Which ports?

[cruisegirl]

Hi all,
I am looking for some feedback/info. regarding some possible dive ports. I'm going on a cruise with a group of scuba divers in Jan. 2011. And I'm looking for input on which ports are good or the best to dive at. The ports are the following:


Aruba
Curacao,Antilles
Grenada
Barbados
St. Vincent
St. Kitts
St. Thomas
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Grand Turk


I have been diving in Barbados (x1) and St. Kitts (x2). In St. Thomas we've gone to St. John for snorkeling at the Marine Park. I've heard Grand Turk is awesome diving. But then I've heard Aruba is not. So any info. you can share would be appreciated. I'm looking for easy going dives as I'm just getting back into it after bronchitis/asthmas last December. I did dive in May and was fine. Thanks in advance.

 

[scubadiver888]

Aruba is okay. Depends on who you go with. Cruise lines tend to use Red Sail Sports. They take you to typical dives, lots of people, poor visibility. If you book your own it can be a descent dive.

Curacao is a very nice place to dive. You can book with The Dive Bus or Ocean Encounters. Both are good dive operators.

Grenada is okay but a lot of the stuff is deep and wreck diving. If you are like me and want marine life and wall dives, this might not be the best place. Also, there is a law on the books restricting construction on the beach. A while ago a hurricane wiped out a lot of the piers. Dive shops were unable to rebuild piers for the dive boats. When I was last there we had to wade out into chest deep water, climb into a small boat then from the small boat climb into the dive boat.

I've been to Barbados, St. Kitts and St. Thomas as well but you already know about these places.

Who'd you dive with in St. Kitts? Margaret at Pro Dive or Kenneth's?

 

[cruisegirl]

Hi SD888,
Thanks for the info. I had heard Aruba was iffy. Sounds like Grenada is out. I don't need real deep dives right now. I do like wrecks with all the marine life. lol. Nice to know about Curacao. At St. Kitts we dove with Kenneth's both times. And we always book our dives privately. I did the ships excursion for diving once in Hawaii on Maui. Never again. I like LaHaina divers but not as a ships excursion. It was a cattle boat. lol.

Aruba is okay. Depends on who you go with. Cruise lines tend to use Red Sail Sports. They take you to typical dives, lots of people, poor visibility. If you book your own it can be a descent dive.

Curacao is a very nice place to dive. You can book with The Dive Bus or Ocean Encounters. Both are good dive operators.

Grenada is okay but a lot of the stuff is deep and wreck diving. If you are like me and want marine life and wall dives, this might not be the best place. Also, there is a law on the books restricting construction on the beach. A while ago a hurricane wiped out a lot of the piers. Dive shops were unable to rebuild piers for the dive boats. When I was last there we had to wade out into chest deep water, climb into a small boat then from the small boat climb into the dive boat.

I've been to Barbados, St. Kitts and St. Thomas as well but you already know about these places.

Who'd you dive with in St. Kitts? Margaret at Pro Dive or Kenneth's?

 

[budaman]

Hi Deb! Strange meeting you here

St. Vincent is supposed to be very good....we ended up going over to the Pirate's of the Caribbean location instead of diving, but those that did said it was very enjoyable. Some areas around Bequai are really good if you have time to catch the ferry over there.

In Grenada, we dove with Dive Grenada and yes you do need to wade out to the boat, but it was no hassle(Connie & I aren't physical gods ya know) Nice outfit & will pick you up from the docks & return you.

Dive Grenada - Grenada Scuba Diving Centre 'Dive Grenada'

FYI....we bought our condo in Cozumel this weekend....I'm so pumped!

Mike

 

[jimw]

We dove Grenada on a cruise, made our own arrangements after arrival, got in off the beach, etc We dove the wreck Bianca C, lowish viz and seemed deeper than it was due to the viz at that time. We enjoyed the shallow reef that followed the wreck dive--it seemed untrod upon. I would opt for 2 shallow dives if we go again.

Grand Turk should not be missed!

 

[Diver Kat]

Off your list we done St. Thomas - used Admiralty Dive Center. Great people. Picked us up at the cruise ship dock to take us to the boat and brought us back. I would dive again with them, no question.

In Grand Turk, we used Blue Water Divers. You have to cab to them. we went there not too long after they were hit by Ike, so I don't think they were at their best, but again nice people and the dives were good.

 

[cruisegirl]

Hi Deb! Strange meeting you here

St. Vincent is supposed to be very good....we ended up going over to the Pirate's of the Caribbean location instead of diving, but those that did said it was very enjoyable. Some areas around Bequai are really good if you have time to catch the ferry over there.

In Grenada, we dove with Dive Grenada and yes you do need to wade out to the boat, but it was no hassle(Connie & I aren't physical gods ya know) Nice outfit & will pick you up from the docks & return you.

Dive Grenada - Grenada Scuba Diving Centre 'Dive Grenada'

FYI....we bought our condo in Cozumel this weekend....I'm so pumped!

Mike

lol. Yeah Mike, fancy meeting you here. Hope all is well with you and Connie. Congrats on the condo. Very cool.

 

[cruisegirl]

Thanks for all the info. everyone. I appreciate it.
I decided that these will be my ports to dive in. I'll do Grand Turk, Barbados and Curacao. With St. Vincent as a possible 4th. Just depends on how the diving goes. After having been so sick last year, I don't want to push myself.