St. Lucia dive report - w/ Sandals

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Juardis

Contributor
Messages
118
Reaction score
7
Location
Lil 'burg outside Charlotte NC
# of dives
50 - 99
Just got back from a week of diving with Sandals Grande St. Lucia. Don't know if this will help anyone here, but I said I'd write a report so here it is.

Wife and I are new divers. In fact, St. Lucia was to be our first dives (ocean or otherwise) since getting certified. As some (most?) of you know, Sandals is rather conservative when it comes to diving which suits new divers like us pretty well. However, there were a LOT of experienced divers on the boat with us and no one seemed to complain. I guess a so-so day under water is better than no day under water. To us they were pretty much awesome days, but hell, anything beats a cold rock quarry where we got certified.

Every diver has to go on a beginner dive, or introduction dive, or if you prefer, a checkout dive. No matter your experience, you do the dive. For us, it was at a place called Saline Point, about a 10 minute boat ride to the vicinity of Le Sport resort just north of the Grande. Max depth on my computer was 22 ft. Lasted about 40 minutes. Nice little dive and it was our first ever, so to us it was great. That was Sunday. There is only 1 dive on Sunday and it's at 11am and it is the check out dive. So if you arrive on Saturday, your only choice to dive on Sunday is the Sunday check out dive. If you arrive any other day, it's still the checkout dive and I'm not sure if that's 11am or 1:20pm. Never did figure that out.

Mon-Sat you get 2 dives/day. First dive is always the deepest and they limit you to 60 ft max (my max depth was 65, so it's not a hard floor obviously) and the 2nd dive they limit you to 40 ft (again, approximate). Of the 11 dives we took, avg time was between 35-40 minutes, including a 3 minute safety stop. Shortest was 34 minutes, longest was 48 minutes. All depends on the air hogs. General format is everyone descends together, follows the dive leader, then ascends together and the boat comes and picks everyone up. First to 1000 psi ends the dive and by end, I mean you start the safety stop shortly thereafter. They like to go deep then gradually ascend to conserve air and lengthen the dive. Plenty of times we didn't even need to do a safety stop (hovering) because we did it swimming between 15-20 ft. Still, as a new diver, I welcomed the chance to hover without the need to do so to practice my buoyancy skills, mask clearing, etc. It took me 5 dives before I finally figured out how not to blow through my safety stop and figure out what weight I needed, but that's a different subject.

Anyway,
Sunday, 1 dive, 11am, check out dive, for us it was Saline Pt
Mon-Sat, 2 tank dives, leave at 8:20. If you want to dive with the resort divers in the afternoon when you get back, you can but it'll cost you an extra $80. Sandals only offers 2 dives a day in the "included" part of your package.
Mon/Tue/Thu are in the Anse Cochon area with Tue/Thu your deep dive is the wreck Lesleen M.
Wed/Fri are in the Piton area.
Saturday? No idea, we didn't dive Saturday.

I don't know enough to adequately describe the dive sites, but I'll tell you what I observed and what the more experienced people had to say. Here are the sites we went to.

Sun - Saline Pt. It was shallow and sunny and colorful.

Mon - Anse Galley Wall and Anse Cochon North Reef. I was not that impressed with Galley Wall but it was my first dive to 60+ ft and therefore exciting in that regard. One of the divers was a DM and photographer said it was not very colorful which I would agree with in hindsight. Anse Cochon was interesting in that started as a drift dive. The current was very strong so there was nothing to do but float along with the current and observe reef/marine life. Eventually we rounded a point and the current dissipated. It was very silty from the runoff from hurricane Thomas in 2010 so again, not as colorful as I imagined but it was more colorful than Galley Wall. The DM photographer confirmed that.

Tue - Lesleen M and Anse Cochon South Reef. Visibility not that great this day, at either site, and they're pretty much within 100m of each other. The wreck is in about 60 ft of water and is the only dive we took with a rope to descend/ascend if needed. On Tue, wife and I needed the rope because neither of us had things quite figured out. Thu we didn't need it. Anyway, descend straight to the bottom at around 60 ft, circle the base, ascend over the railing then descend into the hold, take a lap around the hold, then ascend out of the hole and head towards the bow of the ship, circle the deck, head down the stern/port, circle the aft, do another lap if there's time/air, then ascend the rope. Not a big fan of this site, at least based on this one experience. Not a lot to see and it was crowded and hard to maneuver in the confined quarters. Anse Cochon South was much like Anse Cochon North, minus the strong current.

