner the Norwegian Sky. After succumbing to the pressure to book the trip I began investigating my dive options aboard the seven day cruise that included the islands of Puerto Rico, Martinique, Antigua, St. Maarten, Tortola, British Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, then back to San Juan.
The Cruise Ship doesn’t release it’s execution packages until 60 days before the cruise but I immediately went to work researching and compiling all the information I could find on diving and operators on each of the stops included on our itinerary. When the excursions came out I concentrated on the two islands that the ship didn’t list dive excursions for, plus I looked for an operator who could handle a couple dives Sunday morning before boarding the cruise ship.
The Internet can be a valuable tool for researching dive sights and resorts. I used the usual Internet search engines, PADI resort finder and Scuba bulletin boards to find operators in the area to handle my needs.
Puerto Rico
My first dive was found on the Scuba Bulletin Board, Caribe Aquatic Adventures. This is small family operation working out of the Park Plaza Normandy Resort in San Juan’s Hotel district. Although they offer many different excursions to the most exotic sights around the island, the one I was most interested in, and the only one I had time for, was right out of the back of the hotel just beyond the hotel’s private swimming beach. “The best little critter dive in Puerto Rico”
I arrived the evening before the cruise in order to make the first dive Sunday morning in Puerto Rico. The cruise line booked me in a hotel across from the pier, but it was a short cab ride over to the Plaza Normandy for the Dive. The hotel concierge directed me to the back of the hotel to where the dive shop was located.
Although the space the hotel allotted for the dive shop was small, it was well stocked and well organized. Karen was very helpful and informative about the diving around Puerto Rico. She directed me outside where I met Tony, her husband and Dive Master for the day. Karen and their son also take divers out. We geared up in the parking lot and stored our dry gear in the back of their van, then took the short walk to the swimming beach in the back of the hotel.
We entered the water and surface swam out to the marker rope around the area where we began our descent. First we crossed over a strip of sand and sea grass, an area where Tony pointed out many interesting species of fish and invertebrates such as sea horses, banded coral shrimp, and arrow crabs. On the first dive we explored Horseshoe reef, with many swimthroughs and lots of interesting species of fish that seemed to greet Tony like an old friend.
The second dive was out to the Figure 8 Reef. Tony showed care and concern and interest in educating me on the reef pointing out many species of coral and fish and later explaining their place in the environment. After the dive, he followed up with a sheet where we could check off the sea life we had spotted and he answered any questions I had.
When I first signed up for this dive I thought the price seemed a little high for a shore dive in an area not known for diving and although the visibility was OK it was not as spectacular as you might expect in the Caribbean, typically cluttered with plankton and other surf debris from being so close to shore. But not only did I find this an excellent opportunity to get some practice after being out of the water for six months, it was truly an education in sea life just lacking a diploma, although the package did come with a list of sea life that you might see and then we checked off what we did. The personal attention made this dive a really good deal considering I had the guided tour all to my self and we spent over an hour down time on each dive. Tony told me the only time he takes more than 4 divers at time is with a group traveling together who request it. This was an excellent start to my trip.
After dragging my gear to the cruise ship and checking into my cabin we spent the next day out to sea. This was least favorite part of my trip with little for a diver to do but lay out in the sun and read dive magazines. A little too much of this meant that the rest of the cruise would have to be spent avoiding the sun as much as possible. Just one of the problems of coming from the frozen salt belt of Kansas.
Martinique
I woke up early Tuesday morning excited to begin the first day of diving from the ship. After watching the sunrise over the Martinique Islands as we sailed into port I met my wife and our traveling companions for a typical cruise ship buffet breakfast.
