Which of these islands has the best dives? (St Thomas, St John, St Kitt)

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!

DazedAndConfuzed

Contributor
Messages
1,234
Reaction score
91
Location
NYC
# of dives
200 - 499
DW got her way again and we are going to a cruise instead of an liveaboard/dive trip. The trip is coming up very very soon and only now did I start looking into dives. The other islands (Barbados (hopefully the Strav) and St Lucia), I will probably book some dives.

The remaining 3 islands, I would probably book 2 trips, leaving one last one as a beach/snorkel or island day. I've dove the Navy Barge in St Thomas (which was average), did the Saba liveaboard that makes a few stops in St Kitt. Is the average dive in St John better than the other 2?

I think they will usually take day trip divers to the split wreck in St Kitt. In fact, they seem to love taking day trippers to wrecks, especially when there is no reef to dive.
 
St. John and St. Thomas are equally average. I've been going to St. John for years, and while I do always scuba dive there, I've found I see just as much while snorkeling.
 
I agree with ^ - dives we did around both islands were pretty average. Lots of wrecks south of Charlotte Amalie,maybe Admiralty or Blue Island do some of the better ones. Both pickup at the cruise dock, one by van, one by boat.

St. John has the snorkel park if that's of interest. I believe they may still be doing some rebuilding post hurricane. I read somewhere Cruz Bay Watersports still had a limited schedule (as of August)

For snorkeling, your cruise probably has a Coki Beach St Thomas excursion. They do Snuba off the beach also but IMO the best snorkeling - even a average shallow dive - is past the Coral World outflow pipes to the right.

They do go over to the BVI's from there but likely not on a cruise schedule. See if anyone is diving the Rhone on your schedule. It would be kind of far though for a day stop at St John.

The best dive is Carval Rock but weather can make that undivable - our default was Congo Cay when that happened. Cow/Calf Rocks is a known shallow dive in the area also - we didn't get there.

Are you porting in St. John or just going over via ferry from St.Thomas? If the former, Cruz Bay has a shop a block or so from the harbor. If the latter, St John might be your best snorkel option due to the time it takes.
 
Can't speak to St. Kitts, but agree StT & StJ pretty much the same. There are some good deeper sites, but in my experience most tend to go to the tried and true unless you are a known commodity/you have been out with them before. I worked on StT for almost a year and got out every weekend possible. Default sites were Cow/Calf/Ledges/Dog - and a few other Pillsbury Sound sites. Coki can be done by shore, but the best part is a ways out, closer to Coral World and there can be a decent current around there. If it was the regulars & weather cooperated, the Atlantic sites Congo and Carval are deeper & more diverse. Mingo was a good second site while around that side.

In my time there, we only made it out to French Cap once. An offshore pinnacle similar to Diamond Rock in Saba w/ bottom around 90 feet, but again it burns gas to get out there and conditions must be really good. I will say I saw more sharks diving StT then I've seen in the other 16 years diving combined. Nurse, Caribbean Reef and Whitetips one or more species on most dives. I'm sure there are other sites, but I was limited by that darn work stuff getting i the way of diving. Wanted to get to BV's and d the Rhone, but only certain shops were heading there, usually mid-week.

My favorite snorkel site on StT was Sapphire Beach. (I also happened to stay there making it really easy!) Eel grass meant turtles almost every day. Shallow rocky areas sheltered juvis and squadron of squid. Larger beach than Coki, snacks & bar onsite. Have not been back since the hurricanes last year, so I can't speak to current conditions. On StJ, Iiked Waterlemon Cay, be aware it is about a half mile walk from parking to the Cay. I did hear Trunk Bay snorkel trail was pretty much wiped.

Never got to Navy Barge, though that is the site that started my quest for certification. Snorkeled there on a 1999 cruise ship excursion on a rainy fall day. Divers were below and looked like they were having loads more fun.
 
I will probably do beach stuff on St John, just because of the dearth of dive ops, implying it's not really a dive destination. On St Thomas, might head to coki, either guided beach or boat dive.. just so I can some of the Northeast sites (unless those sites are lamer than the southern ones). Thought abt going off on our own for the beach dive, but heard it's not like Bonaire, where you can jump without having to know anything about the site.
 
Coki is not for doing on your own, you are correct - not like Bonaire. There is no distinct 'reef' rather it's a gradually sloping sandy flat. Pretty indistinct to me. Depth about 40 - 50.There was often a sweeping current. Had my guides not known where to turn and pull us out of the current, we could have been swept around the point. All I can say about diving Coki was it beat sitting in the office. If you are heading to that side of the island Red Hook Dive Center is just down the street. If you are coming in by cruise, Admiralty will pick you up. I hear good things about them, just never had enough time.
 
I called up Coki, they said its easy enough for experienced divers, just follow the shoreline. The only thing might be the visibility, depending on weather. It might be good to go on our own given it is the 1st dive of the trip and some people might want to acclimate, and if condition is ideal, we can linger there hopefully longer than if we went with a group of people, maybe to capture pictures of some critters, unless it is so devoid of life that we get bored of waiting for something to appear.

As for St Thomas Diving Club, if I was to do a boat dive in the Charlotte Amalie vicinity, I mind as well reach out to Admiralty or some others that will pick us up right by the cruise pier.
 
We actually got caught in the current at Coki once. It picked up a lot past Coral World and we couldn't make any progress against it. As we seemed headed around the point, we got out at a small cove and climbed a path back up - found ourselves in the rear of the Coral World parking lot. My buddy walked back over to Coki and got a cab - I waited with the gear. After we got back the tank renter said he was just about to come look for us with the jetski.

Later we figured out that had we gone around the point, we could have swam past some boats moored there and gotten out across the street from the dive shop.

Before you pass Coral World it's pretty non-descript even bare but it does get better. Never seemed to get very deep though. Right near where we climbed out was a massive coral head in 10', I wanted to get closer but due to the current was afraid I'd damage it.

Red Hook Dive is a good operation. Formerly Sawyer Dive, they took over when he moved to St. John. When we were there the entire staff, including the DM's were instructors which might promote better dives depending on who else is on the boat with you.

But off a cruise you're better off with Admiralty or Blue Island Divers. BID picks up by boat just off the cruise dock - they can't moor so you wave them in - their boat is marked. On the off-chance (none if it's a big cruise ship) you moor at Crown Marina instead - you can walk there.

I know people who've used Admiralty and been very satisfied. Their shop is sort of downtown along the waterfront - boat is across the street afaik. They pickup at WICO (cruise dock) with a van.

I believe the cruise operator is the one based at the Marriott so that may siphon off some of the less experienced divers from your boat.

I'd only go for Red Hook if there was a good chance for Carval Rock, otherwise it's a long drive over. We headed out there on a local boat once but 1/2 way there it became too rough. We liked Congo but it wasn't epic - we were staying 10mins. from Coki and wanted to boat dive.

I was told by another operation that St. Thomas Dive Club got more beginner traffic from the resort - it was their competition so IDK. Bolongo Bay is quite a bit closer to Charlotee Amalie. About the only place we got stuck in traffic was on that road one afternoon heading towards town.
 
Admiralty Dive Center has lots of great spots. They also pick you up for free at your cruise port. They are close to the best wrecks, 20 minute boat ride. They also dont do big groups. Small personal groups. AND THEY HAVE A MINI PIG onboard :)
 

Back
Top Bottom