SUMURPHY0300
Registered
By the thin crowd we encountered in the streets and in the restuarants during our visit to St. Maarten in the latter part of June and the first week of July, I gathered that it must be their off-season-- which is fine by me and my husband. The downside is that it's hot - very hot. Although the air does not feel suffocatingly humid, we're always drenched in sweat by the time we retured to our room after a day of sight-seeing. I am therefore especially grateful that a washer/dryer came in our own unit at the resort where we stayed.
By the way, I'm the diver in the family.
I booked all my dives (2-tanks every other day) with the "Octopus" dive shop which is a superbly ran operation with fantastic customer services located in Grand Case. The fact that the Octopus dive shop only booked a maximum of 6 divers at a time appeals to me. Even though I have heard about "cattle boat" but have never been on one, it sound crowded and operated on the "economy of scale" principle. As a novice diver such as myself, with less than 10 dives under the belt after certification, I wonder how inidividual attention is parceled out in this business model. With the "Octopus" dive shop, I was fortunate to have a dive-master to guide me on a one-to-one basis.
The variety of sea lives are amazing -- trumpetfish, sergeant major, princess parrot, stingray, sea-turtle, blue tang, peacock flounder, spotted blowfish, French grunt, wrasse, etc.,... with water temperature in the mid-80s.F., it's absolutely heavenly! I was so lost in this visual delight and forgot that I'm a newbie to diving!
In that one street in Grand Case where the dive shop is located, there must be 30 or more restuarants linning both sides of the street. I frankly can't think of a more glorious way to cap off a great diving outing with good food and fine wine!
Here are a few things to keep in mind when visiting St. Maarten:
* Rent a car
* Breakfast, the island way, is paying a visit to the pastry shops (of course, McDonald is there), and
* Most restuarants start serving dinner at 6:00pm
By the way, I'm the diver in the family.
I booked all my dives (2-tanks every other day) with the "Octopus" dive shop which is a superbly ran operation with fantastic customer services located in Grand Case. The fact that the Octopus dive shop only booked a maximum of 6 divers at a time appeals to me. Even though I have heard about "cattle boat" but have never been on one, it sound crowded and operated on the "economy of scale" principle. As a novice diver such as myself, with less than 10 dives under the belt after certification, I wonder how inidividual attention is parceled out in this business model. With the "Octopus" dive shop, I was fortunate to have a dive-master to guide me on a one-to-one basis.
The variety of sea lives are amazing -- trumpetfish, sergeant major, princess parrot, stingray, sea-turtle, blue tang, peacock flounder, spotted blowfish, French grunt, wrasse, etc.,... with water temperature in the mid-80s.F., it's absolutely heavenly! I was so lost in this visual delight and forgot that I'm a newbie to diving!
In that one street in Grand Case where the dive shop is located, there must be 30 or more restuarants linning both sides of the street. I frankly can't think of a more glorious way to cap off a great diving outing with good food and fine wine!
Here are a few things to keep in mind when visiting St. Maarten:
* Rent a car
* Breakfast, the island way, is paying a visit to the pastry shops (of course, McDonald is there), and
* Most restuarants start serving dinner at 6:00pm
Last edited by a moderator:
