GradyDiver
Guest
My husband and I have booked a family holiday cruise on the Queen Mary 2 through the Caribbean. We have been on 3 "real" liveaboards and many land based dive resorts from the South Pacific to Central America and the Caribbean. So why are we posting this question....?
We figure we need some "breathing" room from the relatives during the cruise. The ship offers dive excursions, but we are avoiding those if possible after reading posts about cruise ship divers and dive operators.
So we are seeking advice and recommendations on diver operators on the following islands:
Bonaire
Grenada
Barbados
St. Lucia
Dominica
St. Kitts
Tortola
Thanks in advance for your advice. We will let you all know how the Queen's Liveaboard goes!
My wife and I had our honeymoon in Tortola and Bonaire.
In Tortola, we used Dive Tortola (1-800-353-3419diving@divetortola.com) and had a great time. Im not sure how they work with cruise ships, but I know we swung by a moored sailboat on the way to a dive to pickup 3 or 4 divers once, so theyre accommodating where they can be. They dont always dive the Rhone though. We dove it twice in a week of diving (call ahead).
In Bonaire, we stayed at the Plaza (not far from town where the ships dock) and used Toucan Diving (1-800-766-6016 info@toucandiving.com). Theyre a great operation and their house reef (Eighteeth Palm) is very nice (not the best dive on the island, but very healthy and lots of fish). You will need to take the Bonaire Dive Orientation and buy the Marine Park Tag before diving anywhere on the island.
Ive also heard good things about Divi Dive Bonaire at the Divi Flamingo (011(599)717-8285) (even closer to the cruise ship dock), but I never dove there, so Im not sure what their house reef is like (Im sure others will chime in). It also appears that Divi has a Barbados operation. You might want to try their number for Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, St. Maarten (800-367-3484).
Enjoy!