Wed - Coral Garden and Fantasia in Piton area. Coral Garden was the best site of the week, not just for us, but for everyone - even those who were there for 2 weeks straight. Extremely colorful, even at 60 ft. And lots of different, unusual looking coral. At least, different and unusual based on anything else I saw that week. Visibility was great (60-70 ft?). Fantasia was similar, though not quite as colorful.

Thu - Lesleen M and Anse Cochon North Reef. Visibility this day was much better. This time, we got to swim through the bridge of the ship, which was awesome. I liked this day much better than Tue, but our DL led us through the bridge because the current was minimal and visibility much better. I get the impression they don't allow this that often, so it was a treat for new divers like us (and the experienced divers too). Anse Cochon was much like it was Tue minus the strong current but had better visibility.

Fri - Keyhole Pinnacles and The Arch. I had suggested the Pinnacles after reading some reviews and some of the experienced people then convinced the dive shop manager we should go there and, given the problems we've been having (more on that later), they took us. Usually they don't go there because the current is wicked strong but we got lucky in that it wasn't too bad. The pinnacles was my 2nd favorite dive site. The coral around the pinnacles themselves is heavily damaged from hurricane Thomas in Oct 2010, but the pinnacles themselves are fascinating. That was also the consensus of the experienced divers too. There is a lot of coral formations on the pinnacles and thus, a lot of nooks and crannies to explore on the pinnacles. Unfortunately, we didn't spend as much time there as I would've liked. The pinnacles are 2? 3? mini-pitons underwater with strong current running between them. They're mini-pitons only in the sense they're peaks like the pitons. I'd guess the actual heights to be about 40-50 feet. The Arch is an underwater arch formation that we swam under. Pretty cool I guess, but other than that, it was a relaxing dive and a perfect way to end our diving week.

As for marine life, we saw spotted eels, a green moray at the wreck, fire worms, spotted flounder (those guys are tough to see), a rockfish at Saline point but nowhere else, sea cucumber, lobster (although they hide under rocks during the day), trigger fish, file fish, trunk fish, trumpet fish, sea snakes, and a host of other fish that I can't name. There was also a turtle sighting and octopus sighting, but I missed them.

Now for the one major problem. O-rings. It wasn't a problem at the beginning of the week, but beginning Wed, the problems started and got worse. Wed my tank bled down to 2500 psi while at dock, so we had to replace my tank. Basically, your strategy should be to inspect your O-ring, attach your reg, listen for leaks, then leave it pressurized until the boat departs. If there was a problem, it generally manifested itself within 5 minutes. Also, check both tanks while at dock even if you only leave your reg on one of them while pressurized. If there is an immediate problem, you'll catch it early. Thursday we had 4 O-rings fail, or if not fail, replaced. While at dock one guy had his develop a leak and I had to close his valve and they replaced the tank. Mine had a gouge missing and I made them replace it. One guy had his fail on the surface and my wife had hers go bad at depth. Now, when I say go bad, I don't mean to the point we had to share air, but it was streaming pretty good to the point I finally called the dive short. Friday we had multiple leaks before we left dock and, looking at the O-rings, you couldn't really tell but only after putting pressure to them could we tell. My wife had to replace one tank after it bled down to 2000 psi and an O-ring replaced on the replacement tank. At the end of my second dive as I removed my reg the O-ring actually fell out! Needless to say, the dive shop manager was made aware of this by me and a more respected diver as was the general manager of the resort itself. They are aware of the issue and are supposedly working aggressively to fix it (as in, actually getting enough O-rings to replace all of them). But my advice is be wary. Inspect them at the dock, check both tanks at the dock, leave one tank pressurized until you leave the dock, then check your buddy's tank when you get in the water. Maybe you more experienced folks would have a different recommendation?

Other than that, the Piton dives are pretty darned good. Anse Cochon area is OK. So for planning purposes, do NOT miss Wed/Fri dives. One final piece of advice. Get to the dive shop as soon as possible to sign up for the check out dive and all other dives. The check out dive filled up the Sunday we signed up, but we got there at 8am and signed up while others who got there a little later (8:30?) couldn't get in. Friday's dive was a full boat and people who tried to sign up couldn't. When we got there Sunday morning, we were able to sign up for the checkout dive at 8am and for the 8:00 dive every day thereafter, but we knew we were going to dive every day.

