Most expensive diving in the Carib ?

[cdiver2]

A friend in England has just returned from St Lucia and told me this.
He stayed at Coconut bay Beach resort & Spa in Vieux Fort (south end of the Island), there dive op is Fair Helen (FH) in Castries (north end of the Island).
If you dive with FH from the north the you travel half way down the Island by boat to Soufriere for your dives lunch is included...cost $95.
Now if you dive from Coconut bay they send you by taxi to Soufriere where you meet the FH boat, no lunch....cost $140. Got to be the most expensive two tank dive I have ever heard of in the Carib.

 

[plunger10]

A friend in England has just returned from St Lucia and told me this.
He stayed at Coconut bay Beach resort & Spa in Vieux Fort (south end of the Island), there dive op is Fair Helen (FH) in Castries (north end of the Island).
If you dive with FH from the north the you travel half way down the Island by boat to Soufriere for your dives lunch is included...cost $95.
Now if you dive from Coconut bay they send you by taxi to Soufriere where you meet the FH boat, no lunch....cost $140. Got to be the most expensive two tank dive I have ever heard of in the Carib.

So someone else is dissatisfied with this operator.After a recent visit there, I can only say your notice doesnt surprise me one bit.We found ourselfs dropping divers into the water, and leaving them unattended with NO boat/diver contact, while the boat went out of line of sight and miles away to drop off a load of Resort courses on a beach.No operator should be so desperate for the money that they would even consider doing this. Its downright dangerous and WILL ,sooner or later result in a death.I was not the only one to witness this or know about it. I used the services of another more reputable Dive Centre in Soufriere after this incident, and while telling them of my experience with Dive Fair Helen, they informed me that they were fully aware of what was going on, and it was common practice with this operator.They were obviously not happy with the situation as they felt it reflected upon all St Lucia Dive Operators, but their problem is, there is no Authority on the Island to deal with this kind of dangerous practice

 

[cdiver2]

So someone else is dissatisfied with this operator.After a recent visit there, I can only say your notice doesnt surprise me one bit.We found ourselfs dropping divers into the water, and leaving them unattended with NO boat/diver contact, while the boat went out of line of sight and miles away to drop off a load of Resort courses on a beach.No operator should be so desperate for the money that they would even consider doing this. Its downright dangerous and WILL ,sooner or later result in a death.I was not the only one to witness this or know about it. I used the services of another more reputable Dive Centre in Soufriere after this incident, and while telling them of my experience with Dive Fair Helen, they informed me that they were fully aware of what was going on, and it was common practice with this operator.They were obviously not happy with the situation as they felt it reflected upon all St Lucia Dive Operators, but their problem is, there is no Authority on the Island to deal with this kind of dangerous practice

Anything for a dollar and a bad thing about this is, if anything happened to a diver that had been droped of and left whilst the boat went to the resort I don't think there would be any recourse for them like there would be in the states. I would not dive with them

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

If you are diving in the Soufriere area I highly recommend the dive op at Anse Chastanet. One of the most professional and safety conscious ops I ever encountered.

As to the most expensive two tank I have experienced I would have to say its probably Caicos Adventures in Turks & Caicos ($98.00) and Aldora Divers in Cozumel ($87.00). Both ops are fantastic and I don't mind the prices one bit.

 

[cdiver2]

If you are diving in the Soufriere area I highly recommend the dive op at Anse Chastanet. One of the most professional and safety conscious ops I ever encountered.

As to the most expensive two tank I have experienced I would have to say its probably Caicos Adventures in Turks & Caicos ($98.00) and Aldora Divers in Cozumel ($87.00). Both ops are fantastic and I don't mind the prices one bit.

Got to agree I dont mind paying a little more for a good op but as I said this one ? drop you of on a drift and then go a mile or so to drop OW students coming back to pick you up later, what happens if something go wrong in the mean time? and they want $140 for this.

 

[plunger10]

Got to agree I dont mind paying a little more for a good op but as I said this one ? drop you of on a drift and then go a mile or so to drop OW students coming back to pick you up later, what happens if something go wrong in the mean time? and they want $140 for this.

How about if you went Diving with an operator, and found that your Dive Leader employed by the Operator, was a known heavy drug user. Yeah, you guessed it, same outfit, Dive Fair Helen in St Lucia. You cant blame us for only using them the once.What amazed us, was that the info was given to us by other tourists and Divers within the hotel. Some had used this outfit once and seemed to delight in knowing all this, pity they didnt tell us before we endangered ourselfs. I hear the same guy was sacked from the St lucia Hilton for similar behaviour. Why would anyone else hire him. Thats the point that makes me so angry. It could have been my wife stuck with him, any small problem, and this guy would have been useless.Whoever owns this outfit needs to wake up, and clean up their act before its too late. And whoever issues their licences, needs to think about the travelling Diver, and do what has to be done. Dont say you havent been warned.