DivingPrincessE
Contributor
Summary: I was aboard the Carnival Destiny March 30th-April 7th that left from Puerto Rico and stopped in St. Thomas, Dominica, Barbados, Antigua, St. Kitts, and St, Maarten. I dove in St. Thomas, Dominica, and St. Kitts. I chose the three dive operators based upon Scubaboard suggestions/research. I was very happy with the dive ops in St. Kitts and Dominica, and hated the dive op in St. Thomas.
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St. Thomas
Blue Island Divers
DiveMaster: Paul
Kennedy Wreck, max depth 62 ft
Overall: Negative experience, would not recommend.
I’ll start with the good (because there isn’t much). The booking process was flawless. They returned my email right away and were very organized while I was making my reservation. On the day of the dive, they picked me up right on time and right where they said they would be, they had even provided a little map.
Before I get into the negative, I will say I take 25% of the blame of why things went wrong…but I am very inexperienced with boat/ocean dives. I place 25% of the blame on Leisurepro, and give 50% of the blame to Blue Island Divers
I was the only one diving off the cruise ship so the other divers (approx 10 or so I think) were already on the boat…a fairly small boat. I set up my gear on the way during the rocky ride. Paul the DiveMaster stopped me only to have me sign the waivers, not to ask if I needed any help. I told him I was a fairly new diver and I that I hadn’t dove since September, and only had 6 ocean dives…he just said, “ok”. After the somewhat lacking pre-dive brief which was given just as I finished setting up my gear, I realized I hadn’t been buddied up. I should have realized this earlier, yes…but like I said I don’t ocean diving much. In the quarries I find a buddies (friends or through scubaboard) well before I even leave the house, so it isn’t something that occurs to me as I’m gearing up. Paul was off doing…?...something so I say to the Captain, “I don’t have a buddy, should I just buddy up with the DM?” He says “sure”. I assumed he would mention this to Paul, he didn’t…again I realize I shouldn’t have “assumed” that the dive op would actually communicate or care that I didn’t have a buddy.
People start jumping in the water (which was rough) and I was the fourth one in. I asked the captain to hand me my camera once I was in. I do my giant stride and there is no one watching to make sure it went ok. I look back expecting to have my camera handed to me but the captain wasn’t there. The female diver had gone down the line in the front of the boat, two male divers went down the line in the back. I don’t remember hearing which line I was supposed to go down so I didn’t know what to do. I also thought the DM would be in right after me since he was my buddy. I was bobbing around in the water getting tossed around, exhausting myself trying to stay in place to get my camera. I finally get someone’s attention and take me reg out of my mouth to ask which line I am supposed to go down…in the process swallowing a bunch of water. I’m told the line in front. Another few minutes of exhausting myself and sucking down my air and I finally get the captains attention to ask for my camera. Another minute or so and Paul (the DM) jumps in. I (out of breath) ask if he is going to be my buddy. He says “fine”. He looks down and asks me why those guys went down the back line…I say “I have no idea, they were down when I got in.” (Plus why is that my responsibility??) Obviously they didn’t give a good pre-dive brief if people were headed in all different directions. He tells me to go to the front while he gets them. So I swim to the front of the boat. I was thrown around for another few minutes and think…maybe I should descend. So I start down and immediately think “what the hell am I doing, I am a new diver, exhausted, and no nothing about this location…I can’t descend without a buddy!” So I come back up. Still all alone and freaked out. I was so out of breath and tired and I just wanted up and out of the water. I’m sure I was half way to panic. I was holding on the front line on the boat just trying to hold as high as possible so the water wouldn’t keep hitting my face (the reg was still in my mouth though). It would work but a wave would pull the boat up and yank the line out of my hand, and I would fall back into the water. After a minute or so of this I decided “eff this” I’m getting back on the boat so I started to swim back along the side…soo tired at this point. It was then that Paul showed up and tells me to come with him. We get to the front and I tell him I’ve already gone through half my air, he says “ok”.
