St. Lucia Scuba - Recommendations?

[2112]

Just wondering if anyone has a recommendation for scuba excursions in St. Lucia?

[10X]

I've booked twice before with Island Divers at Ti Kaye Resort on Anse Cochon. They have package deals (for diving and snorkeling) where they provide round trip transportation from the pier, all your gear, and lunch. I've been very happy with there services and I will book with them again if/when we return to St. Lucia.

 

Anse Cochon also has great snorkeling from shore, and since my wife only snorkels, this makes for a great place for us to go.

 

In 2006 we did 2 shore dives from Anse Cochon and I got some great underwater pictures. My wife took some of me diving below her.

 

In 2007, we did Superman's Flight at the base of the Pitons and then the wreck of the Lesleen M, which is located off Anse Cochon in 65' of water. More great pictures.

[cmdchiefthom]

I used Island Divers last April, and they do a great job. I'm returning to St. Lucia in April, and plan to use them again. ;)

[Middleager]

I used Dive Fair Helen. I had requested Superman's Flight, and was glad we went there. The cruise ship does not sail by the pitons. Only by us taking the boat there could we see them. I dove while my wife and two other couples snorkeled. Both the diving and snorkeling was quite good.

 

It's also a lot cheaper than Island Divers, who didn't seem to want our business. The insisted me to do a check out shore dive to check out my mask clearing and regulator retrieval skills before taking me to a boat dive. They said no exception, doesn't matter I have AOW and would have had many dives just before arriving St. Lucia. The deal-killer is they said they cannot guarantee snorkeling trip for others, because resort guests are giving priority -- so they can book us, but we may be bumped that day if resort guests shows up wanting to snorkel.

[bksunbuddies]

We contacted Marcus Joseph at Island Divers yesterday. We did the $60. Day package last April and just booked again for January. They were great. Pick up was next to the NCL Pearl. Easy in and out access to the boat. Lovely ride to the resort. Lunch was included. Sightseeing from the boat was super! Loved Marigot and the Pitons. Snorkeling was good.

[cruzegirl]

I also used Dive Fair Helen. They were the only dive shop willing to book us privately but to also accommodate our group of free divers/snorklers. They picked us up at the pier, took us to their shop and then we boarded the dive boat. We did a reef dive and then a wreck dive. They were excellent and they fed us... Here's a link to my review. :D

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=672682

[2112]

We contacted Marcus Joseph at Island Divers yesterday. We did the $60. Day package last April and just booked again for January. They were great. Pick up was next to the NCL Pearl. Easy in and out access to the boat. Lovely ride to the resort. Lunch was included. Sightseeing from the boat was super! Loved Marigot and the Pitons. Snorkeling was good.

 

Where do you see $60? I looked on their website and it looks like they charge $150 for cruisers. That seems outragious!

 

Cruzegirl - Thanks for the info on Dive Fair Helen. It sounds like a good operation. One question though - if they allow snorkelers to come along, aren't the reefs and wreck too deep for the snorkelers to see anything?

[cruzegirl]

Where do you see $60? I looked on their website and it looks like they charge $150 for cruisers. That seems outragious!

 

Cruzegirl - Thanks for the info on Dive Fair Helen. It sounds like a good operation. One question though - if they allow snorkelers to come along, aren't the reefs and wreck too deep for the snorkelers to see anything?

 

2112,

For our reef dive, it was in over 100+ feet of water. But there was a shallow area around the bend so to speak where they had the snorklers snorkle.

The wreck dive was at the deepest in 62 feet of water and at the top was 30 feet of water. Several of the snorklers are also free divers and they would free dive to the wreck. But the regular snorklers even saw the wreck and us going around the wreck. They had a good time. :D

[10X]

Where do you see $60? I looked on their website and it looks like they charge $150 for cruisers. That seems outragious!

 

The $60 package is for snorkelers. We have used it twice for my wife since she doesn't dive. The dive packages, as you say, are $150.

