Diving in St. Thomas

[rsingleton]

Is there good diving in St. Thomas or St. John.. If so, any recommendation on dive operators..

[toonjie]

Overall it's fairly descent, depending on the site and the conditions, nowhere near the best in the Caribbean, but nowhere near the worst either- it's right in the middle. I recommend Chris Sawyer, who I have dived with many times and will again this May. (In fact, I just talked to Chris this morning about the dives.) He does a Friday trip to the wreck of the Rhone in the BVI, (which is a great dive, on par with anything), but you wouldn't have time to do that on most cruise visits. He has a 2 tank dive at 9:00am just for cruise ship people, (most dives leave too early to make it from the ship). His shop in Redhook is close to the best diving in both St. Thomas and St. John. The scenery from the diveboat with many small islands surrounding you makes the diving even more enjoyable.

http://sawyerdive.vi/

[bruce-r]

No disrespect for Chris Sawyer diving, but you can do better if you are a cruiser. To dive with Sawyer, you have to take a taxi to/from their shop which makes the total cost of the trip quite a bit more than just the price of the dives. Plus they use larger boats, which is a turn off for some people (including me).

 

I recommend a 3 tank trip with http://www.admiraltydive.com They use smaller boats with smaller groups of divers. They pick up directly from the cruise dock.

[toonjie]

The problem with the dive shops that pick up at the cruise ship pier is they don't dive at the best spots. Yes, Chris Sawyer's is farther away, but so are the best dive spots from the cruise ship pier. I've never had more than 8 or so people with Chris Sawyer and last year we just had 5. I think his hotel location might be the one with the cattle boats. I guess it depends on what you want to do the rest of the day as well. Chris Sawyer's puts you near some great beaches like Magen's Bay and also the ferry to St. John's, or if you want to shop, then dive with the guys that pick up at the pier and you'll be right in Charlotte Amalie.

[rsingleton]

toonjie,

 

so how was your dive in May...

[toonjie]

Diving was great as well as perfect weather and a fantastic cruise! We dove Carvel Rock after leaving Red Hook and picking up 2 divers in St. Johns at Caneel Bay, (Chris Sawyer is the dive shop for this unbelievable resort.) Carvel rock had huge schools of bait fish that cricle it continuously and that brings in large schools of Tarpon. Saw lots of Tarpon, one Hawksbill turtle and the usual fish as well as a ton of Stoplight Parrotfish. We had 5 divers and 2 snorkelers and 2 crew. We then dove Congo Cay. Saw another Hawksbill, loads of Parrotfish, some large Pufferfish and some good sized lobster. We had lunch right next door to Chris Sawyer's at Molly Malone's and then went to Magen's Bay Beach. We finished up the day with some sightseeing on the way back to Charlotte Amalie and shopping at Havensight Mall. Awesome day! (All with rental car from Avis, BTW.)

[rsingleton]

thats great to hear. you didn't take any underwater pictures by chance did you.

 

I'll have to check the rental car rates. i really don't want to to add to the cost of a dive by renting a car for $40.. but we'll see.

[toonjie]

Sorry, no underwater pics, great above water ones though, (around 700 for the whole cruise!) Rental car was around $50, but taxi each way for 3 people is $30, plus around $20 to get to Magen's Bay, and $20 from there back to the ship. Plus we had no rush to tour around whereever we wanted. So it is actually cheaper than taking taxis in most cases. You just have to be used to driving on the left! Rental car places are right outside Havensight Mall entrance. We got there at 7:55am and were at Chris Sawyer's by 8:45am.

[bruce-r]

thats great to hear. you didn't take any underwater pictures by chance did you.

I did if you are interested: St. Thomas UW photo gallery

[toonjie]

Great pics, thanks for posting. How did you like Admiralty Dive and the dives you did?

[bruce-r]

Great pics, thanks for posting. How did you like Admiralty Dive and the dives you did?

I liked them. I'd go with them again if I ever make it back to St. Thomas.

 

The dives were quite enjoyable, considerably better than Coki Beach.