Hi, Gang!
We are back from a month in the Caribbean and we are buried with "catch-up". Hence, I need to make this report a little short...
We spent our first week on St. Thomas diving with Chris Sawyer. This was a trip down Memory Lane since we were both cerified at his shop. Our digs were at the Point Pleasant Resort, a stone's throw from the dive shop/dock. While not a luxury resort, the Point is a nice set of condos and we found them more than satisfactory. If you like informal food, try the take out Texas Barbeque in Red Hook--great ribs!
The diving was a little tame for us, but nice. Chris' dives are all led--max group size of 8-10--and done by the tables. That means when the DM returns to the boat, so do all the divers. Barbara and I are not heavy consumers of air and, so, we typically got back aboard the boat with 1600 lbs of air or more after a 30-40 minute dive! They also lead the dive with the DM towing a surface buoy--a nice safety precaution, but more indicative of the level of divers they expect: novice to intermediate.
The dive sites were fine with a reasonable abundance of reef fish. However, we rarely saw pelagics... If you are doing your first dives after cert, this could be the place to start. Chris and his crew are very attentive, safety conscious, and helpful. If you are seasoned divers, you may be a little impatient.
We then took off to Saba for a week--and liked it so much that we stayed a second week! Saba is a very small island: 5 sq mi, 2000 people, 4 small dive shops. There is very little night life, no beaches, no luxury hotels, a few restaurants, AND WONDERFUL DIVING! We loved it. We dove with Saba Deep and liked the crew a lot. The diving is mostly deep--a typical 1st dive is at 120-130 ft, 2nd dive at 80-100 ft, and 3rd dive at 50-70 ft. Pristine reefs, lots of fish--even pelagics, clear water that goes forever. On the negative side: be prepared for current; some sites become undiveable due to strong currents. Saba is probably not for novice divers...
Now, if you do go there, let me recommend one restaurant in particular: YIIK (why-too-kay). The food there could make it in San Francisco! Carl and Rudolf run a great kitchen that serves fantastic food. If you are lucky, you will get a local vegetable called "cristeens" served with coconut milk and coconut shavings that is to die for. We stayed on Windwardside (which we recommend) and tried all the restaurants (there are not many) and YIIK captured our palates and business.
We stayed a Juliana's Apts and that was a treat in itself. Juliana and here husband, Franklin, run a very pleasant "hotel" and make you feel like one of the family. Vanessa, in the "office", was also extremely pleasant and helpful. We have no reservations about recommending Juliana's, but these are very basic accommodations...
After two weeks on Saba, we headed for Tortola. And that was a disappointment. Maybe it was because Saba was so nice... My impressions of Tortola: the east end is a rundown area, bordering on being a slum; the west end and Road Town are havens for boaters and those who love night life. We did not like Tortola for a lot of reasons and I will stop there. So, we pulled up stakes and headed back to St. Thomas.
We stayed on the west end of St. Thomas this time and dived with Blue Island Divers. Their shop is in Crown Point Marina, a little hard to get to, but worth the effort! Jim, H, and Sean run a nice boat and Marion runs a nice shop. Their boat will take no more than eight divers and the dives are all guided, but they use the "loose" buddy system if your skill level warrants. The dive sites on the west end are more varied than those on the east end of St. Thomas. We saw lots and lots of fish--both reef and pelagics.
ONE WARNING: STAY CLEAR OF UNDERWATER SAFARIS! That is a dive shop that caters to cruise ships and large hotels. Their boats go out with as many as 40 divers! And they have three such boats! They will even take all three to one dive site at the same time. And we saw one dive where they had two dive masters for 40 divers--in a long, long, long line! You have been warned!
If you have read this and what I have written in the past, you will know what I prefer: small boats with few divers. If that is not your preference, what I write will not be of much value to you. I also tend to like living quarters that are a little "upscale": that is a preference, not a value judgement. That will also help you decide if what I write is helpful to you. Over the years I have found that dive magazines, etc., tend to paint very rosey pictures--and I have seen more than one over-dived, dead reef that was the subject of rave reviews. Thus, I have become suspect of percs that writers get, vested interests of travel agencies, etc. Sorry for the lecture, but I have become a member of the caveat lectur club (let the reader beware club) when it comes to dive site/destination recommendations and I wanted to be clear on what I value.
