Saint Lucia

[ScubaLoon]

Saint Lucia is my next stop for diving (maybe a little hiking but I will be creating gills most of the time).
Who has been on that little Winward island in the Caribbean?
I'm trying to find out where to dive and where to party .

 

[David Evans]

Our first dive trip was to St. Lucia... it's simply spectacular!

Scuba St. Lucia is a big operator on the island, and seem to run a first-class operation (we did surface intervals on their patch of the beach).

We stayed and dived with the good folk at the Jalousie Hilton, which was wonderful... the resort is magnificent, and sits between the Pitons....

Have fun!

-d

 

[west_mesa]

I'm going There this Sept for 9 days of Diving and other vacation Stuff.

 

[rje634]

I hope this info isn't too late for you...
My wife and I were in St. Lucia 6/5 to 6/12. We dove with Dive Fair Helen, they were great, they pick you up at your hotel, The DM were very accomodating, the boats are fast, and they give you a pretty good lunch too.. They dive in the Anse Chastanet marine park near the base of the Pitons, great area the reef are in really good shape, there are walls, drift dives, and a wreck. Dove with them all 4 days that we went diving and didn't hit the same spot twice. They were very good with hitting the dive sites we requested.
While we were there in rain almost every day, didn't really care we were getting wet anyway, BUT, the sun would have help show off the very colorful reefs. (don't go during the rainy season) Even with the tropical down pours and all the run off into the ocean the viz was still 50 to 60 ft. most of the time.

About place to party, we were staying at the Windjammer Landing Villas and they are quite isolated so we ended up there most of the time. They have a great bar by the beach with live music most nights. If you stay there avoid the timeshare presentaion like the plague!!! was definitely not worth the freebies they gave out...

Here is a copy of the e-mail from Dive Fair Helen with all of their info....

Thanks for contacting us about diving in St. Lucia. We would be happy to make arrangements for June if you choose to book with us.

Here is the info you wanted:

1/ 4 Day (2 tank dives per day) Package: US$285.00 (less 10% for booking direct with us)=US$256.50

2/ 5 Day Package: US$355.00 (less 10%)=US$319.50

3/ Price includes all transfers, equipment, lunch and beverages. Additional equipment will have to be rented, if needed - Regulator (US$10.00/daily or $8.75/4 days, 8.00/5 days), BCD (US$10.00/daily or $8.75/4 days, 8.00/5 days) and Wetsuit (US$7.00/daily or $6.00/4 days, 5.00/5 days).

4/ We dive the marine reserve areas i.e. Anse Chochon and Soufriere, you can view some of our locations here: http://www.divefairhelen.com/dive_sites.htm, we do not dive the same sites but change the schedule.

5/ We have custom built boats 12 - 14ft. Beams (burpee and seahawk) you can view the boats here: http://www.divefairhelen.com/homepage.htm.

If you would like to confirm your reservation we will need a credit card deposit of 50%. This also serve as a cancellation charge should you cancel this tour within 24hrs of its departure.

This reservation can be done either by fax (758-451-9311), telephone (758-451-7716) or email (not secured). If calling you may talk to Samanthia or Andre, they will gladly assist you. You can also call our toll free no. 1-888-855-2206 (for US)

I hope everything here is satisfactory, if you need any more information please call us or email me, here's hoping we see you soon.

Best regards,

Michael St. Omer

 

[west_mesa]

Has anybody stayed at the Sandels Halcyon in St. lucia and used their dive equipment. I'm taking alot of my own gear but still haven't purchaced a BC yet been trying different ones to find one that fits me.

 

[daveg1]

Has anybody stayed at the Sandels Halcyon in St. lucia and used their dive equipment. I'm taking alot of my own gear but still haven't purchaced a BC yet been trying different ones to find one that fits me.

Stayed there in Feb. We had a great time. I only dove 3 days 5 dives in all, used all of my own equipment other than tanks and lead. They were using scubapro and cressi for regs and bc's. It all looked in good shape.

I would recomend doing the 2 tank dives and only doing the 1 tank dive for the check out dive if they require you to do one. On our trip my buddy had to do one, I did not. It seems to depend on your cert level and how long since you have been in the water.
On the 1 tank dive they do not go far enough south to the better dive sites. They only go to the south end of the island on the 2 tank dives.

 

[Drewy]

I just got back from St. Lucia on Sunday (8/8). I was there for a week and stayed at the Windjammer Resort. I had a blast. The resort was great, the water was warm, and the dives were great.

I dove with Dive Fair Helen in Castries who were recommended in one of the above posts. They had great service, a big enough boat, and picked some good dive sites. I did the 2 day/2 tank package and we dove at the base of the Pitons. The four dives I did were: Superman's Flight, Trou Diable, Gran Caille, and Pitons wall. The dives were great reef dives. The first one was a drift dive and we were really moving (I guess that's why they call it Superman's Flight). The others were much calmer and the reefs and fish were amazing.

I second the recommendation for Dive Fair Helen. They pick you up at your hotel, get you on the boat, give you lunch, and take you to the dive sites. The dive sites took us about an hour by boat to get to. We were picked up at 8:10 and were back at Windjammers around 4 each day.

I dove with all of my own gear, but the gear that other dives were using was rented and it seemed to be fine. It was all scubapro and mares and seemed to be in decent shape.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[rje634]

I dove with Dive Fair Helen in Castries who were recommended in one of the above posts.

Glad to hear that you enjoyed diving with Fair Helen. Nice to know I didn't steer you wrong, or that my experience was a fluke. I guess I can continue to recommend them with confidence.

Did you do the timeshare presentation? If so I would love to hear your opinion of their "No Pressure Sales Pitch", yeah right...