I did some work a few months in 1996 after the hurricane, they got hit pretty hard.
We were working about a mile from the tourst area between a gas plant and a steam plant.
The visibility was fantastic, even in the port areas. They have some little shops with various items divers have recovered (they often dive just after the docking of a cruise ship as it stirs up the bottom and will often bring items to the surface)
Great food, jerked and smoked chicken and pork...
They have a local rum (the spiced was good...) for about $2.00 a liter...
Lot's of liveaboards, the protected waters were so congested you could jump from one boat to the next.
The residents told us it was not uncommon for people to live on the boats for a few months a year and leave them mored out there the rest of the time. As a big storm aproaches some owners would pen all ports and hatches to collect insurance on the vessels instead of selling them at a loss. I would shop around down there if looking for a boat because they were so common and you would have to sail t back to the states...) that the prices were much cheaper.
Many wrecks in the area between the islands...
We did go out one day and do some recreational diving on the back side of the island. It was great over 100 foot of vis. and we same a huge moray during a swim through in the rocks. (I was disapointed we did not find any treasure
But thats the way it goes...
I thought it was totally worth checking out the whole island! But as listed above the diving was not the best, the bulk of the bottom is rock and makes for some great formations though...
Let us know how your trip goes!!
Jeff Lane