St. Lucia in November?

[alam555]

Hello all,
My wife and I are thinking of travelling to St Lucia towards the end of November. We are looking at staying at the Jalousie Plantation owned by Sun Swept resorts.


Has anyone stayed there? thoughts about St Lucia diving in November? What can I expect to see?

thanks

masood

 

[divingjd]

We went to St. Lucia over Thanksgiving a few years ago and stayed at Anse Chastenet. I'm not familiar with the Jalousie Plantation resort. One thing you can expect in November is rain every day, probably several times a day. They tend to be little micro-showers - it rains for a few minutes and blows over. It won't ruin your vacation, but you should be aware of it. After all, the island does have a rain forest.

Diving is good, but different from places like Cozumel and the Caymans. The water is not as clear as those destinations. Coz and the Caymans are coral/limestone islands and have no rivers to carry sediment to the sea, so the water is really clear. St. Lucia is a mountainous volcanic island and has rivers that carry sediment to the sea, so there is more particulate matter in the water. Visibility will max out at about 60 feet.

The other thing that is different about St. Lucia diving is that there are not a lot of larger animals (groupers, jacks, barracuda, eagle rays, green morays, turtles) but there are lots of smaller animals (creole wrasse, damselfish, spotted morays, sharptail eels, fireworms, crinoids, brittle stars). To really enjoy the diving, learn to focus on the little critters. St. Lucia has a great profusion of colorful sponges, particularly the azure vase sponge, but the coral is not as imposing as some other dive destinations. Because it is basically the peak of a volcano, the underwater topography is generally like the surface topography: a steep slope. This is particularly true of the marine park dive sites near the Pitons.

It's generally not considered one of the top dive destinations, but I think the diving there is enjoyable and rewarding.

 

[Tobagoman]

I personally think that St. Lucia is one of the best dive destinations in the Caribbean. I have dove most of the Caribbean Islands and am only missing a handful from my list and St. Lucia ranks up there in my top five.
You can see my trip report here: http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=96355&highlight=St.+Lucia

It's in several parts so search for St. Lucia trip report parts II - V to read the rest of the reports on the diving and island itself.

Good luck and enjoy your trip!

 

[Wing_nut]

I went to St. Lucia diving a few years ago and loved it. The best diving is at Anse Chastenet at the base of their (2) major mountins. We say lots of small fish, (2) spotted sea snakes and a few turtals. I dove with Frogs Diving and thought they did a good job. Have a good time.

 

[gt3073b]

My wife and I honeymooned in St. Lucia at Anse Chastenet and had a great time! The rooms were spectacular, the staff knew our names, and the diving was great. That was our only Carribean dive trip so I have nothing to compare to, but the marine life was great. Go slow and look under the ledges. If you look down you see mostly sponges, but if you look up there are tons of cool things to see, especially the eels.

The boat guys (especially Fox) were great. Fresh fruit was served during the surface intervals, and stops were made at the beaches for snorkelling.

Anse Chastenet is on the marine preserve and most of the resorts send their dive boats there, though we also did a boat dive just off-shore from Jalousie. They run several different sites, many of them are drift dives. A DM goes on every dive and tows an SMB/flag. Boat rules are 60' max on tables, or NDL on computer.

I'd just like to reiterate the post about the rivers and the rain. The country is a jungle with mountain roads that are mostly dirt. The rivers run brown after a small rain and a big rain causes mudslides. That all ends up in the ocean, most of it right at the beach in Soufrier, the main town between the two resorts. Anse Chastenet is protected by a large peninsula from the river runoff so the water stayed pretty clear, but if I remember correctly, the river mouth is near Jalousie. The Lesleen M wreck is also away from the river to the north, and is a very fun dive. The one day the rain didn't stop, we still dove, though it was pretty dark with the mud forming a 20 foot layer of soup, but the viz was fine below. Still better viz than anything I've dove since (NC/SC).

Bit of trivia for ya: the SSI Open Water book was photographed at the Anse Chastenet dive center.

 

[laserdoc]

Hello all,
My wife and I are thinking of travelling to St Lucia towards the end of November. We are looking at staying at the Jalousie Plantation owned by Sun Swept resorts.


Has anyone stayed there? thoughts about St Lucia diving in November? What can I expect to see?

thanks

masood

Was there for a week last month. Did 7 dives with www.divefairhelen.com
If you use them tell Michael that David and Jill said hi. Would not dive with anyone else.
You can set everything up online before you get there. Anymore ?? PM me