Hope this helps someone out there.
 
Hi:

Glad to see a detailed report. One thing...I don't know sea snakes to occur in the Caribbean, but there is an animal called the sharptail eel that crawls around on the bottom & is so snake-like in its movements that it is commonly thought to be a snake, not an eel. Here's a link to pics, but be warned I see a few of the pics are of spotted morays or golden tail morays, which are different.
 
Hi:

Glad to see a detailed report. One thing...I don't know sea snakes to occur in the Caribbean, but there is an animal called the sharptail eel that crawls around on the bottom & is so snake-like in its movements that it is commonly thought to be a snake, not an eel. Here's a link to pics, but be warned I see a few of the pics are of spotted morays or golden tail morays, which are different.
That's it! That's what we saw. The more experienced divers said it was a snake, so that's what I went with. But looking at your pic, it was definitely a sharptail eel. Thanks for the clarification.
 
Wow! 60' maximum depth on the first dive and 1,000 psi limit. Perfect for hung over cruise ship divers and those new to diving, but not acceptable for 90% of the frequent divers out there. My wife and I have considered St. Lucia. We'll be sure to avoid Sandals.
 
We've done Sandals St. Lucia (La Toc) a few years ago and while they were conservative (1000 psi and the group comes up) they didn't have the depth limits. They did not have the o-ring problem then. You can start your save a dive kit with an inexpensive little box of your own o-rings. On their boats I have checked the o-rings, for corrosion around the neck and threads, put my reg on it before BCD, to check for leaks and pressure. We have found short tanks. You might want to count divers and tanks before leaving the dock since they may have just enough tanks and no spares in case there is a tank that cannot be used (thread or valve leaks).

14 years ago we did our honeymoon on St. Lucia at a Sandals (La Toc bay) and they were not nearly as conservative but I think there are quite a few less experienced honeymoon divers, maybe only one of the two has experience or both are new divers that stay at Sandals. There seems to be a broader range of divers on the same boat including more experienced divers.

I will stay at Sandals probably, we like the properties, but I will look for other dive ops as we did in Exuma when at Sandals. We may dive with Sandals a few days out of the trip if they have a better dive sites planned. But generally I just can't do that kind of Sandals diving anymore if I can help it. I want more freedom, bottom time, not have to follow someone around and not come up with 1500-2000 psi left. I think they need to run more boats and/or separate out the experienced divers, even into groups on the same boat. I also think some dives are shorter since they use the dive boats for snorkeler trips and resort course dives and have schedules to keep. If this type of diving is your thing then go for it. It is included.
I am glad you enjoyed your trip and thanks for the trip report. St. Lucia is a nice place. As you said, the better diving is towards and on the south end near the Pitons.

Now you get to pick other places to go diving.

On a side note, there were quite few threads here on SB in this Lesser Antilles forum concerning St. Lucia earlier this year for anyone else looking to stay and dive in St. Lucia.
 
I’m confused as to why you guys think having a rock bottom pressure of 1000psi on a 60fsw dive with an AL80 is too conservative. A responsible diver diving with a buddy should reserve enough gas to get himself and his buddy to the surface at all times, including completing a 3 minute safety stop. Using a working/stressed RMV of 1.0 for each diver, I get 974psi for a rock bottom pressure at 60fsw.

http://www.nwgratefuldiver.com/articles/gas.htmlGas Management Article
 
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Warhammer, your calculations are based on a 60 fsw dive. Their rule of all coming up when the first person hits 1000 psi is valid for any depth dive in my experience at multiple Sandals locations recently. I had several dives in the Bahamas where my max and average depth was around 30 fsw (flat sand bottom) and we still had the 1000 psi rule.
While what you say is safe, it is for the diver who gets to 1000 psi first. I will have more air left. There have been times on their boats where my wife had almost 2000 psi left and I had 1700-1800. She could have done the second dive on the same tank. Our diving was cut short by the first person to 1000 psi.
Though the numbers above are a maximum amount of air left, this sort of thing happens all the time with them. Many divers on their boats burn through their air quickly.
The point is, all it takes is one in the group to get to 1000 psi and all have to come up.
The conservative method is applied to the whole group regardless of air consumption of the individuals. It's too conservative for me since I have much more air left. Ending the dive consistently early is not why I am there. BUT this style of operation may be a good fit for some or something an experienced diver is willing to tolerate.

