St. Lucia or St Kitts?

[dawnc]

Which of these ports would have the better diving? We are on Carnival Victory in August. The divers in our group are trying to figure out where to dive and want to use Carnival's excursion so we are narrowed down to these 2 choices. From the descriptions of the excursions on Carnival's website and the research I have done it would seem St Lucia would be best but was wondering if anyone here has any advice.

 

Dawn

[Laurie S.]

I haven't had the opportunity to dive in St. Kitts yet, but it would be pretty darn hard to beat the underwater beauty of St. Lucia at the Pitons.

[phoenix III]

Snorkeled in St Lucia and the Pitons are great. Sailing on Carnival in August also and hope to dive in St. Kitts. So I will be following your thread to see the answers. - Phoenix III - going PLATINUM

[Sailfish]

I too recommend St. Lucia (Superman's Flight is my favorite dive site) over St. Kitts, though if you can get a dive operator to take you to Monkey Shoals or to the "Boulders" these dive sites in St. Kitts are among my favorites.

 

Kenneth's dive boat departs from the marina next door to the cruise terminal; we frequently charter the dive boat for my group when we are scheduled to be in St. Kitts.

 

Good luck.

[dawnc]

Based on the replies I think I am going to have to tell them to dive in St Lucia. They won't have any say about where they will go on the dive, but I am sure the tour operators will bring them to a good site. They don't want to go with an independent operator and prefer to stay with a Carnival excursion.

Thanks for the help!

Dawn

[Laurie S.]

You would be so much better off with an independent operator at St. Lucia. Check out Papa at the cruise terminal. I can give you a link to his website.

[ScubaCruiser54]

Dove with Kenneths Dive Shop on June 30, 2011. They were friendly and courteous. Water was murky, with visibility at about 40-50 feet. Lots of fish. Saw a turtle. A lot of arrow crabs...good sized as well.

 

Would dive with them again. Have not dove at St.Lucia, so sorry no comparison.

[scubadiver888]

Based on the replies I think I am going to have to tell them to dive in St Lucia. They won't have any say about where they will go on the dive, but I am sure the tour operators will bring them to a good site. They don't want to go with an independent operator and prefer to stay with a Carnival excursion.

Thanks for the help!

Dawn

 

If they are going with the cruise ship excursion, check to see if they use Dive St. Lucia. If they do, first dive is a shore dive on a beautiful marine park BUT they have everyone demonstrate mask removal and recovery. It took our group a few seconds but some people skipped that day because they didn't want to do the mask r & r.

[w&k]

Seriously now, skip the shorex dives.

 

I did that same one with the ship in St. Lucia. Once. NEVER AGAIN. We had a huge group, spent forever doing mask skills, and don't even get me started on the rental equipment. The whole story is on my website (link below). From this thread, I think I'll drop 'Papa' a line for our December trip.

 

In St. Kitts, tell your friends to go ahead and book direct with Kenneth's Dive Center http://www.kennethdivecenter.com (the website name has changed - now no 's') We found them back in 2004 (on a ship dive) and have been regulars ever since.

 

If you tell them that Wendy adn Keith from Florida sent you, they'll let you come and dive with them anyway. ;) We're heading back to dive with them again in December, and I just can't wait to see the gang!

 

Wendy

 

http://wendyandkeith.webs.com/

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/wendyandkeith

[m1947]

Need people for snorkel and sightsdeeing trip by boat to Jalouise Beach on Nov. 20. 2011

[krummdog]

I went on the Carnival Victory too last March. I loved St. Kitts! We went to White house bay, South Friars bay, and Cockleshell beach and they were all fantastic! St. Lucia had okay snorkeling at Jalousie Beach in between the pitons. At St. Lucia the snorkeling was pretty good but all of my family and I were getting stung by something and we were pretty sure it was jelly fish! Other than that it was great. Both places have a lot of great places to snorkel!

[dirvin0500]

I dropped Papa Irwin a line at Dolphin Dive Adventure and he called me that night.....!!!!

Not wrote to me but called me at home and answered all my questions. Quite a nice man.