St Lucia— tell me your thoughts

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

I went to St. Lucia two years ago and loved it. We went with another couple, and rented a house that I was able to find here on SB. The husband of the other couple is also a frequent dive buddy. We only did two dives while there, but Superman's Flight is one of the best dives I have ever done. It's a great drift dive with lots of small marine life and under the Pitons. I would love to do that dive again and again. The first dive was also a drift dive, but with a rip current that was dragging us down and away from the island. Once we got out of that current I had to quickly dump the air that I had been adding to my BC. My dive buddy said he was getting very concerned just before we got out of it.

I've only been going to Coz for about five years, but have noticed a steep decline in the the quality of some of the reefs there. The brain corals are pretty much dead now, while they were vibrant when I first started going. Coz can also have some pretty hairy currents, too. When I went in August of last year, I saw sand tornadoes - fairly large ones. (Coz lovers are going to flame the sh!t out me for this paragraph).

I haven't been to Bonaire, but would love to go. It bugs me that Delta only flies there Saturdays and Sundays for most of the year. My wife doesn't dive and would probably not want to spend a whole week on the island.

Here's where we stayed in St. Lucia. It's a spectacular house for the right people (only two bedrooms).

Spacious Tropical Villa with Panoramic Views Of the Pitons and Caribbean Sea - Soufriere

OH! I highly recommend NOT climbing the piton. My dive buddy stayed at the 3/4 mark while the rest of us went to the top. I wish I had followed his lead. I could not cool down on the way back down and what should be a two - three hour hike turned into five with my frequent stops. Plus, the view was better from the top of the hill behind where we stayed.
 
I have noticed a steep decline in the the quality of some of the reefs there. The brain corals are pretty much dead now, while they were vibrant when I first started going. Coz can also have some pretty hairy currents, too. When I went in August of last year, I saw sand tornadoes - fairly large ones. (Coz lovers are going to flame the sh!t out me for this paragraph).

not me. i agree. coz is not was it used to be. and you are also correct about the currents. they can be very strong. for new divers unprepared for these possible conditions, it can be hazardous. on one of our trips to the island when their were unusually bad currents, there were at least 2 dives lost.....that we know of.
 
@Blues Runner has a 2016 trip report from staying at Anse Chastanet. Every time I've looked at pricing a trip at Anse Chastanet, I kept looking, IIRC, but people do seem to like it.

In 2016 Scuba Jill asked for recommendations (the thread), and @dbnewton shared some thoughts

Stephen Frink has an article, Estale, online at DAN's Alert Diver magazine. Kind of a romanticized style, but interesting.

I did 2 dives on a cruise stop in 2014 (mini-trip report); enjoyed it.

Way back in 2006 on our first cruise, my wife and I did a rainforest hike ship excursion there. Beautiful, lush rainforest. I hadn't seen anything like it in person till we did a bus tour of Puerto Rico's El Yunque rainforest on another cruise. With that in the back of my mind, other Caribbean islands often looks a bit 'sparse' topside by comparison.

I have never visited Saba or Dominica, which from what I understand also feature lush rainforest (in fairness, St. Croix had nice forest and varied topside terrain, but not on St. Lucia's level). Dominica is much larger than Saba, so if I were after a 'mixed agenda' trip combining diving with topside rainforest excursions, I'd research St. Lucia vs. Dominica.

When I've researched St. Lucia, overall trip pricing looked a bit steep. Sandals is costly and adults-only, IIRC (plus I'd want to know if they limit dive times to 45 minutes now!).

If you're going mainly for the diving, I'd check at some dive op. websites and find out whether they offer both morning and afternoon dive trips, and if so, is it practical to do both the same day. If you're only doing 2 dives/day, what's your plan for the rest of it?
 
St. Lucia, Bonaire and Cozumel offer three distinct contrasts:

St. Lucia - (Anse Chastanet/Piton dive area) offers vivid coral color. Some of the most vibrant colors in the caribbean in my opinion. Anse Chastanet has a large stand of turtle grass on it's house reef that holds seahorses and squid. No pelagics. We did find a frog fish on a wreck. Beautiful beach, lush pampering tropical island.

Bonaire - Shore diving extraordinaire! The only reason to do a boat dive is to find frogfish on Klein Bonaire. Many great shore dive sites. Healthy coral in most areas and some of the finest stag horn coral stands in the caribbean. Rent a truck, pick up your tanks and prepare for sand in the truck cab! Shore diving is great exercise. Not a tropical island vibe. A very dry climate with pink colored salt lakes reflecting into the sky. Highly recommend this book for dive site choices:
https://www.amazon.com/Reef-Smart-G...ef+smart+guide+bonnaire&qid=1592142517&sr=8-1

Cozumel -
Known mainly for drift diving. Mix of walls, patch reefs and varied relief heights that include swim throughs. Turtles, splendid toad fish many small reef fish. I prefer being closer to the downtown area to enjoy the local flavor and restaurants. Avoid the downtown area during the day to avoid the cruise ship invasion. The all-inclusives on the southwest end of the island are closer to the reefs.

