Discovery Scuba- St. Thomas or St. Maarten?

I'll be on the new Oasis of the Seas in Feb and I would LOVE to try scuba diving. I'm not certified so this discovery version is great, but I'm not sure which island to try it on. They're both about the same price and both are 3-4 hrs long.

Does anyone have any experience on these Discovery SCUBA in St. Thomas or St. Maarten? Which is better?

I was also thinking if neither of them are worth it ($109) should I take an excursion to St. John and go snorkeling instead?

Any input would be appreciated :D

I did SNUBA in St. Thomas before I got certified. It was really fun. That price seems about the going rate for discover dive. Did you consider getting certified at home then doing real dives on the cruise?

Coki Beach in St. Thomas

http://www.cokidive.com

$70 including instruction and all equipment

Nice people too.

If the St. Thomas excursion goes to Coki Point, this in my opinion is a fantastic place for your Discover Scuba. You will be able to do a great beach dive which starts in shallow water and they will probably take you to about 32 feet. You will see lots of coral and wonderful fish. This was where I took my first Discover Scuba sourse almost 30 years ago. Both my kids have done it too.

I no longer dive when we are in St. Maarten. St. Thomas IMHO is much nicer. In the past, I have often had a lot of rought water off of St. Maarten. St. Thomas is typically a lot prettier under water than St. Maarten.

Good Luck.

I highly suggest booking directly with Coki Beach Dive Club. I think Royal Caribbean sends their people to Underwater Safari, but they just raiload loads of people through. Another family we met on the ship booked the Underwater Safari excursion and didn't have a good experience. Coki has a really nice reef right off the beach and the guys at the shop are extremely friendly.

Here's my experience taken right on the Coki Beach reef by DiveHDV. They dive with all of the beginners. Check it out for yourself. I bought the video of my first dive, I love it!

http://www.youtube.com/user/DiveHDV

Hands down Coki Beach Dive Club!

Those guys are great and going off the beach for our first time was relaxing and easy. As well as an incredible reef. They deal with cruise ship passengers everyday, as when we were on our cruise.

We looked into Admiralty and I was told, and found that they specialize in deep south side technical wreck dives. And are not typically known for doing much business with the cruise ship passengers. So we went with Coki beach and had a great time!

hey loveboater99 - nice videos!!!:)