Diving with Royal Caribbean

[RAD Diver]

Just got back & dove Sint Martaan with Dive Safaries.Nice people, but crowded with about 24 divers in 3 groups.Very rough seas, but no surge or real current to speak of. On St. Thomas we did a private tour w/ Blue Island as RC didnt list anything on their site, but they did offer a dive on board & I talked w/ divers that went & they said it was nice w/ only 7 divers.They used Underwater Safaries. The same held true in Nassau that nothing was offered til we were on board & since shore time was limited we didnt try to set up privately.So we went with RC & they used Nassau Scuba Centre.The dives were great w/ 17 divers on 1 boat, but it was a bigger boat than normal & we had plenty of room. This was by far the best diving of the trip with a couple of wrecks, a wall dive, and a dive with about 12 Caribbean Blacktip Reef Sharks. This was not a shark dive they just showed up after Stuarts Cove ran out of food.Next time Ill just fly to Nassau as my dive buddy (my wife ) didnt get to do any shopping or siteseeing while in port and if you do the morning 2 tank dive you can do the afternoon 2 tank dive for 1/2 price.

 

[DiveMaven]

Can you tell me more about Blue Island Divers in St. Thomas? I have a dive booked with them at Christmas and would love to hear about your dive, the service, etc. What were your dives like? Did you dive full tanks or did you have to come up with the group? Basically, what were your dive profiles?

We also have a dive booked with Nassau Scuba Centre, and I'm glad to hear your dive with them was good. We're on a Celebrity ship that isn't offering diving, but an RCCL ship will be in port at the same time as us, so I'm guessing we'll wind up being put with them by the dive shop even though we booked privately. Did you do the afternoon dives? What was your departure time on the ship?

Thanks for any information you can give me.

 

[RAD Diver]

Blue Island did a great job.They picked us up from dock, in the rain, on a 31ft boat called The Barefoot Diver. It was just me, my wife & a couple from Trinidad.We made 1 more stop to pick up 3 guys from a hotel.So 7 divers, Ian the DM, & Capt. Jimmy. Plenty of room.They were quick to set up equip. on 1st dive & then for change-over. Not every op does this.Dive Safaries in Sint Maartan kept saying they would set up, but it was crowded so I set up our own gear, & Nassau Scuba tells you to set up your own.I normally like to do it myself, but it was nice them doing it.Ian asked what we wanted & the concensus was a wreck, then a nice reef. He checked currents & decided 1st dive would be WIT Concrete. Sitting in 100fsw,but deck was 60fsw.The surface conditions were 3-5ft seas. but once in water you could see wreck. I never went to sand, stayed in 80-90ft range, I was down 25 min. when my buddy(wife) thought she was close to going into NDL. We did 3 min at 15ft & got in boat.She thought the conputer was at limit ,but actually had another position to go.If it makes her feel better thats fine with me.We were 1st in water & everyone was back in boat 10 min later. Then we went to Horseshoe Reef. 40-50ft deep with a slope deeper.We had 50min SI and dove the site 45min. It was beautiful with nice clean,clear water.The guys we picked up came up with 2 big lobsters.Pretty much ran out of air & called dive with 700psi in tank.A very satisfying day of diving.Also had time to get back, shower,eat lunch & take wife out shopping.

 

[RAD Diver]

I missed the 2nd part of your question, We didnt get to Nassau til noon, & had to be back by 5:30. Did afternoon dives & was back on cruise ship at 5:28. No time to shop or site see, but the dive was worth it. I should warn you about how they drive. The streets are very narrow, and the sidewalks are fair game if road gets blocked.Their tour bus was not the best, but it did the job & our DM / bus driver J.J. got us back in the nick of time.I dont know about Dec. ,but we had 60ft vis & bottom water temps in high 70s to low 80s.Most people had shorties, or 3mil fulls.There were 3 couples, us included, that dove in just swim trunks. The DMs were always around to lead through a wreck, or take your camera so both you & buddy could be in same shot. I know ther was only 2 diving with us , but they were always around. I would say this was our best dive & I put a thread in Greater Bahamas sections,but nothing against Blue Island as an operation.I would use them again in a second. I finally got to see some sharks on a dive so my excitement meter went off chart in Nassau.

 

[DiveMaven]

Wow, thanks for all the great information!! The only time we've been in St. Thomas the water was like glass, so I'll be sure to wear my "patch" just in case we run into seas like you had. Better safe than sorry, eh? We're in port from 7-4 in the Bahamas and are doing a morning dive, so we won't have the worries you did about getting back to the ship on time. As long as we dock in time and aren't delayed for some reason, we should easily make our dive boat. ;-)

Sounds like you got good service and good dives with both ops, so that's great news for me. We like to set up our own gear too, so it won't matter to us if the ops do it or not. We're taking our 3mm full suits with us since we don't figure the water will be in the mid-80's anymore by Christmas. Thanks again, I can't wait to go now!

 

[Chrissie]

Just got back & dove Sint Martaan with Dive Safaries.....I talked w/ divers that went & they said it was nice w/ only 7 divers.They used Underwater Safaries.

When did you dive in St. Maarten? We were there on the 31st. and were in St. Thomas on the 30th. We sailed Princess Cruise Lines and they used Underwater Safaries in St. Thomas and Dive Safaris in St. Maarten.

Our dive in St. Thomas was nice and smooth. Mostly saw coral and fish. In St. Maarten, the waters were so rough that my husband and I could only do the first dive. I ended up getting sea sick as soon as I broke the water. I know it would have been better to go back below but I didn't have the energy! On our first dive, we did get to see a Sea Turtle and a Ray. My husband saw a BlackTip Shark but it was before I was in the water. :-(

I thought both outfits were great. The only thing I didn't like about Underwater Safaris in that we went over our dive tables (not drastically but still....). Dive Safaris was very concientious of this....

All in all it was a great time and our first warm water dive. I can't wait to go again!

Chrissie

 

[RAD Diver]

We were in Sint Maartan on the 20th & St. Thomas on the 21st.The rough seas in Sint. Maartan caused a lot to not do 2nd dive. I was one of 1st to run out of air while trying to get camera working underwater.So I had a 48min SI, but when we got the go ahead I was 1st in from my group.I did feel sick ,but never got sick.Felt much better even before decending.Were you diving w/ computer?Didnt have any problems on tables there, but when we dove Nassau we were both way off tables, but computer said we were fine. I had gone deeper than most of group (100ft), but only for a few seconds then I went back to 80.The 2nd dive I stayed above 60 which was the plan to use new type of camera. Glad to hear you had a good time.We normally dive around Moorehead City in N.C.We are trying to set up a dive to Utila next year about this same time to maybe see Whale Sharks.The water in those areas is just unbelievable.60ft vis compared to maybe 20 in N.C.& that color blue.Wow I could go on forever.