Trip Review-St. Thomas, Dominica, St. Kitts

[divingyogini]

I'm glad you had a good experience with Nature Island Divers. We're using them for our group trip we have organized for Dominica next year and I'm glad to read a good report. We've had good dealings with them, but it's good to hear from others as well. That area is just beautiful for diving--thanks for posting the pictures.

As we learned the first time we were in Dominica--everything moves a bit slower there, which is for me is a nice change of pace, but it does take some getting used to.

About St. Thomas, I agree with the others--report them to PADI at once. If there is one thing PADI is good at it's taking these issues quite seriously.

 

[RTRski]

Glad to hear Austin is still diving. Wife and I dove with him around St. Kitts and Nevis from a windjammer cruise. I think the sites we did were Monkey Shoals and The Turtles. This would be back in 1998 or so I believe.

Back then he actually caught 3-4 lobsters and brought them up for his dinner....I remember joking with him that he should be giving each buddy pair one, and being told quietly by someone else that he was probably poaching by doing it on scuba gear. Ah well. He was a charming guy, and a great DM regardless (and his wife helped out then too..not sure if she's still in the picture?)

We're leaving for Dominica in 10 days (assuming American gets all their flights sorted out, although we're not scheduled on MD-80s) We'll be forewarned about 'Dominica time' but we're staying on land and diving with Anchorage up in Roseau. Might take a couple with NID in Soufriere if that's not considered 'being poached' while we stay in Anchorage - I know we can shore dive from the hotel dock but would also like to do some of the closer shore dives and/or snorkel from Soufriere if we don't get down there on the boat from Anchorage.

I'd have to second many of the comments suggesting a liveaboard for you. You can consider the diving and the nightlife semi-incompatible, and just split them up: spend a week diving, then a week sunbathing and clubbing and eating out nice. Mom gets both weeks being pampered instead of just watching your bubbles from above. No reason you can't mix it up a little with a land-based diving trip, but put plainly leaving diving as just a day excursion from the cruise ships means you're always going to get the short end of the stick because schedule rules uber alles. The ops won't risk going to the further sites, they won't get to dive with you enough to learn your likes/dislikes and do anything much about them, and you won't feel more comfortable about your own diving by only ever doing it for a dive or two, two or three days a year. On a liveaboard, diving up to 5x per day, you gain a lot more confidence in your equipment and yourself, your ability to break it down, can apply learning right away to subsequent dives, and you see a lot of other primarily DIVERS doing the same thing you can learn from. (Frankly I'm kind of surprised to hear about a guy with 500+ dives losing his fins, then fighting a broken mask strap...that seems like way too much bad luck for that much experience, and I freely admit I HAVE tried jumping off the boat without fins as well as dropped a mask. I don't claim 500 dives, either....this was with <20. Since then I've rescued fins and masks, and when my own strap broke I shrugged, took it off, tied a knot in it and got it back on without interrupting the dive. Did get a bit of face-dentage from the effective tightening the knot caused though, and I now keep a small backup mask in a BC pocket as well as spare straps for everything in my kit. ) Regarding costs, you're spending the money for the cruise and then what, $100 excursion fee for two dives? A 3-day liveabout to the Flower Gardens from TX for example will run about $700, and that's your 'hotel', food, transport, and up to 11 dives in 3 days (5/4/2 is the usual 3 day schedule). So that's on the order of $15-20 per dive more than you're paying now, for WAY more dives, in the optimal locations based on the current conditions and experience of those running the trips day in day out (not based on 'getting back to port on time), and leaving time for the other part of the vacation. Not that there's a lot more to do in Freeport...but the Spree also does LA trips out of the Keys now (to the Dry Tortugas).

p.s. to ScubaTexan: haven't tried the FG since? You're missing out...great diving, close to home with no airfare!

 

[diversteve]

Smokey-
I've considered a liveaboard...but I'm not sold yet. They are much more expensive than cruises...but with all the diving included, it makes sense that they are more.

It's three main reasons (besides cost) that keeps me from booking a liveaboard instead of a cruise
1. I travel with my mom, who doesn't dive and loves to cruise.
2. I am VERY picky eater and I'm worried I won't like the food on the liveaboard.
3. Robin mentioned about no ballrooms, or formal wear, shows, etc...except that I like the ballrooms, formal wear, shows, etc.

