Last minute booking help please! Dive ? in St Thomas, Barbados, St Lucia, St Kitts,

We decided really last minute to cruise the Southern Caribbean, departing on Carnival out of San Juan, and docking in St Thomas, Barbados, St Kitts, St Lucia, and St Maarten.

My husband and son are certified open water divers, and of course want to maximize their dive opportunities. I know it may be difficult or impossible to book dives only 19 days from sailing, but I'm doing my best to make sure they have a great cruise. I have reached out to Blue Island on St Thomas based on a quick read-through of this forum. Any other recommendations would be GREATLY appreciated. Also, my son is certified but not especially experienced. I understand that the currents around St Maarten can make for a challenging dive sometimes. Is it too much for a beginner, and a small guy at that? Many thanks for your time and any info you can share.

We decided really last minute to cruise the Southern Caribbean, departing on Carnival out of San Juan, and docking in St Thomas, Barbados, St Kitts, St Lucia, and St Maarten.

 

My husband and son are certified open water divers, and of course want to maximize their dive opportunities. I know it may be difficult or impossible to book dives only 19 days from sailing, but I'm doing my best to make sure they have a great cruise. I have reached out to Blue Island on St Thomas based on a quick read-through of this forum. Any other recommendations would be GREATLY appreciated. Also, my son is certified but not especially experienced. I understand that the currents around St Maarten can make for a challenging dive sometimes. Is it too much for a beginner, and a small guy at that? Many thanks for your time and any info you can share.

I highly recommend Admirality Dive Center in St Thomas (in case Blue Island cannot accommodate you). Here is a link:

http://www.admiraltydive.com/

Thanks for your reply. We were able to book a dive with Blue Island, and we were also able to book a dive in St Kitts. Now we are working on booking a dive in St Lucia. Thanks again!

Another good place in St Thomas for new divers is Coki Dive Center, they dive the reefs off Coki Beach. http://www.cokidive.com/

It has the added bonus of a nice beach for non divers and is a nice snorkeling spot as well.

Agree with this. Did coki last week with my 10 year old and 8 year old. The diving was good and easy for my youn kids.

I highly recommend Admirality Dive Center in St Thomas (in case Blue Island cannot accommodate you). Here is a link:

http://www.admiraltydive.com/

This would be the better choice for more experienced divers IMO. While the shore dive at Coki Beach is good for beginners or divers in a mixed group, it might be a little underwhelming for divers looking for a dive oriented cruise.

Thanks for all the replies. We are back, and in case anyone is wondering, here's who my husband and son used.

St Thomas - Blue Island Divers. Good reports from both, said the dive master was great and the outfit well run. It was a small group, and they got in two great dives, one of them a wreck dive.

St Lucia - Dive Fair Helen. The dive master was good and the equipment was well cared for, but the outfit was very unorganized. They mixed a group of snorklers and divers, which really isn't optimum for either group under the best of circumstances. They also were not prepared for the number of customers they had and said they did not think that many were showing up, despite the fact that everyone had paperwork for a reservation in hand. Poor planning led to an hour's delay while they acquired another vehicle to drive to Anse le Ray, which meant that they did not have enough time to do the one dive site my husband and son were really looking forward to - the base of the pitons. Very disappointing.

St Kitts - Pro Divers. My husband and son both said this was the best outfit of the whole cruise. Very well run, smooth, and they were at the dive site an hour after walking off the ship. The dives were great locations. Both would like to go back and dive with this outfit again.

You will get some mixed reviews, but I had a great experience with Scuba Steve in St. Lucia. I did the premium dive (smaller group). You do have to prepay, but I had a great experience and Shirley and the crew were wonderful. They provided juice and sandwiches during the surface interval.

Very personalized! Can' wait to go again next December.