St. Maarten Diving

[CFDAlden]

Due to family excursions, it looks like my diving is going to be limited to St. Maarten. I may be able to sneak in a single tank dive in St. Thomas, if I'm lucky. :)

 

I'm hoping to avoid cattleboat diving, and looking for recommendations for a private operator. There's a group of 4 of us, should that make a difference. :)

[SantaAna,CA]

There is a dive shop located right on the dock at Port Louis or Fort Louis (it is the marina that is just to the left, and around the corner, of where our tenders came in at Marigot)...I can't remember the name, if it comes to me I'll add it to this reply. Someone told me diving in St. Martin wasn't too good so I hadn't planned on it. After a shore excursion, I spied the dive shop, walked over there, and ended up having THE most fun on a Zodiac with five French people (one of whom spoke English, thank goodness).....really fun diving! I'll see if I can get that name for you.

 

Jane

[Rudebob]

IMO St. Thomas is a better dive. I have dove both. St. Thomas had better viz, less current and surface swells, and better dive sites than St. Maarten.

 

We dove with Aqua Safari's in St. Maarten. They had three or four boats including a few smaller ones (bigger than a sixpack but smaller than a cattle boat). They were alright. Nothing stood out about their operation. Nothing against them, they just have less to work with as far as dive conditions go.

 

However, if I only had one opportunity to dive on the cruise I would start negotiating somehow to get a dive in at St. Thomas and do a family excursion at one of the other islands.

 

Good Luck,

 

'bob

[bruce-r]

IMO St. Thomas is a better dive. I have dove both. St. Thomas had better viz, less current and surface swells, and better dive sites than St. Maarten.

 

 

However, if I only had one opportunity to dive on the cruise I would start negotiating somehow to get a dive in at St. Thomas and do a family excursion at one of the other islands.

 

I agree with Bob.

[CFDAlden]

Unfortunately, there is no option here. :( I'm 99% sure I'm gonna sneak away in St. Thomas for a dive with one other diver, but not a full day like I was hoping.

 

Family won't miss me too much! :)

[DiveCruiser]

I agree with Bob.

RUDEBOB Gets my vote

[gmcrow]

Due to family excursions, it looks like my diving is going to be limited to St. Maarten. I may be able to sneak in a single tank dive in St. Thomas, if I'm lucky. :)

 

I'm hoping to avoid cattleboat diving, and looking for recommendations for a private operator. There's a group of 4 of us, should that make a difference. :)

All about the perspective I guess. We enjoyed our dives with Scuba Fun in St. Maarten. We saw a seahorse, rays, nurse sharks, turtles, and an octopus. Pretty good head count for a place that doesn't have a good reputation. The flip side of that is St. Thomas, with a good reputation, had nothing but bad vis and a few fish when we were there in 2006. St. Maarten pics and video at http://www.cruisedivers.blogspot.com

[scubadiver888]

IMO St. Thomas is a better dive. I have dove both. St. Thomas had better viz, less current and surface swells, and better dive sites than St. Maarten.

 

We dove with Aqua Safari's in St. Maarten. They had three or four boats including a few smaller ones (bigger than a sixpack but smaller than a cattle boat). They were alright. Nothing stood out about their operation. Nothing against them, they just have less to work with as far as dive conditions go.

 

However, if I only had one opportunity to dive on the cruise I would start negotiating somehow to get a dive in at St. Thomas and do a family excursion at one of the other islands.

 

Good Luck,

 

'bob

Unfortunately, I didn't write down the name of the dive shop in St. Thomas but I had a nice dive there. They took us out to the wreck that broke into three pieces. Additionally, I mentioned that I've never seen a shark and was a little nervous about it. They assured me sharks are harmless; when they found out I've seen a few barracuda they informed me they are just as dangerous if not more so. So the dive master, with the urging of my fellow divers, took us to a place he commonly sees a shark. We saw a turtle and just as I was doing my safety stop I spotted a shark in the distance. The moment I looked at him, he took off. Still pretty cool.

 

I also dove with Aqua Safari in St. Martin. They were equally as good. I'd have a hard time picking between the two. If you only have to dive one, you could pick either and be happy. If the significant other (SO) likes shopping, I think you might want to dive St. Martin and shop St. Thomas.

[jimw]

We were pleasantly surprised last September by the quality of the dive here. A tank and weights are $10. taxi from the ship is about $20. We dove out of Coki Beach Dive Club's trailer/shop on the beach. Nice folks and cheap...........

 

There were a lot of divers, but a lot of life in the water too. Most of the divers were doing resort courses at the other dive place. We just went a little deeper.