This was a dive I had arranged off the Internet. It seems that there isn’t much diving done from Fort-de- France the port city so I had arranged through the dive shop a cab ride to St. Pierre, a seaport village at the foot of a volcano. Lionel of Tropicsub fortunately spoke enough English to fill me in on the dives but for the most part everyone here spoke only their native language of French.
One of the interesting features of this area was because it was at the foot of a volcano. The sand was laced with black ash making the water to appear a much darker blue than most of the Caribbean. The first dive was called the Blue Hole, a rocky wall dive not far from the dive shop.
We rolled off the boat and descended 17 feet to the top edge of the wall through a very strong current. We dropped off the wall together and descended down to about 80 feet were the current was very mild. As we worked our way up current the coral seemed to give way to large volcanic boulders, we then drifted back along the wall to where we made our descent and back up the wall to the anchor line for our safety stop. Although we seemed to have a language barrier before this dive, we now were all speaking the same language of diving as we compared notes on all the things we had seen.
The next dive in Martinique and one that I found to be very interesting was on the remains of a wooden “tall ship” the “Le Resinier”. This ship sank in 1903 when it caught on fire during an eruption of the local volcano. The remains were spread over a large area of the sandy bottom in just 30 feet of water and were totally incrusted in coral. It was a very relaxing dive with little current and plenty of small creatures to keep me interested. One of the highlights of this dive was when the divemaster coaxed a very large spotted eel out of the sand and we followed it until it settled down and dug itself back in.
There was a little confusion on the cab ride back to the cruise ship but it was worked out quickly and I got back to the ship in time to spend some time with my wife in Fort-de-France. St. Pierre was a very beautiful place and the staff of Tropicsub was very helpful and friendly. I would recommend this place especially to any one with any interest in French culture and cuisine.
Antigua
The next day, I was again up before sunrise excited to begin another day of diving. I found watching the sunrises, from the deck of the cruise ship as we lumbered between islands and into the bay, to be my favorite part of being on the ship. After breakfast buffet, I found myself again waiting in line to get off the ship.
The dive shop I had booked via the Internet was only a short walk from the pier and when I arrived they hadn’t opened yet. After a brief wait the owner Deano arrived and explained to me that he had booked a large group to take diving today, but he had made arrangements for me to go with someone else who would be along in a little bit.
Although I was quite apprehensive about the switch at first, this worked out to my favor. John, a large jolly Dutch immigrant to the island, told me he had started much of the diving here but now worked at a slower pace mostly taking only groups from some of the resorts or overflow from his friends Deano’s shop “Deepoutdoors”.
We drove to several resorts picking up divers, and this gave me a chance to see some of the island’s inland beauty. After a pleasant ride to a few very nice resorts, we arrived at a marina on the south side of the island and to Captain John’s boat. The first dive was a short ride out of the marina bay to a sight he called Monkshead.
There was a 3 to 4 foot chop on the surface but as we descended into the clear blue waters it seemed calm with little current. The dive was about 55 feet to a sandy bottom with a large coral passage and many interesting outcrops. These are protected waters and an abundant amount of garden eels, stingrays and Jacks.
The second dive was at Cades Reef, I started this dive by mistiming my roll and hitting my head on the boat, although disorientated and dizzy, after clearing my mask I was fine and ready to continue the dive. (An interesting note about our training is that after I surfaced from the roll, even though unsure of my condition I gave the “OK” sign out of habit, then evaluated the situation).
I read about this reef in a book on diving in Antigua and it must be a very large and diverse reef. The area we dove in reminded me of the panhandle of Oklahoma. It was flat with rocky ravines cut though it. There were a lot of coral outgrowths along the edges of the ravines. There were many squirrelfish, snappers, and grunts. They were also a few queen angels and parrot fish. Despite the rough beginning it was another very good dive.
Back on the boat John treated us to his homemade rum punch concoction while his first mate navigated us back to the marina, and toured us back to town and to the pier where I regrettably boarded the cruise ship for another evening of buffets, and wishing I was back on the Reef.

