St John USV

[starlan]

Booked a long (WIT Shoal) and short trip with 6paq today for May. Theyre not doing the WITShoal dive yet but will start doing them in the summer. They told me that they do their night dives from shore? Ruggermike, please let me know of any details about the night dive, and if you read this when you get back please let me know about the experience. Im not sure but I think Low Key do their night dives from the boat. I am trying to figure out if the diving will be equally good for both operators, but Colette who runs 6paq said the site she goes to was her favorite night dive spot. If anyone has any experience night diving with any of these operators please post your comments.

Also wondering about Eagle Schoals, has anyone dove this site? Is it worth changing the short trip (Pillsbury sound diving) to a longer one to dive this site instead?

 

[scubaratt]

I will be vacationing on St. John in November over Thanksgiving. I will be diving alone and don't mind following a guide, as long as I can max out my dive time. I don't want a guide to tell me when it's time to surface but would like someone with a knowledge of the area to show me where all the creatures hide out.

JCH26 / Ruggermike - Please let us know how you made out and who you used, anything good or bad. Also let us know how the night dive was. I have done a few locally where I live and really enjoy them.

Starlan - I look forward to reading your review in May.

Everyone have a great time.

 

[starlan]

I also booked a night dive with Colette in addition to the WIT Shoal Wreck (weather permitting, Hopefully it will be good, I really want to dive a good wreck this trip), and the shorter St John reef trip.

Scubaratt - I guess 6paq would be a good choice for you as you wil get more personalized service then the other operators it seems. I beleive all operators tell you when to surface, with the exception of 6paq, who told me I could dive my own profile on any trip except the WIT Shoal, but having never done a wreck it will be good to have Colette show me around, same goes for the night dive as well. You should probably give them a call and check out their site www.6paqscuba.com, the other operators look fine too, but if what you want is smaller groups, more personalized service and more freedom with regards to your dive plan, you should definetely talk to Colette, at least thats what I was looking for in an operator. Note the cost is obviously higher for them but after all if your vacationing I think it will be worth it to pay like $15 more for a two tank dive where you will probably have a higher chance of enjoying yourself and having more of a say as opposed to being told what to do. Thats why I booked with them too and seems why ruggermike is trying them out as well. Let me know what you decide and I will definetely post back when I return. (I am curios as to how Ruggermike's diving was, I think he should be coming back soon, hopefully he'll visit the site and let us know, Im very interested in hearing about the shore night dive that Colette recommends, hopefully its as good as it seems).

 

[ruggermike]

I dove with Cruz Bay, 6 Paq, AND Low Key last week. All have their points for and against. Cruz Bay is great if you are staying at the Westin (as I was). Unfortunately they don't go anywhere interesting. I hadn't dove in a year, so went with them for the convenience and to refresh myself. Great service. Great Boat. Nice people. Dive sites were okay (?? Drop and Steven's Key) Mostly family divers on board. From others I bumped into during the week at the Resort, they seemed disappointed in their decsion to book so many dives with Cruz Bay as the diving was "Same **** differnet Day". Also, when they tried to cancel, 48 hours in advance, they were told that they would have to pay half as a penalty. That is downright mean.

6Paq: Really nice People. Disappointing Service. Lousy Boat. AWESOME diving. Right off she cancelled my night dive saying she was understaffed. I booked a 6 hour deal. The website is a lie: not a "smooth, stable, power catamaran, but a 24' Boston Whaler type in disrepair. Almost no dry storage and no shade. The captain and divemaster, while very funny and nice, don't really seem to concerned with helping you out much. Not that it is a terrible thing, but I had my girlfriend on board and had to help her and the other diver (she wasn't all that strong either) out of the water. No fresh water rinse on board. The Good: we went to Eagle Shoals and another site near Salt Pond (no dive log with me at work). Both were excellent sites with a wide variety of sea life and excellent reef formations. Make sure you go to Eagle Shoals! Also, the divemaster brought a digital camera with him and took many, many pictures of us underwater. I paid the $25 for the CD which I eagerly await in the mail.

Low Key: cocky *******s in the office. Enormous boat well staffed and very helpful. Great divemaster and very good diving. Since 6Paq cancelled my night dive, I booked with them. They were taking names to see if there was enoguh interest and luck have it, they called my hotel and told me to show up. We dove off Little St. james. Great place for a night dive as it is like a 3 level terrance from 20-40 feet. Nate was the divemaster. he was patient, helpful, and has great "critter eyes".

Email me directly and I'll send you my phone number.

 

[FloppyFoot]

Can anyone comment on the shore diving on St. John? I'm heading there in July, and would love to mix up some boat dives with a few more autonomous ones.

Thanks in advance!

 

[scubaratt]

Hey ruggermike,

Thanks for the detailed report. I will be diving with my own video camera - looking to get some decent video of critters both big and small. I don't mind deep diving but would rather stay a little shallow to get a longer dive. Also would like a critter spotter along to point out the good spots. Which if these operators would you recommend I go with knowing everything I pointed out?

 

[starlan]

I changed my WIT Shoal Wreck trip to a trip to Eagle Shoal off the eastern edge of St John instead, since it will be a very long journey, (all the way to the western side of St Thomas) for the WIT Shoal wreck and the boat does seem too small to be comfortable on for such a long journey. Ive read many good things about Eagle Shoal and diving off the eastern side of St John and ruggermike who was just there also recommends it highly. Kind of a shame no one goes out there and they just choose to dive the same closer sites to their dock all the time (which are good sites too of course), except if you book a 6 hr trip instead of a 4hr one with 6paq. At this point in time I beleive they are the only ones that visit that site as there are no operators on the Coral Bay side of the island anymore and the other operators while always giving the excuse of weather (while true that that particular site is in the open and more prone to currents, etc. than other sites) dont dive that site really simply because it is a lot further than the pillsbury sound diving and its just convenient for them to stay there instead both in terms of time and money (since the other operators dont do both shorter and longer trips to charge you accordingly).

Scubaratt - ruggermike said that both operators dive masters were good, you just have to wiegh out what you want. For shorter trips, either operator seems good (low key is cheaper and ruggermike quotes "nate the divemaster has great critter eyes" so that probably is good for you I guess and their boat seems much more comfortable then 6paqs small boat). Most sites I beleive are not very deep around St John, so you should be in the water for around 50 mins or so. If you also want to dive other rarely-frequented sites like Eagle Shoal (which isnt a deep dive either), get in contact with 6paq as well as in reality thats the only way you are close to guaranteed (weather being the guarantee) for diving Eagle Shoal. Ruggermike should be able to tell you more probably with regards to what you want to know specifically, I just thought Id let you know a little about the sites around St John.

 

[manda]

Can anyone comment on the shore diving on St. John? I'm heading there in July, and would love to mix up some boat dives with a few more autonomous ones.

Thanks in advance!

I'm bumping this up. My husb and I will be going to St John in Nov and would like to know about any shore diving.

 

[ruggermike]

hey manda. I don't have any info on shore dives. One of the dives I did with 6Paq was VERY close to shore in Salt Pond Bay. The dive site was called Lamshur and was a fairly decent dive. You could easily snorkel there from shore and drop down when you find one of the 2 bouys marking the site

 

[manda]

thanks for the info. I will keep that in mind.