Hello from St. Martin and South Florida!

[oceanava]

Hi all, my name is Sabrine and I'm a new diver from South Florida recently certified in St. Martin, French West Indies! I moved to St. Martin at the beginning of the year to stay with my family from SXM, and I'll be here for a while. While I only have my PADI Open Water right now, both my father and uncle are certified through FFESSM and I'm planning to get my Advanced once I gain some more diving experience with them. I've done my dives at Little Bay, The Bridge, Carib Cargo, and Remorqueur off Tintamarre so far, with many more to come! I am not the type to join a forum like this, but I didn't want to get certified and then never continue with diving, so I want to be sure that I'm staying active within the community.

 

[drrich2]

Welcome to Scuba Board. I've never dove St. Martin; I've visited a few times on cruise ship stops. Glad you're getting some experience diving St. Martin; it's uncommon to see a dive trip report on it on this forum, but when it is mentioned, the review is generally positive - including mention of seeing reef sharks, which many people want to see but some destinations (looking at you, Bonaire) don't seem to offer as many sightings. So you're getting some good experience at a place many of us haven't dove.

And of course, you're near Saba, which gets good reviews.

And I think you will find the forum good for keeping your mind diving even if your body can't always be.

 

[oceanava]

Welcome to Scuba Board. I've never dove St. Martin; I've visited a few times on cruise ship stops. Glad you're getting some experience diving St. Martin; it's uncommon to see a dive trip report on it on this forum, but when it is mentioned, the review is generally positive - including mention of seeing reef sharks, which many people want to see but some destinations (looking at you, Bonaire) don't seem to offer as many sightings. So you're getting some good experience at a place many of us haven't dove.

And of course, you're near Saba, which gets good reviews.

And I think you will find the forum good for keeping your mind diving even if your body can't always be.

Hi! Thanks so much for the welcome. I've really enjoyed diving in St. Martin and there are tons of excellent diving spots, mostly off of the Dutch side, St. Maarten. I saw several reef sharks on my third and fourth open water dive, though they took off when we approached. There are other spots where they are much more comfortable getting close.

All the local divers rave about Saba and I'm hoping to visit with a dive club eventually -- local legislation bans shore diving and requires that all divers go with a dive center. The area is beautiful when the seas are calm, but can quickly become very rough -- the island's shape and steep shores don't offer much protection.

Thank you! I am really hoping to keep active with it. My father was an avid diver but he stopped a little over a decade ago, so he's very excited to have a partner again. My uncle has always kept up with it and he is in training to be a tec diver, so I know I'll always have a buddy with him when he's in the area.

 

[TMHeimer]

Welcome to SB. I wasn't yet a diver on my cruise ship visit to St. Maarten (week before the millenium). Took the tour bus to the French side for some good snorkeling. Didn't know it was a nude beach and was politely advised of the rule against my camera.....

 

[oceanava]

Welcome to SB. I wasn't yet a diver on my cruise ship visit to St. Maarten (week before the millenium). Took the tour bus to the French side for some good snorkeling. Didn't know it was a nude beach and was politely advised of the rule against my camera.....

Haha! There are a few nudist beaches on the French side, but by far the most popular is the furthest section of Orient Bay Beach. Was the snorkeling decent at least?

 

[scubadada]

Hi Sabrine, welcome to diving

I have looked into the Explorer Ventures Caribbean Explorer II a few times, but have never made it. Starts in St Maarten to St Kitts or vice versa, with diving in Saba and St Kitts. I've always noticed, no diving in St Maarten. If I were ever able to fit this liveaboard in, I would consider diving in St Maarten before or after the liveaboard.

You should consider posting a review of the operators you use and the sites you visit. Like @drrich2, I would love to hear more about the diving off St Maarten.

 

[oceanava]

Hi Sabrine, welcome to diving

I have looked into the Explorer Ventures Caribbean Explorer II a few times, but have never made it. Starts in St Maarten to St Kitts or vice versa, with diving in Saba and St Kitts. I've always noticed, no diving in St Maarten. If I were ever able to fit this liveaboard in, I would consider diving in St Maarten before or after the liveaboard.

You should consider posting a review of the operators you use and the sites you visit. Like @drrich2, I would love to hear more about the diving off St Maarten.

Hi! Weird that they don't dive in SXM -- there are some really nice spots, mostly around the 60-70 ft depth range, though we have some significantly deeper.

I would be interested in doing that! Which forums/threads would you recommend putting those reviews in? I don't want to post in the wrong place.

 

[scubadada]

Hi Sabrine,

I would post a new thread in the general Greater Caribbean & Bermuda forum Greater Caribbean & Bermuda | ScubaBoard You might label it something like Trip Report St Maarten/St Martin. Whenever you have a report about an operator you used or sites you visited, you could add it to your thread. This would also give others a chance to ask you questions or post their own information.

I think this would be a useful new thread and a useful resource. Let me know if you have questions, you can send personal messages under Conversations by clicking on your username in the header

 

[TMHeimer]

Haha! There are a few nudist beaches on the French side, but by far the most popular is the furthest section of Orient Bay Beach. Was the snorkeling decent at least?

Yes, I came across a mid-size Queen Conch (rocky area you had to walk a ways to the right from the beach).
Yeah, I had no idea it was a nude beach and actually was taking a photo of way down to that rocky area when this really big security guy said hello....You'd think they would have mentioned that en route on the tour bus, but then again I'm not sure it was just for tourists, may have been for locals too, who knew the situation.