Honeymoon and Diving Caribbean?

[worlddiver]

Hi, me and my soon to be wife will be taking a honeymoon to somewhere in the Caribbean and want to get some opinions on the best place to Dive & Honeymoon? I thought about Bonaire but it's not really honeymoon related. We are looking for a place with awesome diving ie reefs, sharks, rays, dolphins etc. but is not all dive related. Thanks

You should check out Cobalt Coast Resort in Grand Cayman. When we were there last a couple got married and had their honeymoon there. Cobalt also provided the couple a video of the whole week with above and below water adventures. We became good freinds with them and they did have a blast. Divetech at the resort is a 1st class operation and the shore diving right out front was just awesome.

Have a great trip and Honeymoon.

 

[mels_2]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I especially like the Virgin Islands & St.Lucia. For some reason my wife to be is hell bent on staying at a Sandals & there are a few on St. Lucia. Has anyone had an experience with the Sandals hotel chain? Are they the Wal-Mart of the Caribbean etc..?

my husband and I stayed at sandals st lucia for our honeymoon (10 years ago) and I can't say enough about the resort. They were there when you needed them and not there when you wanted to be alone. You eat lots of bananas tho just a heads up. everything but excersions are extra. I believe they now include scuba at no charge. We weren't certified when we went. we are thinking of going back in November only to the one on jamacia

 

[RTRski]

I think the hurricane possibility increases into late August and September, but I'm no expert. My wife and I did the Caribbean for a honeymoon in Sept and didn't see more than a half-hour rain squall and a little bit of haze, but that's a sample of one.

To CSD: I've booked Saba Deep at Saba, and both Dive Adventures and Dive Safaris at SXM for at least one day, we'll probably add more bookings to one or the other after we get down there and get a chance to meet people and figure out who we feel more comfortable about. Based on reading about his history (and recommendations from someone else) I really wanted to sign with LeRoy French at Ocean Explorers but they just don't do Nitrox...

Will definitely write up a trip report when we get back. The recent trip report from someone else who just returned from Saba on this board has me drooling as I wait for the countdown to finish...!

 

[CSD1129]

I think the hurricane possibility increases into late August and September, but I'm no expert. My wife and I did the Caribbean for a honeymoon in Sept and didn't see more than a half-hour rain squall and a little bit of haze, but that's a sample of one.

To CSD: I've booked Saba Deep at Saba, and both Dive Adventures and Dive Safaris at SXM for at least one day, we'll probably add more bookings to one or the other after we get down there and get a chance to meet people and figure out who we feel more comfortable about. Based on reading about his history (and recommendations from someone else) I really wanted to sign with LeRoy French at Ocean Explorers but they just don't do Nitrox...

Will definitely write up a trip report when we get back. The recent trip report from someone else who just returned from Saba on this board has me drooling as I wait for the countdown to finish...!

I'm really looking forward to saba. Hope I make it there this year. I've always used Dive Safaris. They're a great company. One day I was on the boat with only one other diver. They still took us out and we had a great time. on the French side I used 02 limits. They're supposively a gold palm...but if you don't parle francais than I wouldn't use them. (I want to use them again...see how much my french has improved in the last 3 years!)

If you get out to one step and beyond (an amazing dive site half way between ST.Barts and St.Maarten) I will be so jealous. The conditions were always too rough so I've never been.

I can't wait to here you're saba stories.

 

[The Goat Show]

Now for scuba diving. Sandals resorts offer one-tank dives only. There is a morning and an afternoon dive. For certified divers, they very often require a check-out session in the pool. This can mean that you won't dive until your third day. If you have recently dived, and you're not a jerk, they might let bypass the checkout pool session.

The dive day procedure in St Lucia is to meet at the watersports office, then take a bus to Castries harbor, get your gear at the harbor, then get on the boat. This takes a chunk of time, and can get old as you do multiple dives.

The Grande St. Lucian had a terrific dive center when we stayed there (as a Radisson). If Sandals kept this dive center open, it would be a lot more convenient because the dive boats depart right from the property.

The dive sites closest to the Sandals properties were "just OK" in my opinion. However, they took us to Anse Chastanet and Souffrie about 3 out of 4 dives, and the diving is beautiful. The reefs are healthy and drift dives are fun. Some people are unimpressed with the diving because it isn't on par with the best dive sites in the world. You need to judge this for yourself.

Lastly, if your style doesn't fit the all-inclusive stuff, I second Tim Ingersoll recommendation to stay at Anse Chastanet!

Congratulations,
Carbon

Damn, my computer timed out just as I was posting a very lengthly reply refuting much of the misinformation in this post and others like it. I'm not gonna retype the entire thing but here is the gyst of what I said:
- I just got back from my honeymoon/dive trip with Sandals Grande St. Lucian last week.
- the trip was great
- "Sandals only does one tank dives" - WRONG, Sandals DOES do 2 tank dives. I don't know why so many people have said otherwise. Sandals offers two tank dives Monday through Saturday.
- "You may not dive until your third day" - I got into St. Lucia Sunday afternoon. Monday afternoon I did my quick 15 min pool test and then a shallow dive (about 30-40 feet) as a test to show that I had sufficient skills to do real dives. From here on out everything was good to go. I did a two-tank dive Tuesday through Saturday everyday at 8:20 am.
- Other bits of misinformation that I heard while researching my trip were: "don't dive with Sandals because there will only be beginners on your boat and you won't do any diving over 30 feet." This was completely wrong. As I said, my first dive was a shallow one, and then one or two others (out of 11 total) were what I would consider as shallow (30-40ft). When we did dive with beginners, we were separated into two groups and each of us dove independently with our own guides.
- Another misleading piece of info I repeatedly ran into was "Sandals is at the North end of the island and "the best" diving is at the south." Well remember, the island is only 27 miles from north to south! This hour long boat ride down the coast every morning is actually quite nice. Most non-divers on the island are paying big bucks to simply take such a boat ride! This brings me to my next point. From what I saw, Sandals had the nicest/biggest dive boats of any of the dive operators on the island.