 

[stevsgarage]

St. Maarten
There wasn’t anything different about this morning, the beautiful sunrise the big buffet, but there was definitely something different about St. Maarten. From the pier the city of Philipsburg with its Dutch influence was quaint and picturesque, with brightly painted buildings restored to how it had looked over a century ago. As we made our way down the pier we were met by a water taxi that took you either to the shopping area or the marina area were the dive shop was located.
This was the first dive that I had been booked from the cruise line and I was pleased with their operation. Dive Safaris seemed to be a large and professional operation but still catered a somewhat personal service.
The first dive was straight out from “Little Bay” (the name of the bay were Philipsburg is located) called Split Rock. My guidebook called this dive the wreck of the HMS Proselyte. It was in 55 feet of very clear calm water. The Proselyte was a 200-year-old wooden ship and there wasn’t a lot left of it. We found several coral covered cannon balls, some barrel rings and the out line of some of the beams from the ship. We also passed through an area were several years ago a cruise ship got off course and rammed the reef. This may have been why it was called split rock. The damage was extensive but the healing process had started making it very interesting. The life was very healthy and abundant here despite the damage and there were schools of sergeant majors, angelfish yellow snappers and grunts.
The second dive was appropriately called the Maze. This dive started a little closer in to Little Bay in a shallow sandy area and led down through many paths and swim through with lots of healthy staghorn coral. In about 50 feet of water we came across a large flat wall black with spotty growths. Back on board I found out that this was the side of a tanker called Tiegland. Another interesting feature of this dive is we used a sunken cable to navigate part of the dive. Many of the same fish we had seen on other dives however there were quite a few barracudas in the area.
Since these dives were so close to town we got back early enough so that I got to spend some time in town with my wife and our friends. The area closest to the pier was mostly souvenir shops with local artisans and crafts, but as you worked your way back you found many duty free shops specializing in jewelry, electronics, cameras, and cosmetics.
Along the beachfront were many quaint little bars and restaurants with a Dutch Caribbean flavor. On the marina side of Philipsburg, along with the dive shop were some other shops connected to the sea such as sailing and fishing. There was also what looked to be a very nice seafood restaurant, but since the cruise price included meals we only looked in on the restaurants here.
Of all the islands in our cruise this is the one my wife and I agreed to someday return to spend some vacation time. Maybe we’ll come here next spring.
Tortola, the British Virgin Islands
This was another dive arranged by the cruise ship and again it was very well done. We met in a parking lot at the end of the pier where our names were checked off and we got into the back of a couple of pick-up trucks converted to safari style busses.
With Roadtown to the northwest we circled the bay east then south to a very beautiful resort with a nice marina. We met the dive operators of Sail Caribbean in large room in back of the resort and they checked our c cards and diving experience. (They were the most thorough of any operator I have dived with) They then led us down to the marina to their boats and divided us onto two boats, I believe the less experienced on one and us on the other. The modern and well-equipped boats were full but not overcrowded.
We left the marina and crossed the Sir Frances Drake channel to Salt Island. Anyone who has dived in BVI knows the wreck of the HMS Rhone, one of the most popular wreck dives in the Caribbean. The wreck is split in half and is done in two dives.
We moored to the bow half (the deeper of the two dives) and we received a very good briefing along with a chart of the wreck and lines and arrows outlining our path. We were also informed that if we had time and air left after the tour we could spend it exploring with our dive buddy as long as we stayed close to the mooring line. This was a nice feature that I was happy to take advantage of.
Being such a popular dive location I won’t go into many details of the wreck or its history (much has been written about it and it can easily be researched) it was a steal steamer that sank in a hurricane in 1867 and is pretty much intact even though it is broken in two almost in the middle.
The sea was calm and there wasn’t much current even though this dive is known to have a fairly brisk current. We descended down the mooring line to the tip of the bow in about 60 feet of water. Then we circled the front half of the ship passed through a large opening in the hull, circled around the foremast then back to the mooring line. The deepest part of the dive is approximately 90 feet although I saw no reason to go down to the ground on the deepest side and stayed about 75 feet deep. There was a very healthy abundance of sea life with lots of orange cup coral, colorful hydroids, sea fans, and plumes.
When we ascended we found the area had become quite crowded with dive boats waiting for this dive with only a limited number of mooring lines. The second dive only a short distance away was even more crowded. Being much shallower, beginners were diving it and part of it was even done by snorkelers. We spent our surface interval waiting for mooring space.

We were given a similar briefing before our descent on the stern half of the wreck. Although I descended to 63 feet at one point most of the dive is in about 30 to 40 feet. Being close to the Shore of Salt Island this is known for being a very calm dive and as today is often very crowded. One of the main features of this dive is a large propeller embedded into the coral and reaching up to with-in 20 feet of the surface, a favorite place for snorkelers.
After the dives and back at the marina we discovered we had about an hour wait for the ride back to the pier, we were welcome to use the bar and grill in the resort overlooking the bay. Enjoying the moment and forgetting that it had been hours since eating or drinking anything I ordered a local drink that put my head into orbit and by the grace of God I staggered back up the pier and spent the remainder of the afternoon sleeping it off in our cabin.
Of the Islands we visited BVI is the one that most lives up to its name (virgin). Tortola was not one of my wife’s favorite, for that reason but I found many of the employees of the shops I visited in USVI and Puerto Rico like to come here for their vacations. They are mostly attracted to its beautiful undeveloped parks and beaches and like to dive camp and get in touch with nature here. It could be a very relaxing place to get away from it all.

