St. Maarten--Divi Little Bay

[Pamdiv]

To continue that list:

Peg Leg Pub (Simpson Bay) BEST filet that you will ever eat...ever!!!

The Boat House (Simpson Bay) Excellent sea food. Try the Calamari to start and the sampler to finish....yummy

Lee's Roadside (Simpson Bay) Great ribs, chicken and atmosphere.

Bamboo Bernies (Canaversi* Resort) Excellent ribs and on Wed's ladies drink free!

Just go up the hill (Cole Bay) and down the other side and you will be in Simpson Bay area. The places listed have great food and are reasonably priced. Plus, when you are done, all the best bars are near to relax over an adult beverage. My picks are Buccaneer* Bar (Billy Foaly Rd, turn in by the Burger King on wheels!) the Lady C (near the SB bridge) and the Sun set Beach Bar (end of the runway at the airport).

We just returned last week and everything was great! Have never seen the ocean so calm in the years I have been going. It was so nice that we were about to dive the far places like One Step Beyond and Groupers near St. Barts. Best St. Maarten dives in my opinion.

I'll get that trip report as soon as I can upload the pictures....I still seem to be on island time....

HURRAH! I'm so glad to see that Lee's is still there. We are returning to St. Maarten next month after 6 years away. Anyone got any ideas on a good dive op on the island, one that DOES NOT take cruise ship passengers? We will be taking the vomit comet to Saba a couple of times to dive with Sea Saba, but I would like to have some diving info on St. Maarten itself. Thanks
Pam

 

[CSD1129]

Use dive safaris at their simpson bay location. The one at bobby's marina is a cattle car (Royal Caribbean and several others use them)

Dive Safaris is a good op. There was a big discussion on this topic a few weeks back...if you don't get many replies you might want to search for it.

You're not going to believe sxm when you see it! Royal Islander has a new Timeshare across the street, they're in the process of building a new airport. P-burg has cleaned up quite a bit....even have a boardwalk now...makes it harder to park in town though since some of the streets are strictly pedestrian now.

 

[KBeck]

I'm planning to get around to a trip report one of these days , but I used Ocean Explorers in Simpson Bay. I can't say enough about them. He takes a max of 8 divers, and had 4 staff (including himself). Leroy is owner, captain, Dive leader, and reading between the lines, one of the founding dive ops on the island. I dove two days (4 dives), and every diver I encountered were just the opposite of the cruise ship type--dives were incredible because of those reasons.

http://www.stmaartendiving.com/index.html##

 

[CSD1129]

How did you like the island?

 

[plainsong]

Terrific info, guys! I'm tempted to head down there as there is an air sale from my area. I'm curious, are there places down there that cater to single travelers? You know nothing fancy: Just looking for a clean and safe place.

TIA!

 

[RTRski]

Plainsong:

I don't have any diving experience in SXM (about to change that this July) but my wife and I have been there and are planning a trip now.

A good site for info on SXM overall is http://www.jmbcommunications.com/sxm.html HORRIBLE web design and littered with ads for his 'special super duper site' but worth it. If you pay the $35 you can probably end up in a condo-type room for average of about $70/night off-season. There are a couple of liveaboard dive operators down in that area too - http://www.explorerventures.com/cexhtml/sabaindex.html
I have no experience with them though.

If you're going to stay on-island there's fairly cheap lodging to be had at Oliver's or at a couple of places overlooking Orient Bay, but neither is very close to the main dive operator's sites (Simpson Bay). Rental car is suggested if you want to see the island at all outside of 'walking distance' from one little zone.

Best local diving is considered Saba which I have dove years ago and am planning on doing again. Three or four operators there I believe - Sea Saba, Saba Deep are two I can think of. As others mentioned there's a potentially rough ferry crossing from Sint Maarten or a Winair flight that's only about $50 each way - but if you'd seen the Saba airport that might scare you worse.

I was kind of surprised at those that said SXM isn't a 'dive destination' as I did some diving around St. Kitts and (for a recreational diver) found it quite pleasant. If the criteria is that the diving isn't so awesome (and lack of any other amentities so appalling) that you'll not be tempted to do nothing but dive, that's okay by me. I like to balance my vacations out a bit above and below the surface. Hope to learn more between now and July, and will report on my own experiences after.

RTRski

(Board noob, extraordinare...)

 

[PugetDiver]

I went to Dutch St. Maarten in April. I dove two spots with Dive Safaris (great service friendly DM). I can't remember the names of the spots but I can describe them.

1. first dive was to a reef off of a small island 10 minute boat ride. Water was choppy but not unbearable. (Depth 74 feet) Visibility was excellent and we actually saw a reef shark (first time and boy was it breath taking). There were a lot of lobsters and Dori fish (you know the purple one in Finding Nemo )

2. second dive was to an 1802 ship wreck that was all but gone (Depth 65 feet). There were however 16 cannons and 2 huge anchors. Lots of sea life and visibility again was fabulous. This dive spot was also choppy but nothing unbearable.

My overall experience with St. Maarten was positive. I think I was lucky that the water was calm for St.Maarten standards. If I had a chance to dive there again, I would jump at it. Good Luck!

 

[RTRski]

Puget:

Thanks. From your description I think the second site was the Proselyte Reef (HMS Proselyte was a British shipwreck). First could be several, but possibly Molly Beday or Hens and Chickens (?)

Here's a map of the Sint Maartin dive sites I've found as I've been prepping for our trip.

Thanks again for the report; hope to see a shark or two myself!

RTRski

 

[PugetDiver]

Puget:

Thanks. From your description I think the second site was the Proselyte Reef (HMS Proselyte was a British shipwreck). First could be several, but possibly Molly Beday or Hens and Chickens (?)

Here's a map of the Sint Maartin dive sites I've found as I've been prepping for our trip.

Thanks again for the report; hope to see a shark or two myself!

RTRski

Thanks RTR, you were right on. Hens and Chickens and the Proselyte Reef were the dive sites.

 

[Scott101]

Hens and Chicks is makred by one big and two or three "little" rocks sticking out of the water past Point Blanche. The signature sight at H&C is the crater that you swim down into.

Proelyte is a reef straight out from Great Bay and would have had 3 or 4 cannons and a couple of huge anchors.

I just got back from a week of diving and finally got the pictures posted. I'll type up a lil report and link this evening.