The Paul Gauguin was designed specifically for sailing French Polynesia year-round. She offers an extension of the informal, relaxing environment of the islands, with Regent Seven Seas Cruises' interpretation of six-star service, comfort and luxury. Spacious suites and staterooms (more than 50% with private balconies), a watersports marina, a choice of three open-seating dining venues and an extensive spa are among her six-star attributes. The atmosphere aboard radiates warmth and informality.

Paul Gauguin Cruise Ship - kind of pricey though, starting at $2500/wk.+

Watersports are a highlight of the Polynesian experience. The ship's small size allows it to navigate in shallow lagoons and narrow channels where larger ships may not sail. With the specially designed retractable watersports platform, guests may descend to sea level where they can conveniently hop aboard a windsurfer, launch a kayak, try a little waterskiing or set out for a SCUBA diving expedition.

You write great trip reports, you are an excellent observer, you gotta quit diving on cruise ships.

I second all this...

 

[St Thomas Diving Club]

Emily,

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience in St. Thomas. Please don't count St. Thomas out for your next diving trip. We would love to take you out. Our average boat size is 6 to 8 divers, we like to keep it small so we can provide great customer service, and it also allows us to get to know our divers. Our goal is to make sure everyone is comfortable and has a wonderful time.

Our crew is top notch! We set up and break down your gear for you. If you are uncomfortable for any reason our instructors are very patient and will help you with every aspect of the dive.

As far as dive conditions; I won't make excuses for the other diver operator, but, we have had pretty rough weather the past few weeks. Our boat captains are very experienced and know the area extremely well, they know which sites are good to go to when the weather gets bad. We also make sure we go to sites that will accommodate everyone on board.

I hope you give St. Thomas another try. Check out our website St. Thomas Diving Club, Scuba and Snorkeling in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. We hope to see you down here in the future! Until then Happy Diving!

Allana
St. Thomas Diving Club

 

[KJHorton]

I am also a cruise ship diver (but would absolutely LOVE to do a liveaboard). I also saw this review on the Cruise Critic site and posted my less than favorable review of Blue Island there as well. Here it is:

We were a bit late meeting the boat, which was my fault since I couldn&#8217;t really figure out their map of where to meet them. They did wait for us to arrive, which I appreciated, and said it was no problem. However, from that point on, I felt really rushed. We filled out paperwork and almost immediately pulled away from the dock (which they said they have to do). We were instructed to set up our equipment while the boat was moving, which wasn&#8217;t exactly easy.

There were only 7 divers on the boat and they did give a very good talk about their safety equipment on board. There were 5 certified divers and 2 students.

One of my big problems was the PADI instructor who was with us. We all went together on our first dive. He had one student over here, another student way over there. One student was way underweighted and spent the entire dive about 15' above everyone else. It seems like most instructors would be prepared for that and have extra weight. It seemed like he rarely turned around to check on his students. In fact, I have had divemasters with all certified divers pay more attention to the people with them.

It seemed like we were hardly out of the water when he said enough surface interval, we can do our second dive now. By the time we actually got into the water it was about 33 minutes. Thank goodness I had my computer because otherwise I would have been nervous about too short of an interval (I still would have preferred a longer one). In fact, by looking at the charts at the end of our second dive, the students would have been in pressure group W. Not a good way to teach, in my opinion.

After the second dive, I again felt rushed to get my equipment dismantled. The instructor disconnected my regulator and threw the cap on, without drying it or blowing it off. Just put that wet cap right onto the regulator. Again, something my instructor would have frowned upon.

One other thing that bothered me was the instructor or boat captain made a statement that the instructor was responsible for his students and since we were certified, we were responsible for ourselves. True, to a point, but I do think a responsible company should be responsible for any divers they take out on their boat.

As indicated, we were late (15 min) so maybe some of the feeling of being rushed was my fault. I think our experience could have been more positive if we just had another instructor/divemaster take us out. I wish I could remember the instructor's name; he just rubbed me the wrong way.

 

[shoupart]

It's interesting to read about the negative tropical water experiences. I've mainly just dove cold California waters (and mostly beach diving at that) but I started off with some Florida Keys trips and remember some difficult situations or incidents.

