St. Thomas - worth the diving?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

texasgingerbread

Registered
Messages
12
Reaction score
2
Hi our cruise is porting in St. Thomas over Thanksgiving. Worth the day to dive there or should we just beach it? If so any operators you recommend?
 
Dove there 20ish years ago and actually had a great time, reefs were amazing and checked out an old British wreck (only iron parts left) but will have to look in my log later. Seahorse I believe ws the dive shop I used, now looks like it is Blue island adventures so cannot say how good they are anymore
 
I suggest Coki Dive Center or Redhook Dive Center on St. Thomas. Both have great boat dives, but Coki also has a really nice beach dive with lots of amenities.
 
I have dove there twice off of cruises with Blue Island Divers and had a great experience both times. They pickup in their boat right off the cruise pier.

Cruise Ship Divers
 
Dove there a couple years ago. I do not live near a coral reef in shallow water. I dive them whenever I can and I enjoy it. I enjoyed the dive. If I lived in Key Largo and dove the Keys every week I would have rated the dive lower but still enjoyed it. But I am easy to please. Just give me some fish and let me blow bubbles.
 
I did 3 shore dives (1 was a night dive) many moons ago off Coki Beach with Joe Vogel (he’s no longer with us). Well worth it. I would say.
 
I was a big fan of Blue Island Divers, but they are no longer in business.
huh? St. Thomas scuba diving

Admiralty also picks up at the port (in a van)
https://www.admiraltydive.com/

Coki Beach is probably on your cruise excursion list - they do snuba there as well as diving. The best dive is to the right past the Coral World pipes. It's also where you might encounter enough current to make it difficult to get back. The dive shack on the beach has a jetski and will send someone to look for you if you're gone too long. Lots of wrecks south of Charlotte Amalie but the cruise excursion goes to a boring one. I don't remember the shop name but they don't get the best reviews here.

Sapphire Beach is a pretty nice one if you don't dive. Out on the east end but not as far as Coki.
 
I was a big fan of Blue Island Divers, but they are no longer in business.

Really? Thats too bad I thought it was a nice operation, and I had a couple great experiences there. Was February of 2017 when I was last with them so I guess it could be.
 
On stops in St. Thomas I've dove once in 2006, once in 2012, both with Admiralty Dive, excellent experiences with them both times. My vague recollection of those dives, especially the latter two (Armando's Paradise and Navy Barges), something like this: diving over flat bottom, a bit over 40 feet deep, minimal current, viz. maybe around 50 feet or so (?), some nice reef and decently fishy.

I liked the diving in Key Largo better (similar viz., depth and flat bottom, fishier, good reef), but if I were in St. Thomas (or stopping on a cruise, which is all we've done there so far), I'd definitely consider diving it.

That said, they are a major cruise port and offer a lot of topside excursions. Our little family had a good time visiting Coral World, and on another stop took an excursion over to visit Trunk Bay at St. John (so we'd have visited all 3 U.S. Virgin Islands).

Richard.

P.S.: As mentioned in another thread, St. Thomas seems like a good choice for mixed group trips with some non-divers, offering a mix of good diving and rich topside options, including beautiful beach. But I don't see lots of such week-long trip reports, just cruise ship stops. Curious as to why...
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

Back
Top Bottom