St. Martin / St. Maarten?

Why dive St. Martin / St. Maarten?

• 37 Beaches http://www.octopusdiving.com/diving-st-martin/about-saint-martin/beaches/
• The Culinary Capital of the Caribbean http://www.octopusdiving.com/diving-st-martin/about-saint-martin/favorite-restuarants/
• US Dollar accepted virtually everywhere http://www.octopusdiving.com/2012/06/currencies-in-st-martin-sint-maarten-what-should-you-bring/
• Top Hotel chains like the Westin and Radisson http://www.octopusdiving.com/diving-st-martin/about-saint-martin/hotels/
• Extensive selection of accommodation from $50 - $1000+ per night http://www.octopusdiving.com/diving-st-martin/about-saint-martin/hotels/the-grand-case-beach-club/
• Most major airlines fly direct from most major Cities... New York 3 1/2 hours with Jetblue, Miami 2 1/2 hours with American Airlines.

The diving in St. Martin / St. Maarten is awesome too, with Wrecks, Reefs, Caverns and Canyons we have plenty to amuse you! Our beautiful Caribbean waters are teeming with life and between January and May expect to see Dolphins and Whales!

Both sides of the Island have Nature Reserves and currently the Nature Reserves are clearing the Lagoon of it's old wrecks and sinking them as artificial reefs, so expect to see some new Wrecks on St. Maarten / St. Martin in the near future.

St. Martin / St. Maarten also has 3 wrecks suitable for TEC diving, 120Feet, 140feet and now a new wreck sitting at 150Feet. These depths are perfect for Advanced Nitrox, Trimix and Closed Circuit Rebreathers like the Poseidon Mk6 http://www.octopusdiving.com/our-services/tec-courses/recreational-closed-circuit-rebreather/ or why not try our new AP Valves Evolution + Rebreather.

For more information about St. Martin, St. Maarten, Caribbean, just check out our website http://www.octopusdiving.com/
Or email sally@octopusdiving.com

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Thanks and look forward to diving with you in St. Maarten, St. Martin soon!

Teamoctopus

Thought I'd post to an older forum and see if it picks up any life.

Had been reading about the "mediocre" diving in St. Maarten, and had some concern as I was making my first trip there April 12. Staying at the Royal Palm Beach Resort (in Simpson Bay), Ocean Explorers (dive shop) was just a very short walk down the beach. Set up the dives online and through email. Although they have 2 boats and take a maximum of 6-7 out, we were only able to get one morning dive as they were booked weeks ahead of our arrival. Afternoon dives were available at the time of our booking, so had to go with those, one of which included "the" shark dive. The dive sites around the island are mostly located close to the dive shop, so there are short boat rides.

The diving after 2 days has been great. I'm easy to please. Day 1 was a small tugboat wreck with lots of life around it. We coupled that dive with the shark dive. A lot like diving with manta rays. Expect to get a close up view and even brushed against or bumped by the reef sharks. Largest of the approximately 10-15 sharks were about 10-12 feet long.

Day 2 were two more wrecks. Largest lobsters I've ever seen.

I wouldn't say the diving is mediocre; it's different. Water temp was 81-83 degrees. Not much coral, but sandy bottoms. Lots of life; saw 5 eagle rays, large sting rays, turtle, lobsters, morays, french angel fsh, horseshoe crabs, baby and large shrimp, barracuda all over the place, schools of different types of fish, and a porcupine fish.

Will give a quick update on my third day of diving today.

Jon

Jon - I would have to agree, but all diving is 'different'. Dunno - maybe I'm easy too! I started my diving on SXM in a discover scuba, did my first ocean dives w/ OE (the previous owner) and have greatly enjoyed it. Do keep an eye out for sharks as you first splash in and as you ascend (I call it FILO - First In Last Out) as they may be around but scatter with all the diver commotion. Did you dive the HMS Proselyte?

Jersey - that was not one of the dives. The wreck we dove last was called Carib Cargo which is out aways from the Great Bay in Phillipsburg. Lots of life. 100's of lobsters. I missed the shark that swam by, but was still happy with the dive.Also dove a site called Moonscape which was the reef. No coral but lots of life. Sting rays, crabs, more lobster, eels, fish, turtles, etc...

There was a very slight current at Moonscape and water temps were 81 and 83 on my computer at the two sites.

Funny thing that in 6 dives, I we never saw other diving boats. Saw one snorkeling boat.

Will definitely do more diving if I come back.

I also heard many negative opinions on St Maarten, but I've been there several times and always had decent dives. Of course it's a great starting point for a trip over to Saba, but still St Maarten is not
bad. Some pics:
St

A few thoughts:

1.) This is a scuba forum, not a generalist tropical traveler with the option for scuba diving as a side adventure, like a given shore excursion at one of the stops on a cruise. Thus, opinions focus on getting the best diving. Regardless of whether St. Maarten diving is 'good,' if quite a number of other Caribbean destinations have diving the majority deem better, then St. Maarten is going to get dissed.

