SCUBA, St. Thomas or St. Maarten??

[fireguru]

22 Days till we leave for the Eastern on Explorer (RCCL) and would like to know what port is better for a dive. Also, do I just do the excursion from the ship or go on my own. Can anyone help???

[bruce-r]

I would pick St. Thomas over St. Maarten.

 

Wether to go with this ship's excursion or not depends on a number of factors. Tell us more about yourself, your skill level, and what you are looking for in a dive operator so we can offer a more informed opinion.

[Hilary]

St Thomas for sure. Book with either Admiralty or Blue Island Divers. They both pick you up in exactly the same spot as where the cruise ship excursion goes from, and have FAR fewer divers. I know with Blue Island you can be a rank beginner and it's no problem. We had 2 "paper divers" (didn't have their plastic cards yet), and they were well taken care of. We dove with Blue Island in December and definitely recommend them highly.

[KATHY JEAN]

I just got off the Golden Princess and dove in both St. Thomas and St. Maarten. I liked St. Maarten better only because we saw a school of baracuda and one of the divers we were with had a small turtle swim up to him and look right into his mask. It was a little tricky getting back into the dive boat as the water was very choppy. We booked through Princess and they used Dive Safaris. Very efficient and helpful to all skill leavels. In St Thomas we also Booker through Princess and they used Underwater Safaris. Two good dives We went tho Buck Island and did sort of a mini wall dive. then changed our tanks junped off the other side of the boat and did a small wreck. Very enjoyable.

[JimHam4]

Here are some reviews of diving and operators in St. Thomas. I would recommend Admiralty Dive on your own. We only had four divers on the boat.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=115737

[karen2cruz]

Agree with Bruce-r. St Thomas and Blue Island Divers. Used them in January on the Golden Princess. We had a great time.

[CruiseLunatic]

:cool: If you should just want some beach time and a shore entry dive, Coki Beach Dive Center, St Thomas, has a truck on the beach with equipment and trained staff. You'll will pass their shop a few hundred yards before the beach. Just tell the shuttle driver you want Coki Beach and have them drop you off right behind the Coki Beach Dive Center truck on the beach. Staff are there with equipment if you have a buddy and usually can free up someone, for a fee, if you are alone or can email ahead. They have a web site! Princess Cruises uses them some. They will answer e-mails.

 

There is someone wandering around that can take a food order (it might be Thor- can't miss the hair) and beverages are available on the beach as well. Another point: once you are done diving and if you choose to have a brew, there was a local guy selling beer out of the back of his truck beside of the Dive truck for about half the cost.

[bruce-r]

http://www.cokidive.com and the people there are really nice.

[fireguru]

Bruce, I have several certs Open Water, Advanced, Rescue, Night, PSD....etc. But I have never dove salt water or the ocean for that matter. I do go to Florida a good bit to dive the springs plus lots of training for the Fire Dept. (Atlanta Fire) I am just trying to find what is best. I know I will not miss my cruise if I go with one of the excursions however its $ 95 and I do not want to be on of 40 divers. This is why I asked which way to go Excursion or Private????? Any advice is appreciated.....Thanks Brad

[bruce-r]

I'n my opinion, you are much more likely to have a better, less crowded trip if you make your own arrangements.

 

In addition to the already mentioned admiralty dive center and Blue Island Divers I have read only positive reviews for Chris Sawyer diving so I would check with them too.

[fireguru]

I'n my opinion, you are much more likely to have a better, less crowded trip if you make your own arrangements.

 

In addition to the already mentioned admiralty dive center and Blue Island Divers I have read only positive reviews for Chris Sawyer diving so I would check with them too.

 

 

Thank you Bruce......Brad

[gvre]

Just got back from St. Thomas. We dove again with Chris Sawyer. They are a first class operator. Wouldn't dive with anyone else!!

Richard

[Wennfred]

Coki beach was my first Carribbean dive years back, freshly new right out of Dive school, I took that beach dive, No problems, vis wasnt all that good but overall, great dive, new stuff to see and I learned alot about corals. This dive was booked on one of the cruise ships, I think it was off the Soverign, since its way back and dont have my logs, I cant give you more details. I do remember Diving around that underwater marine center and the dive was no more then 35 to 40 feet.

 

One last thing, make sure you get these awesome dives video taped, I have only one out of hawaii, Love watching that video, best thing I have ever done.`

[skypilotks]

Hi!

Has anyone heard of, dove with 6-PAQ scuba in St. Thomas/St John??

 

Any positive/Neg expereinces?

[nancyhi]

hey FireGuru! My husband is a firefighter, and a long time ocean scuba diver in the Pacific, and has been in some hairy situations in both the ocean and the fireground. To him, diving in the Carribean is the equivalent of dropping him into a fish tank. He was impressed with Cozumel though and enjoyed the drift diving there. He likes a challenge, so he was more up for something more interesting than hanging out in a shallow reef.

 

But, i'd pick St Thomas over st Maarten for dive scenery. but as far as operators go, I was with Blue Island Divers and Ocean explorers, and thought Ocean Explorers had the more experienced divemasters and had their operation down pat.