 

[stevsgarage]

St Thomas USVI
Again you could immediately tell you were someplace different this morning. You could almost feel a more hustle bustle atmosphere of a big US city. The Bay was so full of sailboats that it looked like a forest in the winter.
When we walked down the pier the dive boats were docked to the right and the dive shop was in the first row of tourist shops along the pier. After checking us in at their dive shop we all packed onto the large dive barge. There were twenty-two divers from two cruise ships along with two dive masters and the captain of a very large flat barge style dive boat with four entry points. Can anyone say cattle boat deluxe?
As we unpacked our gear and began to set up our equipment one young lady noted how much different her rented gear was from what she used at home and asked one of the dive masters some questions in which he replied by ridiculing her. Next the person I had buddied with over the past couple of days asked him about the number of divers per divemaster in which the dive master became defensive and seemed angry over being questioned.

Neither of the dives we made is listed in the guidebooks I have. (At least not by the names they used) The first dive was across southwest of Charlotte Amalie and near the shore. It was called the supermarket because fresh water washes down the mountain and washed valleys into the coral in rows like that of a supermarket.

We anchored in a sandy area near the reef and divided into two groups by cruise ships. There was fourteen in our group and eight in the other; we got the divemaster that my buddy had been arguing with earlier. Exiting the boat went fairly quickly with the four swim platforms unfortunately the descent wasn’t quite as smooth. The divers came from a very diverse amount of experience and some seemed to sink like rocks while others had to add weight. Once we were all down we begin to head for the reef, us to the left and the other group to the right.

The reef was amazing healthy and thick with deep cutting valleys and interesting overhangs and swimthroughs. The dive was about fifty feet deep and the current was very mild and there was abundant fish life. I spotted a very large crab at one point but most of the divers were too busy knocking about and fiddling with their gear to notice. As soon as we finished are designated tour we were signaled to ascend even though I had barely used half my air. This was a very interesting reef, one at witch I would like to spend several days with a good macro camera.

For our second dive we crossed the bay back east to a wreck they called the Navy Barges. As far as wrecks go this one is pretty ho hum. The story is that these barges were used by the Navy to transport supplies around the islands during WWII. When things were cut back after the war they used these barges for target practice.

Basically they are just a couple of steel box like structures but shot full of holes so that they resemble Swiss cheese. This makes them an excellent location to parade large groups of cruise ship tourists through, kind of like follow the leader in a maze at a botanical garden.

Since there were more divers in our group they asked for volunteers to switch groups. My buddy and I were happy to be the volunteers, which worked out for the better. I’m not saying the other group was necessarily better divers it just seemed to have less really bad ones.

We anchored several yards away from the wreck and descended down to a flat mostly sandy area with small patches of sea grasses and staghorn coral in about forty feet of water and made the short swim to the wreck. Again it mostly amounted to a game of follow the leader through the passages in the barges then back to the boat. Although interesting, the time could have been better spent exploring in small groups or pairs.

When we returned from diving I rejoined my wife and friends and we spent the remainder of our time in St Thomas in the outlet shopping area along the pier. The stores pretty much carried the same kind of stuff as the shopping in St Maarten only the bunker style shopping area reminded me of an outlet mall near the Lake of the Ozarks back home.

After visiting places like Antigua and Martinique Charlotte Amalie reminded me more of a US city than Caribbean although I’m certain the more rural areas and other islands in the US Virgin Island are quit different. The area was very beautiful and it would be a great place to spend a dive or beach resort vacation, especially if you don’t want to hassle with customs, foreign languages, and exchange rates. Even though I wasn’t totally pleased with the dive operation we used, I found some really great diving and very healthy marine life. I look forward to returning for a real dive vacation there someday.

As a few final notes from my trip, do the research you can find some great dive operations from books, magazines, and the Internet. Although the dive shops picked by the cruise line were for the most part very top notch I wouldn’t be afraid to check up on them before hand and maybe try some alternatives. And most important if you bring your own gear consider getting something that can be carried like a backpack but with wheels, and always pack as light as possible.