David
 
St Lucia was our first dive vacation that was a bit more posh. I think I confused the experience with the diving - loved the resort and the scenery (which really is outstanding). Had fun touring the plantation on the resort grounds (Anse Chastanet) and had a chocolate tasting presentation from chocolate made on the premises. I thought the diving was great - but my husband says it was just ok. If people say Saba is better diving I'd tell you to go there - I think you get the same type of scenery (from the pictures I've seen - haven't been there). We keep returning to Cozumel because the diving is predictably good. Not so much to look at above the water though. The two places are very different above ground, and you get MUCH more for your money in Cozumel. Btw, the food at Anse Chastanet wasn't so great either - beautiful presentation, but not so tasty (IMO).
 
I was diving in St Lucia a long time ago and I would agree with those that say it is not great diving. I also found the dive op I went out with was really obnoxious- insisting everyone stay tightly with the group, even the one who couldn't seem to clear her ears on every dive. Then time limited for no good reason but that wasn't an issue because the same one who couldn't clear her ears well- also used up all her air within a short period of time so the dives were less than 30 minutes. It was so bad that we cancelled the rest of the dives we had planned for that trip- sleeping in was a better option.

Nothing noteworthy on the very short dives.

The island is beautiful but if you are not into staying at your resort- be careful venturing out.
 
St. Lucia, Bonaire and Cozumel offer three distinct contrasts:

St. Lucia - (Anse Chastanet/Piton dive area) offers vivid coral color. Some of the most vibrant colors in the caribbean in my opinion. Anse Chastanet has a large stand of turtle grass on it's house reef that holds seahorses and squid. No pelagics. We did find a frog fish on a wreck. Beautiful beach, lush pampering tropical island.

Bonaire - Shore diving extraordinaire! The only reason to do a boat dive is to find frogfish on Klein Bonaire. Many great shore dive sites. Healthy coral in most areas and some of the finest stag horn coral stands in the caribbean. Rent a truck, pick up your tanks and prepare for sand in the truck cab! Shore diving is great exercise. Not a tropical island vibe. A very dry climate with pink colored salt lakes reflecting into the sky. Highly recommend this book for dive site choices:
https://www.amazon.com/Reef-Smart-G...ef+smart+guide+bonnaire&qid=1592142517&sr=8-1

Cozumel -
Known mainly for drift diving. Mix of walls, patch reefs and varied relief heights that include swim throughs. Turtles, splendid toad fish many small reef fish. I prefer being closer to the downtown area to enjoy the local flavor and restaurants. Avoid the downtown area during the day to avoid the cruise ship invasion. The all-inclusives on the southwest end of the island are closer to the reefs.

David


Thank you. I love Bonaire. Wanted to see how St Lucia compared. Good info.

Thanks again.
 
So we were at Anse Chastanet resort for a week last November. The resort is everything they bill it as. Very nice staff and certainly four or five star overall. I personally enjoyed the diving although there was not enough of it. It was billed to us as 2-3 boat dives a day with unlimited shore diving... That is not exactly the case in that in order to make shore dives you must have a DM with you (which I have no problem with) but DM's were in short supply so I would get one extra shore dive in a day if I was lucky. The reefs themselves were in great shape and the colors were some of the best if not the best that I have ever seen. Here is a shot of a seahorse from there and a frog fish.


upload_2020-6-16_9-16-46.jpeg


upload_2020-6-16_9-18-16.jpeg
 
It should be noted that it is much easier to get around in Cozumel (and I imagine the same in Bonaire). St. Lucia is quite mountainous, and the switchbacks make driving seem like an arcade game. I asked my wife if she wanted to go back, and she wasn't that into it because she was getting car sick most of the times we went any where. Most of the roads are well taken care of, but I can't stress how twisty and turny it is. Also, the locals will blow by you at any chance.
 
We have dove St Lucia several times. On two occasions we stayed at Sandals Grande St Lucia.(10 day stay and 14 day stay.). We enjoyed the experience very much. We dove there off cruise ships last year on two occasions once with Dive Fair Helen and once with Scuba Steve.
We thought the diving was very good. When you dive with Sandals you often get a little bit of a intermediate dive experience because of the mix of divers. After a day or two and they get an idea of your skill set they usually try to put the more advanced divers together. It doesn’t always work out that way. They usually do 2 dives every morning and a shallow dive in the afternoon. Superman’s Flight and Coral Gardens are two of my favorites. The accommodations and food are good to great at Sandals. It is perfect for us retired folks who get 2 nice dives in the morning, lunch with a glass of wine, and an afternoon with a good book on the beach.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

Back
Top Bottom