Luca Brasi
Contributor
Does anyone have information about diving in Tortola? Also St Thomas! I am considering a vacation to the area
Tortola BVI
- Thread starter Luca Brasi
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Going on the Cuan Law in November. No high expectations for world-class (or even Caribbean-class) diving.
drrich2
Contributor
Never been to Tortola, or any of the British Virgin Islands. I've been to St. Thomas multiple times on cruise ship stops; on my 1st (2006) I did my last 2 OW checkout dives on referral (I don't know what sites we hit, or whether they had names); another time I did 2 dives, Armondo's Paradise and Navy Barges. All of this was with Admiralty Dive Center, and my wife and I were quite pleased with them.
My very limited experience might be summed up this way; fairly shallow diving over a flat hard bottom around 40-feet or so deep, maybe 50-foot viz., decent coral/small reef like by Caribbean standards, don't recall much 'big stuff.' Keep in mind my experience on that is very limited.You might check Question - St. Thomas Current Island situation; looks like @runsongas , @SusanMarie and @Jersey gave input - one 'wouldn't repeat' and two 'it wasn't the best.'
Which is telling. St. Thomas is known as a major shopping center of the Caribbean, heavily visited by cruise ships, is well-known as a result and has multiple topside excursions available, a reputation for some nice beaches IIRC, it's a U.S. holding so from an American perspective no issues with money (but they drive on the left), so in theory it ought to be swarming with scuba divers, some of whom would pepper ScubaBoard with trip reports.
And yet, it seems we mostly get...the sound of crickets chirping in the silence, except for the occasional person planning a cruise who wants to do a day trip there. My inference, which may be wrong, is that it might not be a great choice for a week long dive trip, but if you're after a variety trip with diving plus other things, it might be. Some might say dive op.s might hesitate to take cruise shippers to the best sites since they don't know them; true, but if that's an issue (and I don't know whether it is), check if your proposed dive op. does cruise shippers and they'll be on your boat.
Check out @Corrinado Trip Report - St Thomas, Secret Harbor Beach Resort.
St. Thomas has ferry service and we rode one to St. John for a beach excursion; quite beautiful. I believe they have a ferry to St. Croix; we hit St. Croix directly for an 8-day 'dive trip disguised as a family vacation.' A lot has changed since my 2017 trip report, but it might give you some idea if that's of interest. St. Croix Research Report Aug. 2017 - Trip Report - St. Croix Research Report Aug. 2017
In the past, the Cuan Law has been discussed as a rather expensive liveaboard for people seeking more variety who aren't just out to 'dive-dive-dive' (which is like a contradiction in terms; that's usually what liveaboards are mostly about). There's now a BVI Aggressor, and I thought we'd see some trip reports by now, but again...crickets. The Roatan Aggressor garnered a lot more interest here once it started operating. I hope @tursiops will write us a trip report; I'm not the Cuan Law's target demographic (I'm all about the diving, and I'm cheap). Some links in case it's of interest (the boat) -
P.S.: If you or anyone else seeing this thread goes, either to St. Thomas or Tortola, please post a trip report. People ask about them on ScubaBoard from time to time. I've always got an eye out for over-looked dive destination options that might merit more buzz (and over the years, Curacao and St. Croix have emerged, as has the Cabo region of Mexico).
My very limited experience might be summed up this way; fairly shallow diving over a flat hard bottom around 40-feet or so deep, maybe 50-foot viz., decent coral/small reef like by Caribbean standards, don't recall much 'big stuff.' Keep in mind my experience on that is very limited.You might check Question - St. Thomas Current Island situation; looks like @runsongas , @SusanMarie and @Jersey gave input - one 'wouldn't repeat' and two 'it wasn't the best.'
Which is telling. St. Thomas is known as a major shopping center of the Caribbean, heavily visited by cruise ships, is well-known as a result and has multiple topside excursions available, a reputation for some nice beaches IIRC, it's a U.S. holding so from an American perspective no issues with money (but they drive on the left), so in theory it ought to be swarming with scuba divers, some of whom would pepper ScubaBoard with trip reports.
And yet, it seems we mostly get...the sound of crickets chirping in the silence, except for the occasional person planning a cruise who wants to do a day trip there. My inference, which may be wrong, is that it might not be a great choice for a week long dive trip, but if you're after a variety trip with diving plus other things, it might be. Some might say dive op.s might hesitate to take cruise shippers to the best sites since they don't know them; true, but if that's an issue (and I don't know whether it is), check if your proposed dive op. does cruise shippers and they'll be on your boat.
