Diving Aruba, Curacao, St. Kitts and St. Thomas

[ScubaCruiser54]

Going on a cruise in June and July.

 

Will likely dive at three or four stops.

 

I have dove on St. Thomas and need to check on operators there again.

 

Know one operator in Aruba, but won't dive with them again...looking for suggestions...

 

Don't know anyone in St. Kitts or Curacao... open to recommendations and suggestions

 

Thanks

[dirvin0500]

Just got back last week from three of those sites.

Curacao- We went with The Dive Bus and if we go will definitely go with them again. Great people, shop, service. Shore diving at it's best.

Aruba-Went with Dive Aruba and Clive Paula. His boat is being repaired so had to use a much smaller boat. We made due and he did the best he could. We had a great drift dive on the second dive.

St Thomas- Went with Blue Island Divers and DJ and crew. Will go with them again. Very nice people, great boat, very attentive, plenty of personnel (boat captain, DMs).

Have a great time - We did !!!!

[chriscamp]

We just dove Aruba on 3/30 and St. Thomas on 4/2. In Aruba we used Clive at Dive Aruba. We were not impressed and would not use them again. His boat is being repaired, so he is using a older one. We had to go to his house to get the gear and sign paperwork. We also had to carry the tanks and gear from his van / truck to the boat, and setup the gear. My son had ear issues and Clive just cept on going. I had to abort my dive and surface with my son who had to miss both dives due to pain. We dove on the Jane Sea and did the second dive from the same mooring. Clive cut this "drift" dive short at 800 psi. I was not impressed.

 

We had a great experience in St. Thomas with Blue Island Divers. I can't say enough about these guys. We had 8 divers and 3 instructors / dive masters. They truly loved what they do!!!! I would go with them in a heartbeat.

[Loves_Dogs]

St Thomas I recommend Admirality Dive Center - fun bunch of people (when we weren't diving we were laughing), great dives, a real full service experience. I wouldn't dive with anyone else in St Thomas.

http://www.admiraltydive.com/

 

Curacao - You cannot go wrong with The Dive Bus. Shore dives were wonderful, people were so nice and friendly. Once again, I would not book with anyone else in Curacao either.

http://www.the-dive-bus.com/

 

Cant help you with Aruba. I only dove there once and like you, will NEVER use that dive shop again (probably the same one you used). Never been to St Kitts so cannot help you there.

Safe diving and have a GREAT cruise!

[phillie gal]

Another vote for the Dive Bus in Curacao. Mark & Suzy are terrific!

[J&KCruiser]

...

 

Cant help you with Aruba. I only dove there once and like you, will NEVER use that dive shop again (probably the same one you used). Never been to St Kitts so cannot help you there.

Safe diving and have a GREAT cruise!

 

To help others avoid a possible bad dive can you please provide the shop not to use. Its your thought but still important.

 

I am going to Aruba in Jan 2012.

 

thanks

 

John

[glassmates]

Going on a cruise in June and July.

 

Will likely dive at three or four stops.

 

I have dove on St. Thomas and need to check on operators there again.

 

Know one operator in Aruba, but won't dive with them again...looking for suggestions...

 

Don't know anyone in St. Kitts or Curacao... open to recommendations and suggestions

 

Thanks

 

We dove with Kenneth's Dive Center in St.Kitts last week. Wendy our dive master was more than wonderful. (She has over 3000 dives all over the world and a great sense of humor) The dive boat is a short walk from the dock and easy to get back on after the dive. We dove a nice reef site and a wreck site with great animal life in both places. The crew was great and the boat has more than enough room. I will dive with them again!

[Woodsmaster]

The operator in Aruba to avoid S.E. Aruba Fly n Dive

 

I rented their equipment. They provided a defective BCD that had the lower air release cord missing yet I was told that it was OK they had been using it without any complaints. I was not going to jeopardize my safety with a defective BCD. They refused to reimburse me for my lost dives.

