Non coz dive question.

[John Larsen]

I am asking this question in this forum because most of the people that post here seem to have a wide experience of diving and diving locales....we are doing a cruise in feb sailing from Puerto rico stopping in Bridgetown Barbados, Castries ST. Lucia, ST John Antigua,Phillipsburg ST Marten and Charlotte Amalie ST Thomas, we will be with 4 other divers all of them NEWLY certified and they want to go diving at one of the stops can any one recommend wich stop would be best and possibly a shop that can accomadate us?

 

[deborahdelamar]

This is not a tour of the best Eastern Caribe dive destinations; however, it offers many other facets of nature to explore. IMO, I would research diving in St. Lucia -- via forums here & elsewhere. (Cruise Critic? Trip Advisor? Undercurrent?)

 

[Skittl1321]

Can't help on diving, but if you don't dive in Antigua, I highly recommend The Eco Tour | Adventure Antigua , not in any way affiliated, but the best shore excursion we've ever done.

 

[drrich2]

St. Thomas is a popular dive spot. I've dove with Admiralty Dive twice and had good experiences there. Our last trip (on a cruise, no less), we did 2 sites; Armando's Paradise and Navy Barges (we dove 2 of the 4 sunken barges there).

My impression: warm water, good viz., low current, fairly shallow dives (neither over 50 feet), fine dive op. and should be a good match for a first ocean diving experience.

Richard.

 

[MMM]

Take a look here Lesser Antilles or here http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cruises/ if you haven't already done so. I dived in St Lucia years ago with an outfit called Dive Fair Helen...in fact the owner certified me for AOW. I think they are still around and are well thought of. I was a pretty new diver but as I recall the water was warm and interesting, although the vis was a bit disappointing due to runoff of agricultural land/fertilizer.

 

[Okie Mike]

I can't speak to the diving there, but St. Thomas and Barbados both have some good shore snorkeling opportunities. Saves money and good for beginners. The west side of Barbados has very neat coral canyons in 5 to 10 feet of water, I think near a barge wreck.

Antigua, up north by the Sandals, has a nice shallow reef (Paradise Reef - 18 feet max) just far enough off shore to need a boat, but there are several dives ops on shore. I had a taxi driver take me right to one and walk me in (for a commission, I'm sure). I saw hundreds of Fairy Basslets (Royal Gramma) there, one of my favorite fish. There was some current (anchored boat, so had to swim into it and drift back--Cozumel will spoil you for not having to swim), but this would be a great dive for beginners.

I did the cruise excursion dive in St. Marten, and while I would recommend finding your own op instead, the diving was decent. We saw cannons and anchors from an 1802 English shipwreck and nice coral formations but few fish on the first dive. The second dive had more fish and some nurse sharks, and we got to see where our ship (Monarch of the Seas) had hit the reef a few years before.

 

[DjDiverDan]

My experience there is limited to St. Johns and St. Thomas. I will tell you that I was very disappointed with the diving at St. Thomas - dead reefs, very little life, limited visibility (but then I've been spoiled by the great visibility in Cozumel and Grand Cayman). I didn't dive St. John, but the shore snorkeling there was very good - most of the island is national park, and there are several bays with beaches and good snorkeling. If you are only going to dive one day, I'd choose another stop, St. Lucia or Antigua, and use your Charlotte Amalie stop to head over to St. Johns to snorkle. You can catch a bus within a hundred yards of the Cruise Ship Pier to Red Hook, and at Red Hook (on the far east end of St. Thomas) catch a ferry over to St. Johns. I found downtown Charlotte Amalie to be grungy and expensive - I would not choose to vacation there.

 

[Hawkwood]

I've used the following:

Antigua: Mamora Bay Divers
Barbados: Eco Dive Barbados
St. Lucia: Eastern Caribbean Diving

 

[yle]

My son and I have done the exact trip you're describing twice, in 2009 and in 2011. We left San Juan for a week cruise to the same islands you list, and we dove at every stop. I would recommend:

St Lucia is the best diving of the islands you list. And we used Dive Fair Helen both trips. They picked us up, drove us about 20 minutes to the dive boat and shop. Brought us back to the cruise ship afterward. Very easy.

The other islands were all comparable for diving... which is to say warm, clear water and so-so scenery. If you can't dive St Lucia:

St Thomas we used Blue Island Divers both trips. Small boat, only 6 to 8 divers, picked us up right at the cruise ship dock. We even watched the other shop load the cattle boat for the divers that booked through the ship... and then we took off. And at the end they took us right back to the dock (literally, pulled up right in front of the cruise ship.)

Barbardos... very convenient since the cruise ship dock is right next to Bridgetown. We used Barbados Blue for the last trip in 2011. Their shop is in the Hilton on the southern side of the harbor (the cruise ships dock on the northern side of the harbor.) Loved their boat and the crew was great. Diving was ok.

St Maarten... we went out with Scuba Fun. Their shop is a short walk (5 minutes?) from the cruise ship dock. As with Barbados, great people, ok diving.

Antigua... we only stopped there on the 2009 trip. We went with Jolly Dive, run by an older British couple. The husband was our guide, must have been over 70 but it didn't slow him down. Great guide and operation. I don't remember anything particularly memorable about the diving.

That's all I got, and I hope it's some help. Basically St Lucia is the best for scenery, and I haven't found a dive shop yet that I'd avoid. Good luck!

 

[cvchief]

Antigua... we only stopped there on the 2009 trip. We went with Jolly Dive, run by an older British couple. The husband was our guide, must have been over 70 but it didn't slow him down. Great guide and operation. I don't remember anything particularly memorable about the diving.

Was that the old guy in the shirt? We did our OW referral there I think in '08. 6 days in Antigua and they only managed to get us out on 2 of the 4 dives. Tried to cancel the last day too. I had to go to another OP to get those last two dives in.