Short trip to Statia!

[Nivek Llekots]

Back in SXM after two great days of diving in Statia !!!


My summary of the six dives would be, very diverse environments in close proximity of each other, very healthy reefs, and not over-dived, much much better than I expected, I will go back !!!


Day 1
- Hangover reef
- Double Wreck
- Blue Bead Hole


Day 2
- C/S Charles L. Brown
- Aquarium
- Blairs Reef

 

[chillyinCanada]

How did you get to Statia?

I've an opportunity to go there before I have to be in Grenada but I've not been able to figure out decent logistics. Any help will be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Selchie]

I've been to Statia 3 times, 2004 (1 week), 2014 (1 week) and 2015 (2 weeks). I agree completely with Nivek Llekots' assessment of diving on Statia. I fly to St Maarten and then take WinAir to Statia. This year and last year I stayed at the Old Gin House and dove with Golden Rock Dive Center. There's a nice assortment of wreck and reef diving, mostly 5-15 minutes from the dive shop. Surface internal was at the dive shop except for one day when we went to the north end of the island. Corals and sponges are healthy, fish are curious, turtles most every dive. Here's a video from my 2015 trip. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.

<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/133727761" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="https://vimeo.com/133727761">2015 Statia</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/user28697425">Kathy Reis</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

---------- Post added August 29th, 2015 at 12:23 PM ----------

Oops, try this link.

https://vimeo.com/133727761

 

[chillyinCanada]

Thanks Selchie! Nice footage! Looks like Statistics has my name on it. Now to figure out how to work it into the schedule.

 

[drrich2]

I'm surprised we don't see more trip reports about St. Eustatius on the forum. Glad to hear you got to get 3 dives in/day. When I consider a destination, how many dives I can pack in is a significant factor.

Enjoyed Selchie's video, which made me think of a couple of questions.

1.) Is most of the diving there flat bottom (similar to some Key Largo sites), & if so, about how deep were the sites you dove?

2.) I noticed some current in the video; how much current did you guys run into?

Richard.

 

[Selchie]

The island is/was volcanic (extinct or dormant now) and many sites are coral covered lava flows with ledges and interesting UW landscape. I don't think my video showed a good representation of dive sites. Depth is mostly 55-75 ft. There was a bit of current the first week of 2015 trip, but not an issue.