Scuba - St Martin or St Thomas

[Gma&Gpa]

My Brother-in-law was just re-certified in scuba (hadn't done it in several years) - and wants to scuba at either St. Martin or St. Thomas. Any opinions on which is the best for him to try? It's not something he'll get to do again for awhile - so obviously, he's hoping for a really good experience.

[bruce-r]

Based on my experiences, I'd pick St. Thomas over St. Maarten. All the dive sites in St. M are out in the open ocean so diving conditions are at the mercy of the ocean conditions the day you are there. That means that if there is a swell it can be an unpleasant boat ride to the site and getting back on the boat after the dive can be difficult. I basically was not impressed by the diving there.

 

Some of the St. Thomas dive sites are more sheltered which make the diving conditions easier. There are more operators to choose from and you can even do a shore dive if you are on a budget. For boat dives I like http://www.admiraltydive.com and http://www.cokidive.com for the shore dive although the boat dive sited are better quality than the Coki Beach, IMO.

[Gma&Gpa]

Thanks for the reply - I'll forward that on to my b-i-l and maybe that will help him with his decision.

[3boyzmom]

We were newly certified when we dove in St. Thomas in May. We had a wonderful time, and sites were well-protected as previously mentioned. The pic on my profile is from that dive....nice dive, great warm water. I haven't been to St. Martin, so I can't compare, but I wouldn't be concerned about a beginning diver in St. Thomas.

[bruce-r]

Thanks for the reply - I'll forward that on to my b-i-l and maybe that will help him with his decision.

 

Oh, I also have a few photos I took in St. Thomas

 

St. Thomas Underwater photo gallery

[scubadiver888]

My Brother-in-law was just re-certified in scuba (hadn't done it in several years) - and wants to scuba at either St. Martin or St. Thomas. Any opinions on which is the best for him to try? It's not something he'll get to do again for awhile - so obviously, he's hoping for a really good experience.

 

I have dove both locations and, as usually, bruce-r is spot on. The St. Thomas dives are always good to great. If I had to dive just one of these two locations it would be St. Thomas. Mind you, I ALWAYS dive both. :D

[robtulipe]

In St. Thomas most cruise dives are from the south side and you usually or always go to Buck Island (done it four times) which is not a bad dive with a nice reef and a small wrecked freighter. RC and others uses Underwater Safaris who are located right at the Havensight pier area. This can easily be done in the morning leaving the afternoon for other activities.

On St. Maarten diving on Teigland wreck (British man of war) at entrance to Great Bay was pretty good with anchors, chains, muzzle loading canons and other artifacts visable but the wooden hull is long gone. There is as well a nice reefs there but it is in open water so it can be rough if large swells are present.

[Denise&Paul STL]

Agree with rest, and with fact that bruce-r is on target as usual. We dove with Coki Beach Dive last February and "Turtle" was our fish ID instructor, who was fantastic. See our pics below on the Jewel of the Seas: the barracuda, and other fish pics were from there, and the wreck was in Tortola.

[mamasue]

I did a dive in St Maarten last October. The sea was very rough, and visibility wasn't brilliant. It was ok but I've has better dives.