Barbados, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Thomas-Where should we dive?

[flyau98]

We are going on a Celeberty Cruise at the end of the week, going to Barbados, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, and St. Thomas (also St. Maartin, but we're renting a car there and touring).

 

We would like to dive at a few (2 or 3) of the other stops but I'm having a really hard time deciding where to dive and where not to. We live in Key West, so we have pretty good diving regularly as it is. I don't think we want to dive at every stop so hopefully someone here can help me figure out which stops would be the best.

 

Thanks!

:confused:

[Diver Deb]

In Barbados you'll have the opportunity to dive the Stavronikita, a 360-ft. Greek freighter. It's a deep dive; we did it a number of years ago and used The Dive Shop, they were good. We also did an impromptu dive on a Sandals boat in St. Lucia; the diving there was ok, but the island itself is very beautiful so you may want to do an island tour with a local driver. There are some hot springs, so you can still get wet! We've dived twice in St. Thomas, once with Admiralty Dive and then with Chris Sawyer. Chris Sawyer took us to better spots and is a very well-run operation.

 

Have fun!!!

[robtulipe]

I also have done the Stav in Barbados and it is a good wreck dive.

Below the Grande and Petit Pitons in St. Lucia , there are five seamounts which come close to the surface and are worth diving.

St. Kitts is a beautiful island to tour especially see Brimestone Hill Fortress and the diving here is OK but not speicial if you live in the Keys.

I have gone diving everytime I have been on a cruise stop in St. Thomas. Most cruise ships tours are with Underwater Safaris who are located at Havensight where most ships dock. You actually take a short walk to their shop there to do the paper work and then to head of pier to board either of their two dive boats. Even the one time we docked at Crown Bay they brought their boat there to pick the divers up. Price using the ship's tour booking was reasonable, Last time 2 dives trip was $89 which included all equipment but not dive suit or skin.These could be rented if wanted. I brought my own skin so don't know this rental cost.

Most trips are to nearby Buck Is. which has a nice reef on the south side of where boat moors and a small freighter wreck on the north side. I have done almost 200 dives world wide but enjoy diving this location thus do not mind doing it again. It is not like diving the Bianco C in Grenada or the wrecks of Bermuda but is a nice, easy relaxing dive. You are back by noon or so and still have the afternoon to shop or tour. Island tour can be done easily in two hours or so. You will find shopping or touring in the PM less crowded since most cruise passengers do this in the AM.

[flyau98]

Thanks guys. Very good info. I think I've decided we will rent a car in St. Maarten (I want to go to the airport beach), dive in St. Lucia and St. Thomas, and figure out something on land in Barbados and St. Kitts.

 

For folks future use I'm posting a couple comments I got from this question on another forum:

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We spent 2 days touring St Kitts and we did 2 days of diving around St Kitts while on the liveaboard Caribbean Explorer 2. The St Kitts diving was poor (visibility was _maybe_ 25 feet) compared to Statia and Saba.

 

I would recommend to take a tour (taxi ride) all the way around St Kitts and make sure to visit Brimstone Fort.

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I spent 8 days on St.Lucia..."working"...hehehe, the south end and the east coast are beautiful........also, north of the "port city" Castries, which is like many crowded carribean tourist ports, there is a sandals that is on a beautiful site overlooking Rodney bay..that whole area is beautiful..BTW, the "pitons" are in the beginning stages of being developed with homesites and condos!!!!!

 

 

as for diving, there is good snorkeling in St.Johns, a short ferry ride from St.Thomas..don't know 'bout the diving there, but the water is beautiful, lots of fish in close..

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Barbados, dont bother putting on a mask, St Lucia probably the best followed by St Thomas. If you pass by the British Virgin islands then you can dive the Rhone, the best wreck dive in the Caribbean.

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Ive heard some pretty good things about diving in St. Kitts, however its the only one out of the ones mentioned that I havent been to. I think Barbados and St. Lucia will take up most of you time on shore, Barbados is just plain beautifull all around, and you have to see the Pitons in St. Lucia, truly amazing. St. thomas I have been there, but never diving so I cant tell you. St. Martin should have some decent diving around it. Might want to search the web and old dive magazines for some better information. But Barbados and St. Lucia have beautifull land scape, and St. Martin/ St. thomas have nothing special too see on land in comparison.

 

Enjoy your trip.

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[w&k]

We will be returning to dive these ports for the third time this spring - we love them both.

 

Barbados - Dive Barbados http://www.divebarbados.net (John & Mary)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=121690

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=367272

 

St. Kitts - Kenneth's Dive Center http://www.kennethsdivecenter.com

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=340136

 

We went with the ship's excursion to Scuba St. Lucia due to an odd port time and found it to be rushed and WAY overpriced.

 

In St. Thomas, we went with Blue Island Divers, but found the dive sites to be a bit rough. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=121707

 

Have a great trip!

 

Wendy

 

dive pix

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

[swimmer722]

We just got back from a trip where we dove St. Thomas, St. Marten, St. Lucia and Barbados. Of these, our favorite was St. Lucia. We used Dive Fair Helen and they were awesome. It was really a full day excursion. they picked us up at the dock around 9, took about a 30-45 minute ride over the island to their dive shop, then did two dives right around the base of the Pitons. The coral was awesome; lots of small reef fish with lots of color. They also served a great lunch on the boat. We had both snorkelers and divers; I think maybe 6 divers total with one DM. A really great way to see the island and also get in a couple of dives. We got back to the ship around 4, which cut it a little close, but it worked out fine.