So we finally descend. I swim around the wreck with him, and I’m the only one following him. This whole time I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath, was just shaky (not cold shaky), and my stomach was in knots. I just kept telling myself that this was just minor panic, that even though I felt like I wasn’t getting enough air…I was getting air and I was fine. Sort of like a mantra I was doing during the dive. I was also checking my air like crazy. Paul kept swimming into the wreck and I would just follow above or beside the penetration area. It was a fairly open wreck so it wasn’t “unsafe” but as such a new diver I don’t feel comfortable in an overhead environment and especially when I was already so freaked out. He signaled for me to come over and I thought he was going to show me something neat right at the entrance…but then he just swam me through one part of the wreck. I don’t think it was a good idea to bring someone with only 6 ocean dives, into an overhead environment. Luckily we were out of it in a minute or two.
Around 1000 psi I noticed that my computer was bubbling air from where the quick disconnect was. My first Oceanic Pro Plus 2 from LesiurePro broke on it’s first ocean dive. I send it back and they sent a new one…this was the new one’s first dive at all. What the heck Leisure Pro?? When it rains it pours right? I signaled that I was going up and Paul gave me the “ok” sign. I ascended slowly by myself, did my safety stop and got back on the boat with 470 psi. I was really freaked out by the whole dive, and I’m just glad it wasn’t my first ocean dive…it probably would have scared me away from all ocean diving. Luckily I know not all ocean dives are like that. Once everyone was back on board they went to the next site about 10 minutes away. No roll call or anything just a rhetorical question of “is everyone back onboard?” I had already decided I wasn’t going back in. I was freaked out and my stomach was in absolute knots…I told them it was seasickness because I didn’t feel like getting into it. I had taken Dramamine and had sea bands on so it wasn’t seasickness. I do the “three strikes you’re out” rule…if three things (or more) go wrong, I take it as a sign and skip the dive. I know it wasn’t just me though. The first girl that went in…the one that went to the front (correctly) when the other two went down the back complained that she was down there 10 minutes by herself before anyone else showed up. She said she was about to come up to see what was going on.
After the 10 minute ride, everyone jumped in for the 40 foot reef dive, no surface interval. I thought that was odd.
Other than my personal experience…the dive site wasn’t that impressive either. Not much sea life, everything was just kind of brownish. My wreck dive in St. Kitts a few days later was much better (and my wreck dive in Fort Lauderdale in September was much much better).
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St. Thomas
Blue Island Divers
DiveMaster: Paul
Kennedy Wreck, max depth 62 ft
Overall: Negative experience, would not recommend.
I’ll start with the good (because there isn’t much). The booking process was flawless. They returned my email right away and were very organized while I was making my reservation. On the day of the dive, they picked me up right on time and right where they said they would be, they had even provided a little map.
Before I get into the negative, I will say I take 25% of the blame of why things went wrong…but I am very inexperienced with boat/ocean dives. I place 25% of the blame on Leisurepro, and give 50% of the blame to Blue Island Divers
I was the only one diving off the cruise ship so the other divers (approx 10 or so I think) were already on the boat…a fairly small boat. I set up my gear on the way during the rocky ride. Paul the DiveMaster stopped me only to have me sign the waivers, not to ask if I needed any help. I told him I was a fairly new diver and I that I hadn’t dove since September, and only had 6 ocean dives…he just said, “ok”. After the somewhat lacking pre-dive brief which was given just as I finished setting up my gear, I realized I hadn’t been buddied up. I should have realized this earlier, yes…but like I said I don’t ocean diving much. In the quarries I find a buddies (friends or through scubaboard) well before I even leave the house, so it isn’t something that occurs to me as I’m gearing up. Paul was off doing…?...something so I say to the Captain, “I don’t have a buddy, should I just buddy up with the DM?” He says “sure”. I assumed he would mention this to Paul, he didn’t…again I realize I shouldn’t have “assumed” that the dive op would actually communicate or care that I didn’t have a buddy.