One was in Ft Lauderdale when I was pretty new and I brought a shortie suit instead of something more appropriate. I got paired up with a patient, more experienced diver and didn't really know what to do, so I just followed him around and shivered. It was OK, but I was really cold for the 2nd dive.

Another time, in Key West, I was with a diver who began panicking and thrashing on the surface. I guess he was out of shape and exhausted or something, so we towed him back to the boat.

Looking at a lot of the experiences here from the tropical dive destinations, I feel really fortunate that I have a number of buddies I can rely on, and when I go on boats here, everybody pretty much seems to know what they are doing and I'm never left wondering what the boat procedure is, or who I can hand my camera or fins off to when I'm getting back on board.

 

[sarita75]

Looking at a lot of the experiences here from the tropical dive destinations, I feel really fortunate that I have a number of buddies I can rely on, and when I go on boats here, everybody pretty much seems to know what they are doing and I'm never left wondering what the boat procedure is, or who I can hand my camera or fins off to when I'm getting back on board.

This is something that I think most coldwater divers have come to realize and appreciate. Most people don't go out of their way to vacation to coldwater dive sites, so those of us who do dive locally in coldwaters have a kind of strong community sense and tend to be pretty determined divers (for lack of a better adjective). It also, in my opinion, helps us be better divers because we (a) dive often and (b) dive in less-than-optimal conditions so when we get somewhere warm and go diving, our bodies are ready to dive, and the reduction in gear (light wetsuits, sometimes no hood, gloves, etc) makes the diving that much easier.

Anyhow.... that my $0.02.

 

[Web Monkey]

I told him I was a fairly new diver and I that I hadn’t dove since September, and only had 6 ocean dives…he just said, “ok”.
. . .
“I don’t have a buddy, should I just buddy up with the DM?” He says “sure”. I assumed he would mention this to Paul, he didn’t…again I realize I shouldn’t have “assumed” that the dive op would actually communicate or care that I didn’t have a buddy.
. . .
I am a new diver, exhausted, and no nothing about this location…I can’t descend without a buddy!” So I come back up.

Sorry your dive wasn't fun, however you learned a valuable lesson, and that's even better: That a lot of DMs will say "OK" or "Sure" to just about anything, and a lot of the time it means nothing. They mean well, but are generally either occupied watching a group, or are just too accustomed to the dive to care.

In Cozumel, my buddy signaled the DM "800 PSI", then later, "600 PSI" on a dive with an 800 PSI turn pressure, while @ 80', and the DM just signaled back "OK" each time. At 500 PSI, I flipped back "You're #1" and we ascended.

The only person in the whole world who you can count on while diving is yourself, and if you're lucky, your buddy. Anything else is just a crap-shoot.

FWIW, I have a "two strikes and you're out" rule. If I'm diving and have two things go wrong, I'll call the dive and get back on the boat. That would have been soon after the first paragraph of "bad stuff" on your dive. I figure anything after that is just begging Murphy to come get me.

If you call the dive, you still get a nice boat ride out of the deal and can dive another day.

Never let anybody rush you, and if the dive seems weird, just say "no". You already spent the money, so everything else is just a case of "how much awful" you want to deal with. At least on the boat, nothing else bad will (or should) happen.

Terry

 

[DivingPrincessE]

Sorry your dive wasn't fun, however you learned a valuable lesson, and that's even better: That a lot of DMs will say "OK" or "Sure" to just about anything, and a lot of the time it means nothing. They mean well, but are generally either occupied watching a group, or are just too accustomed to the dive to care.

Yeah I'm definetly looking at it as a lessons learned kinda thing. Until then I had never had a "bad" dive, so I'm just glad to know that I was able to stay sort of calm. I'm also grateful to have learned some other new things, like the fact that descending in rough seas and waiting for your buddy 5-10 feet down helps out a lot. Another update-I'm taking the Emergency First Responder/CPR course next week, as the pre-req for Rescue Diver which I will be taking this summer.

 

[grouchyturtle]

Wow that reminded me of my second dive off NJ, especially the part about trying to hang as high on the line as possible. It was a dusk dive and seas were starting to pick up. By the time got down to 10' I was hyperventilating so bad that I had to call the dive.

I'm going to disagree with most of the responses here. I'd go land based = some of the luxuries of the cruise, and more diving, but not as much as a live aboard.

I'm also going to recommend some strobes for that camera, although those shots of the turtles are pretty good.