PacoRocco6
Registered
My wife and I just returned from a dive trip in St. Eustatius (Statia). We dove with Golden Rock Dive Centre from March 12-18. It was a spectacular experience & Golden Rock was a pleasure to dive with. After diving with several operations in Cozumel, Curacao, Nicaragua, and Utila Golden Rock ranks as one of our favorites. All of the staff were experienced professionals & amazingly cool. Instructors Ray & Kayley were great guides and made every dive memorable. Glenn, the dive shop owner, was awesome and his thousands of dives on the island means he knows the dive sites better than anyone. We completed 14 dives in a variety of marine environments.
The Dive Shop is located in the Lower Town area of the island and hooks up to the brand new boat pier. The dive shop is actually one of the newest buildings on the island and is complete with picnic tables and a hammock so you can fill out your logbook in style. We stayed in the Golden Era Hotel which is a two minute walk down the street. The hotel was old but still had all the amenities you need for a solid dive trip. The hotel had WiFi, free breakfast, and located right on the water's edge. In fact, we were given a free upgrade to a seaside room with a balcony! The hotel was also a two minute walk to one of Statia's black sand beaches. Also, the entire trip was nearly mosquito free which was a nice change of pace for a trip to the Caribbean.
We conducted almost all of our dives off Stumpy, a full fledged albeit quick dive boat with a dry area in the bow that was quite comfortable. Most of the dive sites were just a five minute boat trip away and the longest was just 15-20 minutes. The diving itself was world class, Statia is easily the most diverse dive location we've ever been to. Statia has
dives on Wrecks, Walls, Boulder Slides, Standard Reefs, Isolated Rock Outcroppings, and Coral Encrusted Lava Flows. The island has the entire spectrum from dives that bring in bigger pelagics like Caribbean Reef Sharks to Macro dives with Sailfin Blennies. The marine life is amazing as well. In 14 dives there were only two that didn't include one or more sea turtles. Numerous dive sites had gigantic Southern Stingrays and Carib. Spiny Lobsters the size of a small child. All of the reefs are healthy (even saw a little Staghorn coral) and we only saw three lionfish the entire time (one of which was killed by Glenn)! Visibility was usually around 75-80 feet and the lowest was 60 feet. The Dive Shop is located in the Lower Town area of the island and hooks up to the brand new boat pier. The dive shop is actually one of the newest buildings on the island and is complete with picnic tables and a hammock so you can fill out your logbook in style. We stayed in the Golden Era Hotel which is a two minute walk down the street. The hotel was old but still had all the amenities you need for a solid dive trip. The hotel had WiFi, free breakfast, and located right on the water's edge. In fact, we were given a free upgrade to a seaside room with a balcony! The hotel was also a two minute walk to one of Statia's black sand beaches. Also, the entire trip was nearly mosquito free which was a nice change of pace for a trip to the Caribbean.
We conducted almost all of our dives off Stumpy, a full fledged albeit quick dive boat with a dry area in the bow that was quite comfortable. Most of the dive sites were just a five minute boat trip away and the longest was just 15-20 minutes. The diving itself was world class, Statia is easily the most diverse dive location we've ever been to. Statia has
Current was mostly non-existent and the diving was very laid back with water temps between 79-80F. We dove Anchor Point North, Double Wreck, North Point, Barracuda Reef, Charlie Brown (300 ft wreck...don't miss it!), Chien Tong (Taiwanese Wreck), Wreck City, The Aquarium, The Humps, and Nursing Station. All of the dive sites were great without a loser in the bunch. We saw everything from Blue Chromis to Reef Sharks. For larger marine life we saw: Nurse Sharks, Southern Stingrays, Hawksbill Turtles, Green Turtles, Spotted Moray Eels, Caribbean Spiny Lobster, Flying Gurnards, and a whole lot more. For smaller marine life we observed: Yellowline Arrow Crabs, Yellowhead Jawfish, Nudibranchs, Whitenose Pipefish, Longsnout Seahorse, Jackknifes, and much much more. While we didn't use the rental equipment, the rental gear we observed looked to be newer equipment and well-maintained.
The diving prices are more than reasonable ($50 for one "fun" dive and $95 for two + reef fees). There are discounts if you book a dive/hotel package with Golden Rock.
I highly recommend Golden Rock as the dive op of choice in Statia.
Also, Glenn has invented a kind of non-motorized DPV called the DiveGlide. He's readying the device for customer use and a unique PADI Specialty Course designed for it. If you really want a unique experience that no one else in the world has...contact Golden Rock and see when the DiveGlide is gonna be ready!The diving prices are more than reasonable ($50 for one "fun" dive and $95 for two + reef fees). There are discounts if you book a dive/hotel package with Golden Rock.
I highly recommend Golden Rock as the dive op of choice in Statia.
For more information on Golden Rock...check their website:
Golden Rock Dive Center | St. Eustatius, Dutch West Indies
and Glenn's Youtube Channel for video of the DiveGlide in action:
DiveGlide YouTube 11-11.wmv - YouTube
