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My daughter and I got in 3 dives in St. Maarten. It was great! We went out with Dive Safari on a boat with 10 divers & two dive masters. My brother in law was late getting off the cruise ship and missed the pick up boat. He had all my sister in laws gear so they both missed the scheduled dives. Bummer!
The first dive was an 85' wreck dive of a tug boat called the Porpoise. My daughter lost her underwater camera as we did the giant stride of the back of the dive boat so we didn't get any underwater pics. Here are a few on the dive boats; http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=69152
We dropped down on the starboard side of the wreck. Then we swam up to the deck and looked around. My daughter and I stuck close to the guide. We dropped off the deck and swam completely around the outside of the ship. Our Guide led us back to the deck again and pointed to the entrance to the engine room. He took his light out and we followed him and did two swim through's taking two different routes through the ship. This was a huge thrill for my daughter and I.
I found out the my blood looks green at 85'-0 It looked just like algae. I cut my finger on something as we entered the wreck. I reached 1000 on my SPG first so the guide led us back to the mooring line. We accended slowly, did our safety stop. We were coming up in front of the boat so while we were still at 10'-0 we swam back to the ladder and then surfaced. The seas were pretty rough 6 to 8 foot swells. So it was a litle hairy getting back on the boat. The crew earned their tip.
After this dive was over we went to Frenchman's Reef. It was a 35'-0 reef. We saw lots of fish, brain coral, sea fans, 2 moray eels, a small octopus, a sea turtle. It was excellent! I was the first to reach 1000 on my SPG (air hog). The guide led me back to the line and I did my safety stop and got back on the boat. My daughter stayed down with the guide for another 10 min or so. It was an all together excellent couple of dives.
On the walk back to the cruise ship we ran into my brother in law & sister in law. They had just booked a dive with a little stand just outside the gates dock the cruise ship was at. He felt bad about missing the morning dives so he offered to pay for me and my daughter to go on a shallow reef dive with them. We jumped at the chance and did our third dive that day! This was only 25'-0 but we had a lot of current to deal with. Plus the visibility was only about 15 to 20 feet. We still saw a lot of fish. By now the seas were very rough. We all got on the boat OK except for my sister in law. She got slammed into the ladder a couple of times. She just couldn't get up the ladder, so the crew took her weight belt off & then her BC. She was able to grab on and climb up.
All in all , we had a great time! I would recommend Dive Safari to any one going to St. Maarten. The crew was very friendly and did a great job. The next time I go to St. Maarten we will either do a shark awareness dive or go to Saba.
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It looked just like algae. I cut my finger on something as we entered the wreck. I reached 1000 on my SPG first so the guide led us back to the mooring line. We accended slowly, did our safety stop. We were coming up in front of the boat so while we were still at 10'-0 we swam back to the ladder and then surfaced. The seas were pretty rough 6 to 8 foot swells. So it was a litle hairy getting back on the boat. The crew earned their tip.
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