[2112]

The $60 package is for snorkelers. We have used it twice for my wife since she doesn't dive. The dive packages, as you say, are $150.

 

$150 and they make you do the 1st dive from shore as a check out dive. Why again is this a better deal than Dive Fair Helen?

[Pilot70D]

We just got back this week from our annual Caribbean cruise. We went diving while visiting St. Thomas, Barbados and St. Lucia.

 

In St. Lucia we went diving with Dive Fair Helen and had two of our best dives ever. We rarely make arrangements for our dive excursions through the ship. Most of the time excursions through the ship turn out OK but often there are better dive sites and frequently there are better dive operators available.

 

Dive Fair Helen did a great job and at a reasonable price. If you book on-line via their website the price for a two tank dive including lunch is $88 per person with your own equipment. They were very safety conscious throughout our two dives.

 

The dive boat was not overly crowded. We had between fifteen and twenty divers on a boat that would acommodate thirty or so. They split us into two separate dives, each with its own dive leader. There were two divers undergoing their OW certification dives. These two were also formed into a separate dive with their instructor.

 

The way they worked it no dive site was over populated. They put the student divers in the water first. Then the first group hit the water next but at a different site. We went in the water next and at yet a third site. The same procedure was followed for our second dive. We had lunch after our second dive and it was a very good lunch.

 

After lunch they took us back to to where they picked us up initially which was right by the stern of our cruise ship. In short it was a terrific day of diving. Eventually I will post pictures from our two dives.

 

The only SCUBA operator in the Caribbean that is better in our opinion is The Dive Bus on Curacau. They are a fun group and I would never pass up a chance to go diving with them.

 

Hope this info proves helpful. everyone have a safe and a happy holiday season.

[10X]

$150 and they make you do the 1st dive from shore as a check out dive. Why again is this a better deal than Dive Fair Helen?

 

This has never happened to me so I can't comment on it. All I can say is that I've had some very nice divers with them and will use them again when I return. By the sounds of it, Dive Fair Helen also does a nice job. Ultimately, the choice is yours.

[w&k]

We got stuck doing the shore check-out thing when we dove with the RCCL shorex through Scuba St. Lucia.

 

I know that they want to keep their reef beautiful, and can agree that it's probably not a bad idea to do with the once-a year diver. BUT we had a mixed group that included an instructor, two Rescue divers (us) and a divemaster if I remember correctly.

 

With the time it took to get through the entire group, we burned up about 10 min of dive time (unforgivable on a time-limit dive), and some of our larger guys burned up some air as well.

 

I spent the time doodling around with the junk on and in the sand looking for amphipods, worms, sand dollars, and so forth, so I was amused, but the others were VERY unhappy.

 

Also, I feel that a good DM knows who in the group is fine or not within the first minute or two in the water. Of course, anyone can have a problem or meltdown...

 

Please check this out, and let us know.

 

Wendy

 

dive pix

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

 

website

http://www.freewebs.com/wendyandkeith

[islandwoman]

It seems to me that if the purpose is to protect the reef, they should check the divers' buoyancy control and make sure their gauges are not hanging two feet under them. Any certified diver has passed a regulator and mask test, but not everyone knows how to avoid banging into the reef.

I would not want to spend my time, air, and money on a check-out dive on my only day in St. Lucia. Thank you all for posting. On our cruise, we'll try to avoid those dive ops that might require us to take tests that we've already passed.

[scubadiver888]

Cruzegirl - Thanks for the info on Dive Fair Helen. It sounds like a good operation. One question though - if they allow snorkelers to come along, aren't the reefs and wreck too deep for the snorkelers to see anything?

 

2112,

 

A lot of the best sights are between 15 and 60 feet. If you are going below 60 feet then there really isn't a lot to see on many of these reefs. A vast majority of the dive sites I was just at (southern Caribbean) had some nice things to see at 15 to 30 feet. A few places we had glass bottom boats right overhead; we could wave to the spectators. :)

 

The only tip I would give is go in the first part of the year. If you go in the summer or fall the water is often rougher and visibility gets reduced.