Dive Operators - St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Aruba, and Curacao

[ScubaCruiser54]

Just finished a cruise this week.

 

For those looking for dive operators in St. Thomas - I have made a number of dives with several different operators. The last two have been with Admiralty Dive Center. I will dive with them again when I go back to St. Thomas. Our divemaster, "Fishbutt", was one of the most competent divermasters I have seen. He is competent and conscientous. He takes care of your equipment and shifts it seamlessly.

 

St. Kitts. We dove with Kenneth's Dive Center. They meet you just outside the secure area of the cruise ships. You then have about a 150 yard walk to the dock to join their boat. Boat, Lady Peggy, is clean and a good dive platform. Dive master let us dive our profile and was pointing out critters. Will use them again.

 

Aruba - Our first choice fell through due to circumstances beyond our control. Operators wife had health problems and he had to leave the country with her. He recommended Native Divers. We gave them a try. Romeo was our dive guide. Boat was clean and we had time to get our equipment put together. He met us outside the security area by the Red Sail shop (Note to self, We needed to use the phone to confirm our arrival and offered to pay Red Sail to use their phone. They told us they only had a phone that reached their other dive shop. Will not use Red Sail, ever.) ROmeo picked us up and took us to our boat (about a ten minute trip to marina). There were only two of us on the boat. We were HAPPY!!! Downside, he only allows 45 minutes for diving... Not a problem with my dive partner...relatively new and uses air pretty quickly. I finished both dives with about 1000 PSI still in the tank (92 and 60 foot dives). Nice profiles for both dives. Easy going. Romeo does not respond to divers asking about safety equipment onboard the boat. He felt they would be demanding... They had marine radios, cell phones, oxygen and a first aid kit onboard. Would consider diving with them again.

 

There are three operators I will not dive with on Aruba now. S.E. Aruba Fly N Dive - poor rental equipment and same old dives. Quick in and out and off you go. Killer was the attempt to have me use a BC that was defective as to the air dumps and would not refund that dive (I did not make the dive for fear of their equipment. They even went back to the shop for a different BC that worked). Red Sail - purely due to lack of courtesy... also cruise ships dive operator... they would not talk to us for a seperate boat. While we were waiting for Romeo, we met two other divers waiting for their operator - Mermaid Divers. I am sure they missed their trip. We left before them. When we got to our first dive site, Mermaid was already diving. They apparently abandoned their divers.

 

Curacao - We dove with Ocean Encounters. Good operator. Clean boat, good crew, and good location. Did not let us dive our profile and pulled us out with 1000 psi in tanks on 60-65 foot dives. There were 11 divers for one dive master. Two of the divers were young teenagers with their parents. A lot of lion fish. We would dive with them again.

[gerryl12]

Thanks for the information as I am going on a cruise in November (Emerald Princess 20 days) and plan to do some scuba.

[Mameow]

Thank you for the info. I want to scuba in St.Kitt next April. Where did you dive in St. Kitt ?

 

Mameow

[dirvin0500]

Curacao we went with "The Dive Bus". Great people. Nice shop right across from the shelter bay you shore dive from. If we go back to Curacao we will not go with anyone else.

In Aruba we went with Clive Paula. His boat had gotten damaged and he had to borrow a smaller one from a friend (not his fault). He was a good DM though and took good care of us. Only 4 divers total and 2 DMs. Good day.

[rxmurphy]

Just finished a cruise this week.

Curacao - We dove with Ocean Encounters. Good operator. Clean boat, good crew, and good location. Did not let us dive our profile and pulled us out with 1000 psi in tanks on 60-65 foot dives. There were 11 divers for one dive master. Two of the divers were young teenagers with their parents. A lot of lion fish. We would dive with them again.

Great reviews. We are going to Curacao next month for the first time and diving with OE. Do you recall which OE you went with? I believe there are several on the island. (Breezes, Hyatt, etc.) We are staying at Lions Dive, near Seaquarium.

Thanks in advance.

[w&k]

The first three ops we have been diving with for years and years off cruises - it's like coming home for a visit, with great diving thrown in as a bonus.

 

Of course, you dive your tank and computer with all these folks - no regimented "follow the leader" 35 minute BS!

 

Curacao - We only dive with The Dive Bus! http://www.the-dive-bus.com Suzy and Mark are totally insane, and their house reef is superb. Very laid back and relaxed, and lots of time for beverages and dive lies afterwards... but watch out for the blackmail pictures!

 

St. Kitts - We only dive with Kenneth and the crew at Kenneth's Dive Center. We never know what it's going to be - large boat, small boat, deep, shallow or whatever. The only thing we know is that it will be awesome. Their website has changed recently, and it's not all the way set up yet. http://www.kennethdivecenter.com (E-mail kdcsk@yahoo.com)

 

Aruba - We only dive with Clive at Dive Aruba. http://www.divearuba.com Clive is a kick, the reef is gorgeous, and it's small-boat diving at it's best.

 

In St. Thomas this spring, we tried a boat dive with Coki Beach Dive Club, and we will definitely go back to them next time on the island - I like the laid back vibe. Blue Island Divers is also good - we had some folks go with them the 2nd week, but I was ill and couldn't make it.

 

Have a great time!

 

Wendy

[ScubaCruiser54]

At St. Kitts we dove Brimstone reef and then the MV River Taw. Enjoyed both.

 

At Curacao, we went out of the OE at the Hilton. It is a short ride from the cruise terminal. Nice dives. You had to have made a recent dive in order to go straight out on a boat at the Hilton. Otherwise, they wanted you to do a free shore dive to work out bouyancy.

There are a lot of lionfish at curacao. If that is something you want to see, they are there. They are now harvesting them to try to reduce numbers. All of the islands told us they were shooting them.

 

We boat dive at every opportunity and location we can. Not knocking the "Dive Bus", but as I understood it in talking to them, they were a shore diving operation only. They may be a back up, but not a primary with us.

 

I dove with Coki Beach before... came very close to missing ship departure as there was a wreck on the hill and we were hung up in traffic for close to two and a half hours while it was cleared up and cleared out. Location is a down side for them if you are on a tight schedule.

[rxmurphy]

At Curacao, we went out of the OE at the Hilton. It is a short ride from the cruise terminal. Nice dives. You had to have made a recent dive in order to go straight out on a boat at the Hilton. Otherwise, they wanted you to do a free shore dive to work out bouyancy.

There are a lot of lionfish at curacao. If that is something you want to see, they are there. They are now harvesting them to try to reduce numbers. All of the islands told us they were shooting them.

Thanks for the info!

[moet's sister]

Thanks so much you guys! I will definitely be using this info for our next trip =]