Help with St Lucia trip in May-June

[Interceptor121]

We are going to be in St Lucia 31st May - 10 June and currently looking at accommodation options.
Seems most of the diving is where there are less resorts so to avoid long boat rides we are currently looking at Ti Kaye and other possibilities in that area

I know there is not much (big) fish so my expectations are really low I wonder if anyone has been in St Lucia or is local and can give me few tips around locations, accommodation and diving and maybe a link to some RECENT pictures or videos?

Thanks all for your help

[ColoDale]

The diving is generally better on the south end (on the West side). There are a couple of wrecks to dive. Also, there are other resorts and hotels farther south than Ti Kaye that put you closer to these dive sites. I cannot say anything about dive ops there tho as we stayed further north and left from port near Castries. I would say it was about 30-45 min boat trip if I recall from Castries.
A map I use is St. Lucia Interactive Caribbean Vacation Flash Map

There are quite a few post from Oct/Nov and around June/July 2011 in this same forum that have info on where people have stayed and who they dove with (if you have not already looked).

If you do stay far south you might consider going into the Vieux Fort (UVF) airport as the trip from the northern airport south will be a long trip.

We noticed quite a few other dive op boats around the dive sites when we were there so there doesn't seem to be an issue with getting a dive op to dive south.

I have a few St. Lucia photos in my SB gallery but they are a few years old - not sure how recent you want. There haven't been too many trip reports on St. Lucia lately.

[UW Travel Solutions]

As ColoDale said above the best diving is on the West side of the island. I really like Marigot Bay Resort, it is close to the dive sites, excellent service and a supreme resort.

What airport do you plan to fly into? Hewanoa Airport - UVF - is about an hour away and George F.L Charles Airport - SLU - is about 45 minuets away. They do have 3 different meal plans if you choose to go this route one of them All-Inclusive.

If you would like I can provide you with rates for your stay in a Private Message.

[ljwillia]

Hi-

We we're there two years ago. We opted to rent a villa above Anse Chastenet just outside of Soufriere. We dove with Scuba St. Lucia. They were a short walk down the resort road. This was our first trip after getting certified so I don't have much to compare it to. However, one member of our party had a quite a bit of experience and liked the operator a lot.

We rented equipment and it was all well cared for and in good shape. As a new diver, I appreciated their patience and assistance. Most of the dives were less then a 5 minute boat ride. My only complaint was the night dive.

The dive was off the beach. There were 3 large groups. It was utter chaos. As a result, I don't think I will ever do another night dive. The rest of the dives had 8 or fewer folks and were quite relaxed.

Soufriere was hit very hard by a hurricane shortly after we were there. I don't know what the effect was on the resort. That end of the island is quite humble. Once off the resort property the surrounding areas are pretty poor. We were not looking for night life. We were predominantly interested in diving. Our evenings were generally dinner and drinks on the deck overlooking the Pitons. Quite breathtaking. However, if you're looking for more of a true resort town with restaurants and shopping then I would recommend the Castries area. It's further from the diving, but there is a lot more to do in the evenings.

Hope this helps!

[Interceptor121]

We are flying into UVF (British Airways) and also looking at renting a villa as an option. Ti Kaye seems to be not to far from the dive sites and castries and seem to have a bit of a resort angle. We looked at Marigot Bay and for some reason that does not rock our boat