SCUBA the Caribbean

[Tos]

I just got back from our semi annual cruise to the Caribbean. We dove off of St. Johns after taking a cab from our port in Charlotte Amalie (St. Thomas) to Red Hook where we were picked up by our dive guide. We used 6paqScuba as our operator. Colette, who was an excellent dive guide/instructor took us to several beautiful spots where we enjoyed some of the best diving of the season.

 

As alway, I suggest to fellow divers to find something other than the "cattle car" type dive boats. I find it much more fun to dive with small groups where someone isn't kickup up sand or kicking you in the face with a fin. Marine life is much more apt to stick around when one or two careful divers approach instead of a group of 20 all hoping to get a glimpse before scaring off the poor fish.

 

The big risk is finding someone that is good. Fortunately, I have had either friends or business aquaintances in each of the areas that were able to make recommendations of smaller dive operators that were good. In some cases, I called the operators directly to ask about equipment, experience and references. To date, I have not been burnt with a bad operator. So here are some suggestions of operators I've used and would/will use again.

 

In St. Thomas/St. Johns I used 6paqscuba. Colette was our dive guide. Her email is cddiede@earthlink.net. They have a web site that I would suggest visiting before you make up your mind.

 

In St. Maarten, I used

LeRoy French

Ocean Explorers Dive Center

Simpson Bay beach

St Maarten N.A.

011 599 544 5252 ph/fax

http://www.stmaartendiving.com

http://www.LeRoyFrench.com

 

He was a 20 minute cab ride from the dock in Philipsburg. Again, a small boat with a max of 6 divers. We dove the reef on our 1st dive and a boat wreck on our 2nd dive.

 

In the Caymans we dove off the shore at Eden's Rock and Devils Grotto. The hurricane did so much damage to the soft coral it almost brought tears to your eyes.

 

In Cozumel, we used

Eduardo Echeverria

PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer

http://www.cozumelsports.com

eduardo@cozumelsports.com

Off. 011- 52 (987) 8726726

Cell. 011- 52 (987) 8785439

 

He was a great operator with a boat that could handle 6 divers. He was very organized and will make sure that no one goes home disappointed. We got max dive time with Eduardo and look forward to our November trip when we will see him again.

 

Hopefully this will help some of you looking for good small operators.