Serenade of the Seas where to dive/snorkel

[chester2008]

We are leaving on RCCL Serenade of the Seas Jan. 31st and will be visiting St.Thomas, St. Maarten, Antigua, St.Lucia, and Barbados. If you could dive at only one of these ports, where would you chose? We already booked a Cosol tour for St. Lucia and would also like recommendations for nice beaches where we can also get some snorkelling done for the remaining ports.

[bruce-r]

Since I haven't been to all those islands, yet, I can only say for absolute certain that I would but St. Maarten at the bottom of the list when picking one of them for a place to dive.

[diverearl]

We are leaving on RCCL Serenade of the Seas Jan. 31st

 

The Serenade of the Seas is our favorite ship so far, there is a little delicatessen type cafe on the upper decks at the stern that has the best Rubin sandwich we ever ate. Also many other unique snack type foods. The DW said the Pina Colada was the best mixed drink she has ever had. Being on this ship while visiting the Hawaiian islands probably didn't hurt our overall opinion of the trip or the ship :D

 

and will be visiting St.Thomas, St. Maarten, Antigua, St.Lucia, and Barbados. If you could dive at only one of these ports, where would you chose?

 

Antigua was ok, we had fairly rough seas for the size dive boat we were on but the diving was just ok (not very good visibility little sea life and badly damaged coral) with lots of old lost fishing nets ghost fishing the reefs,

 

 

but don't get me wrong it was still great in my book just easily beaten at other stops on your cruise. I would probably dive Barbados if I only got to pick one. There are many good wrecks to dive on around this island, one of the best would be the S.S.Stavronikita.

 

We rented a car and driver for the day to drive around the island then did a shore dive on a wreck just off the beach in about 30 feet of water, wish I kept a better log book sometimes but maybe someone can ID the wreck from the photos. The canon with the phone setting on it was cool, also I'm not sure if the anchor was from the same ship as the canons or was sank later as a prop for us divers to enjoy. Either way it was a great dive for a $10.00 tank and a 40 yard, easy swim out. About 15 minutes from the cruise ship dock.

 

 

We already booked a Cosol tour for St. Lucia and would also like recommendations for nice beaches where we can also get some snorkelling done for the remaining ports.

 

St Lucia is a beautiful island and you will really enjoy the tour of the island. We also hired a driver on this island (the second time on this cruise we had a driver, I normally like to rent a car and do a self driving tour which we did on St Kitts, St Maarten, Curacao and Aruba) but was glad to let someone else navigate the very narrow laned, wet, straight up and down, twisting roads to the Pitons, the volcano and back to the ship. A really fun day I'm sure you will enjoy.

[chester2008]

Thanks a lot for the info guys. It's not always easy trying to find specific information on these boards so it is indeed very helpful. Another quick question. Would you suggest diving through the cruise ship or booking a tour on our own?It seems for the scuba diving we have it pretty much narrowed down to Barbados and St. Thomas (gotta dive a wreck at least once in my life). The prices seem to be pretty much similar through independant operators and the ship.