St. Maarten Diving??

[M&MOkies]

I want to do a short dive in St. Maarten, visit Orient Beach and Maho Beach. Anyone know the odds of being able to accomplish all that in one port day?

 

Is the diving at St. Maarten really that bad? It would be our first dive in the ocean.

 

Any suggestions?

[bruce-r]

Is the diving at St. Maarten really that bad? It would be our first dive in the ocean.

 

Any suggestions?

I would definitely NOT recommend St. Maarten for diving, especially if it will be your first ocean dive.

 

What other islands will you visit? If you stop in St. Thomas, I'd definitely choose that over St. Maarten for diving.

[travelbugs]

I have to second Bruce R. Enjoy your time on the island, don't waste it having an awful time trying to dive. If you make it over to Baie Rouge, it's a fine place to snorkel and is a beautiful beach. ~Bugs

[Pilot70D]

I want to do a short dive in St. Maarten....

 

Any suggestions?

 

 

We have been diving at many of the islands in the Caribbean including St. Maarten. Diving while at St. Maarten is better than not diving at all but most of the other stops in the Caribbean offer much better diving.

 

Diving around St. Maarten wasn't bad diving but by comparison it had little to see as far as coral, marine life, visibility and so forth. If you are going on to other islands I would dive while visiting the other islands and do something else at St. Maarten. St. Thomas does have better diving than St. Maarten but there are still better dive locations in the Caribbean. You didn't list your itenerary but here are some popular dive locations which do offer spectacular diving. In no particular order of preference they are St. Lucia, Dominica, Bonaire, Curacao and Aruba. If your travel takes you to any of these destinations you should find plenty of great dive locations at any of these stops.

 

No matter where it takes place dive safely and enjoy that next dive.:)

[BlueC5Kitten]

The only plus side to having St. Maarten be your first ocean dive is all future ocean dives will seem like marvels! :) J/K! It isn't terrible, just not optimal!

[M&MOkies]

:) Thanks for the feedback everyone.

 

We plan on diving St. Thomas and Grand Turk. We'll just be "normal" tourist at our other stops.

[bruce-r]

:) Thanks for the feedback everyone.

 

We plan on diving St. Thomas and Grand Turk. We'll just be "normal" tourist at our other stops.

 

Good choice. If you dive St. Thomas and Grand Turk, you won't miss much by not diving St. Maarten.

[airbus_guy]

We are sailing on the LIberty of the Seas - St. Marteen, San Juan and Labadee, Haiti are our stops - next week!!!

 

Which do you recommend? I have only been on about 9 dives in my life - once a year basically...

 

I was thinking that I would dive in St. Marteen, but after reading above, I am not so sure!!

 

Thanks!

 

Airbus_guy!:o

[bruce-r]

Sorry to say, but none of those stops say "Dive Here" to me,

 

You are unlikely to be able to arrange your own dives in San Juan and I'm pretty sure the ship doesn't offer a scuba excursion there. Rule out Labadee as well unless the ship offers a scuba excursion since this is a "private island" stop. That leaves St. Maarten for diving.