St.Kitts,St. Lucia,St thomas and barbados

[Bond795]

Hey guys,

I'm going on a family cruise pretty soon and i'm tryin to research where I wanna dive during it.

We are hitting St Kitts, St Lucia, St Thomas(allready dove there), and barbados.

Anyone have some good experieces that would like to share, or a knockout dive site you can recommend on ethier of those islands?

Thanks a bunch for the replys,

Ken

 

[RICHinNC]

On Barbados it depends on your wreck experience......there are a number of wreck dives there. A lot will steer you toward the STAV. My problem with that dive is it is at about 130 ftsw and your bottom time is short and there can be some ripper currents.

I would recommend the PAMIR if you want an easy wreck dive with some great swim throughs and it sits in about 65 ftsw so you can get some decent bottom times. I have seen turtles and rays and lots of other life around the PAMIR.

If you have the time....Carlisle Bay is a great dive. Eight wrecks in a row and shallow too.

 

[DougY]

Hi,
I liked the diving on St Kitts, nothing spectacular but a good few fish and coral. We went with Kenneths http://www.kennethsdivecenter.com/ I thought they were very good.

St lucia we went with froggies, I would not go back.

Doug

 

[Bond795]

thanks for the replys guys,

I'll research those mentioned.

I'm advanced cert. but i dont have much experience all together. about 20 dives total, still a newbie!

I've been to 120 only for my cert. i personally dont like deep of dives, like most others the bottom time kinda ruins the dive. I rather have 30 mins of being wet.

If anyone else has any names of dives that have dove on those islands, that helps me alot on my research and decision's for planning it.

thanks again,
Ken

 

[jaybombs25]

well the best options for diving in sSt. Lucia are Eastern Caribbean Diving and Dive Fair Helen, go either way any you will NOT be dissappointed. I've personally dived with them an I can tell ypu that all the dive sites visited will not dissappoint. Also ECD is more flexible just talk to one of the instructors or divemasters and tell them what you want to see and they will bring you to a site suiting your needs

 

[Hawkwood]

Not only that, Donovan and Eget (ECD) are a lot of fun to be with. Their dive boat, the Albi, is quite small, so you are not out with a large crowd.

 

[kelbat]

Just returned from a cruise, where I scheduled my OW dives in Dominica and Barbados. Loved the dives in Barbados---first was on a massive reef, and the second was on a wreck, the Pamir. I contacted West Side Scuba to arrange the Barbados dives, and Peter, the owner, picked me up at the pier to bring me to his shop/dive boat (West Side does not contract with Holland America, which was the cruise I was on). Went out on the dive boat, and there were only 6 divers and two instructors. It was a fantastic experience---beautiful reef, cool wreck, lots of sea life, and a very well-run operation. I'd recommend it without reservation. Kelli

 

[montychandler]

I'd suggest you take a look at your itinerary (your arrival and departure times at each of the islands) and then figure it'll take 45-60 minutes beyond that before you actually get of the ship. You'll need about 6 hours to get two dives done from the time your feet hit the dock. 1 hour to get connected with your dive operator and get to the shop to get gear, pay the bill, etc. 1 hour to get from the shop to the boat, get everything situated and actually get out to the dive site. 1 hour for the first dive. 1 hour surface interval. 1 hour for dive # 2. 1 hour to get back to the dock and perhaps back to the ship. This assumes that all goes smoothly and you don't have to take care of your own gear...

None of the stops you mention are actually GREAT places to go diving.. You can dive them though. Your experience level hints that you probably won't be bringing your own gear (just an assumption) and thus you'll need to be renting gear - which means a little more time at the dive shop trying things on, etc. I'd suggest that you contact some of the dive operators and get their thoughts given your arrival and departure times.

I've found that many places don't want to deal with Cruise passengers who really want to dive the good sites and want bottom times closer to 45-60 minute mark. The reason is the lack of reliability of two things: 1) the time you are allowed to get off the ship is inconsistent which impacts the dive operator and their other guests who aren't on a cruise ship and 2) many cruise ship divers are no-shows (they sleep in, change their minds, etc.).. Since we usually have 4 divers on our annual extended family cruise, we usually charter a boat to avoid pitfalls - although we have used local dive operators with success..

Something to think about.

Have a great time though - that cruise itinerary is a fun one..

Cheers,

 

[ereediver]

As mentioned time will not be your ali on a cruise ship. Most ships have a "cruise excursion" From the ship to dive shop and back. You will do one dive most likely. The main point is is set up so you won't miss the ship. You can try to set it up yourself, but that take much more effort obviously. If your like me, still new and happy to be diving, you won't know what your missing anyway if you do the cruise excursion. That will give you some pointers for next time.

 

[Bond795]

Thanks again for the extented replies,

I Agree the time thing makes me not wanna book my own dive away from the cruise excursion, but most of the time with the listed excursion they state what "COULD BE" the dive site visited. The Cruise i went on last year we got 2 dives in and had time to get a shower after the dive and come back to the dive shop to poke around and bull****.

The places mentioned sounds great and if i see them mentioned on the cruise excursion i'll be sure to choose the island that best suits diving.

Thanks again,
Ken