JonAustin
Contributor
We stayed at Anse Chastanet Resort, near Sufriere. First off--the resort was absolutely top notch, the rooms amazing, the food fantastic, the service excellent, and with only 47 rooms, it was very peaceful.
The resort has its own dive operation, Scuba St. Lucia. However, I understand that they do pick-ups throughout the island.
I was very impressed with SSL. They required me to do a check-out dive, which included a mask removal and regulator recovery. Neither of these were a problem, of course, but it was really great to see that they wanted to make sure we actually knew how to dive. The dive masters were professional, and the boat crews excellent. The dive boats were a bit spartan (no soda or snacks--only water), but roomy and very well-designed for preparation, stowage, entry and exit. Not surprisingly, surface intervals were done at the resort.
This trip was for my honeymoon. Since my wife doesn't dive, I only made it out 5 times:
The check-out dive was on Anse Chastanet Reef. It was definitely one of my nicer blue-water shore dives. Full of sergeant majors, parrot fish, trumpet fish, and needle fish. Saw a barracuda, an arrow crab, and a moray eel. There were some great corals and sponges as well. Average depth: 10.7m. Temp: 81F (all other temperatures were identical. I used a farmer john, and only became cold at the very end of my second and third dives of the day). Visibility: 12m. Bottom time: 52 minutes.
Coral Gardens. This was an excellent drift dive. Full of gorgeous corals and teeming with fish. Barrel sponges, gigantic brain coral, gorgonians, sea whips. Average depth: 10.5m. Visibility 12m. Bottom time: 51 minutes.
Grand Caille. More of the same, but without much of a current. Average depth: 12.4m. Visibility 15m. Bottom time: 49 minutes.
Superman's Flight. There's a little bit of trivia associated with this one. Apparently, there's a scene in Superman 2 where the big guy in blue tights jumps off of a cliff and flies over the ocean. The dive site is apparently right under where this scene was filmed. (I can't remember the scene, but I remember enough to know that I'm not going to watch it again for the sole purpose of seeing one of my past dive sites.) This was another spectacular drift dive, full of all of the above. In addition, I saw a large sea turtle. Average depth: 15.2m. Visibility was excellent at 20m. Bottom time: 52 minutes.
Pinnacles. I'm sorry to say that I was a bit disappointed with this one. The visibility was the worst of all the dives, and there was a large amount of trash on the bottom. Seeing the five small sea mounts rising off the bottom was pretty neat, though--although I was expecting something more impressive than a few little hills. More of the same wildlife. I did see a massive lobster in addition. Average depth: 13.4m. Visibility: 10m. Bottom time: 50 minutes.
The resort has its own dive operation, Scuba St. Lucia. However, I understand that they do pick-ups throughout the island.
I was very impressed with SSL. They required me to do a check-out dive, which included a mask removal and regulator recovery. Neither of these were a problem, of course, but it was really great to see that they wanted to make sure we actually knew how to dive. The dive masters were professional, and the boat crews excellent. The dive boats were a bit spartan (no soda or snacks--only water), but roomy and very well-designed for preparation, stowage, entry and exit. Not surprisingly, surface intervals were done at the resort.
This trip was for my honeymoon. Since my wife doesn't dive, I only made it out 5 times:
The check-out dive was on Anse Chastanet Reef. It was definitely one of my nicer blue-water shore dives. Full of sergeant majors, parrot fish, trumpet fish, and needle fish. Saw a barracuda, an arrow crab, and a moray eel. There were some great corals and sponges as well. Average depth: 10.7m. Temp: 81F (all other temperatures were identical. I used a farmer john, and only became cold at the very end of my second and third dives of the day). Visibility: 12m. Bottom time: 52 minutes.
Coral Gardens. This was an excellent drift dive. Full of gorgeous corals and teeming with fish. Barrel sponges, gigantic brain coral, gorgonians, sea whips. Average depth: 10.5m. Visibility 12m. Bottom time: 51 minutes.
Grand Caille. More of the same, but without much of a current. Average depth: 12.4m. Visibility 15m. Bottom time: 49 minutes.
Superman's Flight. There's a little bit of trivia associated with this one. Apparently, there's a scene in Superman 2 where the big guy in blue tights jumps off of a cliff and flies over the ocean. The dive site is apparently right under where this scene was filmed. (I can't remember the scene, but I remember enough to know that I'm not going to watch it again for the sole purpose of seeing one of my past dive sites.) This was another spectacular drift dive, full of all of the above. In addition, I saw a large sea turtle. Average depth: 15.2m. Visibility was excellent at 20m. Bottom time: 52 minutes.
Pinnacles. I'm sorry to say that I was a bit disappointed with this one. The visibility was the worst of all the dives, and there was a large amount of trash on the bottom. Seeing the five small sea mounts rising off the bottom was pretty neat, though--although I was expecting something more impressive than a few little hills. More of the same wildlife. I did see a massive lobster in addition. Average depth: 13.4m. Visibility: 10m. Bottom time: 50 minutes.
