St. Kitts trip report

[SBP Studios]

Dive op: Pro Diver

Location: St. Kitts (Caribbean side)

Number of Dives: 4



Ok here is the quick review of this trip.

First off we are not huge fans of St. Kitt itself, it was completely not what we expected but I wont go too much into the whys here, feel free to PM me. I will say that we stayed for 8 days there. The first 4 days were actually on the Island of NEVIS, absolutely wonderful. We stayed at the 4 seasons and would highly reccomend it. Actually our second favorite place we have ever been next to Thailand.

That being said Nevis is nothing like St. Kitts.

The Diving.

The Diving here is how would you say, unpolished. Be prepared for that in case you have only been diving in places like Hawaii or Bahamas. The guy that the dive shop hired to pick us up had 2 kids in a mini van who appeared to be ditching school. nice guy though.

Anyway, the diveshop was Pro Divers and we really did like their boat. Real nice boat for diving up to 8 people id say. Anymore than that and its crowded.

The GOOD:

The sealife was great.

The colors were amazing

The reef is in excellent condition

Auston the owner also leads the dives

You can catch your own lobsters here and they encourage it. (at least thats what we were told, and did)
Lobster chasing is a blast!

Great rental gear for only $10.

2 tank Dive $95 without gear, $85 with.

THE BAD:

They need to fire their deckhands. The first day there was a guy named Jermaine on the boat. Jermaine is a Rasta with absolutely no personality. Grant it Jermaine was supposedly sick this first day but the guy was sprawled out all over the boat and would not even move his feet to let you by! Not cool at all.

On our assention out of the water we are used to the deckhands helping to grab our fins etc, maybe even offer to grab our BC while we exit the water, not Jermaine, he was asleep. Kinda scary. We had words.

Next day came. More diving. Not sick anymore. He was the same way. No other way to describe this guy than a total A$$hole. Needless to say neither of us felt obligated to tip at the end of our trip.

Anchor on the Reef. They did'nt even think twice about it.

No guidance underwater. They are there to dive with you, not to point stuff out or really show you around.

The Viz. First day we got about 50ft on our first dive, 30 on the next. Second day, close to 30ft first dive and no more than 15ft second dive. This was perhaps the most disappointing part of the diving. Although the reef is great, it would be nice if you could see it better.

Dive hours: I attribute some of the bad viz to the fact these guys dont hit the water until about 10am. This is pretty par for the course in St. Kitts.

Rec Divers getting paired with training divers. our whole first day i was a tad bit pissed as they took us out with people going for navigation tasks and AOW cert. Basically it was a "yea im sure there will be some stuff down there for you guys to see as well, but we need to train these guys today and your paying for the privilige of watching". That was crap.

Ok thats about it for our review of Diving St. Kitts with Pro Divers. Would we dive it again? YES if the deckhand is gone and we ever went back to St. Kitt. But we wont.


No pics unfortunately as we forgot our housing for our camera!!

 

[DivingPrincessE]

You noted one of things I did about Pro Divers in my review. The deckhand guy really does suck. It was the only negative thing I noted about Pro Divers. Auston was a very good leader and pointed out several things when I dove with him...maybe he was having an off week with you all.

 

[SBP Studios]

You noted one of things I did about Pro Divers in my review. The deckhand guy really does suck. It was the only negative thing I noted about Pro Divers. Auston was a very good leader and pointed out several things when I dove with him...maybe he was having an off week with you all.

Like I said, I would efinately dive with them again if that deckhand was gone and if we were back there.

I liked Auston alot. As for the pointing stuff out, I think we were the more "senior" Divers on the boat and he knew that so he probably assumed we would be doing our own thing.

Keep in mind the others diving were all in their first 10 dives.

 

[dvguy]

Thank you, SBPStudios, for your trip report. And you too, DivingPrincessE, for your earlier report on St. Kitts.

My daughter is leaving in August for school in St. Kitts. She just got here OW certification. She said she was not going to live on a island for two years and not be able to scuba dive. I will be going in October to dive with her there. The info from your trip reports give me a little insight into what to expect. Hopefully, the deadbeat deckhand will have moved on by then. Regardless, I will keep looking for reviews of other dive ops in St. Kitts in addition to Pro Divers. Any additional info is greatly appreciated.

