On April 20, 2018, five of us from SE Florida arrived on the beautiful island of St. Lucia. None of us had been there before to dive (one person had a cruise ship stop many years ago). After reading reviews on SB and other forums, we decided St. Lucia was a dive destination not to be missed....and were we happy with our decision.
Getting there: We flew on Delta from Palm Beach International airport with a layover in Atlanta. Not including the layover, the flight was a bit more than six hours. We chose Delta because the airfare was reasonable. Upon arriving at Hewanorra airport we were met by our driver from All St. Lucia Tours and Rentals. We didn't want to rent a vehicle and only wanted an airport transfer to the condo we rented in the north part of the island. Hewanorra is located at the very south part of the island and it took about an hour and twenty minutes to get to the condo. When I set up the transportation, I made sure to let the company know we had five people with dive bags, suitcases, and carry-ons. They sent a very nice large van to pick us up. The driver was wonderful and pointed out interesting sites along the way. He also stopped us at a grocery store in Rodney Bay to do some initial food shopping.
Condo: The five of us travel together and we prefer a condo to a hotel room. I'm the main travel planner and do a lot of research on houses, condos, villas, etc. available on VRBO or Home Away. We are made up of two couples and one single. We enjoy cooking our meals and sitting around together after dinner looking at downloaded pictures/videos from the days dives, comparing dive notes, and reliving great memories from the day. There were no grocery stores or restaurants close to where our condo was located, so doing our own thing worked out great. We stayed in an area called Gros Islet and rented Villa Carouge in Cap Estates. It had air conditioning, three bedrooms with very comfortable beds, 3.5 bathrooms, a dining room, living room, large outside patio with BBQ and a plunge pool, a washer and dryer, dishwasher, and was fully loaded with all the kitchen dinnerware/utensils/pots and pans/etc. It was clean and well appointed. We'll definitely stay there again!
Diving: After doing research, I chose Dive Saint Lucia as the shop for us. (www.divesaintlucia.com) I initially contacted them in October 2017 regarding how far the dive shop was from the condo we were renting. My main contact person who answered most of the numerous emails was Tanya. She was prompt in returning emails and very pleasant. I was so excited to meet her in person. She's is wonderful! So sweet and personable as are all the employees at Dive Saint Lucia.
The dive shop: I don't think I've ever been to a dive shop as neat and clean as this one. Everything from the gear room to the retail area to the pool to the bathrooms were absolutely spotless. The employees are very efficient and had everything ready for us the first day we walked in the door. Transportation to/from the dive shop was provided at no additional cost except a tip for the driver. I believe if you stay within a certain radius of the dive shop, transportation is provided. Paperwork was completed effortlessly. The owner of the dive shop is Swiss and everything runs on time!
The dive boats: The boats are large and can accommodate up to 30 divers (we never had that many). The boats are spotless. There is a covered area to keep out of the elements. There's an upper deck that's only covered over the captain, but it's a great place to sit and take in the view. Clean towels were provided each day. A hot lunch was also provided each day between dives. Fresh fruit was provided after the second dive. Our gear was already set up when we arrived on the boat. Wetsuits were cleaned and hung up and on the boat in the morning. The five of us took our regs, cameras, computers, and masks back to the condo with us for a proper cleaning each day.
Dive Masters/Instructors: There were always multiple dive masters/instructors on the boat and we were pretty much grouped according to ability. ALL of them were personable, knowledgeable, and friendly. The first day of two-tank dives were at sites that weren't very deep or challenging. We were being observed to see what kind of divers we were. In the seven days of diving, we only experienced one day where we felt some of the people on the dives shouldn't have been in the group. Their skills were lacking and the dive master could see that. So he pretty much hung with those divers and let us do our own thing (although we were never very far from him). By far, our favorite dive master/instructor was Tanya. She could find great macro subjects! She's a lovely, funny, and interesting lady. We loved diving with her! She saw we are divers who like to take our time and not go speeding through the dive. We love all kinds of dives, including muck dives, where many times we saw interesting creatures.
Reefs: The reef system is beautiful. We saw everything from pitons coming out of the water to shallow grassy areas. There are sites with huge boulders that have broken away from the steep cliffs on the island. They are so fun to dive over and around. I don't think I've been any place where I've seen so many HUGE sponges! The barrel sponges were awesome! The underwater topography is gorgeous. We did dive the Lesleen M. Wreck which was fun and was covered with lots of corals, sponges, etc. with many tropical fish swimming around. All of the dive sites we did were south of Rodney Bay. The sites north tend to be less dived due to the currents and the meeting up of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. One thing we missed seeing was the big marine life that we see in SE Florida. We didn't see sharks, big rays, big groupers, and only saw two turtles. However, the underwater scenery is beautiful, the current was calm (for most dives), and the water was clear. Would we go back....you bet we would and we'd definitely dive with Dive Saint Lucia!
