Bahamas, St. Lucia, or Antigua

[rgee9]

Hello all,

My wife and are looking at taking a trip to a Sandals resort in either the Bahamas, St. Lucia, or Antigua. We were curious if any of y'all had recommendations on which of these islands present the best diving and accomodations.

Also, what is typically the best time of year to go? We are thinking in the March/April time frame.

thanks for the help!
Rob

http://hometown.aol.com/rgee9

[Natasha]

Hi rgee9!
I have been to the Sandals on all three islands.

I liked Sandals Golf Resort in St. Lucia the best. The diving is good, not great. (Great to me is Cozumel, Bonaire, Belize, and Roatan as far as the Caribbean goes) St. Lucia is the first place I saw a sea horse, and an octopus.

You can go down there anytime. It is traditionally out of the hurricane belt.

[TedJ]

Don't know about Sandals but there's not that much diving in Antigua. At least there wasn't when we were there several years ago. Stayed at Pineapple Beach when it was an independent all-inclusive and dove with a guy next door in his 15' Boston Whaler.
TedJ

[chippy]

I was diving in Antigua a couple of months ago.

It was great!!

In the 3 days (2 dives a day) we came across 'Cudas, stingrays, paddle lobsters, reef sharks, nurse sharks, octo's, lizard fish, parrot fish, trigger fish, blah, blah, blah.

If you decide on Antigua (we went past the sandals resort which was slightly north of our one - it looked really nice), look up Deano at Deep Bay Divers. He'll pick you up and drop you off from your resort beach. He's a great guide and made the inbound/outbound trips enjoyable and prices were very reasonable as well.

[sngatlanta]

Never stayed with a Sandals Resort but my son has and if I recall the diving is included in their all in price, so no need to look up and pay someone else to dive. My son was at the Turks and Caicos Resort and said it was very nice and well run, good food and the dive op while a little crowded was very professional.

I would personally chose the Bahamas or consider the TCI resort also. Diving in both of these places is very good.

[Tim Ingersoll]

I haven't been to the Sandals on any of these islands but I have been diving on all three. If you want to see some big stuff I would stick with the Bahamas. The diving on St. Lucia was very nice. Some drift diving. Lots of crabs and lobsters. Antigua is not known for its diving. It was my first real open ocean diving. I thought it was great at the time but since then have experienced truly great Caribbean diving and feel that Antigua was below average. The people in Antigua and St. Lucia were cool to tourists. The Bahamas is a little too Americanized for me. Check out the Turks & Caicos. It is by far better diving than anything on your list and a better vacation experience overall. If I had to rank the diving on a 1-10 I would put the Bahamas at 5, Antigua at 4 and St. Lucia at 6. I would put Cozumel, Little Cayman and Providenciales at 9. I'm still looking for a Caribbean 10.

[skinfish]

I stayed at the Golf Resort in St Lucia and loved it. It is a great resort and allows you to use the restaurants, etc. at the other Sandals resort on St Lucia, about 15 minutes by shuttle.

The diving was a very good experience. Nothing big but visibility was great, temp was very warm and there was plenty to see. The diving was from the Sandals resort. It was a smaller group, which was nice, and the instructors were very safety minded.

I would recommend it.

[Tim Ingersoll]

I would agree with Skinfish with respect to the dive op we used on St. Lucia. They ran out of the Anse Chastanet resort near Soufriere and were the most professional, safety conscious op I have ever had the pleasure of diving with. It was my first drift diving and it was very reassuring to have that kind of op the first time.

[rgee9]

Thanks for all the great replies. We will take a look at the Turks and Caicos location as well. I think we might be leaning towards St. Lucia, but if there is more info out there let us know.

thanks,
Rob

[d@n]

Sandals Grande St Lucia was excellent. They allow you to visit all three resorts on St Lucia. Free shuttle bus trans. Good diving, free also. I would go again.