Hello all,
I would like to share my diving experience in St-Martin so here is a
quick trip report. I didn't find that much info about St-Martin before
leaving so I thought it would be interesting for others to know a
little more about this destination.
First of all, that was not a dive trip. I went there with the wife,
kids and my parents. My wife and I brought our gear and expected to do
some diving, which we did
a total of 4 dives. We wanted to be on the
French side so we rented a 3 rooms house in Orient bay. Nice location,
a little windy, long beach with good waves, nice French restaurants and
a lot of fun.
Prior to leave, I contacted a dive shop located not to far from our
rented house. I was told by them that January wasn't that good for diving
(rough sea) but we could leave from Grand-Case instead of Orient Bay
since the sea is calmer on that side of the island. It finally turned
out that this shop in Orient Bay was closed the whole week. When I
called them, the clerk on the phone (they have a shop elsewhere on the island)
didn't know about the schedule and
wasn't helpful. I then managed to call the dive instructor on her cell
phone (the one I wrote to the week before), she told me we could
arrange 1 dive the next day, but only one, and wasn't sure about the
rest of the week. Prior to this, I had to go to their dive shop (not
the one in Orient Bay) to pay and then we would meet at hotel in Grand
Case the next for the dive. Oh man! Sorry but that was way too
complicated for only one dive! I was in vacation and didn't want to
mess with complicated things.
Finally, we headed to Octopus Diving in Grand-Case. We paid for a 2
tank dive the next morning. We had plenty of diving opportunities for
the next few days.
In general, viz was from my experience low (about 50') if I compare to
other places I went (Roatan 2X and San Andrés 2X). Coral reefs were
disapointing, unhealthy and had only few fish. Still we had some nice
suprise.
Saturday, Jan 25.
First dive site called "The fish bowl". I was not expecting much and We
didn't see much. However we were lucky enough to spot a dolphin near the end
of the dive.
The second dive site was if I recall correctly Chris Reef. Well, Chris
didn't take care of its reef lately and its inhabitant decided to leave
except for a nice turtle that waited for us.
Tuesday, Jan 28
We went on the dutch side. First dive site was the wreck of the
porpoise. A nice wreck with hundreds of snappers looking for shelter
and a large barracuda cruising around. We were happy to finally see fish!
The second dive was a drift called Gregory's drift, again not much to see except for a stingray.
Despite the disapointment of the fish/coral life, Octopus diving is a great shop that run nice
boat with group of 6 max. I will certainly go back to St-Martin for vacation
and do a stop at Octopus. The island is a must see imo and there are still other dive sites to discover
I would like to share my diving experience in St-Martin so here is a
quick trip report. I didn't find that much info about St-Martin before
leaving so I thought it would be interesting for others to know a
little more about this destination.
First of all, that was not a dive trip. I went there with the wife,
kids and my parents. My wife and I brought our gear and expected to do
some diving, which we did
a total of 4 dives. We wanted to be on the French side so we rented a 3 rooms house in Orient bay. Nice location,
a little windy, long beach with good waves, nice French restaurants and
a lot of fun.
Prior to leave, I contacted a dive shop located not to far from our
rented house. I was told by them that January wasn't that good for diving
(rough sea) but we could leave from Grand-Case instead of Orient Bay
since the sea is calmer on that side of the island. It finally turned
out that this shop in Orient Bay was closed the whole week. When I
called them, the clerk on the phone (they have a shop elsewhere on the island)
didn't know about the schedule and
wasn't helpful. I then managed to call the dive instructor on her cell
phone (the one I wrote to the week before), she told me we could
arrange 1 dive the next day, but only one, and wasn't sure about the
rest of the week. Prior to this, I had to go to their dive shop (not
the one in Orient Bay) to pay and then we would meet at hotel in Grand
Case the next for the dive. Oh man! Sorry but that was way too
complicated for only one dive! I was in vacation and didn't want to
mess with complicated things.
Finally, we headed to Octopus Diving in Grand-Case. We paid for a 2
tank dive the next morning. We had plenty of diving opportunities for
the next few days.
In general, viz was from my experience low (about 50') if I compare to
other places I went (Roatan 2X and San Andrés 2X). Coral reefs were
disapointing, unhealthy and had only few fish. Still we had some nice
suprise.
Saturday, Jan 25.
First dive site called "The fish bowl". I was not expecting much and We
didn't see much. However we were lucky enough to spot a dolphin near the end
of the dive.
The second dive site was if I recall correctly Chris Reef. Well, Chris
didn't take care of its reef lately and its inhabitant decided to leave
except for a nice turtle that waited for us.
Tuesday, Jan 28
We went on the dutch side. First dive site was the wreck of the
porpoise. A nice wreck with hundreds of snappers looking for shelter
and a large barracuda cruising around. We were happy to finally see fish!
The second dive was a drift called Gregory's drift, again not much to see except for a stingray.
Despite the disapointment of the fish/coral life, Octopus diving is a great shop that run nice
boat with group of 6 max. I will certainly go back to St-Martin for vacation
and do a stop at Octopus. The island is a must see imo and there are still other dive sites to discover
