Cruising for two weeks in November in S.E. Caribbean.. Recommendations?

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cliffd64

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Hi all :)

My fiancee and I will be cruising for two weeks this November, on back to back cruises from san Juan, visiting several islands. We will be getting married on Barbados, so no diving will be done there :) Of these places that are listed, can anyone make any recommendations as to where the diving is best? We figure on diving at least twice during the two weeks... maybe more if we can arrange it :)


1.) St Lucia

2.) Dominica

3.) St Kitts

4.) St Thomas/St John

5.) San Juan Puerto Rico ( I suppose we will have time between the two cruises to get in a dive or two perhaps.)

6.) Martinique

7.) Antigua

8.) St Maarten

9.) Tortola

Any comments would be appreciated. I have already read some of the comments about St Lucia, and Antigua, and a little about St Maarten, and some about St Thomas/St John, but anything anyone can offer in the way of advice is great :) I would prefer to make advance arrangements with local dive places as opposed to taking the trips on the ship if I can arrange it. The ones offered from the ship are generally marked up quite a bit.

Cliff :cheers:
 
Cliff,

You are a lucky guy going to the islands for two whole weeks! My wife and I were down for a cuise in November of 2000 and visited St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas.

I'll be happy to provide you with my feelings on those islands. We'll be cruising in January to St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Thomas, Barbados and St. Maarten so I'll get to experience those myself later....

St. Croix is nice, typical island, but has one of the better dive operators in that part of the country, St. Croix Ultimate Bluewater Adventures (SCUBA) and I made a couple dives with them. A great operation full of good people. Very safety oriented, fun, and easy to deal with. I had set up a reservation well in advance, did some pool work to renew my skills and a two tank boat dive in less than optimum conditions, but still had a great time.

St. Thomas is the 'shopping' island, and the we tied up at the old sub base dock, which is kind of like docking in Bayone, NJ. I understand the other pier is very nice. The day we were there, there were about 4 other ships in port, and the streets in town were like Manhattan at lunch time, only hotter. We took a guided tour of St. John, and that was VERY nice. St. John has some of the prettiest beaches I have every seen and is very lightly populated. We'll be stopping in St. Thomas in January and I was thinking I'd go over to the Coki Beach Club and make a dive from the beach there, or perhaps just go snorkling...

Thats all the info I have.... have a great time!
 
We just returned from a week in Puerto Rico. There is really no scuba out of San Juan, the closest we found was Fajardo. Do a search on Fajardo and you can read my trip report.

The best diving (I have heard) is the wall on the other side of the island. I'll let someone with real experience address that.

Have Fun!
 
Congratulations on your upcoming wedding. I also took a long cruise fro my honeymoon, and was able to dive in 4 different ports.
From your list.. be sure to dive in Tortola. www.baskininthesun is the operator I used when there. If you're there on the right day, you might be able to dive the Rhone. GREAT dive.

You should also dive in St Thomas. I have used two different operators the times I have been there. I can't really say either one was worth using again. You might just want to go with the ship on this one.

St Lucia is where I saw my first sea horse and my first octopus.
You should dock in the downtown area port. That makes it a bit far to set up your own diving, and be sure that you are back in time to sail out. Again go with who the ship is offering.
It may be a bit more money, but trust me, it's worth the trouble you will have if you don't get back to the pier on time. St Lucia is one the most beautiful islands I have ever seen.
Have a great time.
Hope I helped.
 
Cliff:
I checked with a very good friend of mine that reps www.fortyounghotel.com in Dominica.
He said the ships pull right up next to his resort. They have www.divedominica.com at the resort. You can do two tank morning dives there for about 75.00. You can also get a day pass and stay at the resort for lunch after the dives if you're interested.
Chris says the diving in Dominica is great. He has been trying to get me down there for some time now. I'll wait to hear what you say, if you can fit that one in too.
Glad I could help you.
 
Thanks Natasha :)

Last year when we stopped in Dominica (this was before Melanie was certified, so we weren't diving on that trip) we happened to stop by at that resort after our day's activities and ventured into the dive shop to ask about the diving there. seemed like a good operation... and yes, the resort is right where the ships land, so it is very very convenient. I am glad I have seen a good portion of the island above water, as it is a trememdously beautiful island, so lush and green. It would be a toss up for the one day to dive or see the sights if I hadn't been there before :) We might take your advice and try some diving at Dominica :)

Cliff
 
st john as said earlier is the least populated island....about 80% of the island is a national park so it is def easy to get around in and cars can be rented for around $55 to 65 a day. there is a dive shop there if you need tanks or equip.

if you both dive ...get a car...get the gear...and take off to the different beaches..nice...

as far as st thomas goes...i was just there and used the chris sawyer dive shop. they were very professional and i had no complaints. did find it very interesting how you got your gear on....got on and off the boat...compared to how we do it here on the north carolina coast.

i saw coki beach and just walked away....was not impressed.
 
Hi again all :)

We have returned from our cruise, and here is a brief summary of what we encountered for diving on the two itineraries:

1.) Norwegian Cruiselines has a great Dive-In program aboard their ships. I think they are the only line (in my experience) that actually hires it's own dive instructors to accompany guests on their shore excursions, so they are able to keep tabs on the outfits that offer the dives. They were great to have around.

2.) Dominica: The dive-in tour was offered by divedominica (as recommended above). They are a class organization. There were 8 of us on the boat, including the NCL dive instructor, and THREE divemasters from Divedominica - almost 1 dive master to 3 divers, which is unheard of :) The first of two dives was a wall dive. Here we were able to see and photograph numerous beautiful seahorses. The coral and sponges were also very colorful. Depth maxed out on the wall at about 82 feet. The second dive was a little coral grotto at about 45 feet. It was a good day. The staff from divedominca were very helpful and I would definitely dive with them again.

3.) St Thomas - OK... This one started out a little differently. This time, for whatever reason, there were no NCL dive instructors with us. This is probably why it was not quite as well run. The group we dived with was Underwater Safaris. Here's the deal: AVOID UNDERWATER SAFARIS AT ALL COSTS. First, we arrived on the pier at the designated time, and were taken around the corner to their shop to sign forms. At this point there were 8 of us again from the Norwegian Sky, so confidence was growing. However, we arrived at the boat and sat there for at LEAST an hour waiting for more certified divers from another boat, and a bunch of "Discover Scuba" people as well. Now, I don't mind sharing a boat with other certified divers, but "Discover Scuba"??? These people should be on their own boat. Who do you think is gonna get the most attention??? Needless to say... it was crowded. We arrived at the dive site... it was near Bucks Island. The first dive was at Rye Reef about 60 feet near a sort of pseudo wall... actually more like a big coral mound rather than a wall. Not very exciting. The second dive was on the other side of the mooring line about 50 feet away. This was a little more interesting, considering it was a wreck, the Cartansa Senior. The wreck was in three pieces, and failrly interesting. The dive staff was not very helpful or maybe they had their hands full with the beginners. The head divemaster was offended that we didnt laugh at his jokes, so he was in a sour mood. I would not dive with them again.

4.) Tortola - Here we got to dive twice on the wreck of the Rhone - famous for the movie The Deep. This was a great set of dives. First we dove on the bow section, at about 75 feet, and the second dive was on the stern sections at a shallower depth. Small group again this time, so there was no overcrowding. Crew was very nice and attentive. I would definitely use this group again. (ok... before you ask, I cannot remember their name.. I will look it up later and edit this post :) )
 
Very informative trip report. You should be able to help a lot of fellow divers with your knowledge. Watch the boards there are always people looking for the type of information that you now have.
 
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