Is St. Maarten recovered enough from the hurricane for decent diving?

[JMTtor]

Going on a cruise in early January and one of the ports is Philipsburg St. Maarten. I've dived there a couple of times before with Scuba Fun, but according to their website they're still closed after losing both dive boats in the storm. I'd love to dive on that port call, but I haven't found any promising dive ops - a couple do snuba, but nothing on their websites about scuba.

Anyone have any recent news on that location, or recommendations? Thanks in advance.

 

[Damselfish]

We used Octopus diving 2 years ago pre-hurricane and they were fine, though I'm not sure it is still the same people now. They have shops on both sides of the island and both appear to be running at this point. Philipsburg shop is not far from the main cruise port.

 

[JMTtor]

Thanks Damselfish - I've emailed them! Looks like a great operator.

 

[DreadnoughtNH]

I can highly recommend Octopus on the French side (Grand Case), although I don't know if it is the same operation now. I did my basic referral with them, and a PPB series a year later. Very patient and very fun group. I hope they're back in business!

Diving SXM is a bit of a crapshoot. Creole Rock is a frequent dive site (since it is so close to Grand Case) but it is also used by the snorkel tours, so it is pretty barren and beat up. I found the Fishbowl and the barge (don't remember the actual site) to be nice calm dives. Keep your eyes on eel grass beds; I nearly ran into a turtle lounging in the grass!

 

[JohnnyC]

A friend ofd mine is an instructor at Aqua Mania and she has been posting some good looking photos. I don't know how great it is compared to pre-hurricane but she's enjoying it.