Dive recommendations for new divers and shallow dives?

Hello everyone,

My husband and I have been avid snorkelers for a while now but decided that we are going to pursue open water certification before our next vacation. We live in a very land-locked area and thus our first dive on our vacation will be our first ocean dive. We will be going to St. Croix, St. Kitts, Dominica, Grenada, and St. Thomas. Any suggestions regarding which locations would be best for a first dive? Specifically, we like the idea of our first dive being fairly shallow and do not want a 100-ft dive as our first dive. We also prefer to avoid very large, crowded excursions. Thank you in advance!

I can only speak for St. Thomas out of the locations you mentioned. We used St. Thomas Diving Club when we were on the Breeze this last December. They are a very professional operation and train open water students all the time. Just e-mail them and tell them what you want/need and I'm sure they'll be able to accommodate. We will use them again if we get back to St. Thomas.

One caveat, though, is if you do book with them, make absolutely sure with them about the time. Ship's time is likely to be different and you don't want to be late meeting them when it's just a matter of what time zone each of you are on. This happened to us, and it made us "late" meeting them. Fortunately, we were able to re-book an afternoon dive and had the dive boat to ourselves. We got back to the ship in plenty of time.

I can only speak for St. Thomas out of the locations you mentioned. We used St. Thomas Diving Club when we were on the Breeze this last December. They are a very professional operation and train open water students all the time. Just e-mail them and tell them what you want/need and I'm sure they'll be able to accommodate. We will use them again if we get back to St. Thomas.

 

One caveat, though, is if you do book with them, make absolutely sure with them about the time. Ship's time is likely to be different and you don't want to be late meeting them when it's just a matter of what time zone each of you are on. This happened to us, and it made us "late" meeting them. Fortunately, we were able to re-book an afternoon dive and had the dive boat to ourselves. We got back to the ship in plenty of time.

Thank you for the information! I never thought about the time difference between the ship and the island, so I appreciate the heads up on that as well.

I don't know if Dive St Kitts on St Kitts still does any cruise packages, but I would highly recommend them. I think they do snorkeling from the bigger dive boat when a ship are in port, but they may have a smaller boat for diving that day. If they do, jump on them. They are absolutely great for a 'first ocean dive.' If the dive instructor Anthony is still there request him. See my review of Dive St Kitts on Tripadvisor. You can email them directly and they are very accommodating.

Dennis

I don't know if Dive St Kitts on St Kitts still does any cruise packages, but I would highly recommend them. I think they do snorkeling from the bigger dive boat when a ship are in port, but they may have a smaller boat for diving that day. If they do, jump on them. They are absolutely great for a 'first ocean dive.' If the dive instructor Anthony is still there request him. See my review of Dive St Kitts on Tripadvisor. You can email them directly and they are very accommodating.

 

Dennis

They do still have a cruise ship excursion. I just booked with them for September. They pick you up at the port at 8:30AM and bring you back when finished. Also, on St. Thomas Coki Dive Center offers escorted beach dives. They are shallower depths and perfect for new divers or if you haven't been for a while.

Plus 1 for CokiDive, we are not new divers and are frequent divers at home in FL; enjoyed the shore dive at Coki Beach and returned for another a few years later. The most expensive part of this dive excursion was the taxi fare, so arrange a tour with a local tour company that includes a beach stop at Coki, and then dive it!!

My husband and I went diving during our spring 2013 cruise, right after getting certified and used Eco Dive and Trek in Grenada. We booked everything way ahead and they were fantastic to work with - the dive boat was actually a quick walk to a different pier (no cab ride!!). I'd been having issues with sea sickness on other dives so I let our guide know - he and the captain were really great and checked in with us throughout the day to ensure I was feeling okay. Our guide even grabbed our underwater camera to snap a few photos of us at the famous underwater statues there. We had a fabulous time with them and would highly recommend - easy pre-booking, quick walk to boat, great guide and good diving!