What are my best dive options at these ports?

[bfwolf1]

Hi guys, I'm doing my first cruise ever Dec 9 to 20, an eastern Caribbean trip on Holland America. I'm AOW. I'd like to dive 2 or 3 days and am curious what people think my best options for that are based on my itinerary. All these destinations are first time for me. I would book with local dive operators.

Philipsburg, St Marten: 8 am to 5 pm

St Johns, Antigua and Barbuda: 8 am to 5 pm

Roseau, Dominica: 7 am to 6 pm

Castries, St Lucia: 7 am to 5 pm

Basseterre, St Kitts & Nevis (tender): 8 am to 5 pm

St Thomas: 8 am to 4 pm

Half Moon Cay, Bahamas (tender): 8 am to 3 pm

 

[Wants2divemore]

Here's who I've used on a previous cruise, along with my trip report from each op.

St. Johns, Antigua and Barbuda - Antigua Scuba School
Trip Report - Antigua Scuba School - Antigua
There are also good reports on SB about Indigo Divers

Basseterre, St. Kitts & Nevis - Pro Divers
Trip Report - Pro Divers - St. Kitts
There are also good reports on SB about St. Kitts Kenneth Dive Center

Castries, St. Lucia - Scuba Steve
Trip Report - Dive St. Lucia / Scuba Steve's - St. Lucia
There are some good reports on SB about Dive Fair Helen, although one person posted a long report about how unsafe it was and they wouldn't ever use them again.

Philipsburg, St. Marten - Dive Sint Maarten
Trip Report - Dive Sint Maarten - St. Maarten
There are also good reports on SB about Ocean Explorers

There are several previous posts that you should search through if you want more information.

If you're only looking for 2-3 days of diving, I'd skip St. John's since all of the operators are at least a 20 minute taxi ride from the port and the other 3 are easy access from the cruise pier. I can't comment on Roseau, St. Thomas, or Half Moon Cay, however.

I know @gmerick has dove these ports more than I, perhaps he can give some input as well.

 

[bfwolf1]

This is fantastic info, thank you! From what I've read St Thomas is a good place to dive from a cruise as well.

Perhaps what I should really be doing is figuring out which places have the topside activities I'm most interested in and dive in the other places!

 

[Wants2divemore]

Perhaps what I should really be doing is figuring out which places have the topside activities I'm most interested in and dive in the other places!

That sounds like a good plan.

When checking times for diving, give yourself at least 30 minutes from the scheduled arrival time in a port to actually get off the ship. If the port is small and you have to take a tender (small boat from the ship to the shore), give yourself 1h. The cruise line can tell you if a port is a tender port.

Make sure your dive excursion ends at least 1 hour before your cruise departure time, since sometimes the excursions run long and you don't want to be running for the boat. Each cruise line should have an emergency number you can call to reach the ship. Put this in your phone so that if you're running late on ride back from the dive, you can call the ship to let them know you're coming. I've been told by Royal Caribbean that if you call they might hold the boat for a little bit waiting for you.