Any special considerations for St Lucia?

[barefootek]

I am certifying a couple of friends of mine that are going to St Lucia for their honeymoon and will be staying at Sandals. I was wondering if there was anything that I needed to try to prepare them for beyond their basic diving skills for St Lucia. Unfortunately, we will only be able to dive from the shore of a lake for their open water checkout dives, so I will already be trying to explain boat diving to them. I noticed that it was said that Superman's Flight is a drift dive. Are drift dives common in St Lucia? I have never understood why some consider Drift Dives anything special but I was in Playa del Carmen for a month where nearly everything is drift, so maybe I have just been around operators that are accustom to it and make it look easy. Any information on special considerations for St Lucia would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Eric

 

[Wookie]

From Sandals all dives will be boat dives. Compare to Cozumel complete with down currents. Dives for your clients should be Anse Cochon, Wreck of the Lesleen M, Anse La Raye wall, and the beach dive at Anse Chastenet. I would consider the drifting wall dives at Superman's Flight, Petit Piton, pinnacles etc. to be more advanced dives for current and depth. All dives are led by a divemaster, so tell them to let their DM know their experience level to ensure the DM looks after them.

 

[Belmont]

Will be there in September, do the three Sandals venues share the same dive boat?
Are they so far apart that they dive different spots?

 

[Wookie]

Will be there in September, do the three Sandals venues share the same dive boat?
Are they so far apart that they dive different spots?

They didn't share a boat when I worked in St. Lucia, but that was 15 or more years ago. There were only 2 sandals at the time. I expect if there were only a few divers at one, they might pick up divers from another on the way by, but the sandals when I was there were in Castries, and the best diving is south of Castries.

 

[diver 85]

BE SURE & have them dive the Pitons---ie Superman's Flight dive(s).....It's called a drift dive, but the day we dove it, you had to imagine there was any current.......VERY comfortable---& easy ---dives @ the Pitons(the day we dove it anyway).......

These were all taken @ Superman's Flight/Piton Wall in 2 dives...

St Lucia 2012--#1 - a set on Flickr

St Lucia 2012--#2 - a set on Flickr

 

[ben_wilson3301]

Super easy diving. Superman can be a bit dodgy if they are unaware of what to expect. There will be a wall dive to pay attention to depth. I dove with Sandels for our honeymoon, it was our first ocean experience as well. Good first time location. And we did pick not pick up other Sandels passengers but we did hit the same sites frequently and docked together on surface intervals.

 

[ColoDale]

As of a few years ago, all divers from all three resorts met in Castries harbor. They did have multiple boats and went to some of the same sites.
In the past they split the new divers from experienced divers if they had enough divers and boats. They may run seperate trips (times) for the two along with separate trips for snorkelers. It depends on demand, number of boats running, etc. The new diver dive sites should be shallower and calmer but I recall them taking newer divers with us to the southern sites like Superman's Flight and those closer to the Piton's. Those dives are better and there can be some current.

Their boats were large with stern giant strides for entry but the decks can be worn depending in maintenance so they should be careful while standing in line for entry with fins on. They boats should have dual hinged ladders on the stern so if there is rougher water the ladders can flail a bit.
The dives in general will be shorter, not deep and managed/controlled. As a general rule, the first person to 1000 psi causes the group/subgroup to go up regardless of depth. Check with the resort for their policy as it could have changed. The diving there is geared towards safety and new diver/honeymoon divers so it sounds like a good fit.

Once checked in, one of the first things to do is check in at the water sports building and get signed up for diving. They may have to do this daily. After each days diving we immediately signed up for the next day. They will need to fill out forms including medical which they are sticklers about - even simple prescription meds will probably need to have a Dr's note clearing them to dive. They may also want a checkout in the pool or at least a checkout dive at a shallow ocean site.

I have not found the drift dives St. Lucia in general to be the same as say Cozumel but there is current and there are walls so changing currents or up/downdrafts could occur (didn't happen for me tho). The currents in St. Lucia when I dove them (2 separate trips) were very manageable and those known for currents were mild (YMMV).

The wreck dives are good but they should know how to duck behind objects or get closer to the bottom to avoid any currents (which again were not bad). The wrecks do have some fire coral and I recall hydroids along with sharp edges.

I have dived there when the water was very warm - almost 90F but it can be cooler depending in time of year and dive site.

Topside is very nice though Castries in my opinion is a bit of a dump. They should pay attention to the airport they fly into as the drive to the resort can be long.

There are quite a few St. Lucia trip reports including Sandals reviews in this forum. I would highly recommend reading them.

 

[barefootek]

Thanks so much for everybody's responses. Most of the information is similar to what I expected, but it is still nice to take some of the guesswork out of things. So far both of them have done very well picking up the skills in the pool. Hopefully, that will continue and they will adapt to boat diving quickly as well. I would like to think that they will do well with the simpler dives and get enough experience so that the divemasters feel comfortable with them enjoying at least one or two of the better, more advanced dives later in the week. Of course it is their honeymoon, so diving will probably not be as high on their priority list as it is mine. Thanks again. Eric