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Help me pick from these Southern Caribbean islands


BillOh
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I had a great dive in Bonaire. Recommendations helped. I will cruise again with 3 non-divers, so help me pick which island to dive on. St Martin is the only one I will probably rule out, have other plans.

 

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Bill,

 

 

We did this cruise in February with friends. Dove in every port, and they all have good diving and good operators.

 

 

If you only have one: Dominica

 

Book with Billy & Samantha at ALDIVE (www.aldive.com). They are great. The diving is fantastic. They provide transport to/from the pier. Great wall diving with almost no current is the norm. The Champagne reef is famous, and makes a great second dive as it's quite shallow.

 

 

Tie for second, depending on whether you're a wreck guy or a reef/fish guy:

 

If you like wrecks, dive Barbados with West Side Scuba Centre (www.westsidescuba.com), and dive the Stavron Ikita wreck. Again they provide transport to/from the port. Peter & Heather are great folks.

 

 

Better reefs at Grenada, with Scuba Tech Grenada. (https://www.scubatech-grenada.com/). Eveline is your contact there. We dove the Bianca C wreck there, but that's not going to be an option for the typical cruise ship visitor. None of the operators will take divers there that they don't know. However, there's a lot of great diving there otherwise. They pick up at a pier about a ten minute easy and interesting walk, through the Sendall Tunnel, from the ship.

 

 

Fourth choice would be St. Croix, with N2theBlue (www.n2theblue.com). Lots of fish life, and maximum 6 on the boat. The shop is one block from the gate to the pier.

 

 

You've ruled out St. Croix, and that would be the final choice on my list anyhow. However, if you do dive there, Octopus Diving's Dutch side operation is good (https://www.octopusdivingsxm.com/). Angie in the office is a sweetheart, and Willem and Tiff are usually your boat crew. They're in Bobby's Marina, about a 15 minute walk (even lugging gear), or you can take the water taxi (if you do, make sure to get on the smaller one. The larger does not go to Bobby's Marina).

 

 

You likely already know, there is basically no diving in San Juan. If you want to dive in Puerto Rico, it's away from the city.

 

 

As always, feel free to email using the link below (my user name here @gmail.com).

 

Harris

Denver, CO

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Grenada was great diving. We dove with Aquanauts in Grenada. They were a wonderful operation and we will use them again. Pick up at the pier and we requested to be left at Grande Anse beach for beach time, they offered to drop us off from the dive boat to their shop their (not the shop where we started our day) and then we told them when we were ready to leave and they took care of taxi back to the pier. Fantastic day.

 

We enjoyed diving in St Croix but next time we will dive with N2theBlue after visiting their shop and talking to them.

 

I am just ok with wreck dives so we do either the beach or Calabaza in Barbados. Dominica will be in 2019 for us and we are looking forward to it - our last visit the conditions were not good (visibility was poor and water was rough from torrential rains) and it was recommended that we not dive so we heeded their advice.

 

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Grenada was great diving. We dove with Aquanauts in Grenada. They were a wonderful operation and we will use them again. Pick up at the pier and we requested to be left at Grande Anse beach for beach time, they offered to drop us off from the dive boat to their shop their (not the shop where we started our day) and then we told them when we were ready to leave and they took care of taxi back to the pier. Fantastic day.

 

We enjoyed diving in St Croix but next time we will dive with N2theBlue after visiting their shop and talking to them.

 

I am just ok with wreck dives so we do either the beach or Calabaza in Barbados. Dominica will be in 2019 for us and we are looking forward to it - our last visit the conditions were not good (visibility was poor and water was rough from torrential rains) and it was recommended that we not dive so we heeded their advice.

 

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To you an O cruiser, thanks for the reply, I''ll be checking back here frequently and probably not making my choice until January.

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Dive St Croix - do the pier if you can.

Dive Grenada.

 

Dominica has way to much topside to skip for a dive

You can't dive the pier when a cruise ship is in port; an obvious problem when arriving by ship. I love Dominica but also look forward to diving there. I agree, it wouldn't be my choice for one dive island if I had never been there.

 

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You can't dive the pier when a cruise ship is in port; an obvious problem when arriving by ship. I love Dominica but also look forward to diving there. I agree, it wouldn't be my choice for one dive island if I had never been there.

 

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That is worth considering, thanks for mentioning it. Nobody mentioned Barbados, that is one island all 4 of us have been to before.

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That is worth considering, thanks for mentioning it. Nobody mentioned Barbados, that is one island all 4 of us have been to before.

 

I've always enjoyed Barbados, with West Side Scuba Centre (see above). Great wreck dive on the Stavron Ikita Everythign from moderate depth with plenty to see on deck; all the way to technical penetration and diving to the limits of no-decompression diving.

 

 

Harris

Denver, CO

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I've always enjoyed Barbados, with West Side Scuba Centre (see above). Great wreck dive on the Stavron Ikita Everythign from moderate depth with plenty to see on deck; all the way to technical penetration and diving to the limits of no-decompression diving.

 

 

Harris

Denver, CO

 

 

Thank you and the others that have replied.

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Dominica.......nothing compares. We've been there 4 times, with my dive club twice and twice on a ship. Castle Comfort Lodge and Dive Dominica are aces when it comes to diving and snorkeling there. I've been diving at the other islands listed as well but nothing compares to Dominica. You can see waterfalls on the other islands.

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Dominica.......nothing compares. We've been there 4 times, with my dive club twice and twice on a ship. Castle Comfort Lodge and Dive Dominica are aces when it comes to diving and snorkeling there. I've been diving at the other islands listed as well but nothing compares to Dominica. You can see waterfalls on the other islands.

 

Would you elaborate on the nothing compares? I am enjoying this thread and glad I have nearly a year to figure it out.

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