Sint Maarten Trip Report – Early April 2017

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Hope this helps

I used to live in Sint Maarten and have dived both there and in Saba on many occasions. If I were to make a subjective observation I would say that Saba offers a more varied diving experience than SXM. It has walls, pinnacles, volcanic and organic formed reefs, which offer very diverse diving conditions, this is of course assuming the weather conditions allow you to visit the many sites on offer. In my own personal experience due to wind, current and sea conditions I have never been able to visit all the types of sites on one visit, let alone one day.

As for getting to Saba, this depends on how long you are going for. If just for the day then the plane offers the possibility of fitting in three dives, where as with the ferry you can only make two. The plane takes about fifteen minutes (flight time), and if you get the first flight out you will have time for breakfast in Saba before you start diving, the last flight leaving gets you back late afternoon, early evening. When flying you will need transfers to and from the airport to the harbour, this can be arranged by the dive shop in Saba (I always use and can recommend Sea Saba). The ferry leaves at 9:00 am (booking in at 8:15) and takes about 1.5 hours, which gets you into Saba in time for the second and third boat dives, before returning on the ferry at 15:30 pm. Transfers to and from the ferry are just a matter of checking in at passport control and walking along the jetty between the boats. So the advantages of flying are you can fit in an extra dive, and if you suffer from sea sickness it's much more comfortable (and quite exciting when landing and taking off in Saba), especially as you will be getting onto another boat as soon as you arrive. The disadvantages are it costs more (about $180 vs $100 per person), you may be limited on how much luggage you can take, which may be a problem if you have a full set of dive gear plus camera's etc. This has never happened to me and only occurs if the plane is full, when weight restrictions may apply, should it occur then you stuff will be put on the next available flight, but if you are only going for the day this might not be ideal. Assuming you don't get easily seasick the ferry offers a good alternative to flying, especially if you intend to spend a night or two on Saba, unlimited luggage ($5 for every extra suitcase) and you only miss one dive on the day of arrival.

OK, that's Saba pretty much covered, now Sint Maarten! When I first visited and dived here back in 2008 I wasn't very impressed, I tried a couple of dives but they were not the best and with the exception of the shark feeding dives, which were fun (they've stopped them now), I was disappointed, hence I used to always go to Saba. However since I moved permanently here I decided to investigate more options and different dive operators, and manged to hit on "Ocean Explorers" based in Simpson Bay. Having now done more that 50 dives with them my opinion has changed completely. Although SXM does not have the dive site diversity of Saba, it does have it's own character which is broadly split into two main areas. Directly out front of Simpson Bay and to the right (the more Caribbean side of the island) is a more sheltered sandy and sea-grass area which has some wreck dives, which although in my opinion not beautiful to look at, do attract sting rays, turtles, and schools of fish, which you can see on almost every dive. My preference is to the left of Simpson Bay around towards Great Bay (the more Atlantic side of the island), where although the sea can be a little rougher you will see some beautiful reefs such as "Fish Bowl", Maze", "Cable" and the wrecks "Proyselyte" and "Carib Cargo". On these sites you will nearly always see Nurse Sharks, Caribbean Reef Sharks, Turtles, Rays and of course a variety of beautiful Caribbean creatures. I should also say that the sharks are very friendly and come very close to the divers, probably because of the previous feeding policy, this does however make for some great photo opportunities.

I still haven't explored all that SXM has to offer as I've yet to do the dives sites "Moon Hole" and "One Step" which are further around on the Atlantic side and require that the sea conditions are excellent before they can be dived. I also have the French side of the island to look forward to, I've heard that the diving between SXM and Anguilla is also good, so that's also on my "to do list".

So in summary both Saba and SXM offer great diving, the major difference is that there is some "poor" diving in SXM. If I were planning a serious dive trip of a week or two and nothing else (there really is nothing else to do in Saba unless you like hiking), I would probably choose Saba, and keep my fingers crossed that the weather would allow me to visit most of their spectacular dive sites. However if I was looking for a more rounded holiday, beaches, bars, restaurants, supermarkets, shopping etc. and of course also wanted some great diving I would choose SXM. I think ideally I would do a little of both, the main stay in SXM with a couple of nights in Saba.

My biggest tip when visiting SXM and Saba (this probably applies to all dive destinations) is find a good operator, my experience here confirms this and I can definitely recommend "Ocean Explorers" with Jeff and his team in Simpson Bay, and "Sea Saba" in Windwardside.
 
i also believe sxm gets a bad wrap for diving among some divers. we always enjoy it there. sure the coral formations cannot compare to cozumel but we see more life in sxm then cozumel any day. plus you have saba close by if you want deeper more impressive coral.