 

We went on a two tank with Blue Island. Our first dive was terrible, and that was 90% consensus of all the divers. they took us out to a wreck that was supposed to be really nice, but it turned into a drift dive,and got pretty hairy out where we were. I think we were near the Wit Shoals area, but that wasn't the wreck we were at. We were at a younger wreck that had less divers around. For good reason obviously. The boat captain even apologized saying that he should have checked the water conditions before dropping us all in. we all fought to get into place so we could go down, and a couple people lost half their tank struggling to get from the backof the boat to the front of the boat where the anchor line was attached to the wreck. they assured us it was better below. no it wasn't, and there were too many beginners on the boat to survive more than 30 minutes there. what a waste of time and money.

 

One divemaster stayed down with the only experienced diver who could stand being down at the wreck. so we all had to wait for them to come up to get to the nextlocation. Poor planning.

 

However, they did make up for it on the second dive. they took us to a nice calm reef area, and we saw a lot of pretty reef fish there. I had a good time at the second location which was between the wreck and the cruise pier. They took us right back to the cruise pier, and my husband and I were the only ones from the cruise pier that morning. everyone else met them at their diveshop. there was about 8-10 divers, plus 2 divemasters and their photographer. The other bad thing occurred when we got into the pier area, and their boat died. It was funny that it was right outside where our room was, so my kids were on the balcony watching and waving as we were stranded in the water below. Blue Island had other friends in the water, so another boat came over to shuttle us back to shore. But while we transferred over to the boat with all our gear, their boat suddenly got fixed and they took off to return to their shop. the second boat we were on was the BOB boat, so while it was cool to see their operation and meet the crew, one guy got really mad at us that we got off the Blue Island boat. he told us to stick with our own boat from now on. I was pretty upset cuz I wasn't given a choice. Blue Island told us to get on board and that the BOB boat had to go pick up their next set of passengers anyhow, so to get in their boat. I paid them, even tipping them, (what was I thinking?) and know I'd prefer not to use them again. I had reservations with Chris Sawyer beforehand, but cancelled when I found out they were on the other side of the island, and that we'd have no time left of our day at st Thomas if we'd gone with them. It took about an hour to get to their diveshop, plus the three hours for a two tank and then another hour to return to the ship. I wanted to get back to my kids and do something in the afternoon with them.

 

All I ended up having time for was to go shopping. Be warned. Sunday's are a bad day to be in St Thomas. Everything is closed but the pier tourist area. Taxi drivers warn you before you start off for downtown. Atleast they saved me the trouble. My daughter and I shopped in the tourist area. Knowing what I know now, I'd do it differently if I go back. My husband wasn't impressed at all with this island just cuz of Blue Island. If you don't have kids to worry about and can spend the majority of time going diving, go with Chris sawyer. They were really responsive to my e-mail communications and even called me when they had a question. I was impressed. I'd go with them in a heartbeat if it weren't for the kids waiting for me.

[Kracknov]

Does anybody have a website address or email address for chris sawyer?

[Adam185]

Their web address is http://www.sawyerdive.vi. They are a great operator. We had our own DM and a dive photographer who took pictures and we were able to purchase a cd with the pictures and a screensaver. Would highly recommend them.

[nets33]

Hoping for some input from all of you who have utilized any of the recommended scuba shops listed here...

 

I contacted Coki Beach (because the boyfriend doesn't dive) first... found out they are on vacation the week I'll be there. Who goes on vacation in the Virgin Islands?:rolleyes: I've contacted the others for some informaiton but thought I'd consult the experts here on CC too.

 

Anyway.... I'm arriving on the Carnival Valor and docking time states 9am. Not sure if that is EST or AST. Anyone have experience with ship arrival time vs. island time in these type of situations? Ideally I'd like to do a morning dive so that the bf and I can spend time in the afternoon but I'm not sure if I will be able to do that if the boat is docking so late. Help....!

[JimHam4]

We sailed on the Triumph in May and Coki Beach was on vacation then too!!

 

I don't remember the docking time, but Admiralty met us at the dock with plenty of time to spare. Did two dives and got back in time to explore the dock area. Probably could have done more, but it was hot and didn't want to drag 3 kids around everywhere.

 

I do remember AST and EST differ with daylight savings time, but Admiralty knew what time to meet me.

[nets33]

Thanks Jim... looks like I'll have to do an afternoon dive because of the late docking. I'm OK with that... now all I have to do is convince the boyfriend. :p

 

Thanks for your feedback... I'll be trying to find a package that works best for me (and the bf).

[Nitrodog]

Nets33, if your boyfriend doesn't dive he can still dive at Coki Beach. They host a 30-40 min course and will then take him down to around 40 ft. I did it with them prior to getting certified. If he suffers from ashma they won't let him dive. If he likes it maybe he'll decide to get certified like you. Oh and the Coki people will pick you up at the pear as well.

[cruzegirl]

Nitrodog and Cruiselunatic,

May I ask where you got your animated scuba oriented avatars??? I've been trying to find some with no success.....thanks.....;)