St Martin/Sint Maarten

[wrybosome]

Hi all,

We're going in July 18 - 25 to sxm and an overnight trip to Saba for some diving. We're new divers and intend to do a few days of diving at St Martin before taking the trip over to Saba.

Having read previous threads, I'm aware that the general feeling is that the diving isn't spectacular on sxm and to just go to Saba, but that's deeper and we want some a few more dives before going there. Besides, as noobs just about everything is going to seem amazing to us.

So my question: The dive op we're planning on using is Octopus diving in Grand Case since everyone here seems to have great things to say about them. Have any of you used them recently? What was your experience?

And the other question: any other Scubaboarders planning on being there at the same time? We could get some dinner or dive or snorkel or hit the beach or go up pic paradis.

And the last question for folks who know the French side: what are your favorite places to eat?

Thanks & Happy Easter,

Tim

 

[george w]

Hi
We will be there in may I will report where we dive. If anybody will be there may 12 to the 18 let me know. I also welcome advice on dive ops. We will be staying dutch side simpson bay thanks.

 

[guppyman]

I'm headed down there mid-June. I look forward to any reports and advice as well.

 

[marcaumarc]

Wow. This is the third active thread on St. Martin right now! We love Octopus Diving, they really care about safety and the quality of the experience and the current owners are putting tons of effort into the operation, which was already good before they took over. They actually just got a brand new compressor and they've been finding some new dive sites including a new wreck that they just discovered maybe a week ago. My dive buddy and I were there in February and then she went back in March to get her Rescue Diver certification.

Here are some of our restaurant recommendations for St. Martin:

Dining & Drink | Les Fruits De Mer

Le Cottage is phenomenal, very creative food, perhaps our new favorite. You also have to stop by Rene's Boucherie for lunch.

The island isn't surrounded by massive reefs like Roatan, but there are plenty of great diving spots, particularly if you are diving with Octopus, which can dive sites on both sides of the island. We have photos and descriptions of a number of SXM dive sites here: St. Martin | Les Fruits De Mer

Here are the other recent threads on the topic:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/lesser-antilles/280164-advice-st-maarten.html
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/greater-caribbean-bermuda/277538-st-maarten-martin-july.html

Email me if you have any questions, we've been going there for years and love it!

Also, on our last trip we were blogging on location, here's what amounts to a pretty comprehensive trip report:

http://www.lesfruitsdemer.org/category/blog/on-expedition/

 

[Jersey]

Have funn all! Been doing SXM for about 12 years, have timeshare in Pelican Resort, Dutch Side, Pelican Key. I like Ocean Explorers on Kimsha Beach and Aqua water sports right at Pelican for diving. Divi Resort, Phillipsburg, used to have a shop onsite, not sure it is still there, but you could also beach dive from there. Diving is not that bad. Is it Roatan, Cayman or Bonaire - NO. It is still diving. There are sunken articfacts to play on - old bridge, boats, ferry's. I've seen the pretty fish, variety of sharks (Nurse, Caribbean, Angel), squid, octo, cuttlefish, dolphins, turtles, tons of rays, baracuda. The viz can be really good or not.

Saba is a different story - top notch, pinnacles, deep, large pelagics and fish. Love to get over there! Wry - who are you diving with on Saba? I like diving Saba Deep w/ Big Mike, a very interesting guy! (My profile pic is from a 2001 trip to Saba @ Diamond Rock)

As for food on SXM - Grand Case - everything from Lolo's (the local grills check out Talk of the Town) to high end French can be had. Excellent! Orient Beach has great lunch fare. Maho on the Dutch side bunch of great eats - Paris is a fav. Good italian and sushi places, though the names escape me at the moment... Marigot along the waterfront has great places to dine as well, plus a couple great bakeries for fresh bread and pasteries, again forgetting names, I've not been down since Aug - Sept 2007.

Good luck!

 

[mgm333]

I am going to be diving in St. Maarten during that time. It was going to be my wife and I, but since she is recently pregnant, I"m a solo diver. I'm a fairly new diver (only two trips, Cayman and Curacao, and after looking through the web pages, Octupus was the outfit I was planning on too-maybe we'll bump into each other. Thanks for the informative posts guys!

 

[wrybosome]

Saba is a different story - top notch, pinnacles, deep, large pelagics and fish. Love to get over there! Wry - who are you diving with on Saba? I like diving Saba Deep w/ Big Mike, a very interesting guy!

Hi Jersey, all three of the ops on Saba look pretty good so I was going to base it on boat size. You're not the only person I've heard mention Mike though!

 

[wrybosome]

-maybe we'll bump into each other.

I hope so too! Enjoy your trip.

 

[marcaumarc]

In Saba we dove with Sea Saba and they were really great. If you are taking WinAir, double extra confirm your flights or your reservations could be mysteriously canceled. It happened to us once and I'm pretty sure I've seen it here and elsewhere on the internet.

 

[wrybosome]

If you are taking WinAir, double extra confirm your flights or your reservations could be mysteriously canceled.

We'll probably take the edge ferry and stay one night on Saba to get 3 dives total.

BTW, we loved the extreme shallow dive team website! It made me want a red beret and some serious francophone-water nymph attitude.