Getting there: We flew on Delta from Palm Beach International airport with a layover in Atlanta. Not including the layover, the flight was a bit more than six hours. We chose Delta because the airfare was reasonable. Upon arriving at Hewanorra airport we were met by our driver from All St. Lucia Tours and Rentals. We didn't want to rent a vehicle and only wanted an airport transfer to the condo we rented in the north part of the island. Hewanorra is located at the very south part of the island and it took about an hour and twenty minutes to get to the condo. When I set up the transportation, I made sure to let the company know we had five people with dive bags, suitcases, and carry-ons. They sent a very nice large van to pick us up. The driver was wonderful and pointed out interesting sites along the way. He also stopped us at a grocery store in Rodney Bay to do some initial food shopping.
Condo: The five of us travel together and we prefer a condo to a hotel room. I'm the main travel planner and do a lot of research on houses, condos, villas, etc. available on VRBO or Home Away. We are made up of two couples and one single. We enjoy cooking our meals and sitting around together after dinner looking at downloaded pictures/videos from the days dives, comparing dive notes, and reliving great memories from the day. There were no grocery stores or restaurants close to where our condo was located, so doing our own thing worked out great. We stayed in an area called Gros Islet and rented Villa Carouge in Cap Estates. It had air conditioning, three bedrooms with very comfortable beds, 3.5 bathrooms, a dining room, living room, large outside patio with BBQ and a plunge pool, a washer and dryer, dishwasher, and was fully loaded with all the kitchen dinnerware/utensils/pots and pans/etc. It was clean and well appointed. We'll definitely stay there again!
Diving: After doing research, I chose Dive Saint Lucia as the shop for us. (www.divesaintlucia.com) I initially contacted them in October 2017 regarding how far the dive shop was from the condo we were renting. My main contact person who answered most of the numerous emails was Tanya. She was prompt in returning emails and very pleasant. I was so excited to meet her in person. She's is wonderful! So sweet and personable as are all the employees at Dive Saint Lucia.
The dive shop: I don't think I've ever been to a dive shop as neat and clean as this one. Everything from the gear room to the retail area to the pool to the bathrooms were absolutely spotless. The employees are very efficient and had everything ready for us the first day we walked in the door. Transportation to/from the dive shop was provided at no additional cost except a tip for the driver. I believe if you stay within a certain radius of the dive shop, transportation is provided. Paperwork was completed effortlessly. The owner of the dive shop is Swiss and everything runs on time!
The dive boats: The boats are large and can accommodate up to 30 divers (we never had that many). The boats are spotless. There is a covered area to keep out of the elements. There's an upper deck that's only covered over the captain, but it's a great place to sit and take in the view. Clean towels were provided each day. A hot lunch was also provided each day between dives. Fresh fruit was provided after the second dive. Our gear was already set up when we arrived on the boat. Wetsuits were cleaned and hung up and on the boat in the morning. The five of us took our regs, cameras, computers, and masks back to the condo with us for a proper cleaning each day.
Dive Masters/Instructors: There were always multiple dive masters/instructors on the boat and we were pretty much grouped according to ability. ALL of them were personable, knowledgeable, and friendly. The first day of two-tank dives were at sites that weren't very deep or challenging. We were being observed to see what kind of divers we were. In the seven days of diving, we only experienced one day where we felt some of the people on the dives shouldn't have been in the group. Their skills were lacking and the dive master could see that. So he pretty much hung with those divers and let us do our own thing (although we were never very far from him). By far, our favorite dive master/instructor was Tanya. She could find great macro subjects! She's a lovely, funny, and interesting lady. We loved diving with her! She saw we are divers who like to take our time and not go speeding through the dive. We love all kinds of dives, including muck dives, where many times we saw interesting creatures.
Reefs: The reef system is beautiful. We saw everything from pitons coming out of the water to shallow grassy areas. There are sites with huge boulders that have broken away from the steep cliffs on the island. They are so fun to dive over and around. I don't think I've been any place where I've seen so many HUGE sponges! The barrel sponges were awesome! The underwater topography is gorgeous. We did dive the Lesleen M. Wreck which was fun and was covered with lots of corals, sponges, etc. with many tropical fish swimming around. All of the dive sites we did were south of Rodney Bay. The sites north tend to be less dived due to the currents and the meeting up of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. One thing we missed seeing was the big marine life that we see in SE Florida. We didn't see sharks, big rays, big groupers, and only saw two turtles. However, the underwater scenery is beautiful, the current was calm (for most dives), and the water was clear. Would we go back....you bet we would and we'd definitely dive with Dive Saint Lucia!
