St. Thomas Excursion Options - Coki Point vs. Other

[BlueC5Kitten]

Hey...I'll be sailing on the Carnival Valor in January, and there are two dive options in St. Thomas...Single-Tank Beach Dive at Coki Point and Two-Tank Certified Dive with locations TBA (DM's choice). Has anyone done either of these dives and do you have a preference or recommendation?

 

My dive experience has included great locales such as Bonaire, so I am interested in healthy reefs and great sealife! Not sure the shore dive at Coki will be quite as populous as a boat dive. Thoughts?

 

PS - I originally posted in the Carnival section because I was interested in the Carnival excursions provided for several reasons:

• I am a solo diver in my cruise group; no one else in my party dives, so I need an insta-buddy or a DM to buddy up with.
  
• I like the idea that the excursion contractor is responsible for ensuring I return to the port in a timely manner (although not guaranteed).
  
• I'm not familiar with these ports and would be hesistant to venture too far from something pre-planned without such knowledge.

TIA!

[bruce-r]

If you've been diving in Bonaire, you'll be disappointed with Coki Beach IMO.

 

Despite your reservations, I'd still recommend skipping the ship's dive excursion and go with a private operator. I really enjoyed my dives with http://www.admiraltydive.com and I'd go with them again. They will pick you up at the cruise pier and return you with plenty of time left to make it back to the ship. On my last trip with them, there were several crew members also going out with them. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have gone with Admiralty if there was any chance of missing the ship's departure.

 

Solo divers are welcome. You'll just dive with the DM. Small groups are better too.

[BlueC5Kitten]

Despite your reservations, I'd still recommend skipping the ship's dive excursion and go with a private operator. I really enjoyed my dives with www.admiraltydive.com and I'd go with them again. They will pick you up at the cruise pier and return you with plenty of time left to make it back to the ship. On my last trip with them, there were several crew members also going out with them. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have gone with Admiralty if there was any chance of missing the ship's departure.

 

Solo divers are welcome. You'll just dive with the DM. Small groups are better too.

 

Thanks for the info...this is good to know!

[Middleager]

In St. Thomas, we went to Coki Beach last year and again this year. The owner Peter of the Coki Beach Dive Club has a small boat. Both times I booked 2-tank boat diving with him. It was only him and me, and he still took me out. The dives were pretty good. At several places, he pointed out that the boats from St. John's also come here for diving, and charges $150 (instead of his $80 or so).

 

After that I joined my wife and friends to snorkel at Coki Beach. Some of them tried Discovery scuba diving there (shore diving) and found it quite good.

 

No problem getting back to boat on time. You can arrange driver with Peter, or take your own taxi rides.