Diving Suggestions...

[bommer1]

I am taking a last cruise in a few weeks and am going to try and take the opportunity to get a couple days of dives in. But this is the first time I have been on a cruise and to the Caribbean. So I was hoping for some suggestions.

 

My cruise is stopping in Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten, and St. Thomas.

 

Are any of those stops recommended for diving over others?

 

I'm assuming people prefer using dive shops verse the cruise line for diving?

 

The cruise line information says you need a c-card. Do they mean your diver certification card? :confused:

 

Thanks in advance?

[3boyzmom]

The only 2 of those ports I've been to are St. Thomas and Antigua. The diving was very nice in St. Thomas, but not recommended in Antigua. The water around Antigua can be pretty rough...

 

In St. Thomas, we did the ship's excursion- they used a local dive shop that's right there at the pier (I can't remember the name) Probably something easy like "Dive St. Thomas." We were on Carnival. The excursion was fine- nothing to write home about as far as the dive op is concerned, but nothing bad either.

 

And yes, they mean your certification card.

[scubadiver888]

St. Lucia is, in my opinion, the best location of the four. St. Thomas is good then maybe St. Maarten. I wouldn't bother with Barbados.

 

A c-card is your diver certification card. If you go with the cruise ship shore excursion you just need Open Water (OW) certification. If you book privately and everyone is Advanced Open Water or higher, they can take you to a better selection of dive locations. The cruise line will always take you to places an OW diver is qualified for.

 

Darrell

[scubadiver888]

The only 2 of those ports I've been to are St. Thomas and Antigua. The diving was very nice in St. Thomas, but not recommended in Antigua. The water around Antigua can be pretty rough...

 

In St. Thomas, we did the ship's excursion- they used a local dive shop that's right there at the pier (I can't remember the name) Probably something easy like "Dive St. Thomas." We were on Carnival. The excursion was fine- nothing to write home about as far as the dive op is concerned, but nothing bad either.

 

And yes, they mean your certification card.

 

Most the cruise lines use Dive Safari in St. Thomas. It is not a bad operation. If you don't dive a lot and have only done cruise line dives, they are better than most.

[Middleager]

We did a S. Caribbean cruise on Carnival Destiny last year, and I dived at every port -- having arranged with a dive op at each location.

 

At St. Thomas, we went to Coki Beach, and dived with the Coki Beach Dive Club. It was pretty good.

 

In St. Lucia, went with Dive Fair Helen, and asked to do Superman's Flight, right at the pitons. That was one way to see the Pitons. The cruise ship doesn't sail by the pitons, so you won't see them otherwise.

 

Barbados the diving was also quite good. In between the two dives, we went to near Sandy Lane to snorkel. Saw lots of big turtles there.

 

In Antigua, we went to the south side of the island - where diving was very good. Dove with Sea Wolf Divers. The second dive site was Pillars of Hercules. The topside scenery was unique too.

 

Did not go to St. Marten (but did go to Dominica).

 

At every port, we also arranged island tour after the diving/snorkeling. It turned out to be excellent, as we got to see the island.

 

Have fun. It was a very good diving/snorkeling port schedule.

[Middleager]

The diving was very nice in St. Thomas, but not recommended in Antigua. The water around Antigua can be pretty rough...

The best diving in Antigua is in the south side. The ship docks at the northwest. A lot of the excursions are done near the northwest, including diving. But the diving at the south can be very good - if you can arrange it.

 

It also takes 30min. of shuttle/taxi ride to get there. What we did was for the 6 of us, we arranged with Jackson's tours to take us to Falmouth (by English) Harbour. After our diving/snorkeling, he then picked us up again for an afternoon island tour. We went to see Nelson's Dockyard, Shirley's Height, Devil's Bridge, a beach, an old planation, etc. It was great.

[scubadiver888]

Middleager,

 

Which dive operator did you use in Barbados? I dove there and didn't have a very good dive at all.

 

Darrell

[dabear]

we've been to all these ports and imo St Thomas is the best of them to dive. We've done both Coki Beach and another on the other side of the island and both were fine. St Martin and aANtigua are not very good altho the beaches on both islands are fine.

[cccole]

We went with a dive operator on St. Thomas that we were not happy with, but I think the private operator that many use is Admiralty and posters are very happy with them. Cherie

[clayhabitat]

We liked Coki Beach too. it is a good beginner dive.