St Lucia: Anse Chastanet- all inclusive, or not?

[Babs-Would-Be-Diver]

He is still there! I checked two weeks ago. Unfortunately, despite all his years of experience, he is not qualified to take me through my OW referral. :-( His qualifications are non-PADI.

Divingjd, I did my first ever resort dive with him 5 years ago and I got hooked. My husband and I went with him again 3 years ago and he remembered us. He knows us by sight but probably not by name. He had to link us together 30ft down when the 3rd guy (stranger to us) went off after a Tuna and went too deep and got short of air. This guy had tried diving for the first time that morning. H and I were fine and just relaxed. Victor took this idiot to the surface and got him back. He then came back for us, checked our air and time and asked us (underwater) if we wanted to continue. We did and had a brilliant dive with him. In his situation he had a difficult decision to make but we were fine and the other guy was really in trouble. The bloke was really quiet on the diveboat on the way back to the north of the island!

 

[kent_1848]

You should check out some posts from that resort. I thought about going there once, but went to Costa Rica instead.

 

[divingjd]

That's good to hear. I know he is getting close to retiring. Maybe I will get a chance to dive with him again. I have seen a couple of articles about him in magazines. At least one of them mentioned him remembering people from several years before.

 

[pilot fish]

That's good to hear. I know he is getting close to retiring. Maybe I will get a chance to dive with him again. I have seen a couple of articles about him in magazines. At least one of them mentioned him remembering people from several years before.

When I was in St Lucia several years ago I dove with a man that was in the Guinness World Book as having the most dives, 20,000. He was a commerical diver in his ealry life. He was on two dives on mine but not the DM in charge. He was a wonderful man. I had him sign my log book. I'll have to look at it when I get home to see what his name is. Bet it's the same guy.

 

[pilot fish]

Yup, his name was Victor and he signed my log. I have written in my log that he had
20,500 dives and 5 1/2 years bottom time then. I think the man was only 60 years old or so. Amazing.

 

[Tom Winters]

St. Lucia is too far to get to bother with the diving. There is much better diving that is much easier to get to.
We looked at Anse Chastenet - we were staying at Ladera also in Soufriere, and we were GLAD we skipped it. The diving is totally regimented to resort-type guided diving only.
Now granted, lots of people might like this. I'll pass.
There is an awesome restaurant just townside of the road/goat trail to Anse Chastenet. It's attached to a small lodge there right on the bay. Mostly it seems to cater to visiting yachtspeople, so you never know who is going to be in there with you. The food was impressive - it even blew Dasheen away.
The roads are constantly being improved - the previous roadhell from Soufriere to Hewanorra is now apparently a nice road. How they built it so fast...well, let's not get into that. The road from Castries to Soufriere is still Satan's own highway so far. Hewanorra to Castries is ok - just don't fall off the mountain in the rain forest. Long way down.
Topside, St. Lucia is drop-dead gorgeous. Most people seem to stay in the Castries/Rodney bay area where there are the all-inclusives. Again, great for some people...not me though thanks.
There is a ton of storied and bloodied history on the island once you start exploring. For diving, go to Saba or Domenica. For romance, adventure, and incroyable food, go to St. Lucia.

 

[pilot fish]

St. Lucia is too far to get to bother with the diving. There is much better diving that is much easier to get to.
We looked at Anse Chastenet - we were staying at Ladera also in Soufriere, and we were GLAD we skipped it. The diving is totally regimented to resort-type guided diving only.
Now granted, lots of people might like this. I'll pass.
There is an awesome restaurant just townside of the road/goat trail to Anse Chastenet. It's attached to a small lodge there right on the bay. Mostly it seems to cater to visiting yachtspeople, so you never know who is going to be in there with you. The food was impressive - it even blew Dasheen away.
The roads are constantly being improved - the previous roadhell from Soufriere to Hewanorra is now apparently a nice road. How they built it so fast...well, let's not get into that. The road from Castries to Soufriere is still Satan's own highway so far. Hewanorra to Castries is ok - just don't fall off the mountain in the rain forest. Long way down.
Topside, St. Lucia is drop-dead gorgeous. Most people seem to stay in the Castries/Rodney bay area where there are the all-inclusives. Again, great for some people...not me though thanks.
There is a ton of storied and bloodied history on the island once you start exploring. For diving, go to Saba or Domenica. For romance, adventure, and incroyable food, go to St. Lucia.

That's true, there is much better diving closer than St Lucia. I went to Anse Chastenat because my lady does not dive and Anse C was romantic and had good food. It was a delicious compromise to a non diving Euorpean trip. The diving there is somewhat controlled by the resort to render it safe to all levels. It was not horrible by any means, but I have done better diving, Saba, Coz, Dominica etc.