Which islands are best to dive (cruise)? Thomas, Maarten, Kitts, Lucia, Barbados?

[Rhone Man]

Thanks so much guys, I really appreciate it. I have fun with drift diving, but sometimes find it frustrating (i.e. carrying a flag or trying to swim in place to snap a good photo, etc), but you've got me convinced that Superman's Flight would be a good dive. Do you have any recommended diver operators?

BTW, I've dove all over Cancun, Cozumel, Mayan Riviera, Florida, (and Jamaica as my first dives), etc. - so really what classifies as "unique" for me is stuff I haven't seen before! Things I might see out here that I wouldn't see in Mexico / Florida (although I'm assuming it's mostly the same life).

You both made it easy to eliminate St. Maarten & Barbados Sounds like St. Maarten has great beaches, so I'll be there!

I'm going to be diving in Vieques, Puerto Rico before the cruise sets sail too - any experience with good dive ops there? If I get any more dives in, it might be one on St. Kitts or St. Thomas, but sounds like St. Kitts would be a nice one to explore the rain forest on. Thanks again guys!
--Kyle

Lot of questions buried in there: I'll try and answer 'em all.

• Superman's flight is a really nice dive. I did it with Tommy from Frogs. He had a decent rep, so I went with him, although I would describe him as solid and reliable rather than spectacular.
• St Martin is actually a nice cruise destination generally. I just like to wander around Phillipsburg - good food, good shops, nice atmosphere. Beach is right there in town. Not always true of Caribbean cruise destinations.
• I have never dived out of PR. I have dived Vieques, but only off my own boat. There used to be an operation there called Vieques Divers, with the imaginative slogan Come Down With VD! Hope they are still in business, but I haven't been down that way since the 80s.

 

[kyley]

Thanks! I'll check them out! Heh, nice slogan for VD... Take care,
--Kyle

 

[scubadiver888]

I've been to St. Lucia twice and used Dive St. Lucia both times. They meet you at the docks with their boat and take you right out diving. When we drift the dive guide carried the float and we just stayed near him. The current at Superman's Flight is WAY too fast to swim against it and take a picture. Leave the camera on the boat and just enjoy the flight.

Haven't done any diving in Puerto Rico. Only time I do cruising is with my wife. She doesn't dive so we just do the cruise ship. She isn't really interested in spending time in Puerto Rico.

If you are going to do land tours in St. Kitts, avoid anything to do with the railroad. I have never been on a railroad tour but everyone told me it was rather sad. The rain forest in St. Kitts is really nice. I was happy to give up a day of diving for the rain forest. Very humid. Make sure you have an environmentally sealed camera or one of those point and shoots which are water resistant.

 

[Zsuzsika]

I am leading a dive group to some of the ports you will be going to; you are welcome to visit our group blog which has a lot of dive information as it relates to the cruise. Your wife may want to check the non-diver's blog. We charter a dive boat in each port where we dive, and I know you are going there in June. But you might want to pay particular attention to some of the dive site info, as it may give you an idea of some of the better dives.

Since we are a group of divers with cameras, we are looking for dive sites that have a lot to offer us. Here is my assessment of the ports you plan to go to:

St. Thomas - okay, but not our first choice. we'll be diving from shore to simply get wet.

St. Maarten - we're not diving here - have been there in the past, and not my favorite.

St. Kitts - we aren't going there next year, but there are excellent dive sites. It's worth diving in this port, as there isn't much else to do.

St. Lucia - excellent diving - I second superman's flight/pitons

Barbados - excellent - don't miss diving here.

 

[meangene757]

Kyley, we are planning a Carnival Cruise to the same locations in Nov, 2011. Wanted to know how was it?

 

[cruisediver69]

I just finished with a Carnival cruise to those same islands. Dove in St Thomas and St Kitts. Primarily wreck diving in St Thomas and Reef diving in St Kitts. Good visibility, plenty of life (eels, sea snakes, some turtles, lobsters of various types, and schools of small fish). Would definitely dive both islands again given the opportunity.

 

[kyley]

Hi All,
I just got back myself. Cruisediver69 - maybe we were on the same boat? Carnival Victory from Puerto Rico - got back 7/3.

Anyway, I was only able to dive one place and wanted to dive St Lucia originally, but we were there on my wife's b-day, so I dove St Kitts instead. A couple people from our ship dove with me, and they had dove St Lucia the day before. They both preferred St Kitts over St Lucia (and they did Superman's Flight in St Lucia).

I thought the diving in St Kitts was really good. It was stormy while we were there, and that stirred up some silt, but vis was still pretty good. All the cloud cover made it a darker dive. But anyway, the two dives were great. No current, beautiful, large reef, second dive was a cool old wreck (Talatu? from 1884). I dove with Pro Divers. I saw a moray eel, stingray, nurse shark, lobsters, a big horse eye jack, and several fish I haven't seen before - all on the first dive.

The bad - I completely ran out of air b/c my gauge was way off. At ~900 PSI, I struggled to pull air. I thought I was just panicking at the time, and just couldn't get enough air. I went to the anchor line and after 2 minutes of my safety stop I shot to the surface because I couldn't pull any air at all. It was really scary for me... This was with rented gear. It looked like good, recent equipment, but something was clearly wrong. I got to the boat at about 500 PSI and nothing at all would come through the regulator. I really liked Pro Divers as they seem to run a great shop (i.e., had a drop tank on the dives - never seen a shop do that before), but clearly something was wrong with the pressure gauge or something.

BTW, I also dove in Vieques, Puerto Rico. Good shore dive at Mosquito Pier (saw 3 spotted eagle rays swimming together, a lot of turtles, etc), but I wanted to dive the south side of the island. Couldn't get hold of the shop there though

I snorkeled a lot in Vieques too - excellent beaches and snorkeling! On one snorkel trip with my 7-year old son (Green Beach on the West end), we saw an octopus, 3 lion fish, 2 huge puffer fish, anemones, arrow crabs, all kinds of cool stuff! Here's the octopus:

Take care,
--Kyle

 

[meangene757]

That had to be real scary to run out of air on a dive, glad you made it out ok. Want to do the Supermans Flight in St. Lucia, should be exciting with video footage. Nice pic of the octo.

 

[kyley]

Yep, scary's the right word! Have fun on your cruise! St. Lucia is beautiful - might want to explore the island after your dive (I wanted to, but again at the mercy of my wife on her b-day). Take care,
--Kyle

 

[Gwuerth]

Cruising in December and looking for any recommendations in St Thomas for a dive OP - Looking at Blue Island diving - anyone with advice? Thanks