Tortola and St. Lucia

[debsea]

Has anyone done the ship's 2-tank scuba excursion in Tortola and St. Lucia with Celebrity? I have booked my dives independently with The Dive Bus in Curacao, but don't feel comfortable booking independently in St. Lucia because our port time is relatively short and it sounds like you have to taxi quite a ways from the port to get a dive operator in Tortola who will take you to the Rhone. Any experience or insight would be appreciated.

[The Flying Pirate]

We did the ships tour in Tortola and it was great. They used a small boat, I think there were 8 of us on board so it wasn't crowded. They met us directly at the pier.

 

Their is a dive shop that is fairly close to the pier, within walking distance (I know because I walked there from the ship after the dive to buy a RMS Rhone T-shirt) http://www.aquaventurebvi.com/

[scubadiver888]

I book with The Dive Bus when I go to Curacao. Haven't been there since the hurricane (and I hear they moved across the street).

 

When I go to St. Lucia I book with the ship. If they are still booking with Scuba St. Lucia then you should book with the ship. I found Scuba St. Lucia to be better than The Dive Bus. Great bunch of guys and some REALLY nice diving.

 

I went with the ship in Tortola as well. It was a good dive. There were two girls on the boat with us. This was their first non-training dive without their instructor. They were REALLY nervous. The DM gave them special attention and even helped them swim through the wreck (it is really open with no chance of getting stuck or silting out). The boat was a little crowded. I think there were around 20 of us. If you are okay with letting the crowd go ahead and catching up at the ladder it is fine.

 

Take a morning dive on the Rhone. By afternoon there are literally a few hundred people there. Sail boats with independent divers, independent charters, cruise ship excursions, etc. I booked a morning dive. We were first on the site. As we were hitting the water a second boat showed up. When we surfaced the place was PACKED. It was a real zoo.

[debsea]

Thanks for the feedback. I think I'm comfortable with my decision now to book these dives through the ship.

 

But hundreds of divers on the same wreck? Really? I haven't done a wreck dive in a long time (and only ever in cold Ontario water) so am looking forward to The Rhone. How was the current? Did you see the green moray and the resident nurse shark?

 

The St. Lucia excursion sounds like more lunch and beach than I need in a diving excursion, and it's pricey, but it does sound very nice. Was your first dive a shore dive? The info I'm getting and the excursion summary aren't really clear.

 

My new DIL is going to do a Discover Scuba experience with The Dive Bus. I'm hoping that goes well so she gets inspired to get certified for future trips south.

[scubadiver888]

Maybe it was the day we were in port but yes, hundreds of divers. Most the charters going out there were taking 20 to 30 people on a boat. You get a dozen charters showing up there plus locals and it gets really crowded.

 

It could be the day I was there, there were multiple ships in port and each ship had multiple shore excursions. I do remember there were 22 people on my charter (including me but not the DMs). They broke us up into two groups.

 

I had forgot about the lunch and beach thing. They did that after the dive in St. Lucia. The dive was great but the food is resort food. We had better food on the ship. I'd rather be underwater than lying on a beach. So hanging out at the beach was boring as well. The whole excursion was:

 

- A boat picked us up at the shore

- We went to the marine park at Anse Chastanet Resort

- Got our gear from the dive hut

- Waded into the water and worked on weighting

- Did a check out (mask clearing and regulator recovery)

- Swam out to the marine park

- Swam back to the resort

- Got on the boat and went to Superman's Flight (drift dive)

- Went to a private beach (part of resort) and had lunch

- While we were having lunch I think the boat took out a different dive group

- Waited around the beach for the boat to come back

- Went back to the ship

 

Only 4 or 5 of us went on this dive (rather than the 22). A lot of people refused to submit to a check out dive. Because of overhead boat traffic, they just want to make sure, if you lost regs or mask, you won't panic and go for the surface. My understanding is that a while back someone panicked, went to the surface and got hit by a high speed fishing boat.

[The Flying Pirate]

The Ship's tour took us out in the morning, there were three boats at the Rhone wreck, when we left after two dives there were a couple more there. I suppose it depends on the day, it is a popular spot. We saw other divers down there but it wasn't so many it was distracting.

[pitbullgirl]

I booked privately with Island Divers for our St. Lucia diving last spring while on the Caribbean Princess. They were fantastic and I highly recommend them. Only 1 other couple on the boat, and they were snorklers who got dropped off at the resort.

 

Island Divers is located next to the resort of Ti Kaye, and they pick you up in the boat right at the dock -- they were literally right behind the Caribbean Princess.

 

The only aspect of the package I wasn't thrilled with was staying at the resort for lunch and an hour or so of "beach time". I would have preferred to go directly back to the ship right after our dives.

 

We did the ship's dive excursion in Tortola and they were very good, I forget the name of the operation. Diving the Rhone was fantastic.