Best Dive Island

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mac66

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Location
SE Mich
# of dives
25 - 49
Best dive Island(s) I should have said.

Going on a cruise to the following islands...

St. Crox USVI
St. Johns, Antigua
Castria, St. Lucia
Bridgetown, Barbados
St. George, Granada
Kingstown, St. Vincent
Basseterrie, St. Kitts

Have to spend some time with the wife so I can only dive in 3 locations. What would be the best of the above islands to dive?
 
St. Croix. Dive with St. Croix Ultimate Bluewater Adventure
Granada. They have an underwater sculpture park... kind of neat to dive once, especially since you'll be there.
 
I have never been to Antigua, Barbados, or Grenada so I cannot comment, but we have enjoyed diving in St. Croix, St. Lucia, and St. Kitts, so those 3 would be my recommendations.

The Fredricksted Pier on St. Croix is a fantastic shore dive, but I don't think that they allow you to dive the pier when a cruise ship is in port; see the link below.

http://californiadiver.com/diving-st-croixs-frederiksted-pier-128/
 
Have only been to 2 of those locations, St. Croix and St. Johns, Antigua. Between the 2, the better diving, imo, is in St. Croix.

In St. Johns, the cruise ships dock right in town with lots of shopping and a casino. You would have to take a taxi to get to a dive op. If you do wind up diving there, I dove with Indigo Divers. Scuba Diving in Antigua They leave from the boardwalk in Jolly Harbor and everyday I dove with them they had people from the cruise ships. They have a nice clean boat and take a maximum of 8 divers. If not diving and you want to see the islands hot spots, a taxi driver (you can find names/numbers on TripAdvisor) is a good option and probably cheaper than a cruise ship excursion.

In St. Croix, the cruise ship will dock at the Frederiksted Pier. The nice thing about this stop is that if you dive, you are on the west side of the island which is the calm side.

At the end of the pier is N2theBlue's dive op. N2theBlue Scuba Diving St. Croix US Virgin Islands

I'm partial to them as I have always stayed on the west side. They are a great op. They only take 6 divers out in their boats. Close to the pier are wrecks and reefs and you can probably request what you would like to see. As @KathyV indicated, the pier is a fantastic dive but probably out because of the cruise ship. Since this would be a convenient and great place to dive that leaves finding something for your family to do. Vendors will have tables and tents set up with items for sale and there is a small fort they could look at, but there is also, somewhere behind N2theBlue's dive shop, a place (the name is eluding me right now) that does ATV tours. A short walk gets you to a beach area that probably would have some good snorkeling. Many people take a taxi to the other side of the island to Christiansted where there are actual shops in town.

Wish I could compare the other spots. Hope you can dive St. Croix. Don't think you'd regret it. Have fun and let us know what you wound up doing when you get back.
 
St Croix seems the best known for diving among these choices. A couple seem best known (diving-wise) for famous wreck dives. The Stav off Barbados and Bianca C off Grenada come to mind. Whether you would be able to hit those on the day you happen to be there with whatever operator you are using is a question. (I’m guessing a cruise ship dive excursion won’t do a deep wreck.)

You might also want to consider which islands have shore excursions you’d be more interested in and take that into consideration.

We enjoy diving in St Vincent, it’s great if you are into smaller stuff. I haven’t dove in St Lucia, but it’s one I would probably try on such a cruise.

What we saw of diving in Grenada didn’t do much for us and topside has a lot of interesting stuff, so I’d be inclined to do land stuff there. Ditto for St Kitts. I’ve never really heard of Antigua being much of a dive destination, but I might be wrong.
 
Thanks for the replies. Keep 'em coming.

Been on many cruises but never to any of these islands so we are indeed looking for land excursions as well. Pretty port intensive itinerary on a 12 night cruise so we are trying to balance land and sea excursions. Can't pass up the opportunity to dive but want to see some of the islands as well.

I have contacted St. Croix Ultimate Bluewater Adventure and N2theblue and both take snorkelers out on their boats with divers. That would give my wife something to do. They do a morning dive from the pier the cruise ship docks at. We are in port from 8am-6pm so there would still be time after to see some of the island.

Still looking at other islands.
 
St Croix seems the best known for diving among these choices. A couple seem best known (diving-wise) for famous wreck dives. The Stav off Barbados and Bianca C off Grenada come to mind. Whether you would be able to hit those on the day you happen to be there with whatever operator you are using is a question. (I’m guessing a cruise ship dive excursion won’t do a deep wreck.)

You might also want to consider which islands have shore excursions you’d be more interested in and take that into consideration.

We enjoy diving in St Vincent, it’s great if you are into smaller stuff. I haven’t dove in St Lucia, but it’s one I would probably try on such a cruise.

What we saw of diving in Grenada didn’t do much for us and topside has a lot of interesting stuff, so I’d be inclined to do land stuff there. Ditto for St Kitts. I’ve never really heard of Antigua being much of a dive destination, but I might be wrong.

I enjoy the diving in Grenada. That said, I know it to be enhanced by diving with Aquanauts.
 
Sorry to jump into your thread but I’m taking a cruise as well to some of the similar islands and am in the same situation as yourself. Trying to find the best choices while cruising.

I’ll be leaving from PR then stops in
St maarten
St kitts
St. John’s
St Lucia
Barbados

I’ve already dove st Maarten so I want to try some of the other islands.

Any recommendations welcome
 
I’ve already dove st Maarten

Not being sure if you were on a cruise when you dove St. Maarten before or stayed on the island I'll share that my first time on St Maarten I stayed and dove near Simpson Bay and I wasn't too impressed. The second time I stayed in Phillipsburg and dove with Scuba Fun (which may not be back in operation yet due to 2017 hurricanes) located in Great Bay where the cruise ship docks. I really liked the sites around Great Bay much more than around Simpson Bay.

Already posted about St. Johns in post #4.
 
Thanks for the replies. Keep 'em coming.

Been on many cruises but never to any of these islands so we are indeed looking for land excursions as well. Pretty port intensive itinerary on a 12 night cruise so we are trying to balance land and sea excursions. Can't pass up the opportunity to dive but want to see some of the islands as well.

I have contacted St. Croix Ultimate Bluewater Adventure and N2theblue and both take snorkelers out on their boats with divers. That would give my wife something to do. They do a morning dive from the pier the cruise ship docks at. We are in port from 8am-6pm so there would still be time after to see some of the island.

Still looking at other islands.

You can snorkel the pier too; it’s a great place to snorkel for the non-divers in your group.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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