Grand Turk and St Thomas

[dwardtxusa]

I am going on a cruise in Jan and will stop in Grand Turk and St Thomas. Looking for good dive operators. I do not want to be on a boat with tons of divers. There are 3 divers in our group and I would like an outfit that only carries 6-8 divers. Any suggestions would be appericiated.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

There are three dive operators on Grand Turk. One of them has the exclusive to take out the cruise ship divers. The other two rund regular morning and afternnoon two tank dives. Most of the sites are within ten minutes of the shop so intervals are generally on the beach. The three ops are Oasis, Sea Eye and Blue Water. We dove with Oasis two years ago and were very happy with them. I think all of the ops dive Catalina skiff which are relatively small and should work for your group. My advise would be to contact the cruise ship operator and see if you three can be on a boat together. If they are running bigger boats for the cruise ship then I would contact one of the other two operators and see if you can arrange a charter which coincides with your dock time. Remember you may not be able to get off the ship until an hour or so after they get to the island.

On St. Thomas I used Chris Sawyer several years ago when I was on the island for a long weekend. Nothing but good things to day about the op although they run larger boats and run out of Red Hook which is a half hour from the cruise dock. Your cruise ship will use an outfit based in the cruise port. I did two dives with them which were the Navy Barges and another one that escapes me. Good diving right there by the harbor.

 

[diversteve]

In St. Thomas try Admralty Dive Center or Blue Island Divers. Both are in Charlotte Amalie harbor and I think both will pick you up at the cruise dock - I know Blue Island does.

A cab ride to Red Hook for 3 divers could cost you around $60-100 - the typical one-way fare is $10-20pp in a shared van. Which doesn't always leave until it's full. And Sawyers doesn't pick up. It's on their website to take a cab to Red Hook.

If the cruise line mentions the Coki Beach dive, just say no. The reef there is very sparse and only good in a couple of places to the west. They do a lot of snuba type stuff there.

 

[DougY]

Hi,
I was recently in Grand Turk and Oasis were doing the cruise ship booked diving. However some of the cruise ship people had booked independently with Blue water.
I was diving with Blue water and I would highly recomend them, they were very helpful. Blue water have skiffs and so the number of divers is limited. Oasis have both small boats and large boats.

Doug

 

[Sprokit]

Hello. It sounds like quite a trip!
I have a place on St Thomas and have some perspective. A lot of factors should be considered in choosing a dive operator. How much time do you have in port? How much time do you want to spend diving: Full day, half day? 1-3 dives? What type of dives do you want to do: reef, wreck, night?
If you have limited time, then staying close to Charlotte Amalie is smart. The traffic is pretty congested and getting out to Red Hook could take up to 1/2 hour. I know that Chris Sawyers' morning dive leaves the dock at 9:00. Afternoon at 1:00-1:30. If you wanted to make a full day of it, however, I would recommend Chris Sawyer. Also, there are some pretty good restaurants in Red Hook!
Joe

 

[ScubaBumlet]

I also 'vote' for Oasis Divers on Grand Turk. Dale and Everett (the owners) will show you a great time. Grand Turk ROCKS as far as the diving. Way, way ,way better than anywhere near Provo....

Haven't been back to GT since the stupid cruise ships started stopping there...

Great wall!