Visiting St. Thomas, St. Marten, St. Lucia, Barbados, and St. John in February 2013.

[eric080]

Hello everyone! I am planning on a cruise to the above islands and wish to get some diving in. Can anyone tell me which Islands I should concentrate on if I only dive a limited amount? I don't want to dive all five as wifey would kill me! Thanks.
eric

 

[jameseg]

Of those, I've only visited St. Lucia. There's some terrific diving in the south, near Soufriere and the Pitons. If that's were you would be going, I'd highly recommend it. If your diving would be in the north, near Castries where the cruise port is, I'd skip St. Lucia diving, as I thought the north was average at best. Another consideration is that St. Lucia has some cool things to see and do topside, so you may want to do some of those things with your wife at this stop instead of dive. When my wife and I were there a couple years ago we did a tasting at a local rum distillery, took a snorkel cruise up and down the west coast, and checked out the volcanic activity near Soufriere. You can also apparently hike to the top of the Pitons, although we didn't do that. It's a beautiful island.

James

 

[00wabbit]

I went on the carnival victory ship and dove with the ship (iyanola charters was the operator). We went to the pitons to do the superman flight dive. It was nice. I also liked diving At st marten with the ship (Caribbean dive college was the operator) the dives were close to the cruise terminal but nce and I saw my first shark.

I also dove in st Thomas with the ship. The dives were super easy about 40ft max. The only con was that they limited bottom time to 35mins and put you on Al72s. The guys that lead the dive were cool and theirs boat was nice

 

[drrich2]

St. Thomas is popular for diving and you can book a private excursion. I did twice, both with Admiralty Dive, and had good experiences. The last trip was back in November, and we did 2 sites; Armando's Paradise and Navy Barges. Both dives were just under an hour each.

Richard.

 

[eric080]

thanks to all, wife said i could do all islands so happy i am!

 

[00wabbit]

thanks to all, wife said i could do all islands so happy i am!

Enjoy!

 

[jimbodives]

Hey eric080,
I just booked the same cruise today for Jan 2014. My Wife said I can dive all the islands too, just like the last cruise. Trade off: our Daughter gets to come with us, again, so that she has someone to do excursions with. Please post a report (or just PM me) when you get back.

Jim

 

[lhhoback]

We are doing this trip in Aug. I would be interested to hear who you used and what ya thought. Thanks

 

[Bratface]

I went on the carnival victory ship and dove......

I also dove in st Thomas with the ship. The dives were super easy about 40ft max. The only con was that they limited bottom time to 35mins and put you on Al72s. The guys that lead the dive were cool and theirs boat was nice

Who did you dive with? I live in St Thomas and dive every weekend with Red Hook Dive Center. There is a two tank dive at 9am and the dives are 55 minutes and 45 minutes. The afternoon dive starts at 1pm, it's one tank and lasts about 45-50 minutes. The problem with diving from a cruise ship is getting to the dive shop in time for the dive. I think that is why most people on the ships dive with the operation out of Havensite or with Admiralty. That said, if you can't make it to the East End, Admiralty or Blue Island would be your best bet. Check their websites.