St Lucia Diving

[suzski]

I'm looking for a dive operator for our St Lucia dive and have a couple questions regarding different operators:

 

1) I looked into Scuba Steve, who offers a dive near the Pitons which, I've heard, offer some of the best diving in St Lucia (not to mention incredible above-water views!). However, reading his disclaimer, if the ship fails to pull in, we're still liable for the entire amount for the dive...and there are 5 certified divers in the family so that is a lot of $$$...has anyone heard of this before? I know most tour operators don't charge you if the ship doesn't pull in.

 

2) Dive Fair Helen gets a lot of positive press....does this operator go south towards the Pitons, or stay more in the North? Also, it appears that there is one shore dive on this excursion... is that always or just depending on current conditions?

 

Thanks!

[cruzegirl]

Well I just went diving in St. Lucia with Dive Fair Helen. They were awesome. If you look further in this category, you'll see my review. I can't tell you if we went diving north or south as I'm not sure what direction we were in. I know we did a reef dive first to 100 feet and then a shallow wreck dive in 50 feet. They don't charge until you are there to charge for. They were excellent. I would go with them. Have fun.

[gmcrow]

Dive Fair Helen does get great reviews here. I think we'll try them on our next trip here in 2008. We dove with Dive St. Lucia in December and with the exception of the skills test on the first dive (shore dive) we were very happy with this operation. They were professional, friendly, and concerned with making our dive experience a good one. Pics and video are at http://www.cruisedivers.blogspot.com . Have fun!

[suzski]

Thanks for the info Debbie and gmcrow! I sure did not want to be required to pay for the equivalent of 5 2-tank dives thru no fault of my own! And I have shied away from Dive St Lucia because of the mandatory skills test that eats up the first dive (I understand safety, but if I'm paying for 2 dives, I want there to be 2 "real" dives).

 

I'm going to go ahead and book with Dive Fair Helen now!

[cruzegirl]

Thanks for the info Debbie and gmcrow! I sure did not want to be required to pay for the equivalent of 5 2-tank dives thru no fault of my own! And I have shied away from Dive St Lucia because of the mandatory skills test that eats up the first dive (I understand safety, but if I'm paying for 2 dives, I want there to be 2 "real" dives).

 

I'm going to go ahead and book with Dive Fair Helen now!

 

I agree.....I don't want my limited dive time taken away by a skills test. It seems your never there long enough as it is but to do that, no way.....lol.... So do book with Dive Fair Helen.... Let Micheal know that Debbie, from Suzi's Scuba group, sent you.... And like I said, we were charged until we were there and they checked the credit cards/cash and were to dive.... Hope you have a great time....