Is St. Maarten worth diving????

[Scotty]

We are planning on a trip to St. Maarten and I was wondering if the scuba diving is worth anything? I would like to do some but can't find much info on it for St. Maarten. Who can share what they know about St. M. Thanks.

 

[LWith58]

We are planning on a trip to St. Maarten and I was wondering if the scuba diving is worth anything? I would like to do some but can't find much info on it for St. Maarten. Who can share what they know about St. M. Thanks.

Hi Scotty,

We were in St.Maarten diving this past May. We dove with Dive Safaris out of Philipsburg. The diving is similar to what you would see in Grand Bahama or maybe a bit more like Aruba, with more seas and current. I wouldn't plan a "Dive" trip to St. Maarten. We were there for a family vacation and decided to get a few dives in, being in the carribean it would be tough not to dive.

The "Maze" Reefs were pretty good with a few swim-thrus there are moorings at both ends of the site . The "Caribe Cargo" wreck has large enough open areas to swim thru. We also did a shark feed dive. the sea life was alot more abundant than I expeceted it to be. Turtles, baloons, rays . reef sharks, lobsters and lots of other fish.

Any specific questions, let me know.

Lee

 

[CA Diver]

I returned from St. Maarten yesterday. I agree that I would never plan a dive trip to St. Maarten but if there, I would definitely go diving. I did a two tank morning dive with Leroy at Ocean Explorers. They are located between the Royal Palm and the Atrium timeshare hotels. There were only two paying divers on the trip and two dive master / tour guides. We dove on the Carib Cargo and Charley's Shoal. The wreck was fairly small as was the reef structure along Charley's shoal. The area around the southern part of the island appeared to be generally a sandy bottom with only small areas of structure. I do not know if other areas of the Island are the same. There was sufficient marine life to make the dives interesting including moray eels, southern stingrays and numerous parrott fish, butterfly's trumpetfish and other typical tropical reef fish. There was also quite a bit of brain type coral, soft corals and sponges on Charley's shoals, especially considering hte sand surrounding the shoals.

Although the costs can add up and If you have the time it is definitely worth a trip to Saba, I did three dives with Saba Deep, again a smaller boat with only four to six divers on each dive and Big Mike is a character.. The sites are so close to the harbor that you take your surface interval back in the harbor. The coral and marine life were excellent. The three tank trip was about $160 with marine tags and $15 for one tank of nitrox. But airfare was another $56 on Winair, $50 for round trip taxi service (can be split up with others going from the airport to the harbor and $11 airport taxes ($6 St. Maarten & $5 Saba). All of this added up (about $250) and the trip was still worth it. You can take the catamaran from St. Maarten to Saba but you may miss the morning deep dive to the pinnicles which are a great dive. I found the water to be slightly murky with visibility reduced to 40 to 50 feet. Fabulous coral and sponge life on the reefs, with stingrays, eels, garden eels, angelfish & other reef fish and the possibility of blacktip sharks or turtles and maybe a manta. I did not see the last three but I never expect to see those on a dive. That is what makes it special when you do see them.

 

[Scotty]

I usually plan my trips around diving but tend to want to have a social life on the islands also. This next vacation am going to vacation and if you say diving is good enough I will bring my gear and dive at St. Maarten. Anything else you can tell me about the diving there. Who would you recommend and if there is any shore diving or even snorkeling for my wife. Thanks.

 

[DandyDon]

Not if you can get toi SABA...!

 

[Scotty]

So could a person get 6-8 dives in and have a descent time doing so???

 

[5615mike]

Dove St. Martin on several occasions. Decent but not great. Great island. Nice mix of culture between Dutch and French. Oustanding groceries! Dive Safaris is a nice outfit. Try to get to Saba if at all possible. Well worth the trip.

 

[Scotty]

Dove St. Martin on several occasions. Decent but not great. Great island. Nice mix of culture between Dutch and French. Oustanding groceries! Dive Safaris is a nice outfit. Try to get to Saba if at all possible. Well worth the trip.

That's what I like to hear. I do like the mix of decent diving and an good time to be had by all. I still will be doing a little research before I make my final decision.

 

[Scott101]

We go to St. Maarten each year because my wife loves the place. We just got back from Cozumel because I love to dive. While St. Marrten is no where near the dive spot Cozumel is, it's still a great place. I always use Aquamania because I did my check out dives with them and they have always been great. As for dives, my favorite is "Hen's& Chickens" because theres a meteor crater that you can swim down into.

Everyone is correct in that if you can make it, head to Saba for a day. WinAir with fly you over in the morning and back that afternoon. I DON'T recommend taking the ferry over (The Edge aka the vomit comit).

Topside, you will not find a more relaxed atmosphere or any finer food. I highly recommend the Peg Leg Pub and their fillets.....mmmmmmm. Also, Lee's roadside place and the BoatHouse round out my top three.

So, I say head to St. Marrten, take your gear, and get ready for some great food.

 

[Scotty]

What is the average cost for flights to St. M??