What's your experience diving with Sandals Antigua....

[yrbabygirl]

I am considering Sandals Antigua for my next trip. I loved Sandals Grande in St Lucia. Hoping the diving with Sandals Antigua is just as good... what was your experience like if you stayed & dove with Sandals Antigua?

 

[bflying]

We are considering Antigua Sandals as well in early May. I am interested in any info as well.

 

[jvevil]

Try posting on tripadvisor

 

[manni-yunk]

I just got back from Sandals Antigua, last week.

Ive been to Sandals St Lucia in the past.

Let me know what you want to know and I will answer.

We were there from Dec 10 - 18th.

BEAUTIFUL place and love Sandals in General.

As with all Sandals - Make sure you take advantage of the "reservation" restaurants since the food is much better. The only "issue" with this resort is that it is a little buggy. Bring bug spray (off) with you since the store charges 25 US. Its not bad during the day - but as the sun goes down, it does get worse. Nothing to bad - but worth noting.

Diving.

Nothing spectacular - but worth doing. The resort is VERY conservative on diving since they get a TON of divers. They make everyone do the pool orientation. Even though I showed them that I was an advanced diver - my last dive was 5 days prior and I had over 100 dives this year - they still made me get in the pool and show that I know how to clear my mask and recover my regulator. Oh well - took 5 minutes and wasnt to bad.


They have a wreck about 2 miles from the resort that is shallow (15-30 FSW) and they look at it as a bad dive, but it was my favorite dive that we did. Its an old German Freighter and has a lot of structure and fish everywhere. I swam with a Wahoo (until it took off at mach 5).

Reef diving was average at best - but I got good video of a few sharks, an Octopus, I swam with a turtle for about 10 minutes, and saw all the usual suspects of Carribean reef fish - so I cant complain.


Overall - It was great and I would go back. Let me know what you want to know and I will answer since it is fresh in my mind.

As others will note - Sandals offers free diving and the diving is very good - BUT - its not your typical Dive resort that is solely based on diving. A lot of diving snobs look down at that, but I actually prefer it. I was on vacation with a few dives mixed in - others seem to want to go diving with a little vacation mixed it!!!

The did set up a night dive at our request - so they will basically do whatever the guests request.

 

[phelana]

To add to Mani Nukk's post, Antigua is not a fabulous dive destination. Sandals IMHO is a wholesale mill bringing folks in and out..it's massive and thus caters to the masses. Not a fan. Antigua has far better accommodations for a more intimate experience. Most dive sites are on the lower west and down south. In the past a long while ago, Sandals left some folks at sea. They did rescue them later.

http://www.*****************/forums/sandals_scuba_accident/sandals_scuba_accident.html

 

[gypsyjim]

T They did rescue them later.

http://www.*****************/forums/sandals_scuba_accident/sandals_scuba_accident.html

at least the got around to rescuing them. Hate it when they forget that last part...



We have never visited Antigua, but stayed 3X at the Sandals on T&C, and I dived with them.
They were are great group to dive with, but somewhat limited in options, as they do cater to more of a mass market clientele.

I did enjoy our Sandals stay and the diving, but I learned that we can do better $ wise than the Beaches/Sandals all inclusive by shopping and booking ourselves.

 

[manni-yunk]

To add to Mani Nukk's post, Antigua is not a fabulous dive destination. Sandals IMHO is a wholesale mill bringing folks in and out..it's massive and thus caters to the masses. Not a fan. Antigua has far better accommodations for a more intimate experience. Most dive sites are on the lower west and down south. In the past a long while ago, Sandals left some folks at sea. They did rescue them later.

http://www.*****************/forums/sandals_scuba_accident/sandals_scuba_accident.html

I have read all over the place that antigua was not great diving and I guess I agree - depending on what you are looking for. Warm, Clear water, great vis, cool wreck and decent reefs. Its not Belize - but I was only looing at 5-7 dives for the week - not a weeklong diving extravaganza.


That being said - Sandals, the entity, may be huge, but the individual resorts - I love. They are large, but never crowded. I love the all inclusive idea and we have tried several and think Sandals has it figured out best. Ive also tried Ala Cart vacations - but prefer all inclusive at this point.

I dont know what their protocol was like when they lost the divers, but from what I saw a few weeks ago - it wont happen again. The DM was VERY specific about staying with the group and kept a close eye on everyone. They had names and lists that were double and tripple checked. The Diver to DM ratio was kept at 6 to1.

Like I said - very conservative. Especially since the week before a group of us chartered a boat in the Keys, did 5-8 dives per day, no DM and did whatever we want. Also - MOST of my diving is from my own boat in NJ so having to follow a DM in the keys isnt my idea of fun. That being said - I enjoyed the diving.

It can be frustrating since they get ALL levels of divers. They said that they certify 30-50 people per week in Antigua. Not the "resort course" , but the actual PADI BASIC cert. The second day I dove there, we had 2 newly certified divers, myself, and one other experienced divers, and a guy who has dove for 30+ years. Very mixed group.

 

[jvevil]

Hey manni-yunk, any pics?
Thanks

 

[Bryan Cunningham]

I have worked for Sandals in Turks & Caicos and dove in Antigua for 5 years until recently leaving the Caribbean. Do not want to make my views public, but feel free to email me on bentdiver@live.com for thorough information.
Cheers
Bryan
​

 

[jvevil]

Sandals in T&C???