I re-read the posts and I haven't found anyone keying specifically on the 1000 psi left issue as the sole cause of "conservatism"- as in calculations. I wrote that "I want more freedom, bottom time, not have to follow someone around and not come up with 1500-2000 psi left." That part of their policy is too conservative for me as I generally have more air and have to stop diving.

I have not asked Sandals why they do these things and specifically why the entire group surfaces when the first person gets to 1000 psi. I know that they do and at multiple resorts.

So, if divers have good to great air consumption rates and want more dive time, Sandals may not be the right fit.
 
Well it's included so you can't expect too much, ya know. :) It's been quiet a few years since I've been to a Sandals, but I'm sure they have their reasons for doing it that way. I was referring more to South 4 Scuba's post than yours, where he stated 60fsw and 1000psi. Perhaps he didn't mean it the way I read it though. But yeah, I can understand one being frustrated having to surface with 1800psi+ because someone else in the group was low on air. But places like Sandal's don't generally want/allow divers to dive their own plans and they want to keep the entire group together at all times. So when one person gets low on air, the dive is over. And if they do enforce the 1000psi rule in 30fsw, that is indeed very conservative.

People don't usually go to places like that just to dive though. My wife and I go to Couples in Jamaica almost every year. It's not really a dive trip though, it's a vacation that includes a little diving if I'm lucky. They are a little bit more liberal than Sandals. There isn't a depth limit that I'm aware of, it depends on the experience of the divers on board. They'll also allow buddy teams to surface alone, or with the trailing DM, if they get low on air or close to NDL, once they are familiar with the divers experience. But they still won't allow you to do your own thing and they expect you to stay within site of the group for the most part. The way I try to deal with the group thing is to lag behind them, but within site of them. My only complaint is that they don't like to dive unless conditions are very good, hence why I said "if I'm lucky". But I've gotten to the point where I just kinda go with the flow and don't sweat the small stuff anymore, so I fit right in.
 
You're right about trips not being dive trips but I still try to make it both. That doesn't work well with Sandals diving - love the properties tho. The "...Sandal's don't generally want/allow divers to dive their own plans" is so true. If they went to sending up buddy pairs it would be a great improvement.

I think Sandals sees too many divers in a week to hire more DM's and to get to know them and their experience level but depends on the time of year too. Off season can have rougher water.

I (and I speak for my wife without permission) either have to accept Sandals diving methods or go with an outside dive op.
 
Just a point of clarification. Well, a couple of points.

They offered night dives for an additional $80/person. That's in addition to your 2 "included" dives that day. One of the dudes that dove with us said the one night dive hd did lasted 50 minutes, so he was happy.

As for the 1000 psi limit, only once did my group actually end a dive when the first person hit a 1000 psi (it was me). Mostly it appeared to be based on dive time, especially the 2nd dive of the day that was limited to 40 fsw. No one hit the 1000 psi limit on those dives, including my wife and I. But usually on the deeper dives, when I surfaced with a 1000 psi (that included the safety stop), I polled the other experienced divers and they all had 1400-1500 psi left. One dude had 2000 psi, but I swear he was making air underwater! Only twice did I get on the boat with less than 1000 psi, once at 750 when I was the one that ended the dive and once with 800 psi when we hung out at the safety stop exploring corals longer than the 3 minutes "required".

Still, I understand wanting to stay down longer and if that's what you want, probably best to either avoid Sandals resorts altogether or spend some extra money to go on a few dives with the independent operators. I've heard good things about Dive Fairhelen (and saw their boat a couple of times too if that matters).

One more point of clarification. There were no snorkelers on the 8:20 trip. It was either certified divers or resort certified divers, but the resort certs didn't do the deep dive with us, they dove a shallower reef. On the second, shallower dive, they dove the same site as us, but had a different dive leader so they weren't the limiting factors.

Oh, there is one more option. You can get AOW certified and you get your own private DL and you stay down longer. Not sure if you can hire a private DL and get more dive time, but that's an option worth exploring too. I think you can, but again, not positive on that one.
 
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