Decision Time...

[Gonedownlately?]

Going to Aruba, Curacao, St. Marteen, and St. Thomas in April.

 

If you had to pick just 2 ports to dive at, which ports would they be? Which operators would you use?

 

I have 30+ dives in. Will be diving with a newly-certified family member. Does that change any of your answers?

 

I'm willing to dive with the ship's excursion (RCL) if you think it'll be easier for the newly certified niece, but would rather go with independant dive shops who will cater to the cruising diver, and the inexperienced -- but atheletic and confident -- diver.

 

Curious to read your replys. Thanks!

[infopaul]

Curacao, and since you're athletic, I like the shore dive where you jump off the pier, swim out under a bridge to open water, hook a left and make your descent on a very good wall/drift dive. Pay attention to the current, you don't have a boat to pick you up. Ocean Encounters was the dive op. and your diving their beach front. The vis. in Curacao is better than Aruba and Bonaire. Of the ABC islands this one I think has the best diving for my personal fun.

Aruba, although the vis wasn't as good 80+ (still not bad), there is a wreck called the Antilla. It's in two pieces and snorklers explore the bow while you dive the stern. Nice swim thru and shallow, about 50 feet. Current can be strong especially when swimming back to the boat. There can be a lot of activity (boats) in this area. Lots of fish and wreckage (440' German freighter). Any diver level should find this one a good fun dive. I used Red Sail and Pelican Adventures. Pelican is very comercial when it comes to a tourist dollar, they are good but...your decision.

St. Maartin, has some interesting diving. If you can do Little Grouper, you'll see sharks, rays and turtles, but more interesting are the wrecks. There are a few of them but I don't remember their names, but they're pretty good. It's been awhile. What stood out in my mind was the nude beach. Can't help you with the dive operator. I wrote down some chicken scratch for my log and all I can tell you is that the dives were between 50-70 feet. Maybe there is a Lucy's Barge ( I must have wrote it down for something).

My suggestion: Aruba's Antilla, you pick the other. St. Thomas, is also good (Dry Reef/wreck-easy dive) but there are others who might be better to give you an unbiased scoop on dive operators. Hope this helps...Paul:)

 

P.S. One word...flashlight!

[bruce-r]

For me, Curacao is easily the first choice. I wasn't particularly impressed with the Antilla and I wouldn't dive St. Maarten again unless the ocean was dead calm flat, and even then I wouldn't expect all that much. It would be a toss up between Aruba and St.Thomas for the second choice. It would depend on what other things I wanted to do on each island. If you do choose St. Thomas, http://www.cokidive.com is a good choice for a mixed diver/non-diver group. Divers get an easy shore dive while the non-divers can snorkel or just hang at the beach. The shore dive from Coki beach is OK and less expensive than a boat dive, but diving from a boat will get you to some better sites.

 

But definitely, Curacao as my first choice. http://www.caribseasports.com

 

And I agree with the flashlight suggestion. I take my small Ikelite PCa on every dive.

[infopaul]

Curacao would be my first choice. Taking into consideration the niece being newly certified, the swim out although scenic could be somewhat discouraging. The drift dive in itself can be taylored to your experience level and would be fine as well diving thru the cove on the way back depending on your air consumption. Non the less, Curacao is MY first choice, not only for this but its other great dives.

 

The reason for my first suggestion of Aruba's wreck the Antilla being a must do is simple. The neice. Think about the first wreck you've seen. This one is large, has historic value (a good story of its demise), easy to book a dive onboard or independantly, nice pictures, easy to access and navigate, etc. It has all the right elements.

 

My feeling is, a new diver should be excited and impressed to dive this site. When you start diving other wrecks, you might/will feel differently(especially if your certified for penetration). I know I felt differently. It's better to say "been there, done that" than to have past this one up.

 

As for St. Thomas and St. Maarten, both are good diving locations depending on what you want. One note on St. Maarten, it can be logistically challenging to get to the better dive sites with these dive operators or at least it was.

 

I hope this sheds some light...Paul:)

[w&k]

Curacao - We're going to be there on April 4, and have a mixed group of divers, discover divers, refresher divers, snorkelers and hanger-outers going to do a shore dive with Suzy and Mark from The Dive Bus at the hut. It's going to be a lot of fun! http://www.the-dive-bus.com/ Of course, there are dives at other sites as well, but we opted for relaxing at the hut followed by beer & fish sandwiches.

 

Here's the page specifically about cruiser diving from the hut

http://www.the-dive-bus.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=182

 

We also have Aruba booked for April 5 with Clive at Dive Aruba. http://www.divearuba.com.

 

St. Martin we have not tried because of dive site locations in rough water. We're too old, fat, and lazy to work that hard.

 

We used Blue Island Divers for our trip in St. Thomas, but found the conditions on that day rather rough. http://www.BlueIslandDivers.com Here is a link to the review. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=121707

 

Have a great time wherever you dive!

 

Wendy

[Gonedownlately?]

Your observations help a lot! Thanks for taking the time to respond.

 

If I could trouble you just a but more: it seems like the indie dive shops you all mention have morning dives at 8:30 and afternoon dives at about 1:30. It seems unlikely that we'd be able to get off the ship in time for the early trip-- we arrive at 8:00 those mornings. And I'm concerned that the afternoon dives won't get us back to the ship before sailing (5PM for the most part).