People start jumping in the water (which was rough) and I was the fourth one in. I asked the captain to hand me my camera once I was in. I do my giant stride and there is no one watching to make sure it went ok. I look back expecting to have my camera handed to me but the captain wasn’t there. The female diver had gone down the line in the front of the boat, two male divers went down the line in the back. I don’t remember hearing which line I was supposed to go down so I didn’t know what to do. I also thought the DM would be in right after me since he was my buddy. I was bobbing around in the water getting tossed around, exhausting myself trying to stay in place to get my camera. I finally get someone’s attention and take me reg out of my mouth to ask which line I am supposed to go down…in the process swallowing a bunch of water. I’m told the line in front. Another few minutes of exhausting myself and sucking down my air and I finally get the captains attention to ask for my camera. Another minute or so and Paul (the DM) jumps in. I (out of breath) ask if he is going to be my buddy. He says “fine”. He looks down and asks me why those guys went down the back line…I say “I have no idea, they were down when I got in.” (Plus why is that my responsibility??) Obviously they didn’t give a good pre-dive brief if people were headed in all different directions. He tells me to go to the front while he gets them. So I swim to the front of the boat. I was thrown around for another few minutes and think…maybe I should descend. So I start down and immediately think “what the hell am I doing, I am a new diver, exhausted, and no nothing about this location…I can’t descend without a buddy!” So I come back up. Still all alone and freaked out. I was so out of breath and tired and I just wanted up and out of the water. I’m sure I was half way to panic. I was holding on the front line on the boat just trying to hold as high as possible so the water wouldn’t keep hitting my face (the reg was still in my mouth though). It would work but a wave would pull the boat up and yank the line out of my hand, and I would fall back into the water. After a minute or so of this I decided “eff this” I’m getting back on the boat so I started to swim back along the side…soo tired at this point. It was then that Paul showed up and tells me to come with him. We get to the front and I tell him I’ve already gone through half my air, he says “ok”.
So we finally descend. I swim around the wreck with him, and I’m the only one following him. This whole time I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath, was just shaky (not cold shaky), and my stomach was in knots. I just kept telling myself that this was just minor panic, that even though I felt like I wasn’t getting enough air…I was getting air and I was fine. Sort of like a mantra I was doing during the dive. I was also checking my air like crazy. Paul kept swimming into the wreck and I would just follow above or beside the penetration area. It was a fairly open wreck so it wasn’t “unsafe” but as such a new diver I don’t feel comfortable in an overhead environment and especially when I was already so freaked out. He signaled for me to come over and I thought he was going to show me something neat right at the entrance…but then he just swam me through one part of the wreck. I don’t think it was a good idea to bring someone with only 6 ocean dives, into an overhead environment. Luckily we were out of it in a minute or two.
Around 1000 psi I noticed that my computer was bubbling air from where the quick disconnect was. My first Oceanic Pro Plus 2 from LesiurePro broke on it’s first ocean dive. I send it back and they sent a new one…this was the new one’s first dive at all. What the heck Leisure Pro?? When it rains it pours right? I signaled that I was going up and Paul gave me the “ok” sign. I ascended slowly by myself, did my safety stop and got back on the boat with 470 psi. I was really freaked out by the whole dive, and I’m just glad it wasn’t my first ocean dive…it probably would have scared me away from all ocean diving. Luckily I know not all ocean dives are like that. Once everyone was back on board they went to the next site about 10 minutes away. No roll call or anything just a rhetorical question of “is everyone back onboard?” I had already decided I wasn’t going back in. I was freaked out and my stomach was in absolute knots…I told them it was seasickness because I didn’t feel like getting into it. I had taken Dramamine and had sea bands on so it wasn’t seasickness. I do the “three strikes you’re out” rule…if three things (or more) go wrong, I take it as a sign and skip the dive. I know it wasn’t just me though. The first girl that went in…the one that went to the front (correctly) when the other two went down the back complained that she was down there 10 minutes by herself before anyone else showed up. She said she was about to come up to see what was going on.
After the 10 minute ride, everyone jumped in for the 40 foot reef dive, no surface interval. I thought that was odd.
Other than my personal experience…the dive site wasn’t that impressive either. Not much sea life, everything was just kind of brownish. My wreck dive in St. Kitts a few days later was much better (and my wreck dive in Fort Lauderdale in September was much much better).
No fancy dresses and ballrooms, nightly shows (other than slideshows in the salon after dinner each night) but waaaaay better diving and you are treated like gold. 
