New Diver -- diving recommendations for eastern Caribbean cruise

[Matt E]

Hi All,

I just did my first dives last month, in Key Largo, and am going on a Caribbean cruise in late January. I'm trying to find the best places to dive. Ideally I'd do dives that would also allow my wife to snorkel and not get bored, but if there's a really cool dive she would want me to do it even if she couldn't go with me that time. Seeing big sharks would be a plus for me.

We have eight hours at each of these ports:

- St. Kitts
- St. Maarten
- St. Thomas
- St. Lucia
- Barbados

If I dive at 2-3 of the islands, which islands and dives would be best?

Thanks for your help!

Matt in Utah

 

[Altamira]

In my opinion, I would dive St. Thomas and St. Lucia.

 

[Matt E]

Thanks Altamira -- any dives in particular?

 

[Altamira]

St. Thomas: Admiralty and Blue Island Divers get good reviews. I think the ship's dive op is Red Hook (was in the past couple of times I was there). If time in port is good to dive with the first two mentioned, I would go that route. The ship's dives takes you to a reef and a wreck. The reef is good, but the wreck is a broken up piece of crap, and not worth the dive unless your time in port dictates using the ship's op.
St. Lucia: Best diving is down near the Pinnacles, but I don't know if you will have the port time available to get down there and back, and the dives there can be a bit sporty with currents. Check dive ops near Castries to see if they can work with you, and then cross check with info on SB for reviews. Make sure you tell all dive ops what your experience level is and they will point you in the right direction. Whichever dive op you use, you likely won't get to choose the dive sites because the ops tend to do that on a day-to-day basis depending on weather and dive conditions.

 

[Scott]

I'll just echo what Altamira has said.
I only have knowledge of Blue Island Divers on St. Thomas with nothing bad to say.

Dive Saint Lucia, which is in Rodney Bay, has taken care of a few students that have traveled to St. Lucia with good reviews.

I'm not a fan of any ships contacted operators for diving. My experience has been they take you to very benign sites. Their value is the ship waits for your return if running behind schedule, where if you go with another operator they won't. Every operator will do their best to get you back in time. I would let them know your experience and that you are on a ship.

 

[decompression]

I dove with ocean explorers on their shark dive a few years ago when I was on a Disney Cruise. They had taxis ready for me, the shop is small but personable, the boat was very good and the shark dive was excellent. Highly recommended.

Ocean Explorers Dive Center - Scuba Diving in St Maarten / St Martin Best Dives

 

[luscioman]

I have done St Thomas and St Marteen on cruises about 5 times. I can say that every time I had a better experience in St Marleen in terms of visibility and conditions. I also recommend Ocean Explorers. Last time I dove with themy OE from a cruise ship they arranged the transportation for me.

 

[Matt E]

Thanks guys, this is great. The Shark Dive recommendation is just the kind of thing I was looking for!