TN Traveler
Contributor
My wife and I normally take a short dive trip in September, usually to the Keys, but I found a last minute deal for a trip to an all inclusive resort in St Lucia that was cheaper (including air) than a trip to the Keys (go figure). The resort is on the northwest corner of the island and the airport is on the southeast corner, so it takes about 1 ½ to 2 hours on winding 2 lane mountain roads to make the trip.
I will not say much about the resort Almond Smugglers Cove other than it is a work in progress. We were lucky and got one of the rooms that has been refurbished and it was very nice. Food was sometimes good, sometimes not so good. Due to the time of the year the resort was almost empty, so they only had 2 of the 4 restaurants open on any day. Our best meal was in Rodney Bay when we ate with the dive shop owner and his wife.
We dove with Tommy de Nobrega of Frogs Diving in Rodney Bay for 4 days. Tommy picked us up at the hotel and brought us back (sometimes by boat) every day. We were the only customers he had during this period, so we had a boat to ourselves. Tommy has about a 30 ft open boat (with bimini top) with twin 130 hp engines that handled our trips with no problems no matter what the sea conditions were. One of the best parts of the trip was talking with Tommy during travel, surface intervals, and after diving he has many interesting stories to tell from his travels around the world.
Since we were there a couple of weeks after Hurricane Dean passed by, visibility was down to 40-50 feet, improving daily. Now to the diving:
Day 1
We did 2 dives close to the harbor around a couple of the islands (Bird S@#$ Rock and Pelican Rock) with a divemaster. There was some current and we basically did a drift dive around the islands starting at about 60 ft and working upwards. Lots of sealife smaller fish, corals and sponges.
Day 2
Starting with Day 2, Tommy led our dives, pointing out to us lots of great things to take pictures of. On Day 2 we did our diving in the marine park at the ever popular Lesleen M wreck. The ship is encrusted with lots and lots of colorful fish and sponges. Biggest problem was the Sandals dive boat arrived while we were there and we had to avoid a whole bunch of clueless divers (their dive master ran into me twice). Our second dive was done at the Rosemond Trenches, a series of spur and grove reefs, again loaded with sea life. Got to see our first frog fish there.
Day 3
Tommy was now comfortable with our diving abilities, so he took us to a special spot, It is an area he calls Three Pinnacles it is located midway between St Lucia and Martinique in the middle of the ocean. We dropped over the side and headed down at about 40 ft these 3 pinnacles appear, along with a huge eagle ray. We continued down to abut 90 ft where there is a plateau. At the edge of the plateau it drops of to who knows where. At the bottom, we found a large turtle who wanted to have her picture taken she went back and forth between the three of us, posing for pictures. We then headed up, circling around each of the pinnacles watching schools of fish congregate at the various levels. Dive 2 was done at Saline Point spent over an hour in less than 20 feet of water, taking pictures of a bunch of juveniles.
Day 4
Back down south to Anse La Raye for a wall dive. I have never seen more large barrel sponges in any area. We just sort of cruised along the top of the wall watching the morays and lobster. Dive 2 was at Anse Cachon South another mini wall just loaded with sea life.
I guess I can best sum up the diving as being great the reefs are healthy, the fish life is abundant and the coral/sponges are varied and colorful. We will definitely return for diving in St Lucia, except the next time we will stay in Rodney Bay and get to soak up more of the local culture and cuisine.
I will not say much about the resort Almond Smugglers Cove other than it is a work in progress. We were lucky and got one of the rooms that has been refurbished and it was very nice. Food was sometimes good, sometimes not so good. Due to the time of the year the resort was almost empty, so they only had 2 of the 4 restaurants open on any day. Our best meal was in Rodney Bay when we ate with the dive shop owner and his wife.
We dove with Tommy de Nobrega of Frogs Diving in Rodney Bay for 4 days. Tommy picked us up at the hotel and brought us back (sometimes by boat) every day. We were the only customers he had during this period, so we had a boat to ourselves. Tommy has about a 30 ft open boat (with bimini top) with twin 130 hp engines that handled our trips with no problems no matter what the sea conditions were. One of the best parts of the trip was talking with Tommy during travel, surface intervals, and after diving he has many interesting stories to tell from his travels around the world.
Since we were there a couple of weeks after Hurricane Dean passed by, visibility was down to 40-50 feet, improving daily. Now to the diving:
Day 1
We did 2 dives close to the harbor around a couple of the islands (Bird S@#$ Rock and Pelican Rock) with a divemaster. There was some current and we basically did a drift dive around the islands starting at about 60 ft and working upwards. Lots of sealife smaller fish, corals and sponges.
Day 2
Starting with Day 2, Tommy led our dives, pointing out to us lots of great things to take pictures of. On Day 2 we did our diving in the marine park at the ever popular Lesleen M wreck. The ship is encrusted with lots and lots of colorful fish and sponges. Biggest problem was the Sandals dive boat arrived while we were there and we had to avoid a whole bunch of clueless divers (their dive master ran into me twice). Our second dive was done at the Rosemond Trenches, a series of spur and grove reefs, again loaded with sea life. Got to see our first frog fish there.
Day 3
Tommy was now comfortable with our diving abilities, so he took us to a special spot, It is an area he calls Three Pinnacles it is located midway between St Lucia and Martinique in the middle of the ocean. We dropped over the side and headed down at about 40 ft these 3 pinnacles appear, along with a huge eagle ray. We continued down to abut 90 ft where there is a plateau. At the edge of the plateau it drops of to who knows where. At the bottom, we found a large turtle who wanted to have her picture taken she went back and forth between the three of us, posing for pictures. We then headed up, circling around each of the pinnacles watching schools of fish congregate at the various levels. Dive 2 was done at Saline Point spent over an hour in less than 20 feet of water, taking pictures of a bunch of juveniles.
Day 4
Back down south to Anse La Raye for a wall dive. I have never seen more large barrel sponges in any area. We just sort of cruised along the top of the wall watching the morays and lobster. Dive 2 was at Anse Cachon South another mini wall just loaded with sea life.
I guess I can best sum up the diving as being great the reefs are healthy, the fish life is abundant and the coral/sponges are varied and colorful. We will definitely return for diving in St Lucia, except the next time we will stay in Rodney Bay and get to soak up more of the local culture and cuisine.
