St. Maartin and BVI Recommendations

[inkedadventurer]

Hello,

Heading to these two locations in a few weeks, anyone have a good dive shop or recommended operator in SXM?

Then for the BVI we rented our own Catamaran for a week. I will not be bringing my own kit with me due extensive follow on travel. Any recommendations on a dive gear rental shop out of Tortola?

Thanks,
I.A.

 

[Jersey]

Where are you staying on SXM? I've had good experience with Ocean Explorers, Kimsha Beach, Dutch SXM. There are a few good reviews here from folks diving with Octopus in Gran Case, French SXM.

 

[diversteve]

All your BVI options: bviscuba.org.

If you chartered through Moorings or BVI Yacht Charters - We B Diving is just across the harbor. British Virgin Islands Scuba Diving : We Be Divin' : Tortola If out of Nanny Cay it's Blue Water Divers - Caribbean Scuba Diving in the British Virgin Islands We B Diving and UBS - probably the others also - also offer free gear pickup/delivery at your boats dock.

Almost all of them - and the Virgin Gorda operators as well - also do Rendezvous Diving - you call them and they meet you at your location with gear/tanks etc - I'm pretty sure at no extra charge. Here's an example from Dive BVI on Virgin Gorda:

Rendezvous Pick-ups from boats as well as resorts with appropriate dock facilities are available. Please call ahead to arrange. Our dive schedule is flexible with site selection based on weather, experience level and dive sites already visited. We visit approximately 40 of the 60 marked BVI dive sites regularly. There’s even a site or two that we dive that’s not on any maps!

The two DiveBVI shops both have fill stations right on the dock. Their main location is in the Yacht Harbor and the other at Leverick Bay Marina. http://www.divebvi.com/about/store-locations/

Don't miss the Rhone. The Willy T is a fun floating bar also - you can moor up near it.

 

[guppyman]

For SXM, we have used both Octopus and Ocean Explorers. They are both top notch operations with a slight edge to Ocean Explorers. If I were staying on the Dutch side, I'd go with Ocean Explorers. If I was on the French side, I'd go with Octopus.

 

[RJP]

Hello,

Heading to these two locations in a few weeks, anyone have a good dive shop or recommended operator in SXM?

Then for the BVI we rented our own Catamaran for a week. I will not be bringing my own kit with me due extensive follow on travel. Any recommendations on a dive gear rental shop out of Tortola?

Thanks,
I.A.

I recently dove with Sail Caribbean Divers on Tortola (Sail Caribbean Divers :: Scuba diving and water sports in the British Virgin Islands) and highly recommend them. We were staying in a villa so drove to their boat at Hodge's Creek Marina, but they did meet up with several private boats for "rendezvous diving" where those folks jumped on the dive boat, kitted up, and dove with us. Seemed to work out pretty well for them - they got on, geared up, dove, and then got back on their own boat when we were done. No gear to rinse, no tanks to swap, etc. They have two locations on Tortola (Hodge's Creek and Wickam's Cay) and also have satellite shops on Cooper Island and Norman Island for picking-up/dropping off gear, tanks, etc. You can either sail to them... or they'll bring everything to you.

Be sure to dive the Rhone! And I would specifically recommend Sail Caribbean for that as they do a great presentation/briefing on the history of the wreck.

Best regards,

Ray Purkis

 

[Darnold9999]

+1 for Octopus for SXM

 

[inkedadventurer]

Staying on the French side... near Marigot. will have to look up Octopus as that may be the nearest option... although a good dive shop is worth the taxi ride, in my opinion.

---------- Post added November 6th, 2014 at 05:56 AM ----------

Thanks for the info Ray! I dont think any one else on my boat is as addicted to diving as I am, so hopefully I can persuade them into doing the Rhone. I will add it to my list of "to do" items!

 

[diversteve]

Ever see the movie "The Deep" with Jacqueline Bisset. They filmed it on the front 1/2 of the Rhone. And you can recreate that famous scene by exiting thru the hatch. It's an easy swim thru for anyone but the newest divers - one of our group had 10 dives when she did it. You can pretty much see daylight out to the sides thru most of it so there's a lot of "outs" if needed. The bow is around 70' to the sand.

The stern is a 2nd dive - most of the charter cats and dive boats move to an alternate mooring closer between dives - there was an explosion when she broke up so they're quite far apart. Do get to the back of the stern - follow the big exposed driveshaft. The prop is massive and where it landed set in between stones so you can swim between it and the rudder. More interesting things are on the stern - remaining portholes, a small piece of marble floor from the dining room and there's a silver spoon welded to the deck that you touch for luck. The back is collapsed though so there's no swim-thru - you can tuck under the deck on one side but can't penetrate more than about 8-10'. I believe all the shops do a similar lecture - DiveBVI did for us. RMS Rhone | Dive BVI

I don't like wrecks but I liked that one.

 

[RJP]

Thanks for the info Ray! I dont think any one else on my boat is as addicted to diving as I am, so hopefully I can persuade them into doing the Rhone. I will add it to my list of "to do" items!

All the more reason to do it "rendezvous" style, anyone who doesn't want to dive can just hang out on your own boat while you're gone for a little bit.

I don't like wrecks but I liked that one.

I LOVE wrecks... and I liked the Rhone