St Lucia diving?

[stokesj19]

Just wondering how the diving in St lucia is? I will be there next month, and plan to go diving multiple times. The only place I have dove is the bahamas, and west caicos.
All comments will be appreciative.
Thanks,
Justin

 

[00wabbit]

I went there on a cruise. We dove the pitons. It is an amazing place to see. Looks like something out of jurassic park. WE did a drift dive along the base called superman flight. The depth is a hundreds of feet deep so you have to watch out you don't go too deep but it was a nice place to dive. I would go back.

We dove with Iyanola charters. They have a small boat, but they were cool and let us dive as long as we could.

 

[DiverGirl1972]

I went on a dive trip to St. Lucia in January, 2012 and stayed at the Anse Chastanet Resort. One of the women on the trip had been diving there in 2010 and was there when Hurricane Tomas devastated the island. Two years later, quite a few of the shallower reefs were still covered in sand. The woman said that the difference in the number of fish and overall health of the reef was shocking as compared to the time prior to the hurricane.

With that said, I had nothing to compare it too and I enjoyed myself. We saw lots of turtles, eels, and all of the usual suspects - including a couple of sea horses! Is it the BEST diving I've done? No, but it was pretty good and since we've been there, the corals and fish life have had more time to recover.

We did the Superman's flight dive as well and it was fun! Enjoy!

 

[Laurie S.]

I dove Superman's Flight and another spot near the Pitons in November 2010 less than a month after the hurricane hit and it was fabulous! It's one of my favorite places to dive and I really want to go back. We dove with Papa Irving and it ended up being a private dive.

 

[dvankirk]

I dove Superman's Flight and another spot near the Pitons in November 2010 less than a month after the hurricane hit and it was fabulous! It's one of my favorite places to dive and I really want to go back. We dove with Papa Irving and it ended up being a private dive.

Any idea of how to get in touch with Papa Irving? I did a quick google search and couldn't find anything. I'm heading there in October for a week.

 

[Laurie S.]

He used to have a website and I know I have his card. I'll take a look tonight. He has a booth at the cruise ship terminal. Great guy to dive with, very skilled.

 

[ColoDale]

Stokej19, your best bet, notwithstanding the replies here, is to see the SB forum Lesser Antilles under Greater Caribbean and Bermuda. I have been to St. Lucia twice and there have been quite a few St. Lucia posts in general. Everything from topside, hotels, to diving and dive ops.

 

[rick00001967]

we stayed in marigot bay for 2 weeks and were diving with dive fair helen. we had a great time with that crew. the diving was decent. as said above, not the best ever but we were not complaining. i think it was in oct 2010. no big life that we saw anyway. like sharks and big rays etc. but i do know that certain times of the year are good for whale watching. friends went down there for that this year and just had a hoot seeing the giant critters.

 

[barefootek]

Sorry to StokesJ19 since I do not have anything to add for their information. I just thought there might be some people following the post that might have information that I can use. I am certifying a couple of friends of mine that are going to St Lucia for their honeymoon and will be staying at Sandals. I was wondering if there was anything that I needed to try to prepare them for beyond their basic diving skills for St Lucia. Unfortunately, we will only be able to dive from the shore of a lake for their open water checkout dives, so I will already be trying to explain boat diving to them. I noticed that it was said that Superman's Flight is a drift dive. Are drift dives common in St Lucia? I have never understood why some consider Drift Dives anything special but I was in Playa del Carmen for a month where nearly everything is drift, so maybe I have just been around operators that are accustom to it and make it look easy. Any information on special considerations for St Lucia would be appreciated.

 

[rick00001967]

other than preparing them as best you can for the boat dives, i am not sure there is much else. the diving when i was there was pretty easy as far as currents go. certainly nothing like playa or coz. the seas were pretty calm as well when we were there.
maybe a mention to them to not tough ANYTHING might help. i have seen new divers who think they can touch or pick up just about anything in the sea. always a bad idea !! lol i hate it when i see them wearing gloves. this usually means they want to grab something. lol