2.) For example, take this bit from another post:

Not much coral, but sandy bottoms.

Click to expand...

Coral's not the only thing people look for at Caribbean destinations, but it's often a big thing. Depending on how widely this observation generalizes to the main dive sites, and how they compare to other mainstream dive destinations, it could lead to negative reviews.

3.) Was this a baited dive, or feeding dive?

Afternoon dives were available at the time of our booking, so had to go with those, one of which included "the" shark dive. The dive sites around the island are mostly located close to the dive shop, so there are short boat rides.

The diving after 2 days has been great. I'm easy to please. Day 1 was a small tugboat wreck with lots of life around it. We coupled that dive with the shark dive. A lot like diving with manta rays. Expect to get a close up view and even brushed against or bumped by the reef sharks. Largest of the approximately 10-15 sharks were about 10-12 feet long

Click to expand...

.

4.) Much of the criticism against St. Maarten/St. Martin scuba diving seems based on the assumption that you can do better if you're aiming for a scuba vacation, but if you're after a more generalist vacation & going to be on that island anyway, then it may well be worth doing.

I've never dove there; got to visit a couple of days for cruise ship stops. It's a pretty island.

Richard.

I love St Martin/St Martens as an island. Have only done a few dives there and was not overly impressed. I am reconsidering it as a destination as the Riu has taken over the Radisson Blu. From mid December it will be up as an AI. This makes it an excellent flight and hotel package for Canadians through Signature Vacations.
I will be cruising past there sometime in September. What sites should I drop in to see to get a good idea of the diving? Looking for French side sites preferable.

Cheers

drrich2 - "Not much coral, but sandy bottoms." A part of my post, but there was much more to the post. I would never diss St. Maarten as a diving spot, as the idea for posting something on this forum was to try and say, "Hey this is really good....why do people say otherwise?" (My opinion, of course)

My trips usually consist of picking a location based on what I can get in the way of a place to stay and then planning 3 days of diving during the week. I looked quite extensively for information about diving sites to visit on my trip, but couldn't find any. Was hoping to give helpful info, such as water temps and what I saw (such as sandy bottoms, which by the way were resting spots for the many sting rays I saw on most of my dives) to others for their future trips to the island as there was none for me, other than go someplace else!

The shark dive was a feeding dive. Small bits of food handled by the expert, while divers lie on the bottom a few feet away. There are videos on you tube.

Hope you get to dive there someday.

Jon

---------- Post added April 30th, 2014 at 09:01 PM ----------

Bryan - before I went, I pulled up a map of diving locations and saw most of them on the Dutch side. Think there were a few on French side. You might try that, find the names of some sites, and then see if you can get some info from a dive op on the island.

Nice deal on the Riu!

A part of my post, but there was much more to the post.

Click to expand...

As your original post was already in the fairly short thread, I just quoted the point I used to assert why some other people might not be complementary of their diving.

For any dive destination, it's important to calibrate your expectations for that place. This is not unique to St. Martin/Maarten. For example,

1.) Bonaire - much loved and lauded for 24/7 shore diving freedom, yet I've seen it dissed for having fewer large animals and less varied topography underwater vs. Cozumel, for instance.

2.) Cozumel - not everybody likes drift diving, though some do. People who like to hover in place awhile observing a creature or setting up a photo may get frustrated at the conveyer belt nature of drift diving.

3.) Roatan - I've read that different parts vary significantly, but reports for at least some of it for lush reef but not a lot of obvious animals (compared to some other Caribbean sites) unless you look for and cultivate skill in finding macro subjects, at which point it may be exceptional.

4.) Key Largo - on my trip, I loved it, but the viz. (September 2013) was not equal to Cozumel, and you don't get shore diving like Bonaire, so love it for what it is; lots of fine rather shallow coral reef diving, fishy reefs, and the option for deep wreck dives. 20 Dives in 5 days, and that's taking day 6 off, and the cheapest boat diving I've done yet!

5.) I've seen resorts that were highly lauded reported on by others who went with inflated expectations as 'not all that,' because their expectations were inflated by the praise. Suddenly 'Yeah, this is pretty good' becomes 'Huh? This is it?'

So, most any destination is going to have 'something wrong with it' (if only travel time & cost to get there & back) if you look hard enough. And to keep expectations realistic, it's important to identify those things.

Richard.

As someone that was not impressed by the diving on StMaarten I thought I would jump in.

Was in St Maartin a few months ago for three weeks. Was underwelmed by the diving. It would be good diving for a beginner and was not awful but frankly I had a much better time exploring the island. The coral was reasonably healthy, but nothing special, some of the sites were pretty barren. In comparison to the diving right next door in Saba it simply does not compare. Much more fish, much more coral, much more life in general, much more topography, and much less sand.

If I were in St Maarten I would go diving (and I would go with Octopus), I would not go to St Maarten to go diving. I would however go to Saba to go diving (if it was much closer - Indonesia is easier to get to than StMaarten or Saba from where I am).