caymaniac
Contributor
About Blue Island divers..
Blue Island divers picked us up near the cruise ship pier on a small concrete dock. The dive boat was on time and large enough for the eight divers on board. The tank fills were adequate at near or above 3K.
The good part was that they kinda let you do your own thing. Both dives were more than an hour, at 1:10 and 1:06.
The dive sites were the Navy Barges and then a reef dive west of the barges maybe a couple of miles away. The Navy Barges was an interesting dive site with some soft corals inside the wreck and I noticed allot of tunicates in the area which I have'nt seen often before. A good number of Queen Angels also inhabit the wrecks. On the second or reef portion of the dive the reef was okay with the max depth of around 40ft. The visibility at these sites were maybe 30ft., which explains why St. Thomas is not all that popular with divers.
The bad about Blue Island divers.....no help with your equip.(which was okay for me but not too good for begginners), no help with entering the water or exiting, such as helping you with your BC on or making sure your air was on. The dive briefings were inadequate, with no mention of what you would possibly see at a dive site. They did take your weight belt and fins on some of the divers, not all, on exit.
In general on time but not helpful. I would not be in a hurry to use again.
On St. Maarten we used Suba Fun charters. We were glad we signed up ahead of time since they were full and I saw a number of people get turned away.
The bad...their boat was not all that nice, a twenty foot Zodiac type with a sun cover over the center. Not allot of room on the boat for anyone or extra equip. We split into two groups of five. You had to follow the dive master, which limited your dive time. You had to back roll out of the boat because of the limited room.
The dives were on a wreck and then followed by a reef dive. The wreck was very good. We did penetrate the wreck, even though it was a bit scary in one area which was pitch black, I should have had a light with me but I didn't. There was plenty to see as far as fish life, small school of goat fish, a large moray under the wreck, queen and gray angels plus other common tropicals. The Visibility was very good 60-80 ft., we could easily see the dive boat from the wreck at all times. Water temp was 83F. Max depth was over 60 ft. The reef dive was also good viz. we spotted a turtle upon entering and also a nice size Barracuda. As the dive progessed it stayed interesting with Flamingo tongues and plenty of sponge life, anenomes, we saw two spottings of Black tip shark as well.
The good.... Scuba Fun had excellent dive briefings and allot of help, such as putting on your equip. and exiting the water. Once you surfaced you swam up to the boat and handed over your weight belt and then BC and tank then swam to the back to board.
I would dive with again but would like to have more bottom time, maybe had only 45min. on both dives and half of my air was left on both dives.
Dive Safe,
Caymaniac
Blue Island divers picked us up near the cruise ship pier on a small concrete dock. The dive boat was on time and large enough for the eight divers on board. The tank fills were adequate at near or above 3K.
The good part was that they kinda let you do your own thing. Both dives were more than an hour, at 1:10 and 1:06.
The dive sites were the Navy Barges and then a reef dive west of the barges maybe a couple of miles away. The Navy Barges was an interesting dive site with some soft corals inside the wreck and I noticed allot of tunicates in the area which I have'nt seen often before. A good number of Queen Angels also inhabit the wrecks. On the second or reef portion of the dive the reef was okay with the max depth of around 40ft. The visibility at these sites were maybe 30ft., which explains why St. Thomas is not all that popular with divers.
The bad about Blue Island divers.....no help with your equip.(which was okay for me but not too good for begginners), no help with entering the water or exiting, such as helping you with your BC on or making sure your air was on. The dive briefings were inadequate, with no mention of what you would possibly see at a dive site. They did take your weight belt and fins on some of the divers, not all, on exit.
In general on time but not helpful. I would not be in a hurry to use again.
On St. Maarten we used Suba Fun charters. We were glad we signed up ahead of time since they were full and I saw a number of people get turned away.
The bad...their boat was not all that nice, a twenty foot Zodiac type with a sun cover over the center. Not allot of room on the boat for anyone or extra equip. We split into two groups of five. You had to follow the dive master, which limited your dive time. You had to back roll out of the boat because of the limited room.
The dives were on a wreck and then followed by a reef dive. The wreck was very good. We did penetrate the wreck, even though it was a bit scary in one area which was pitch black, I should have had a light with me but I didn't. There was plenty to see as far as fish life, small school of goat fish, a large moray under the wreck, queen and gray angels plus other common tropicals. The Visibility was very good 60-80 ft., we could easily see the dive boat from the wreck at all times. Water temp was 83F. Max depth was over 60 ft. The reef dive was also good viz. we spotted a turtle upon entering and also a nice size Barracuda. As the dive progessed it stayed interesting with Flamingo tongues and plenty of sponge life, anenomes, we saw two spottings of Black tip shark as well.
The good.... Scuba Fun had excellent dive briefings and allot of help, such as putting on your equip. and exiting the water. Once you surfaced you swam up to the boat and handed over your weight belt and then BC and tank then swam to the back to board.
I would dive with again but would like to have more bottom time, maybe had only 45min. on both dives and half of my air was left on both dives.
Dive Safe,
Caymaniac
