Rendezvous diving in St. Martin / St. Barth's / Anguilla (tiny chance of Saba)

[Offshore]

We've decided to charter a sailboat for a week from Sint Maarten and will most likely be sailing around St. Bart's and Anguilla, but unfortunately the boat does not support/allow diving from the boat. Instead they mentioned that if we wanted to get in a dive or two, we could do a "rendezvous" dive, where a diveboat could come and pick us up from our boat, or it seems like we might be able to arrange to sail over and meet a dive boat at the dive site.

I haven't head the best things about Sint Maarten / St. Martin having good dive sites, and unfortunately don't think we'll be able to sail down to Saba. Has anyone had experience with rendezvous dives in these three islands and could recommend some favorite / not-to-miss sites? My wife prefers to see lots of color fishies, while I'm more of a deep wreck / cave / etc kind of guy (basically I can see colorful fishies in 30' feet of water by snorkeling; to bother with diving gear, I'd rather be able to go deep enough and see something I can't see snorkeling). I've heard there might be a nice wreck or two by Anguilla, but would love to hear any other recommendations.

A step further, would anyone have experience with any rendezvous diving operators who might carry a set of doubles and be open to supporting long decompression diving in the area, or is that not done there?

 

[tadzio]

have dove hundreds of times in st maarten it often frustrates me when people talk negatively about diving around the island. in fact, compared to st barths, where i have seen divemasters break coral on guided tours to give to clients, and anguilla, where many of the dive sites are sanded over, st maarten does pretty well. the trick is to let the dive sites know where you want to go. i would recommend the dives on the southern and eastern side of the island. the wreck of the prostelyte, mike's maze, and cable reef are good diverse dives with often sharks and eagle rays. at prostelyte you can see anchors and canons from the eighteenth century. if you head off to the eastern side of the island there is the blue hole, which is self explanatory, and the washing machine, which are all islets with good fish and coral. if the weather is good enough i would also give one step beyond a try, which can have a tough current. the wrecks of the carib cargo, the gregory, and the **-sheng (at 90 feet one of the deepest dives) are also good wreck dives, allthough they offer little or no penatration. as for a dive operator, i would personally give dive safaris a wide birth due to cattle diving, iffy safety record, and questionable diving practices. i would also think long and hard about choosing scuba fun, allthough they offer some technical diving on the french side of the island. i would go withocean explorers. i would say they are the most profesional dive company on the island, run by a husband and wife and who dive very responsibly. they also offer shark diving if you like that. i am sure they would be open to rendezvous-ing with your vessel and jefferson, the owner may be able to arrange something techy.

i hope this may shed some light on the island's dive reputation; it's not saba or statia, but imho better than st barths and anguilla

happy diving

tadzio

 

[tadzio]

the wreck is the **-sheng, scubaboard thought i was swearing, and naturally you cant let dive sites know where you want to go but dive operators, sorry for the mistakes

 

[tadzio]

that is F U sheng

 

[aquanex]

Just returned yesterday from St. Kitts, Stacia, Saba trip on live-aboard. If Saba ends up on your possibilities, don't miss the dive site "Diamond Rock". If you want to see the site from the surface or the "briefing" white board, check out this link

I don't know what hurricane Omar did to Anquilla or St. Barts, but definitely considerable damage to the reefs on St. Kitts, Stacia and to a lesser degree on Saba.

We've decided to charter a sailboat for a week from Sint Maarten and will most likely be sailing around St. Bart's and Anguilla, but unfortunately the boat does not support/allow diving from the boat. Instead they mentioned that if we wanted to get in a dive or two, we could do a "rendezvous" dive, where a diveboat could come and pick us up from our boat, or it seems like we might be able to arrange to sail over and meet a dive boat at the dive site.

I haven't head the best things about Sint Maarten / St. Martin having good dive sites, and unfortunately don't think we'll be able to sail down to Saba. Has anyone had experience with rendezvous dives in these three islands and could recommend some favorite / not-to-miss sites? My wife prefers to see lots of color fishies, while I'm more of a deep wreck / cave / etc kind of guy (basically I can see colorful fishies in 30' feet of water by snorkeling; to bother with diving gear, I'd rather be able to go deep enough and see something I can't see snorkeling). I've heard there might be a nice wreck or two by Anguilla, but would love to hear any other recommendations.

A step further, would anyone have experience with any rendezvous diving operators who might carry a set of doubles and be open to supporting long decompression diving in the area, or is that not done there?