Suggestions - Tortola, Sarmara, St Thomas? Dive Operators

[1sttimerEa]

Hello Everyone,

I am going on the NCL Dawn on 2/21/09 with one other diver. We are looking at doing at least one dive for the trip. I know Torola has an awesome wreck dive, but the ship excursion is $134. Any suggestions for reliable private operators or nightmare stories of who I shouldn't use?

 

Thanks!

[bruce-r]

In St. Thomas I like http://www.admiraltydive.com They use smaller boats for smaller groups and pick up from the cruise dock. Nice people too.

[royandjenn]

In St Thomas, we went with captain nautica and it was an awesome tour. Their boat is supposedly the fastest boat on the island. We got to snorkel tonnes of spots, because the boat was quick. A few people were upset, because they weren't expecting flying thru the water, but we loved it. To this day, my husband talks about how great the tour was. We would do it in a flash if we were going there... kinda upset were not this time around!

[bruce-r]

In St Thomas, we went with captain nautica and it was an awesome tour. Their boat is supposedly the fastest boat on the island. We got to snorkel tonnes of spots, because the boat was quick. A few people were upset, because they weren't expecting flying thru the water, but we loved it. To this day, my husband talks about how great the tour was. We would do it in a flash if we were going there... kinda upset were not this time around!

 

I think the OP was asking about a scuba diving tour, not snorkeling. Was scuba diving part of your trip or something your tour operator offered?

[DaBoilerz]

We dove with Dive Tortola (http://www.divetortola.com/) in January 2008 and had a couple of great dives on reefs. My husband HATES ship wrecks....so we went in the afternoon to a couple of great sites, and then afterwards went to Norman Island to snorkel the caves (where Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island was inspired).

 

It was a great afternoon. Great dive sites, dive masters and a boat that wasn't crowded (I think there were 6-7 divers). I think it was around $110 for a 2 tank dive. It included snacks/drinks.

[NeurosurgeryNP]

In St Thomas - absolutely Admiralty dive center. They were AMAZING! Cheaper than the ship tour. Picked us up at the dock and dropped us off. Even took our equipment back to their shop after the dive and rinsed it and hung it to dry as we strolled around town, only to pick ip up clean and dry on the way back to the boat.

 

I think we had 6-8 divers MAX, good sites, and great crew. We really enjoyed diving with them and can't wait to use them again in October.

[BuzzF117]

In St. Thomas I like www.admiraltydive.com They use smaller boats for smaller groups and pick up from the cruise dock. Nice people too.

 

I booked with them in Feb of 08 and know of couple folks that post on the scubatoys.com forums that have used them and like them. I liked the smaller boots there was only 4 divers plus DM was great. Saw my first Shark!!!

[BuzzF117]

In Tortola used sailcaribbean divers I had no problem with them but there are some posts on this board about people that didn't like diving the RHONE because of the current. I was a novice diver but with good training and I loved the dive.

[TheVegasMan]

http://www.diveusvi.com/ is who I dove with in St. Thomas in 2006. Saw a turtle and Eagle Ray near the wreck we dove.

 

 

[cmdchiefthom]

In St. Thomas, Admiralty is tops. If you're experienced, I suggest the hospital ship wreck as something very special. They follow that up with a great reef dive, near the wreck site. As for Tortola, all the years I've gone there on cruises, I always have used the ship's excursion, simply because of time constraints, both HAL and NCL have in port. As for Samana, not much there, and not worth your time and money to dive.;)

[heydn62]

A P&O passenger died on a scuba excursion in Tortola a couple of weeks back, but other than a brief article in the news section at cruise critic, I only found one other mention of it anywhere and it was basically the same article on another site. Did anyone else catch any more info on this?