Check out @Corrinado Trip Report - St Thomas, Secret Harbor Beach Resort.
St. Thomas has ferry service and we rode one to St. John for a beach excursion; quite beautiful. I believe they have a ferry to St. Croix; we hit St. Croix directly for an 8-day 'dive trip disguised as a family vacation.' A lot has changed since my 2017 trip report, but it might give you some idea if that's of interest. St. Croix Research Report Aug. 2017 - Trip Report - St. Croix Research Report Aug. 2017
In the past, the Cuan Law has been discussed as a rather expensive liveaboard for people seeking more variety who aren't just out to 'dive-dive-dive' (which is like a contradiction in terms; that's usually what liveaboards are mostly about). There's now a BVI Aggressor, and I thought we'd see some trip reports by now, but again...crickets. The Roatan Aggressor garnered a lot more interest here once it started operating. I hope @tursiops will write us a trip report; I'm not the Cuan Law's target demographic (I'm all about the diving, and I'm cheap). Some links in case it's of interest (the boat) -
Info on Cuan Law
Live aboard for nondiving spouse?
BVI liveaboard
Richard.P.S.: If you or anyone else seeing this thread goes, either to St. Thomas or Tortola, please post a trip report. People ask about them on ScubaBoard from time to time. I've always got an eye out for over-looked dive destination options that might merit more buzz (and over the years, Curacao and St. Croix have emerged, as has the Cabo region of Mexico).
OP
Luca Brasi
Contributor
Thanks for your help
There is some decent diving in the BVI, but not necessarily on Tortola. I am not sure that there is enough to do a dive trip there, but a vacation with some diving in very doable. I have not dove in the USVI so I can't commment there. My favorite sites that we dove in ythe BVI were: The Indians (rocks off Norman Island), The Rhone, and The Chikuzen. The dive at the Indians might have been my favorite Carribean dive ever. It was a day that the siversides were running so we saw pelagics in addition to the normal reef fish. And any diver of a certain age will need to dive the wreck of the Rhone. I know it wasn't the same green morey that we saw, but it was still pretty cool. If you are not of a certain age, see the movie "The Deep" to understand.
We used Sail Carribean Divers who have locations on Tortola and Cooper Island (we stayed on Cooper and did 3 days of diving).
Jackie
We used Sail Carribean Divers who have locations on Tortola and Cooper Island (we stayed on Cooper and did 3 days of diving).
Jackie
I'd definitely second the Rhone and the Indians.
The best trip I've ever had in the Caribbean (diving or otherwise) was chartering a catamaran for a week in the BVI and just sailing around where we wanted, setting up and doing our own dives off the back. We were about 1/2 divers, 1/2 non so the trip mostly centered on sailing but we were able to get in a dive or two daily. You can exchange out tanks at nearly every port in the BVI.
The Rhone is what triggered us to get certified. We had chartered a 45' sailboat, sailed each day, snorkeled when we anchored. We were snorkeling over the Rhone when a dive boat pulls up, and we watch the divers descend on the wreck. We get back to our sailboat, and I tell my wife "we should learn scuba".
I agree with your sentiment that BVIs are for sailing, and if you do a dive or two, that makes for a bonus.
I did a 7 nighter to BVI last May on a 60ft Fontaine Cat with Tradewinds for a buddies 65th B-Day.... Wasn't really a dedicated dive trip but they had tanks and weights available so a few of us brought our gear and we got 6 dives in. The Indians was probably the best dive. Easy shallow dive, lots of life and light. Not a bad site for snorkelers also. The dive operator boats have priority to the moorings at that site......otherwise the Cats would just moor up and stay all day...
Not a dive.......but definitely check out "The Baths" on Virgin Gorda....that won't disappoint.
For me personally the Rhone was......'meh"... pretty much dilapidated and collapsed with not an abundance of life. Would have been way better if Jacquilan was there!
PS........ These Cats are flipp'n awesome. Very stable, tons of room and it's totally the cats pajamas when the crew gets the sails up and we're actually catching other Cats that are under power....
Not a dive.......but definitely check out "The Baths" on Virgin Gorda....that won't disappoint.
For me personally the Rhone was......'meh"... pretty much dilapidated and collapsed with not an abundance of life. Would have been way better if Jacquilan was there!
PS........ These Cats are flipp'n awesome. Very stable, tons of room and it's totally the cats pajamas when the crew gets the sails up and we're actually catching other Cats that are under power....
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