St. Lucia diving

[Scubachick84]

Hi everyone, the search is down and I'm looking for any information on diving in St. Lucia. Is there good diving there? Any operator recommendations? I've heard a few names tossed around like Dive Fair Helen and Island Divers. The cruise line wants $159 for a two tank dive plus lunch. Thanks for your help!

 

Laura

[gvre]

We have dove with Dive Fair Helen once and the Frogs twice. http://www.frogsdiving.com/index.php

 

We like the Frogs as it is a small operation limited to 6-8 divers. Dive Fair Helen mixes divers and snorkelers. It is a big boat and they serve lunch. If you don't mind 15-20 people it's OK.

 

Make sure to dive Superman's Flight at the Pitons. We dove it twice with Frogs.

[scubadiver888]

We have dove with Dive Fair Helen once and the Frogs twice. http://www.frogsdiving.com/index.php

 

We like the Frogs as it is a small operation limited to 6-8 divers. Dive Fair Helen mixes divers and snorkelers. It is a big boat and they serve lunch. If you don't mind 15-20 people it's OK.

 

Make sure to dive Superman's Flight at the Pitons. We dove it twice with Frogs.

 

If the cruise ship is doing the dive and lunch thing again they are probably using Dive St. Lucia and serving lunch at Anse Chastnet Resort.

 

The dive will start as a shore dive at the marine park. They do a check out dive the moment you get in the water. Apparently, there is a lot of boat traffic so surfacing is not always an option. They just want to make sure you are not going to panic if you lose your mask of regulator. Our group was all pretty experienced and 8 of us did the checkout in something like 2 minutes.

 

Once you do the check out, you swim out into the marine park. They have you go out under the boat traffic then you come back in a protected area. This way if you are an air hog you can surface and swim back, if necessary.

 

After that they took us to Superman's Flight. You DEFINITELY want to do Superman's Flight. It was fantastic. I'm just wondering if Dive St. Lucia takes everyone out to Superman's Flight. Everyone was MUCH better than me so the DM might have decided to do Superman's Flight because he knew we could all handle it. It is a semi-deep and drift dive. Not everyone can handle a drift dive. You get one yahoo in the group and they'd probably take you somewhere else.

 

The lunch was okay but you get better food on the cruise ship. I'd prefer to just dive and get back to the ship in time for a late lunch.

 

Looking at Frogs, I think I might try to book my next trip with them. :) This is the second good recommendation from gvre I've gotten today. Thanks gvre.

[cruisin 07]

I did a 2 tank dive with island divers in Apr. They pick you up at the pier and after a 20 min or so boat ride you arrive at Ti Kaye resort. I just did the 2 tank dive without the lunch. The cost was about $110 using their equipment. These were my favorite 2 dives out of 8 in 4 ports. There were only 6 divers and both were boat dives. They leave the resort at 3 pm to take you back to the pier. Have fun.

[gmcrow]

We enjoyed our dives with Dive St. Lucia but thought way too much time was wasted on the check out and thought the shore dive was lower quality than a boat dive would have been. We did not get to do Superman's Flight-- probably too many inexperienced divers. The dive we did was beautiful, but Superman's Flight sounds better. I agree with the lunch assessment.

[10X]

I've used Island Divers twice, two dives on each of two cruises. We like to go there because my wife can snorkel while I dive. In addition, lunch is in the Ty Kaye resort's restaurant and you can order whatever off the menu.

 

The dives have been very nice and staff is excellent to deal with. We also did Superman's Flight and also the wreck of the Lesleen M, which sits in 65' right off their beach.

 

On our next trip to St. Lucia, I'm sure we'll go with them again.

[scubadiver888]

We enjoyed our dives with Dive St. Lucia but thought way too much time was wasted on the check out and thought the shore dive was lower quality than a boat dive would have been. We did not get to do Superman's Flight-- probably too many inexperienced divers. The dive we did was beautiful, but Superman's Flight sounds better. I agree with the lunch assessment.

 

This confirms what I am thinking. Everyone in my group was very experienced. We all practise our skills on a regular basis. So the checkout went really quickly. I think the checkout is for (a) to make sure no one panics during the marine park dive and (b) gives them an idea of whether or not EVERYONE can handle Superman's Flight.

 

I'm thinking I was lucky last time I was in St. Lucia. It was late in the cruise. The dive before St. Lucia a few people got talking and mentioned there was a checkout before the first dive. There was 22 people diving at most ports. A lot of the people cancelled the St. Lucia dive because they felt it was insulting to have to do a checkout dive. I think they were worried they wouldn't pass.

 

Next cruise the first dive is St. Lucia. I might end up with a lot of novice divers and miss out on Superman's Flight. I think if I book privately I'll probably be with more experienced divers and get a better dive experience.

[Scubachick84]

Thanks for all your responses, I'm definitely going to dive St. Lucia now. Just need to choose an operator out of your suggestions!

[Middleager]

We used Dive Fair Helen last year. We had 6 people, I'm the only diver while the others were snorkelers. We did do the Superman's Flight. The lunch was also good.

 

I did contact other dive ops. Dive St. Lucia said no exceptions, everyone has to do the first dive as a shore check out dive. Then depending on time/people, they may or may not go to the boat diving location we requested. Moreover, the resort guests take priority. If there are resort guests taking up space, we would be bumped and not dive.

 

I told them I have AOW, and before St. Lucia I would have dove in Puerto Rico (La Parquera and Desecheo), then St. Thomas, Dominica, and Barbados. They still said no exception, everyone does the shore check out dive. I decided I didn't want to pay money to waste time with them.

 

We were happey with Dive Fair Helen we did go to Superman's flight. Not only for the diving/snorkeling, but also to see the pitons. The cruise ship doesn't sail by the pitons. To see them, you need to take a boat out, and see it from sea.