[Loves_Dogs]

To help others avoid a possible bad dive can you please provide the shop not to use. Its your thought but still important.

 

I am going to Aruba in Jan 2012.

 

thanks

 

John

 

I was referring to Red Sail Sports.

[G.C]

Only used one operator in Aruba and that was Red Sail have not been back to the island since. To say it was a bad experience would be way to kind. They are lucky no was lost or died. By far worst operator I have ever used. Curacao was amazing can`t wait to go back. Highly recommend The Dive Bus for that stop. Outstanding dive site wonderful operator!

[MindTheGap1918]

I recommend Aqua Action at Secret Harbour in St. Thomas. They actually set up a 3 tank dive for $150 when he traveled there this past Jan. Great dive shop!

[dc-ocker]

Just got back from 11 day cruise, including Curacao, April 5. After a snorkel shore excursion trip with my wife, who doesn't dive, I walked off the beach on a 40+ minute dive along the wall with Diveversity @Hooks. Expensive for a single dive @ $84 (39 for equipment + 45 for a dive buddy)

Loads of trash on the bottom: bottles, cans, concrete construction debris but there were some new (to me) schools of fish and other sites. Overall a good experience with dive master Clark.

[Sailfish]

We will be diving in a few of the ports you are looking to get info in February - please visit our group BLOG where you'll find lots of good dive related information, including detailed dive shop references. You'll also find detailed port by port dive info at our Dive Boat BLOG

 

Kenny's dive boat in St. Kitts is walking distance of the ship (at the marina), and they are a great dive operation.

 

Good luck!

[amachad]

My husband dove with them last week and gives them a big thumbs up ! They picked him up right next to the cruise ship. Good dive boat and equipment.

 

They also did 2 great intro dives with another member of our party--

[w&k]

We just got back but I had a nasty cold for most of the trip... take me with you!

 

Anyways, here's our operations.

 

Curacao - Gotta dive with The Dive Bus! I just can't say enough about Suzy and Mark. Awesome beach diving with insane people. http://www.the-dive-bus.com

 

St. Kitts - Gotta dive with Kenneth and the crew! Wendy and I just did an hour 20 on the Taw just a few short weeks ago (sigh). First time I got a photo of a jawfish. http://www.kennethdivecenter.com (the website address has recently changed)

 

Aruba - Gotta dive with Clive! http://www.divearuba.com Sorry to hear that Chriscamp did not enjoy his day, but independent small boat diving is definitely not for everyone.

 

We've been diving with all these folks for years, and we keep coming back again and again. Surprisingly, they let us!

 

We did do St. Thomas while we were there, and had a great time doing a BOAT dive with Pete & the crew at Coki Beach Dive Club (yes, a boat dive - it was awesome). We had a blast, and will be returning next time we get to the island.

 

Have a great time!

 

Wendy

 

dive pix

http://community.webshots.com/user/wendyandkeith

[CaribKng]

Going on a cruise in June and July.

 

Will likely dive at three or four stops.

 

I have dove on St. Thomas and need to check on operators there again.

 

Know one operator in Aruba, but won't dive with them again...looking for suggestions...

 

Don't know anyone in St. Kitts or Curacao... open to recommendations and suggestions

 

Thanks

 

Curacao - Definitely The Dive Bus...Great people, Great diving.

 

St. Kitts - Pro Divers. Just dove with them last week and they are great. They have large boats and will definitely work with you. They will pick you up right off the Cruise port. You get on the boat and head right to the dive sights. Margot and Auston were great.

 

St. Thomas - We dove with the ship excursion, but they used Underwater Safari. I would definitely recommend them if you can book them independently. There were 17 people on the boat, but it was large enough to accommodate us all. There were three divemasters on the boat and they split us up to smaller groups. The only downside was with it being a ship excursion, our bottom time was really limited and the dives only lasted about 40 min each.