Do you think that SXM's bad rap among some divers is due to the weaker coral coverage? I realize that healthier coral makes a better setting for dives, and that healthier reefs are the basis of a more vibrant ecosystem overall, but I saw more interesting critters on SXM than I did on Curacao. Perhaps it is just a matter of personal taste - I would rather see sharks, barracudas, lobsters, rays, and other mobile marine life than just healthy coral with fewer mobile animals.
 
That 'only thing' would irk some people. I wonder to what extent their customer base is made up of cruise ship 'vacation divers,' a demographic forum postings have historically indicated are often (not always) very occasional divers, often rather low in skill and high in air consumption, and often taken to less pristine dive sites for a 'check out dive' the 1st dive (which is half the diving on a 2-tank trip!). Disclaimer: I've been a 'cruise ship diver' several times. In other words, are those limitations you cited pretty much standard?

Most of the other divers on my two trips were from cruise ships, and some of them fit the description that you provided, e.g. gas guzzlers and so on. The cruise ship schedule was definitely a factor on the afternoon trip - the cruise ship divers had to get back to the cruise ship pier on time, so that they would not be stranded on SXM. Could an abundance of cruise ship divers on SXM explain the lukewarm opinion of SXM that many divers seem to have?
 
Ironborn, I did most of my initial dives in St. Maarten when I stayed there for a summer. I've heard some divers poo-poo diving in SXM and I could never figure out why. I typically saw more sea life there than I have since in Cozumel, Belize, and up and down Florida's coast.

Exactly, I saw more mobile marine life in a few dives on SXM than I did in almost a week on Curacao, it is just that the coral is not as abundant and healthy on SXM. Do you think that the weaker coral coverage is why some divers poo-poo SXM diving, compared to the more prestigious destinations, like Cozumel or Curacao? Personally, I prefer the mobile marine life to the healthier coral.
 
Saba is pretty fantastic, too, and easy to get to from SXM. You could fly in the morning to Saba (15 minute flight or so), get picked up at the airport, enjoy a roller coaster van ride along the concrete roadways, and get dropped off at the dive shop (there were 3 when I was there and they are all located in the same area) and be on the boat for the first, and deepest, dive by 8 am or so. The dive sites in Saba are close by, so there isn't any real travel time to get to a spot. You can then catch the 5/5:30 pm flight out and be back in St. Maarten by 6 pm. Easy peasy. I would suggest at least one night in Saba for the quaintness factor, though.

How early is the morning flight from SXM that would get me to Saba on time for the first dive?

Also, is it one of those small puddle-jumper airplanes, and is it safe to fly on one of them within 18-24 hours after a dive, because of the lower altitude at which it flies?
 
As for getting to Saba, this depends on how long you are going for. If just for the day then the plane offers the possibility of fitting in three dives, where as with the ferry you can only make two. The plane takes about fifteen minutes (flight time), and if you get the first flight out you will have time for breakfast in Saba before you start diving, the last flight leaving gets you back late afternoon, early evening. When flying you will need transfers to and from the airport to the harbour, this can be arranged by the dive shop in Saba (I always use and can recommend Sea Saba). The ferry leaves at 9:00 am (booking in at 8:15) and takes about 1.5 hours, which gets you into Saba in time for the second and third boat dives, before returning on the ferry at 15:30 pm. Transfers to and from the ferry are just a matter of checking in at passport control and walking along the jetty between the boats. So the advantages of flying are you can fit in an extra dive, and if you suffer from sea sickness it's much more comfortable (and quite exciting when landing and taking off in Saba), especially as you will be getting onto another boat as soon as you arrive. The disadvantages are it costs more (about $180 vs $100 per person), you may be limited on how much luggage you can take, which may be a problem if you have a full set of dive gear plus camera's etc. This has never happened to me and only occurs if the plane is full, when weight restrictions may apply, should it occur then you stuff will be put on the next available flight, but if you are only going for the day this might not be ideal. Assuming you don't get easily seasick the ferry offers a good alternative to flying, especially if you intend to spend a night or two on Saba, unlimited luggage ($5 for every extra suitcase) and you only miss one dive on the day of arrival.

How early does that first flight from SXM to Saba leave?

Also, is it one of those small puddle-jumper airplanes, and is it safe to fly on them within 18-24 hours after a dive, e.g because of lower altitude?
 
