Who to use in Southern Caribbean??

[mle_osu]

I will be joining my family on the yearly cruise the first week of august and this year we will be touring the southern caribbean. My mother and I will be looking forward to diving every chance we get (every port if possible) and would like some suggestions on dive operators.

Here are the ports of call:

• Oranjestad, Aruba (can do a night dive too!!)

• Willemstad, Curacao

• Philipsburg, St. Maarten

• Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

We have contacted dive aruba, but nothing is set in stone and i havent received a reply yet.

Any help/suggestions is appreciated!!!

 

[BurBunny]

Emily, since you have Aruba covered, I'll give my $.02 on the others.

Curacao - I really like Caribbean Sea Sports here. They're the house shop at the Marriott and do a really nice job. Also try contacting Lion's Dive.

Personally, I'd skip St. Maarten for the diving and have a fun topside day there. This is from someone who also likes getting in every possible dive.

St. Thomas - several good options here. Chris Sawyer is an all-around class operation. If you want shore dives, go to Coki Beach. I like St. Thomas Diving Club because they often dive one of my favorite sites in the Caribbean - Armando's Paradise. For convenience, Blue Island Divers will pick up at the cruise ship pier.

Hope that helps! Holler if you have more questions on any of these.

 

[mle_osu]

Thanks for the response. At Curacao, should we just focus on shore diving instead of boat dives? I also noticed that there were guided shore dives and I am guess non-guided?? Which would you suggest?

 

[CSD1129]

I think I was on this cruise in april. Royal Caribbean?

In Aruba I'd use Pelican (I love them.) The ship used red sail...possibly the worst dives I've ever done in the caribbean. Red Sail is just...awful.

Curacao - Booked through the ship. They used ocean encouters...at the seaquarium resort area. Good Op. Great day of diving.

I've been to ST.Thomas independently and used Chris Sawyer...he's got a great dive op. While there on a cruise I used underwater safaris. They're pretty good too...but yet again I booked through the ship.

SXM. (I'll be there shortly!) I usually use Dive Safaris. I would not recommend booking through the ship (they'll put you out of bobby's marina...cattle car!). I'm pretty sure the big cruiselines use Dive Safaris in town. SXM is not world class diving, yet they do have some good sites. I didn't dive when I was there in April (only there a day!) and we wanted to hop around the island and visit friends.

Hope this helps!
-Christine

 

[BurBunny]

Thanks for the response. At Curacao, should we just focus on shore diving instead of boat dives? I also noticed that there were guided shore dives and I am guess non-guided?? Which would you suggest?

Emily, for a single day, I'd do boat diving. That way you don't have to worry about getting a car, figuring out the location, etc - leave that up to the dive op. Then again, I usually prefer boat dives to shore so take that recommendation with a grain of salt

You also may have noticed I did not recommend any of the ship operators. While they do an adequate job, they're often cattle boats and "lowest common denominator" dives where everyone comes up when the first runs low on air. Not my favorite way of diving. Ship's operators are fine when there are no other viable options due to logistics, but I'd try independent first. Support the local economy!

 

[Damselfish]

I usually prefer boat diving but in Curacao unless you have a particular boat dive in mind (like the Superior Producer or Mushroom Forest) I'd consider doing shore diving. It's just as good as most of the boat dives and you won't have to worry about schedules. No need to rent a car, just take a cab. I would suggest going out to Habitat Curacao, you can rent tanks and whatever, hang out, and do a few shore dives right from their dock. They have a very nice shore diving facility. Another option is Lion's Dive though the shore diving isn't nearly as nice there. Lion's Dive has better food and there's a whole bunch of other activity in the area. Habitat is further away pretty much the middle of noplace, more expensive cab ride but still cheaper than a cruise excursion.

 

[mle_osu]

Thanks so much for all your help! I wasnt planning on using the cruise excursions, unless I had to, but I cant think of a reason I would have to. Looking forward to diving at each stop!!

 

[robstrash]

Thanks so much for all your help! I wasnt planning on using the cruise excursions, unless I had to, but I cant think of a reason I would have to. Looking forward to diving at each stop!!

Any updates on who you used in Aruba and Curacao? Going cruising in Feb 2006 and stopping at those 2 places and wondering who you used and if you like them.

Thanks.

 

[scubatexastony]

I'd suggest giving Mark and Suzy at The-Dive-Bus.com a shout, all the gear and goodies, (lunch included) will be in the van for a couple good shore dives. Habitat was mentioned, but it's a good ride out there and Blue Bay is a lot closer. You can shore dive Blue Wall and Gardens and they have a great shop, rentals, showers, and a good resturant/ bar to boot.... JMHO

Merry Christmas!

tony