I would highly recommend staying with Sandals and diving with them.
Contact me if anyone has any questions.

 

[robbcayman]

Goatshow, how was the diving in terms of critters ie. rays, turtles, fish & marine life in general? Did they have any reefs and if so were they healthy? I have been looking hard and the St Lucia Grande in particular how was the food and rooms? I want a place with good topside and good diving if that's not asking for too much. I really appreciate you coming on here and clearing things up. Thanks

 

[carbon]

Hi Goatshow,

I'm glad you enjoyed St. Lucia and welcome back! Since I was one of the parties that offered some of the misinformation, I thought I would reply.

- "Sandals only does one tank dives" - WRONG, Sandals DOES do 2 tank dives. I don't know why so many people have said otherwise. Sandals offers two tank dives Monday through Saturday. .

I have stayed at a number of Sandals properties throughout the Caribbean, and the "one tank dive" is all that I have ever encountered over the past few years. Believe me, I'm very happy to hear that they are offering two tank dives. Do they do two tank dives on both the morning and afternoon dives?

- "You may not dive until your third day" - I got into St. Lucia Sunday afternoon. Monday afternoon I did my quick 15 min pool test and then a shallow dive (about 30-40 feet) as a test to show that I had sufficient skills to do real dives. From here on out everything was good to go. I did a two-tank dive Tuesday through Saturday everyday at 8:20 am.

Again, my comment was based upon prior experience and observation. The delay in starting dives might correlate to how full the resort is.

I am very interested to know if you caught the dive boat right at the resort, or did you have to take a bus ride to Castries harbor? I wasn't too fond of the bus rides, but like you, I enjoyed the boat rides to and from the south end.

Regards,
Carbon

 

[The Goat Show]

Goatshow, how was the diving in terms of critters ie. rays, turtles, fish & marine life in general? Did they have any reefs and if so were they healthy? I have been looking hard and the St Lucia Grande in particular how was the food and rooms? I want a place with good topside and good diving if that's not asking for too much. I really appreciate you coming on here and clearing things up. Thanks

I would rate the marine life as average to above average. I did not see any rays, only one turtle. However, I did see a bunch of eels, many small fish (1 foot or smaller), lobster and tons of other fish of which I have no idea of their names. One of the highlights of the diving for me was that I saw a bunch of very interesting looking fish which were very well camoufloged; such as a few fish which looked like rocks and a bunch of other critters which hid in the sand, including some flounder (I have a few good picks of them). There were also many fish that were brilliant in color which looked as if they were plugged in like lights on a Christmas tree.
I have some good pictures of the disguised fish and of the marine life in general if anyone is interested. The reason why I rated the marine life as only average to above average is that I would have liked to see some larger fish.
There was tons of coral with lots of life.

 

[The Goat Show]

Hi Goatshow,

I'm glad you enjoyed St. Lucia and welcome back! Since I was one of the parties that offered some of the misinformation, I thought I would reply.



I have stayed at a number of Sandals properties throughout the Caribbean, and the "one tank dive" is all that I have ever encountered over the past few years. Believe me, I'm very happy to hear that they are offering two tank dives. Do they do two tank dives on both the morning and afternoon dives?



Again, my comment was based upon prior experience and observation. The delay in starting dives might correlate to how full the resort is.

I am very interested to know if you caught the dive boat right at the resort, or did you have to take a bus ride to Castries harbor? I wasn't too fond of the bus rides, but like you, I enjoyed the boat rides to and from the south end.

Regards,
Carbon

No, they only do the two tank dive at 8:20 am. I believe that they do a one tank dive at 9 or so in the morning and another one tank dive around 2 in the afternoon. From what I could tell, these one tank dives may go out on the snorkel boat. So those who have referred to the diving as beginner diving may have only done the one tank dives with the snorklers.

I stayed at the Grande and there were no bus trips involved. I simply walked down to the dock every morning at 8-8:10 checked in, picked up my gear (which they allowed me to store in their dive shop) and most everyday the 8:20 dive left at exactly 8:20.

While my dive boat was going to and from dive spots I noticed another Sandals boat which was identical to the one the Grande has. So, at least one of the other two Sandals resorts now also has their own dive boat. I don't know whether or not people at the other Sandals resorts had to travel by bus or not, but I did not.

I'd be happy to answer any other questions anyone has. I was planning on writing up a trip report with the info for each dive and posting some pics if anyone is interested.

 

[Damselfish]

Young Island resort on St. Vincent would make a great honeymoon place, and the diving is very good. You probably won't see big stuff there, but lots of interesting smaller stuff you don't see much elsewhere including seahorses and frogfish. As far as topside, depends what you're looking for? You can tour the island by land, hike the volcano, do a trip up the coast to play in the waterfall and see other nice scenery, the coast is beautiful. Young Island itself is about relaxing by pool or beach or exploring the little island. And eating. There's tennis courts if you're ambitious. Maybe sailing. It's not a bad place to do a night shore dive.

Cobalt Coast on Grand Cayman could be nice as well. Divetech is a good op.