Joewr
We are back from a month in the Caribbean and we are buried with "catch-up". Hence, I need to make this report a little short...
We spent our first week on St. Thomas diving with Chris Sawyer. This was a trip down Memory Lane since we were both cerified at his shop. Our digs were at the Point Pleasant Resort, a stone's throw from the dive shop/dock. While not a luxury resort, the Point is a nice set of condos and we found them more than satisfactory. If you like informal food, try the take out Texas Barbeque in Red Hook--great ribs!
The diving was a little tame for us, but nice. Chris' dives are all led--max group size of 8-10--and done by the tables. That means when the DM returns to the boat, so do all the divers. Barbara and I are not heavy consumers of air and, so, we typically got back aboard the boat with 1600 lbs of air or more after a 30-40 minute dive! They also lead the dive with the DM towing a surface buoy--a nice safety precaution, but more indicative of the level of divers they expect: novice to intermediate.
The dive sites were fine with a reasonable abundance of reef fish. However, we rarely saw pelagics... If you are doing your first dives after cert, this could be the place to start. Chris and his crew are very attentive, safety conscious, and helpful. If you are seasoned divers, you may be a little impatient.
We then took off to Saba for a week--and liked it so much that we stayed a second week! Saba is a very small island: 5 sq mi, 2000 people, 4 small dive shops. There is very little night life, no beaches, no luxury hotels, a few restaurants, AND WONDERFUL DIVING! We loved it. We dove with Saba Deep and liked the crew a lot. The diving is mostly deep--a typical 1st dive is at 120-130 ft, 2nd dive at 80-100 ft, and 3rd dive at 50-70 ft. Pristine reefs, lots of fish--even pelagics, clear water that goes forever. On the negative side: be prepared for current; some sites become undiveable due to strong currents. Saba is probably not for novice divers...
Now, if you do go there, let me recommend one restaurant in particular: YIIK (why-too-kay). The food there could make it in San Francisco! Carl and Rudolf run a great kitchen that serves fantastic food. If you are lucky, you will get a local vegetable called "cristeens" served with coconut milk and coconut shavings that is to die for. We stayed on Windwardside (which we recommend) and tried all the restaurants (there are not many) and YIIK captured our palates and business.
We stayed a Juliana's Apts and that was a treat in itself. Juliana and here husband, Franklin, run a very pleasant "hotel" and make you feel like one of the family. Vanessa, in the "office", was also extremely pleasant and helpful. We have no reservations about recommending Juliana's, but these are very basic accommodations...
After two weeks on Saba, we headed for Tortola. And that was a disappointment. Maybe it was because Saba was so nice... My impressions of Tortola: the east end is a rundown area, bordering on being a slum; the west end and Road Town are havens for boaters and those who love night life. We did not like Tortola for a lot of reasons and I will stop there. So, we pulled up stakes and headed back to St. Thomas.
We stayed on the west end of St. Thomas this time and dived with Blue Island Divers. Their shop is in Crown Point Marina, a little hard to get to, but worth the effort! Jim, H, and Sean run a nice boat and Marion runs a nice shop. Their boat will take no more than eight divers and the dives are all guided, but they use the "loose" buddy system if your skill level warrants. The dive sites on the west end are more varied than those on the east end of St. Thomas. We saw lots and lots of fish--both reef and pelagics.
ONE WARNING: STAY CLEAR OF UNDERWATER SAFARIS! That is a dive shop that caters to cruise ships and large hotels. Their boats go out with as many as 40 divers! And they have three such boats! They will even take all three to one dive site at the same time. And we saw one dive where they had two dive masters for 40 divers--in a long, long, long line! You have been warned!
If you have read this and what I have written in the past, you will know what I prefer: small boats with few divers. If that is not your preference, what I write will not be of much value to you. I also tend to like living quarters that are a little "upscale": that is a preference, not a value judgement. That will also help you decide if what I write is helpful to you. Over the years I have found that dive magazines, etc., tend to paint very rosey pictures--and I have seen more than one over-dived, dead reef that was the subject of rave reviews. Thus, I have become suspect of percs that writers get, vested interests of travel agencies, etc. Sorry for the lecture, but I have become a member of the caveat lectur club (let the reader beware club) when it comes to dive site/destination recommendations and I wanted to be clear on what I value.
Joewr
