St Thomas dive charters?

[rhyz]

Trying to decide between 2 chaters at the moment:

Blue Island Divers
Admiralty Dive Center

Both seem pretty good and have read some posts on here reqarding both. Has anyone dove with either recently and if so how was your experience?

Hitting St Thomas on a cruise ship on Oct 2, still have to find out where we dock at yet.

Thanks in advance

-rhyz

 

[RICHinNC]

A third option would be Chris Sawyer's op. I have dove with them and was pretty satisfied.

 

[rhyz]

Yup read good and bad on Chris, plus I haven't gotten a response from the charter yet on my email. So yeah I quess he is in that group also.

 

[ppo2_diver]

I had a great time with Blue Island Divers. I'd dive again with them the next time I'm down there.

 

[BurBunny]

Between those two specific charters, I'd go with Blue Island.

 

[diver3523]

Hi,
I recently returned from a trip from St. Thomas where I dove with Admiralty Dive Op. It was an enjoyable trip, where we did some good diving. However, I would suggest that you try Blue Island Divers. The staff at Admiralty was nice, attentive, and they definitely tried very hard. However, the shop has recently changed management, and althought they're quickly getting acquianted with the island, there were times where we felt as though we would have been in better hands with a more experienced operator. For example, on this first day of diving, we spent over 30 minutes trolling in a small area looking for a dive site. While normally this would be fine if the diving provided in this area was special, at this site there was really nothing that warranted a 30 min back-and-forth (in our wetsuits). This first dive was only 25 minutes (at 60 ft). Not really worth our time and money in my experience (been to Cozumel, Red Sea, Keys, Cabo, etc.). When we discussed the length of time of these dives with the operator, they sited an adherance to dive tables (everyone on this dive was on computers).

We found out after our diving that the shop has recently changed hands, which is definitely info I wish I had before planning my trip. Blue Island was out every morning as we headed to our sites, and they even beat us to a couple of sites (Miss Opportunity). I would suggest you head out with them on this trip, and save Admiralty for the next time.

 

[rhyz]

Thanks for all the responses, I really do appreciate it!

-rhyz

 

[diversteve]

Hitting St Thomas on a cruise ship on Oct 2, still have to find out where we dock at yet.

North side of the Harbor at Charlotte Amalie. It's called WICO - West Indian Company dock. Or look for Havensight mall, it's right there also.

In Charlotte Amalie, there's a main road that goes from the Cruise pier all the way along the waterfront. It runs right near Crown Bay Marina where Blue Island is located. It couldn't be a 10 minute drive.

Sawyers is in Red Hook, which is a good 20-30 min. to the East. Esp. if there's a traffic jam on the only(main) road between the two areas - some of the popular beach resort areas are also along there. If you do go with Sawyers, you'll have no problem getting a cab back, they all pickup in the strip mall right at the dock entrance where Sawyers has their boat. Although it's a shared-ride sort of deal so you might be slightly delayed while the driver more or less fills the van. fwiw, there was something my buddy and I didn't like about Sawyer's - don't remember what it was now, but we chose a different dive outfit.

Cruise ship dock:

 

[BurBunny]

There are actually two cruise ship pier facilities serving St. Thomas - one on either side of Charlotte Amalie. While Havensight (the WICO pier) is the most heavily used, on high traffic days, they also utilize the Crown Bay docks. Usually Crown Bay serves specific lines, like some Princess ships or Holland America's mid-sizers. The mega-ships go into Havensight.

Would be highly surprised that early in the season to see you anywhere but Havensight. You can always check the schedule here: http://www.vinow.com/general_usvi/cruiseship/

 

[rhyz]

Thanks alot Sjspeck and Burbunny, going to be making some calls today to make my reservations before flying out tomorrow for Florida. You've all been a HUGE help to me on this, thank you!

-rhyz