Diving with Sandals

[arizona diver]

Has anyone had any experience diving with the Sandals Resorts? We are considering this if the diving and operator are good - mainly considering Antigua or St. Lucia. Thanks!

 

[tc_rain]

I dove with Sandals in Negril, Jamaica last year. They gave you 30 minutes bottom time or until the first person hit 1000 psi. If you dropped below 30 feet, you did a mandatory safety stop. The dive masters were very good and friendly but the equipment was terrible. I witnessed leaking SPG’s, BCD’s that would not fasten, and faulty regulators. Not to mention watching the regs being drug through the sand as they were carried to the boat. The regs were not sanitized and I did end up catching a cold. Several of the tanks also had short fills. They offered three dives each day, 9:00, 11:00, and 1:00. By the time the 9:00 dives were completed, the 11:00 dive was ready to go.

If you have your own gear take it and you will be much better off. Just make sure you go to the dive shop on your day of arrival so you can dive the next day; otherwise, you will have to wait until your third day. Don’t forget your logbook too. Overall, would I do it again? Without a doubt but only with my own gear.

 

[Scubagal]

I've been diving with Sandals in St. Lucia and Nassau, Bahamas, and their sister property Beaches in Turks and Caicos. What exactly do you want to know? Feel free to PM me.

 

[Ken abucs]

See my thread...

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=133120

 

[Doc]

See my thread...STAY AWAY!

Ken, first let me say that for me I would agree. It's an easy equation: These are resorts that offer diving, not diving resorts.

I would also say that any dive trip to Jamaica or similar style resort as Club Med/Sandals, the would-be adventurer has to just do a quick scan on archived SCUBA Board posts- and it should get pretty clear, pretty fast.

These resorts are not in the business of catering to divers who bring their own gear, behaviors such as that are an anomoly and they are seldom seen. Those that do show up with gear are way better risks than those who show up to rent, but suffice to say the gear that is brought along is usually bright, shiny and fresh out of the box. This is a cute way of saying that the more seasoned divers aren't going here.

The same thing applies to queries from "cruise ship divers". If the limited possibilities suit your diving needs, you have a place in this world, and for sure on this Board. Just don't make the mistake of trying to make your choice into a dive vacation. It is a vacation with some diving.

This doesn't mean that these resorts are all bad. Not everyone who is certified, not everyone who posts here, not everyone with great water-cooler tales of their big dive adventure would fit in at a "real" (or dedicated) dive resort. Some people like the activities and parasol drinks at these Club operations, and God bless them. We just must express what we really want when we seek travel advice.

Me? I would go nuts at a Club Dread. If I am taking the money and time-off to go diving, hey- that's what I want. Make it easy 'cause I'm doing it 5x a day. On the other hand, a commercial diver I know regularly went to Hedo II (I think that's what it was called) and came back with The most amazing pictures. :14:

To each his own, but don't expect what just simply can't be there. Do research here on SCUBA Board and you'll find the answers to the more well travelled spots pretty quickly. Don't come back all bummed out and post a negative thread, although the one from Ken was very well written and insightful. (Too bad more won't bother to find and read it!)

But- it is all very dependant upon us stating our real needs & desires from a dive vacation. Another good point- when you read something from a poster, check their profile. I read one from a poster who was gushing all over this C- dedicated real-live dive resort they had just returned from in the Caribbean. Their profile was not filled out, but their only other post was asking for info on their next big trip... to a "Club" type resort. If you've only been diving at Sandals, obviously- it was indeed the best dive-op you had ever seen.

You have to do the math. If a "vacation" to you means that at some point in the week that you will NOT be moist and stinking of fish poop, you might want to factor that into your selection. I prefer "my women" in really stinky lycra body suits complete with those gushy, squishy booties. Get what you need.

 

[DocVikingo]

Hi Arizona Diver,

For myself, I find Ken's advice spot on, but it may not hold true for all divers. Obviously the diver doesn't go to St. Lucia or Antigua, regardless of the particular resort, for the good scuba. On balance, it's simply not there and for less travel & cost quite decent Caribbean diving can be had. So, one must assume there are other considerations.

IMHO, Roatan Man has nicely presented the issues.

If you still choose either island, feel free to contact me for dive op recommendations. BTW, Beaches dive ops are not on my recommended list anywhere in the world.

Regards,

DocVikingo

 

[Skinsfan1311]

I agree with RoatanMan. Sandals are vacation where you can dive, but they're not diving vacations. That being said, I've been to Sandals a couple of times, once at Sandals Negril, and once at the Sandals Grande St. Lucian.

Negril was pretty sad....I thought the equipment was pretty shabby....only dove a couple of times on somedead-lookingreefs and bagged diving for the rest of the trip. Sandals is an expensive vacation, and the time spent diving wasn't worth it.

St. Lucia, the diving was very good. Maybe we lucked out, but they have brand-spankin' new 45' dive boats, and the most people on any one dive when we went was 6 people. The equipment was in good repair, (I've since purchased my own). They're all boat dives, and the dive sites are at least a 30-45 minute ride. I only intended to do couple of dives, but was impressed enough to get in six!! I got in my first, and only, night dive, and I had a blast, but don't have anything to compare it to. The other, more experienced divers seemed to think it was a good one. The diving at the base of the Pitons was awesome.

If you're going on a dive vacation, I'd skip Sandals altogether. If you're going on a vacation, where you can get a few dives in, and if it hasto be at Sandals, I'd go for the resort in St. Lucia. Please feel free to PM me with any questions that you may have

 

[shark.byte.usa]

I missed an opportunity to go to the Sandals in Jamaica on a co. trip last year, but the divers that went didn't have anything positive to say about the diving op at the resort and wished they had left the resort and sought out a private op for their diving. Actually no one really had anything good to say about the resort in general, but maybe they were just trying to make me feel better, but apparently it just didn't hold a candle to the Kaui trip the year before.

 

[Ken abucs]

it just didn't hold a candle to the Kaui trip the year before.

That's a good point. If you're used to eating at McDonalds, Denny's seems like fine dining. When it comes to vacations, I'm more of a Morton's Steakhouse kind of guy. Some people love Sandals/Beaches, but it's all in your frame of reference. Better vacations can be had for the same money or less.

What I do now is look at http://www.tripadvisor.com/ for reviews. I did that for Beaches, and ignored the bad reviews because they were running 50% good and 50% bad. A few bad reviews are to be expected for anything, but when they start running 50/50, stay away.

Ken

BTW, Beaches is a Sandals resort for families.

 

[Jake]

I dove at Sandals Antigua in April. Trip report in two parts:

Part 1

Part 2

If you can, dive out of English Harbor. Now that I've got more experience (since my post), I would rate the diving out of EH as top notch.