Any recent Dive Fair Helen experiences?

[crusinhokie]

We are trying to decide between booking with the cruise line or going with Dive Fair Hellen in St. Lucia. Any recent divers who can provide their experiences? I have searched this site but most comments are from last winter. Want to make sure they are safe!

 

Thanks!

[flyau98]

Just got back from a trip with them.

 

Positive:

-The price was excellent. ($81 or so without equipt)

-Their t-shirts were cool, and only $12.

-Pick up from the pier was easy. We got off the ship, walked as instructed to the info desk to call, but a employee was waiting for us.

-Lunch between dives was pretty good

-Dive sites were nice.

 

Negative:

-Too many people with different agendas on the boat. We had snorkelers, and a pair of high-maintance divers that were all dropped off different places (which seemed to have us rushing back and forth a lot). We only had one divemaster leading 9 or 10 of us in the water, which led to way too many divers in one place.

 

Interesting:

-Although they were waiting for us on the pier, the pickup was via the owners sub-compact car (their bus picked up a different ship, earlier). My gear was jamed inbetween the wife and I, and the pickup guy held hers on his lap in the front seat (along with his bag), while the owner drove. We then stopped by the owners house to drop off groceries before going to the dive boat. To me, all that was perfectly fine, particualrly since the national elections had been the day prior so we got plenty of local commentary along the way.

 

Overall, I'd dive with them again, but would question their plans for the trip (snorkelers, other dive groups, etc) before booking.

[swimmer722]

We dove with them in mid Nov. and had about the same experience. We were in port from 8-5, and it was pretty much a full day excursion. Had no problem getting picked up at the pier; we had a little van/bus and there were already 3-4 people on board, plus there were 3 of us from our ship. The drive over to the dive shop is about 30-45 min, but it was really scenic and enjoyable. Once at the dive shop we hauled our gear onto the boat (tanks were already on). I think we did our own set-up. We made a stop on the way and picked up some snorkelers, which did make for a pretty full boat. Divers went in first (giant stride entry) and there were probably 7-8 of us with one dive master. It worked out fine for us; everyone seemed to be at about the same experience level. The dive was at the base of the pitons and was beautiful. Not much big stuff, but lots of colorful fish and lots of brightly colored hard coral. Was a really easy dive with no current to deal with. I think the second dive was pretty much like the first one (to me every dive is pretty much a great dive :). I thought the lunch on board was very good - home cooked by someones wife. As the previous poster listed, the price was great for 2 dives and lunch, plus transportation. We did cut it kind of close getting back to the ship, but they were very aware of when we needed to be back and it worked out fine. I would for sure use them again. We dove St. Martin, St. Lucia, St. Thomas and Barbados, and of those, St. Lucia was my favorite. Hoe this helps.

[gvre]

We have dove St. Lucia 3 times. Twice with the Frogs and once dive Fair Helen. I agree with the posters. Way too crowded maybe 25 people including snorkelers. The dive sites are good lots of great coral. The best part was the lunch between dives and the crew very friendly. I would be happy to dive with them if there was 10-15 people but they seem to load up the boat and go for the full payload.

Tahiti Dive Photos

[sailrnav]

Booked with them this past April. Got to their boat on time using a cheap water taxi. Their captain did not show up for at least 1 1/2 hours after the appointed departure. During that time they had us wait up on the sun deck with no shade, we went down to get out of the sun and the crew was very rude. Needless to say we left the boat and demanded our money back, which they finally did after a public display of anger. Several of the CC members that were with us stuck it out and said the dive was fair, however several of them had tank and equipment issues that cut short their dives. Dive Fair Helen is not recommended.

[sailrnav]

Booked with them this past April. Got to their boat on time using a cheap water taxi. Their captain did not show up for at least 1 1/2 hours after the appointed departure. During that time they had us wait up on the sun deck with no shade, we went down to get out of the sun and the crew was very rude. Needless to say we left the boat and demanded our money back, which they finally did after a public display of anger. Several of the CC members that were with us stuck it out and said the dive was fair, however several of them had tank and equipment issues that cut short their dives. Dive Fair Helen is not recommended.