Best Diving in the Lesser Antilles?

[caymaniac]

I would say head to Turks & Caicos, if you want larger marine life. Of course it's the Atlantic, not the Caribbean and not the lesser Antilles. Chance to see sharks on most dives around west Caicos, chance to see dolphins and at the right time of year whales.
Another place to see larger marine life would be Hawaii, a chance to see sharks off Maui and of course the Mantas off the Big Island although I've seen them on Maui too. Whales from Dec. to April can be heard singing underwater and viewed usually from the surface unless you get really
lucky.

 

[lmorin]

The ABC, including Bonaire, are not part of the Lesser Antilles, which extend down to Grenada (a really great underappreciated island, btw). The ABC are actually, like Trinidad and Tobago, detached segments of South American mainland, way down in the extreme southern Caribbean. Not that this matters, I suppose, but if you carry generalization too far, you could mention Fiji and Tahiti.

Actually, the opinion seems to be split. The ABCs are part of the Lesser Antilles (Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Brittanica), but they are left off some maps/descriptions of the Lesser Antilles. see HowStuffWorks "Maps of Leeward Islands"

 

[diversteve]

You might look into the BVI's. They have the unique position of being both Caribbean and Atlantic.

We spent a week there on Virgin Gorda - dove with DiveBVI. Just about every dive we saw turtles - at least 4-5 dives we saw sharks - once resting under some coral so we were able to get close. Off the north end of the chain is the Atlantic so you see some bigger predators in that area. If you're into wrecks, the Rhone is a good one.

It's almost all boat diving but no sites are more than about 30-40mins. from the main islands, VG or Tortola. Although you can get some depth, we saw the most life in 40-80' off some of the smaller islands: Norman, Cooper, Ginger, Salt, the Dogs etc. It's an extraordinarily laid-back lifestyle there - based mostly around sailing.

If you fly into St. Thomas you can ferry over to the BVI's multiple times daily. Some friends left VG on the fast ferry at 8am for a 1pm flight out of STT, they had a couple hrs. to look around Charlotte Amalie b4 their flight.

We dove the Cays off St. Thomas's East End for a couple days also. Shallow diving, saw a couple of rays. Kind of sparse though - at least where we were. A week earlier a big Tiger had been seen in the area.

 

[Papa_Bear]

Do the EV Explorer boat! That way you get two or three islands and a sample of the best in the area!

 

[marine9]

I've been able to dive off many of the islands, but not all for sure.
I'd vote for the Turks & Caicos, great diving.
I've dove BVI, USVI, ABC's, & several others. But believe the
Turks offers some of the best!
Enjoy where ever you go!

 

[drrich2]

I've dove only Bonaire of those. To me, of the ABC Islands, first decide what kind of diving you'd most like to do; shore diving or boat diving.

It's my understanding from others that Aruba has some good wreck diving. But it'd mostly be boat diving in Aruba. I've done boat dives in Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and Grand Cayman (2 tanks each). In a nutshell, my experience with boat diving is basically that for about $125 per head, you get taken out about a half hour or so, listen to a dive briefing including discussion of getting out of & back on the boat, a group you're a part of jumps in the water one after the other, and when everyone's in they sink and the Dive Master leads the group on an underwater sight seeing tour pointing out known points of interest like green morays, etc... Actually a lot of fun. I'm not saying all boat diving has to be like this; some will let experienced divers do their own thing, for example. And this may be just what you want.

With Aruba you get casinos & other activities that may appeal to non-diving family members. Beautiful sandy beaches, too.

Bonaire is famous for shore diving. Here's a link to my trip report, with photos & discussion as a brief intro. to it. In a nutshell, you probably stay at a hotel near the beach on the west coast (which is the calm side that people dive on). You've likely got a package plan were you get unlimited scuba tank usage; they put out pre-filled aluminum 80 cf tank, you load a couple/diver in the back of your rental truck, drive around to any one of many shore sites marked with yellow rocks, park, gear up, and walk in. Entry can be tricky at some sights due to rough rock with waves washing over it; plan to put your fins on (& take them off) when you're out in waist deep water. You swim out maybe, oh, I dunno (lousy judge of subjective distance), maybe 50 to 100' or so, and that's were the sandy bottom drops off at a roughly 45 degree angle, becomes the reef, and you dive over that. When you're done, surface & swim ashore. Basically, if you want to dive 3 or 4 times per day and squeeze in a night dive, that's fine (although being Nitrox certified helps for those who want to do repetitive dives). Do it appeals to hardcore independents who want to dive a lot & don't want to put up with boat rides & rigmarole or play 'follow the leader' to a Dive Master. But the visibility is so good, the water so warm and diving near shore with (in many popular sites) little if any current so nice that it's good for newcomers, too (assuming they watch their depth gauges; it's easy to dive much deeper than you think you are, because 80 - 100 feet looks & feels about like 30 - 40).

Bonaire has little in the way of sandy beaches. My experiences are with Eden Beach Resort & WannaDive dive shop. This resort as the main sandy beach, from what I've heard, and it's nothing like what you'd see in Aruba. So, if you've got a spouse or other tag-alongs for whom roasting like a lobster on a big, scenic sandy beach is a big deal, might be a deal breaker.

Bonaire is larger than Aruba but much less densely populated. You can enjoy some scenic coastal views at the north end (Washington-Slagbaii Park), watch kite surfers further south, enjoy the tropical arid countryside (lots of cacti) and flamingos & visit the Donkey Sanctuary. A non-diver MIGHT get bored on Bonaire; depends on the person.

Curacao vs. Bonaire is discussed in some threads in the ABC islands subsection of the forum. From what I've read, Curacao is larger, the economy not as focused on diving, the shore diving is available but maybe not always quite so 'multi-site in-your-face' in terms of cookie cutter package deals (if I understood right; may be way off on that), has several good sites to shore dive (not as many official sites as Bonaire), and may have more to offer non-divers (so some say; I haven't been to Curacao).

From what I've read about Saba, it's very 'rustic,' so if you like the creature comforts of a large resort or civilized entertainments like a casino, might not be your thing. If you like a REAL 'getaway' and pinnacle diving to submerged peaks, might be nice. Some people on this forum love Saba, from what I understanding. Sounds like a rather unique diving experience.

Richard.

 

[ohnurse]

hey do you have any info on Barbados? Headed there in May

 

[mitsuguy]

Out of the Virgin Islands (both BVI and USVI), St. Croix definitely has the best diving overall.

Now, out of all of us, you won't find much of anything big huge with much recurrence other than stingrays, spotted eagle rays, turtles, and the occasional reef or nurse shark or pod of dolphins... that being said, I've seen one manta as well, though not common, and I've heard whales singing underwater, though never ran into one...

but the diving here is absolutely gorgeous - on the North shore, we have a wall that drops from 30 feet down to 3200 feet pretty darn quickly, then on the West end, there are a total of 5 ship wrecks grouped together, and the Frederiksted pier is a must-do dive... I've actually been told that our pier here compares to and is even better than the famed pier in Bonaire...

almost every dive here in St. Croix started out as a shore dive, but now they can be done either way obviously... for some, the swim is less than 150 feet and you are in awesome coral gardens, whereas others, like the wrecks, are about 1600 feet from shore... some we recommend from shore, others by boat, obviously...

in the beginning of April, vis is somewhere from 60 feet (bad day) to 150 feet, with 100 feet being pretty average... water temp should be around 80 degrees...

 

[midas6t6]

I plan on diving with Dive Barbados next Friday. I'll let you know how they are and how the diving is.

 

[Stichus III]

You should try Saba. The pinnacles are known for shark encounters.