Bolongo Bay - St. Thomas

[GUEdiver]

How are cab fares on St. Thomas? I am staying at the Marriott Frenchman's Reef, so if I want to cab it to the other side of the island to dive these great sites, can anyone tell me what I'm looking at (approximately) for the fare? Thanks again; this info will definitely help me.

 

[zboss]

Most dive companies will drive the boat around and meet you... besides - the Marriot probably has a dive operator right there and second... Frenchmans Cay is right next to the major dive operators on St. Thomas. I don't believe a cab ride would be necessary.

 

[scorpionfish]

GUEdiver once bubbled...
How are cab fares on St. Thomas? I am staying at the Marriott Frenchman's Reef, so if I want to cab it to the other side of the island to dive these great sites, can anyone tell me what I'm looking at (approximately) for the fare? Thanks again; this info will definitely help me.

Hi, again, GUEdiver!

You have picked a great place to stay on ST! However, you are a fair distance from the dive shops on the east end of the Island and they will not come to get you! I suggest that you e-mail Blue Island Divers--they may be able to pick up up at the Marriott dock. However, in general, I do not recommend many of the other dive shops in that area because they tend to run really crowded boats.

http://www.blueislanddivers.com/

You can take a taxi, but I also recommend a rental car. It is just not that difficult to get used to driving on the left hand side of the road! But, a taxi will take you to the Blue Island Divers shop.

Taxis might be reluctant to go to Chris Sawyer's or the other dive shops on the eastern end of the island unless you pay a fairly hefty fee since they will be unlikely to have a fare coming back. And once you are there, it will be darn difficult to get a cab to take you back to the Marriott!

Hope this helps,

Scorpionfish

 

[loridmc.com]

Get in touch with the concierge of the Marriott (great choice btw). Depending on what's going on you can catch a cab for a fairly reasonable fair. Almost all cabbies will haggle and if you have many ppl going they'll give a price break. Also, the Marriott has a shuttle service to certain facilities and if they're willing to take you out to where the ferries are to go to St John then you'd be out towards the east side dive shops.

Its not that anyone can't learn the driving but St Thomas doesn't have the best roads and when you're on vacation do you want to worry about learning how to drive a new way and finding your way about? Leave the driving to someone else and enjoy some of the views instead.

 

[bill harvey]

I just got back a few weeks ago from bolongo bay and had a great time. I can say6 nothing but good things about the dive shop there they are some of the nicests people i have met and went diving with. They aren't a huge operation but they treat you all like you are there most important customer. some of the people that we dove with stayed at the mariot and St. Thomas diving club was the only shop that would drive to pick them up to go diving. I loved my time there and will be going back.

 

[DiverBuoy]

GUEdiver once bubbled...
How are cab fares on St. Thomas? I am staying at the Marriott Frenchman's Reef, so if I want to cab it to the other side of the island to dive these great sites, can anyone tell me what I'm looking at (approximately) for the fare? Thanks again; this info will definitely help me.

I wouldn't recommend renting a car on St Thomas. They drive like the British only problem is they use American cars. So you're on the wrong side of the car for driving on the opposite side of the road. Without experience I wouldn't recommend it. However, the cabs (or cab vans) are really cheap, they offer mostly fixed price travel to you choice of destination. For example - 14 U.S. dollars for a trip from one side of the island to the other, and being that it was a van, it could hold all of your scuba stuff with ease.

As for the original post on where to dive and with whom - I highly recommed you read my post in this thread (though it is on St. Maarten/Martin, I write in detail about my time in St. Thomas.) The best groups in my experience are often the mom and pop shops (like Admiralty Dive) that cater a bit more, while costing a bit less. Anyway here it is the post:

Read DiverBuoy Post "Back from BVI"

Happy diving (not driving) in BVI ...

 

[Sean Mckenna]

Hiya everyone,=-)
Just wanted to support the previous posts for Blue Island Diver. The Marriott is an excellent hotel too (I had my honeymoon there).

Blue Island Diver will pick you up, just email Aitch and he'll sort if for you. This is a standard service.

It's a shame some belive St.T a 5-6 out of 10 for diving. I stuck with Blue Island Divers for their focus on their safe relaxed no time pressure approach to diving. Don't believe me, check out their GuestBook:

http://www.blueislanddivers.com/guestbook.htm

I love the reefs, but am a wreck enthusiast. I was attracted by their search and research approach to St. Thomas' diving. Blue Island Diver have found 11 wreck since starting their operation November 2000. I was impressed. My favourite wrecks were the WIT Shoal, WIT Service, and favourite reefs Sprat Point and the Fences (which has a cavern that brings you up inside the island) not for everyone but is easy to access at 20ft. I also liked that fact that they plan their further west dives around a slack tide window for max comfort and safety (unlike some other I could mention).

They have excellent dive sites pages. The sites marked with a star on their dive sites pages are the wrecks they have refound since 2000. For old geysers like myself, they also have Nitrox.

http://www.blueislanddivers.com/divesite.htm

On accomodation they did have some dive-stay packages with hotels / guesthouses / condos / villas on their packages page (which I just noted has just been republished and updated with new options). The rates are cheaper than the accomodations normally published rates.

Hope you enjoy St. Thomas - i'll be back there.

Blow those bubbles,

Sean=-)

 

[Water Baby]

I spent two glorious weeks on St. Thomas and would very highly recommend the Wyndham Sugar Bay. It is a bit touristy being an all inclusive, but the rooms are great, the food is good and the bars are always open. The ocean view rooms have a breathtaking view and I felt were worth the extra.

A diving plus is that Chris Sawyer has a small extention of their dive center right down at the pool (also quite lovely). So it's very easy to book all your diving right at the hotel (and I seem to recall you could just charge the expenses to your room).

There is some snorkling right off the private beach, though most of what you'll see are the spiny urchins.

We used taxis to get around the island and it was very reasonable. As was previously posted, the rates are fixed and you can get a list of the rates from the concierge so you know in advance what you'll pay.

Whether you drive or take the taxi do be prepared for very winding roads and wild drivers. We almost went sliding down a hillside on our way in the first night.

I hope you enjoy your trip!