St. Thomas or Dominican Republic - Where to dive?

[diversteve]

Not sure of one to St Croix....

There was but apparently no longer:

Ferry service between St. Thomas and St. Croix has been suspended. As of June 2013 there is no new information.

Virgin Islands Ferry Schedule

When we went a few years ago American was flying directly to St. Croix - I believe from Dallas or Miami. Apparently they still are - at $367 r/t:


There's a Divi (Carina?) resort on St. Croix. That can probably be done AI with an add-on meal plan. Cane Bay Wall on the north side is good for shore diving. Also the Frederickstad Pier - which is also the cruise pier.

 

[cruzbound]

You are right - I was thinking about St. Johns and having to take a ferry. Flight to St. Croix is over $700. Maybe I can try some different routes - like flying to Florida and then to St. Croix or flying to SJ and then St. Croix - maybe it would be cheaper that way.

Checked on Curacao and flights there are also $700. These amounts are more than I want to spend for a flight. So it will probably have to be DR, St. Thomas or Cancun - these are the most reasonable flights and in DR and Cancun can get an all-inclusive with some of my FF points for pretty cheap.

Any thoughts on Cancun?

 

[drrich2]

I was looking at a couple of all-inclusives in Dominican Republic so I think it would be nice to relax at the beach or pool too.

The one day I hit Dominican Republic was on a cruise, arriving in Samana, and I did not do a dive excursion because time on the forum suggested the good diving wasn't nearby.

So be aware that where you stay in the D.R. could play a role in your experience. I suggest doing a forum search & reading some trip reports & discussions on Dominican Republic diving.

I did 4 dives in St. Thomas; had fun (2 were training dives; the other 2 were at Armando's Paradise and Navy Barges, if you want a couple of sites to research online). My dives were easy, not too deep, nice Caribbean diving.

But having done 20 dives out of Key Largo last September, I'm not sure why I'd fly to St. Thomas, when I could fly to Florida (I did Ft. Lauderdale; I understand Miami and Key West are options), rent an SUV, drive down & stay at the Courtyard Marriot and dive with Rainbow Reef Dive Center at the end of their parking lot. 2 2-tank trips per day let me cram 20 dives into 5 days. Sweet! Not every dive operator lets you do that.

Different strokes, different folks, but I get the sense you're trying to keep costs down, and as dive trips go, mine was pretty cheap. My 20 dives were a 10 trip $600 package (add taxes and tips, but still, at $30/dive with a free guide provided, can you beat that?).

As for Cancun, haven't dove it. Did 2 dives in Cozumel. Other posters on the forum have indicated Cozumel has superior diving, but Cancun has more for non-divers. I'm about the diving, so haven't explored that option.

Richard.

---------- Post added February 6th, 2014 at 09:11 PM ----------

P.S.: Key Largo/Florida Keys diving conditions will vary more with season than some Caribbean destinations.

 

[diversteve]

The nice thing about the St. John ferry is at least one of them is a car ferry. So you can do daytrips - and shore dive there. We cleared customs coming back from the BVI's there and it's only about 1/2 hr. ride from there to Red Hook on the East End of St. Thomas. I'm pretty sure one of the Sapphire Beach resorts is an AI - or maybe it's a timeshare? I've heard good things about Sugar Beach Resort in that area also. We rented a condo that I won't recommend nearby.

We looked at St. John once but it was expensive to stay at most of the resorts I checked. Not that St. Thomas is particularly cheap either but there are some more reasonable options.

If you're doing flight options - try this. I use it when I'm trying to find logical connections. The only domestic airline not on it is Southwest. Many airlines and travel portals get their data from it. You just can't book anything on it. Google bought it so it's what runs Google Flights now also. http://matrix.itasoftware.com/search.htm

I'm off for the evening now.

 

[cruzbound]

Thanks to all for the info. We have been to Key Largo twice diving already. It is very good diving. We were just trying to find a different place this time. In DR the all inclusive is in Punta Cana but the posting boards say there is a new highway from PC to the La Romana area - which is where the better diving is (Caribbean side) and it takes about 30-45 minutes to drive there. That is not a huge deal to us to drive that far. We have done two dives in Cozumel and it was awesome. I will check out that flight cost. Would love to go back to Curacao - been diving there twice (via cruise ship) and it is great. We cruise every year so we do get to go to many of the islands and dive.