St Thomas or St Lucia?

[YYJValerie]

Cruising in January -- experienced diver. Planning to dive a wreck on either St Kitts or Barbados (done St Kitts before - not great, but not bad). Would love some input / advice on diving either St Thomas or St Lucia? Is one better than the other? Recommend a dive shop?

 

[CptTightPants21]

Have never done St. Lucia.

If St. Thomas, Admiralty is the only way to go.

Plenty of decent wrecks in St. Thomas, just make sure you book ahead of time and guarantee those sites. Would recommend the WIT Shoal and Kennedy Barges for wrecks. The Eastwood (reef?) if you want an enjoyable and colorful reef dive.

I would say diving in St. Thomas was fine....nothing super special, but enjoyable.

 

[diver 85]

St Lucia--& DON'T look back........IMO, St Thomas was VERY dull-------St Lucia was just the opposite.........look @ my pics to see what I'm talkin' 'bout......(did 1 day 2 tanks @ each from the same way you thinking of---a cruise ship)

St Thomas(stunk---IMO)....lol, 32 UW pics...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/80825593@N08/albums/72157630274197024

St Lucia UW #1......117 pics(&/ie basically same bottom time for both places)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/80825593@N08/albums/72157630274197024

St Lucia UW#2
https://www.flickr.com/photos/8082both places5593@N08/albums/72157630521027672


EDIT:...forgot to say----get to Piton Wall(Superman's Flight dive etc---google it) in St Lucia, a little more expensive-----but WELL worth it.....

 

[YYJValerie]

St Lucia--& DON'T look back........IMO, St Thomas was VERY dull-------St Lucia was just the opposite.........look @ my pics to see what I'm talkin' 'bout......(did 1 day 2 tanks @ each from the same way you thinking of---a cruise ship)

St Thomas(stunk---IMO)....lol, 32 UW pics...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/80825593@N08/albums/72157630274197024

St Lucia UW #1......117 pics(&/ie basically same bottom time for both places)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/80825593@N08/albums/72157630274197024

St Lucia UW#2
https://www.flickr.com/photos/8082both places5593@N08/albums/72157630521027672


EDIT:...forgot to say----get to Piton Wall(Superman's Flight dive etc---google it) in St Lucia, a little more expensive-----but WELL worth it.....

Thanks for the reply… but your St Lucia links aren't right… UW #1 is actually the same link as St Thomas… and UW #2 doesn't work. Would love to see those shots if it isn't too much trouble!!!

 

[diversteve]

If you pick St. Thomas another option in town is Blue Island Divers. If your ship docks at WICO (most do) they'll pick you up with their boat off the land end of the pier - or if you dock at the Crown Bay cruise ship terminal - you can walk to their shop/dock. They also have links/descriptions to many St. Thomas dive sites on their interactive map - click the tiny picture in each link for more images. Cruise Ship Divers

Admiralty is an equally good choice.

 

[YYJValerie]

Having dove Grand Cayman, Curacao, Belize, Roatan, & Cozumel… will we just be disappointed by either of these destinations?

 

[Lopez116]

Having dove Grand Cayman, Curacao, Belize, Roatan, & Cozumel… will we just be disappointed by either of these destinations?

Yes, you will.

 

[CptTightPants21]

Having dove Grand Cayman, Curacao, Belize, Roatan, & Cozumel… will we just be disappointed by either of these destinations?

For 1 or 2 days of diving, no. If you were doing an entire week of diving, yeah, would probably not hold up. There are enough sites to make it worth while (see the ones I mentioned) for a day trip or two. There is nothing wrong with St. Thomas, diving just isn't AMAZING like Cozumel or Belize--those are bucket list destination, St. Thomas is more of a "good" place to dive while family is on vacation type of location.

If you don't mind spending a little money and are staying for dinner in St. Thomas you MUST go to Oceana. It is near downtown where the Admiralty dock is located. They are a seafood and steakhouse and everything was fantastic. Take a look on trip advisor, 600 reviews and 4.5 stars

Oceana, Frenchtown - Restaurant Reviews, Phone Number & Photos - TripAdvisor

 

[diver 85]

Having dove Grand Cayman, Curacao, Belize, Roatan, & Cozumel… will we just be disappointed by either of these destinations?

Sorry for the mess up------easiest way for me to get pics/videos to you is link(click just below) the whole page of my albums--just scroll down to the bottom for St Thomas & St Lucia (UW)albums.....
https://www.flickr.com/photos/80825593@N08/albums

Having dived all your locations except Curacao(actually owned a house on the beach in Roatan for 14 years in the past), I'd say for 1 day of diving, St Lucia would impress you(esp keep in mind to DIVE Piton Wall)...good luck, let us know how it turns out.....

 

[drrich2]

I did my last 2 OW dives on referral (I don't know if on named sites), & later 2 dives (Armondo's Paradise & Navy Barges) in St. Thomas with Admiralty Dive Center. Loved Admiralty. My impression of St. Thomas from my very small sample size was rather shallow diving with good viz. (not great, fairly fishy but not super fishy, warm, didn't have much current, nice. When in St. Thomas, I'm happy to dive. But I saw no clear advantage over Key Largo, where in 20 dives I saw more variety (granted, 20 dives!).

On a St. Lucia stop, I did 2 dives with Scuba Steve's; paid the uncharge for the Pitons area trip. Here's my trip report for that one day trip.

You mentioned intent to wreck dive on St. Kitts or Barbados. Unless you or a group you're with plan to do a private charter, I don't know the odds that's going to work out for you. Better contact the dive op. directly if that's important to you.

Alert Dive Magazine has online access to the article Estale, about diving in St. Lucia.

Richard.