Was there over Christmas and meant to post, since there is almost no information about diving in Martinique.
Several keys:
Martinique is actually part of France. This means that people speak very limited English and drive very fast. It also means that almost everyone smokes after diving and there are a preponderance of unfortunate bathing suits. That said, the level of diving and professionalism I experienced was quite high.
Dove several days with Planete Bleue. Good folks overall, though communication was tricky, even with my barely adequate French (people are very impatient and will switch to English if you can't follow their relatively clear but quick speech). The shop itself is in Trois Islets- touristy but still the place I'd want to stay on the island- everywhere else is relatively accessible and there are multiple food choices without having to stay in Fort de France, which is the slightly rough capital city.
Planete Bleue clearly caters to the mostly upper-middle class French families who are the vast majority of tourists on the island. This means 1 dive a trip (!!!!) and relatively short bottom times. They do provide a 'ti punch after each dive (sugar with a bit of rum) and the rental equipment is fine (brought my own stuff and didn't bother). Online information suggests relatively high levels of bureaucracy, but they checked my card once and were actually surprisingly casual compared to the Northern California boats I usually dive. They support both kinds of valves (I unnecessarily bought a DIN valve) and have these excellent steel 80s with integrated handles- these were so good that I would happily buy a couple. The equipment is labelled in bars, so do your conversion on the surface.
The boat was fine and the island itself is absolutely gorgeous. We also had a great dolphin moment on one dive, where about 30 dolphins spent 15 minutes jumping in front of the bow and generally screwing around and showing off. Good stuff.
The actual diving itself was pleasant but no more than a B-B+. Mostly small standard Caribbean stuff, and viz was relatively modest (~60 ft). People were very excited to see a relatively modest Ray and I saw nothing big at all. Overall, don't go to Martinique to dive, but worth doing some while there.
Did some snorkelling on other beaches, although we didn't get a chance to use the apparently outstanding kitesurfing beach. Beautiful empty beaches everywhere, with almost-European level conveniences- my iPhone worked beautifully, great roads, ATMs everywhere, etc. Definitely worth keeping fins and masks in the trunk- we found a little tiny reef and spent a happy hour checking out the eels and other small stuff.
Other things worth getting to: St. Pierre is cool, especially the small historical bits connecting to a large volcanic eruption where the only survivor was drunk sleeping one off in the town jail; Fort de France also had the Jardin de Balata (technically north), which was beautiful and had a surprising variety of plants from around the world.
Two other notes- a drunken Martinican (?) rear-ended us while we were filling our gas tank. He was very pleasant and promptly entered the convenience store to get another beer. He refused to give insurance information and drove off. Also, flying there can be quite painful- American screwed us and on the flight the next day we had the dubious pleasure of taking the island hopper, landing in Haiti and Guadeloupe on the way.
Final take: Beautiful island but we probably won't make an effort to return unless we suddenly feel a yearning to be around the post-Disney French crowd.
Several keys:
Martinique is actually part of France. This means that people speak very limited English and drive very fast. It also means that almost everyone smokes after diving and there are a preponderance of unfortunate bathing suits. That said, the level of diving and professionalism I experienced was quite high.
Dove several days with Planete Bleue. Good folks overall, though communication was tricky, even with my barely adequate French (people are very impatient and will switch to English if you can't follow their relatively clear but quick speech). The shop itself is in Trois Islets- touristy but still the place I'd want to stay on the island- everywhere else is relatively accessible and there are multiple food choices without having to stay in Fort de France, which is the slightly rough capital city.
Planete Bleue clearly caters to the mostly upper-middle class French families who are the vast majority of tourists on the island. This means 1 dive a trip (!!!!) and relatively short bottom times. They do provide a 'ti punch after each dive (sugar with a bit of rum) and the rental equipment is fine (brought my own stuff and didn't bother). Online information suggests relatively high levels of bureaucracy, but they checked my card once and were actually surprisingly casual compared to the Northern California boats I usually dive. They support both kinds of valves (I unnecessarily bought a DIN valve) and have these excellent steel 80s with integrated handles- these were so good that I would happily buy a couple. The equipment is labelled in bars, so do your conversion on the surface.
The boat was fine and the island itself is absolutely gorgeous. We also had a great dolphin moment on one dive, where about 30 dolphins spent 15 minutes jumping in front of the bow and generally screwing around and showing off. Good stuff.
The actual diving itself was pleasant but no more than a B-B+. Mostly small standard Caribbean stuff, and viz was relatively modest (~60 ft). People were very excited to see a relatively modest Ray and I saw nothing big at all. Overall, don't go to Martinique to dive, but worth doing some while there.
Did some snorkelling on other beaches, although we didn't get a chance to use the apparently outstanding kitesurfing beach. Beautiful empty beaches everywhere, with almost-European level conveniences- my iPhone worked beautifully, great roads, ATMs everywhere, etc. Definitely worth keeping fins and masks in the trunk- we found a little tiny reef and spent a happy hour checking out the eels and other small stuff.
Other things worth getting to: St. Pierre is cool, especially the small historical bits connecting to a large volcanic eruption where the only survivor was drunk sleeping one off in the town jail; Fort de France also had the Jardin de Balata (technically north), which was beautiful and had a surprising variety of plants from around the world.
Two other notes- a drunken Martinican (?) rear-ended us while we were filling our gas tank. He was very pleasant and promptly entered the convenience store to get another beer. He refused to give insurance information and drove off. Also, flying there can be quite painful- American screwed us and on the flight the next day we had the dubious pleasure of taking the island hopper, landing in Haiti and Guadeloupe on the way.
Final take: Beautiful island but we probably won't make an effort to return unless we suddenly feel a yearning to be around the post-Disney French crowd.
).
