Trinidad to St. Maarten Trip

[hueyatl1]

I have booked a 3 week cruise aboard the Windjammer's S/V Polynesia at the end of Oct. The cruise will begin in Trinidad and end in St. Maarten. I am an avid photographer and Scuba diver. My question is this; what are the must photograph and dive sites?

The ports to be visited will include:

Trinidad
Grenada
Mayreau
Bequia
St. Vincent
St. Lucia
Dominica
Isles des Saints
Nevis
St. Barths
St. Martin
Anguilla
Saba
St. Kitts
Tintamarre
Statia

Please help me put together a must see/do list.

 

[sandrascuba]

Sounds like a nice trip. I've been on 9 WJ trips but gave them up when I started taking dedicated dive trips. Don't plan on diving your *** off but you will get some diving in and have a great time. You will also pay about $60 per dive so you will need to pick and choose carefully.

Off Mayreau, there's a site called Mayreau Gardens to dive. It's a drift and can be done in 2 directions - 1 each way. Nearby, there's the wreck of the Purina, a nice night dive. Grenadines Dive (the op WJ uses for Mayreau) isn't great but if you have your own gear - no worries. Expect to be put in the water with newbies and expected to stay and surface with the group. It makes for short (and very expensive diving).

Bequia has some good diving but they take the WJ visitors to either the Boulders or Pancake Rocks. Both are nice sites and Dive Bequia does a great job. They usually run 2 boats - one with the resort course divers and the other boat with more experienced divers. Take your macro U/W lens. There are few pelagics but lots of macro critters. We've gone back to Bequia for dedicated dive trips and love the place.

St. Vincent is worth diving too but it depends on the sites they select. ST.V to me was dirty and crowded and I couldn't wait to get out of there.

The diving on Nevis is so-so. I don't think I'd spend the money to dive there again.

WJ does not visit Saba any more as they claim there's not enough to do for non divers but it's the best place on your list for diving. If you can eek out a few extra days on Saba for diving after your trip it will be time (and money) well spent. I suggest Saba Deep and have dived with them many times on dedicated dive adventures. You can fly to Saba or take the ferry from SXM.

St. Kitts and Statia are ok but nothing great. I much prefer Saba in that group of islands.

There are land photo opportunities on all of the islands you list. Keep in mind that on the days you dive you will miss most of the tours as you won't return to the Poly until most of the day's activities are well underway.

I hope this helps. I've been to all the places on your list and know you will have a great time. It should be a wonderful sail. With the Poly coming straight out of dry dock expect a few hiccups that weren't corrected in drydock but the ship will be as good as she can be. She's a wonderful old ship.

Feel free to email me if I can be of any more help. Have fun.

Sandra

 

[hueyatl1]

Thanks Sandrascuba. Greatly apprecicated.

As for as the land based tours, which provide the best photo opportunities?

 

[BurBunny]

Excellent diving to be had from St. Lucia and Dominica. For St. Lucia, down near the Pitons in the Marine Park is best. Off Dominica, you want to be going out in the calderon south of Soufriere. Don't bother with St. Maarten. If the ship has something set up in Grenada, go for it. I've never had luck diving here off any ship, but I understand the diving can be quite good.

 

[Bbarnes]

In Saba, don't miss Diamond Rock. We dove with Sea Saba. They were great. Topside on Saba you can climb Mt. Scenery. You get to go through scrub, rainforest and cloud forest on your way to the 3000ft top. If you like to take photos of plants, it there are infinite possiblities. JoBean's Glass studio is a great half day activity. She will teach you to make lampwork glass beads. On Statia be sure to do the muck dive (Blue Bead Hole). It is mainly over sand with just some tiny patches of plant/reef but you get to look for Blue Beads that were used in the days of the slaves. (Our group found 2 1/2)You also can get some great underwater shots of tons of teeny tiny juvenilles. We dove with Golden Rock Divers. There is a nice fort to visit there too. Apparently they were the first nation to officially recognize the US as a soverign nation so there is some cool history there too.
Sorry I can't comment on more of your stops YET..You know, we all have our checklist of places to go......Be sure to post a trip report when you get back.

 

[Bbarnes]

BTW you can take a 12 minute WinAir flight to either Saba or Statia from St. Maartin. Saba boasts the shortest commercial runway in the world. The landing alone makes the trip!!! If you stay on Saba, Julianna's was great. On Statia we stayed at the Old Gin House. Neither of these are big "beach" or tourist type places. Personally, I like it that way

 

[hueyatl1]

Thanks for the help guys....