Hope this helps

I used to live in Sint Maarten and have dived both there and in Saba on many occasions. If I were to make a subjective observation I would say that Saba offers a more varied diving experience than SXM. It has walls, pinnacles, volcanic and organic formed reefs, which offer very diverse diving conditions, this is of course assuming the weather conditions allow you to visit the many sites on offer. In my own personal experience due to wind, current and sea conditions I have never been able to visit all the types of sites on one visit, let alone one day.

OK, that's Saba pretty much covered, now Sint Maarten! When I first visited and dived here back in 2008 I wasn't very impressed, I tried a couple of dives but they were not the best and with the exception of the shark feeding dives, which were fun (they've stopped them now), I was disappointed, hence I used to always go to Saba. However since I moved permanently here I decided to investigate more options and different dive operators, and manged to hit on "Ocean Explorers" based in Simpson Bay. Having now done more that 50 dives with them my opinion has changed completely. Although SXM does not have the dive site diversity of Saba, it does have it's own character which is broadly split into two main areas. Directly out front of Simpson Bay and to the right (the more Caribbean side of the island) is a more sheltered sandy and sea-grass area which has some wreck dives, which although in my opinion not beautiful to look at, do attract sting rays, turtles, and schools of fish, which you can see on almost every dive. My preference is to the left of Simpson Bay around towards Great Bay (the more Atlantic side of the island), where although the sea can be a little rougher you will see some beautiful reefs such as "Fish Bowl", Maze", "Cable" and the wrecks "Proyselyte" and "Carib Cargo". On these sites you will nearly always see Nurse Sharks, Caribbean Reef Sharks, Turtles, Rays and of course a variety of beautiful Caribbean creatures. I should also say that the sharks are very friendly and come very close to the divers, probably because of the previous feeding policy, this does however make for some great photo opportunities.

Would you say that the lesser diversity of dive sites on SXM (compared to Saba) may be why many divers have a lower opinion of the diving there? Also, why were you initially not impressed with SXM diving when you first dove there in 2008?
 
Do you think that SXM's bad rap among some divers is due to the weaker coral coverage? I realize that healthier coral makes a better setting for dives, and that healthier reefs are the basis of a more vibrant ecosystem overall, but I saw more interesting critters on SXM than I did on Curacao. Perhaps it is just a matter of personal taste - I would rather see sharks, barracudas, lobsters, rays, and other mobile marine life than just healthy coral with fewer mobile animals.

i think you are correct about the coral. but i also think it is due to a lack of marketing on st maarten's part. they just do not cater to divers like some locations do. you never see cooperation between dive shops and hotels/restaurants etc. like you do in certain places.
i also agree that i would rather see more critters than spectacular coral if i had to pick one over the other. the best dives we did in coz this past fall were the shore dives we did at night in front of the hotel in like 20 feet of water. even the guides on the boat dives told us that there are only a couple of spots now that they can take divers to that they can guarantee to see a lot of life. it just isn't there. but you do of course have more chance to see big animals down south on the deeper spots.
i understand that a lot of divers go for a week somewhere and all they want to do is dive dive dive. and so sometimes they don't care as much about what the island has to offer. but for us, we go for two weeks at a time and we enjoy other things besides just diving. st maarten is pretty hard to beat for an over all island experience.
maybe we should be happy that it is not a well visited dive destination. lets keep it quiet so we can enjoy it all for ourselves.
 
I've heard that the diving between SXM and Anguilla is also good, so that's also on my "to do list".

i have also been told that the diving around anguilla can be pretty awesome. however as far as i can tell there is now only one dive shop there. i could be mistaken though. some people i know chartered a dive boat there and they said it was amazing. anguilla is another island like statia mentioned previously, that does not get alot of attention. but i think anguilla prefers it that way. they want to remain an exclusive destination.
 
St Kitts gets a bad rap too... but I wasn't that impressed with it. However, I thought the diving on Stacia was WAY under rated. They have the most abundant sea life I've seen on the planet. Boat loads of lob-zillas. You have to dive with a park ranger which is great. One got upset with how close I was to one coral, until he figured out that as close as I was, I wasn't going to touch it. That might have been one of the first complements on my UW stability I can remember but his concern showed me he actually cared about the reed. Kinda cool and the diving was fantastic.

BTW, if you make to Stacia, take a tour of the island. They have an original copy of the Declaration of Independence that they let me hold. Un-phreakin-believable! They also have blue slave beads which used to the be the currency for slaves on the island. When they were emancipated, they threw them into the ocean. If you find them, you can keep them. Kinda cool.
What he said times 2. Or as they say in internet speak ^^^^This, very much this^^^^^.
 
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