St Thomas Dive Scheduling Quandary

[mahdnc]

Our ship, Celebrity Eclipse, is scheduled to be at Charlotte Amalie from 8AM-5PM. There will be 7 cruise ships at port that day and unfortunately our ship will be tendering, not docking. This could easily add 1/2 hr time to stepping foot on St Thomas.

 

I am concerned that the delays incurred with tendering would prevent us from showing up at the check in area on time for any morning two tank dive offerings. Dive operators close to the pier start at 8-8:30AM. Operators further away start at 8:30-9AM (Sapphire Beach/Red Hook) but I don't think we can get there in time. Private charter is financially out of the question. I am thinking that our best course of action is to book our two tank dive thru the ship.

 

Any other options I have overlooked? Dive shops that can accommodate us?

 

Any idea who Celebrity/Royal Caribbean uses for their dive excursions?

[Laurie S.]

Have you e-mailed with Blue Island Divers? They might accommodate you. I think we left on our dives with them well after 9 am.

[mahdnc]

I have not received a response from Blue Island Divers yet. I did get an email from St. Thomas Diving Club. It read:

 

If the schedule stays the same as it is now we can not pick you up and have you here at the dive shop in time for the morning departure. The afternoon boat will not be back in time to get you back to the cruise ship before the final "all aboard". Keep checking the schedules of the ship. Sometimes this can change.

[Laurie S.]

Admiralty Divers might be able to give you an afternoon two-tank dive, but the timing will be close for returning. I wanted to try them last August when I was on Oasis, but their morning schedule didn't work out and the afternoon only had a 30 minute safety window.

 

I checked and we arrived at 10 am and Blue Island gave us a three-tank dive with plenty of time to spare. I think they'll be your best bet for your timing.

[mahdnc]

Thanks for the information. I will wait for Blue Island Diver's reply.

[Kryssa]

If you don't mind shore diving, Coki Beach has guided shore dives at 11:30 and 1:30 or if you have a buddy you can rent gear and go out on your own.

 

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[mahdnc]

good point. Are the shore dives good at Coki Beach? Are there other shore dives to consider?

[mahdnc]

I have also sent in an inquiry to Aqua Marine. They are a small dive operator that is located at Bluebeard's Beach Club which is a few miles southeast of the port. Their website says that their 2 tank morning dive leaves at 9:30AM which I think we should be able to make.

 

They are well reviewed on TripAdvisor, but I haven't check this board yet. Anyone have experience with them?

[cruzbound]

Hi there,

We were considering Aqua Marine but decided to use Aqua Action - they are in Secret Harbour. They are picking us up at the port at 9 am but you may want to contact them and see if they would be willing to pick you up a little later. They were very helpful and responsive when I emailed them.

 

I am not sure if Celebrity uses the same dive operator as RC but we went with the RC ship dive excursion almost two years ago and it was Underwater Safaries. We thought they did a pretty good job but this was our first diver ever after getting certified.

 

Hope this helps.

[mahdnc]

Well we ended up booking with Aqua Marine. They said that they would pick us up at 09:15-ish at the harbor which will work for us. And they are rated pretty high in TripAdvisor.

 

cruzbound, I looked into Aqua Action but their website had their 2 tank dives starting at 08:30am and they are in the Red Hook area. Perhaps if I had contacted them, I would have found out that they were more flexible (although St Thomas Diving Club was not).

[Laurie S.]

Enjoy the diving!

[mahdnc]

Enjoy the diving!

 

Thanks. And thanks to you and everyone for their suggestions. BTW, I still have not heard from Blue Island Divers yet......

[NEREVS]

Well we ended up booking with Aqua Marine. They said that they would pick us up at 09:15-ish at the harbor which will work for us. And they are rated pretty high in TripAdvisor.

 

cruzbound, I looked into Aqua Action but their website had their 2 tank dives starting at 08:30am and they are in the Red Hook area. Perhaps if I had contacted them, I would have found out that they were more flexible (although St Thomas Diving Club was not).

 

Great choice we have dove with them twice and enjoyed it both times. First time only 5 divers second time just the wife and I. Great people and they treat you first class!