Again, thanks and best fishes.
Bob

 

[jaybombs25]

I find your trip report rather biased. I was on the last two dives which you are talking about and there was not point in which the viz was 15ft absolutely none and 30 ft for the first dive. not quite.... Jermaine is NOT a rasta man nor does he have dread locks... the two kids in the van were NOT ditching school due to the fact that it was a public holiday... You also mention their deckhands plural... who is the second one? No guidance underwater implies that the dive leader does not lookout for you and also Austin does point out many things from turtles, to barracuda to eels.. Anchoring on the reef is done because there are no mooring lines on most of the reefs... this is due to the fishermen cutting and removing the lines shortly after they are placed... I would like to hear your response... I do not work for prodivers, however, I have been diving with them for a few weeks therefore I know many of your criticisms are unjustified...
looking forward to your response to maybe clarify some issues

could you also post the profiles and dive sites of your 4 dives?

P.S you guys weren't the most "senior" guys on the boat.... I have over 300 dives as well as another divemaster who was diving with me has plenty of experience...we also both have plenty of diving experience in St. kitts.

thanks

 

[SBP Studios]

Jay- I do know you were not on the boat that first day.

Not that I need to justify a trip report but I never said Jermaine had dreads and the first day on the boat the other divers were all doing their AOW certs and were no older than 17. If my memory serves me correctly, you were around 16 yourself?

Ill offer a tad bit of advice. Coming on a thread and arrogantly and aggressively defending Prodivers does more to make them look BAD than good. The review is just what it is, a review. I also stated twice that we really liked Auston and would dive with him again.

as for the Viz, YES, it was no more than 50ft on any day we dove there. Period. but as I also stated, it was good diving. I think St. Kitts sea life and reefs are underrated.

 

[jaybombs25]

I pointed all that stuff out so that we may clarify some issues. I am not 16 and I still disagree with many things you said. As said before I am not defending prodivers, however, I am simply voicing an entirely different opinion on what I deem to be the truth. Yes it is just a review, however, these can do unjustified harm to someone's reputation and I would find it rather hard to let certain things go unchallenged. Before you post a report such as the above, it would be worthwhile to find out a few more facts about the island and the people. I am not a kittitian. If you do not think it worthwhile to at least discuss certain issues, then so be it. Trip reports are supposed to help guide people looking to dive in certain areas. It would be good if they could get a truthful,objective report.

Thank You

 

[SBP Studios]

Trip reports are supposed to help guide people looking to dive in certain areas. It would be good if they could get a truthful,objective report.

Thank You

This report was as accurate and unbiased as any person who might spend $2500 to go spend a week across the globe could ever want.

 

[enzoed]

Just got back myself and I did 8 dives (4 mornings) with Auston, Jason and Jermain. I laughed when I saw your review as I can see your point of view. I can understand you mis-interpeting Jermains behaviour and I could understand if you didn't like it. My experience over the years with the native islanders has been that if you just treat them with the same respect that you request, they are very friendly and usually pretty nice people. My wife and I engaged Jermain in our conversations and quite frankly, he was a very nice and very funny guy. Yes, he appears lazy and uncooperative, but when we asked him to do something, it was only once, after that he continued to try and please.

That being said, Austin runs one of the better day boats that I have been on. Don't expect what you get on liveaboards as service on these boats, it just isn't happening. He has new equipment, a great knowledge of the area and a wealth of info on St. Kitts. The other divemaster, Jason was just a pure pleasure to dive with....he reminded me of myself when I was 30 years younger. He and Auston just plain old loved diving.

Auston had a group of students diving with us the first day. He let us go off with Jason as he went with his class. The second day he pushed his students to the PM dive so that we could dive together (just the four of us). That meant he went out of his way to provide a second unscheduled dive of the day with all the associated costs.

You won't be disappointed with Prodivers, I strongly suggest you call them if you are in the area.

 

[Chocoholic]

Enzoed; what did you think of the island itself? We are thinking of going next Jan 09, just wondering if a non-diver will have fun. I dive and my hubby doesn't. Also where did you stay and would you recommend it?
thanks, choco