 

So: Are we better off diving through the ship's excursion program? Thoughts?

[w&k]

I think you will find that the operations recommended on this board are heavily patronized by cruisers, and they will be willing to work with you.

 

For instance - if you are docking at Crown Bay, the swim to Blue Island Divers would be less than the walk off the pier, but it would be a helluva giant stride off the top deck ;)

 

Beach diving is generally at a more relxed attitude, which would make Coki on St. Thomas, and The Dive Bus on Curacao good bets. Suzy at The Dive Bus is pretty relaxed - our ship doesn't even dock until 10am. They also do the house reef at the Seaquarium and the animal feed in addition to various reefs around the island and the ones from 'the hut.'

 

I always book morning dives, so there is PLENTY of time to get back to the boat before the mad rush in the afternoon.

 

If I can't find a morning dive, or the port time is really odd, then I'll consider the shore excursion, depending on the island and the operator. IMHO, smaller is better.

 

BUT.... we are both experienced divers, and are comfortable with most anything. My only problem is climbing up in rough water, because I have too much ballast in the rear combined with a bad knee.

 

Operators we liked:

Kenneth's Dive Center on St. Kitts - We dove with them in 2004 as a shore excursion, and had a great time. We head out in 4 weeks, and I booked an independent dive with them.

 

First time in Belize, we dove the shorex with Hugh Parkeys. Good time, good dives. Second time, we booked independent with SeaSports Belize, which was AWESOME! Third time, we went back to SeaSports Belize, AWESOME again. Next time, if SeaSports can't take us, I would be happy to go with Hugh Parkeys through the ship.

 

Operators not to our taste (do you hear those bells clanking?) ;)

Cozumel shorex dive with Sand Dollar Sports. Boat was great, our divemaster was good, but moo. Or should I say MOO! Second time we went independent with BlueXTSea, and it was AWESOME! Third trip, BlueXTSea again for another AWESOME trip. Would I go back with the shorex? Not likely, unless it was no dive otherwise.

 

Nassau shorex dive with Stuart Cove's, which is now the only game in town (MOO!!!) I probably would go back again for a shark feed dive, but I can look at wet rocks in the springs right here at home.

 

As you continue to dive, you will probably start looking for a more custom experience with extended bottom time as well.

 

Have a great time wherever you get wet!

 

Wendy

[Gonedownlately?]

Dive Aruba is sold out on the day we're in Aruba. Clive suggested Unique Sports. Anybody know anything about them? Contact info, maybe?

 

Also, Caribseasports hasn't responded to multiple emails. Suggestions?

 

I guess I could fall back to the ship's excursion, but...

[w&k]

I had this link buried in my dive directory - give it a try. The page also mentions a discount.

 

http://www.visitaruba.com/uniquesports/

 

Wendy

[DiveCruiser]

St Thomas #1 and then Curacao. Aruba is pretty trashed

Bob

[Gonedownlately?]

I wanna give a big shout-out to everyone who replied to my original inquiry. Your opinions and advice were very helpful. Thanks a bunch!

 

I'm pleased to say that after a minimal amount of begging, pleading, and whining, I've been given special dispensation by She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed to schedule a THRID dive! (This may be a ploy on her part to get more shopping time...Hmmm...). So the plan now is to dive in the following ports with the noted dive shops:

• Aruba with Unique Sports (Clive was booked and suggested Unique)
  
• Curacao with The Dive Bus (CSS is having boat problems)
  
• St. Thomas with Blue Island Divers

I can't believe it's only 10 days away! Can barely stand it. The niece and the rest of the family are equally excited (there will be 16 of us on board).

 

Thanks again to all who replied!

[bruce-r]

I wanna give a big shout-out to everyone who replied to my original inquiry. Your opinions and advice were very helpful. Thanks a bunch!

You can pay us back by coming back and making a report about the diving on your trip. You'll get bonus points for including photographs, and they don't have to be UW photos, a photo of the dive boat would be good too.

[w&k]

Gonedownlately-

 

I think you're going to have three great dives! You know, you could always get SWMBObeyed (LOL) to try diving and come with you ;)

 

I'm so glad to hear that you booked with Suzy & Mark at the Dive Bus in Curacao - I think they are going to be an absolute blast. They have a collection of dive hats and shirts from local shops - they'll swap you for one of theirs. And don't forget to tell them you heard it from me on Cruise Critic.

 

Have an awesome trip & don't forget to post your reviews!

 

Wendy

Orlando on Saturday :)

San Juan on Sunday :)

Empress on Monday!!! :D

[Gonedownlately?]

Wendy: She Who Must is very fearful of the water. When we first met she wouldn't stick her face under the water to snorkel! And while I finally got her to try that -- with the aide of one of those inflatable vests -- I doubt I'll ever get her actually under the water. But she's happy to putter along on top of the water, and that's cool too... I did read about the t-shirt swap with the Dive Bus and am planning to do eaxctly that. I wonder what they'd give me for my (extra!) Top Dive-Tahiti shirt...?

 

Bruce: will file a report upon my return. Photos, too, if I can figure out how to download 'em here...

 

Thanks again, all!

[Gonedownlately?]

Ooops... duplicate...