ABC Island and St. Maarten - Best Diving

Good Day!

My husband and I will be cruising in December 2017 to ABC Islands and St. Maarten. I am just starting my research but thought I would see what kind of feedback I might get here from some fellow divers familiar with these locations as this will be our first time visiting.

We would dive all 4 islands, but we do also enjoy other activities so want to also do some things that maybe we can't miss out on. Plus, we will be in Puerto Rico the week before our cruise and will get in some diving there.

So what am I looking for from all the divers out there? I'm looking for your recommendations for where to dive if you had to choose just one island...okay pick 2 ;p and please tell me why you chose them.

Thank you for reading and hopefully responding!

Happy travels!

Bonaire is like swimming in a pool full of fish, zillions of fish. We have done two trips there, land-based, doing 20+ dives each time. Yes, its that good.

One of my videos:

I have dived all four islands, Bonaire wins hands down.

Bonaire is like swimming in a pool full of fish, zillions of fish. We have done two trips there, land-based, doing 20+ dives each time. Yes, its that good.

 

One of my videos:

 

 

Looks awesome!! Thank you for the video. Definitely gives you perspective. Did you have any dive sites that you enjoyed more than others?

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I have dived all four islands, Bonaire wins hands down.

Thanks Laurie!!

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It all depends on if you are shore diving or boat diving.

Shore diving....the house reef at Buddy Dive is one of the best dives sites, a little bit of everything there. Easy, too.

Boat diving...you can get to some of the more southern reefs, as well as the more northern ones with difficult shore entries.

I would bet they take you over to Klein Bonaire for the first dive, and then something closer to town on second dive. All will be good. The Hilma Hooker is a great dive from boat so you don't have to do the very rough shore entry.

Instead of requesting a particular dive site...ask to see seahorses or frogfish. Those are two of the big draws in Bonaire, and the squid.

DMs usually know where to find them day to day.

Have fun.

It all depends on if you are shore diving or boat diving.

Shore diving....the house reef at Buddy Dive is one of the best dives sites, a little bit of everything there. Easy, too.

 

Boat diving...you can get to some of the more southern reefs, as well as the more northern ones with difficult shore entries.

I would bet they take you over to Klein Bonaire for the first dive, and then something closer to town on second dive. All will be good. The Hilma Hooker is a great dive from boat so you don't have to do the very rough shore entry.

 

Instead of requesting a particular dive site...ask to see seahorses or frogfish. Those are two of the big draws in Bonaire, and the squid.

DMs usually know where to find them day to day.

 

Have fun.

Great info!! Thanks again!!

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Actually, I'd pick Aruba first. However, I have a bit of a preference for wreck dives, and there are some great historic wrecks at Aruba, and they're unusually shallow, so you can get long dives on them. There's also a great operator there, Happy Divers Aruba (www.happydiversaruba.com). Never more than four divers, and they'll pick-up and return you to the port.

Bonnaire, is indeed great diving, and another great operator, VIP Diving (www.vipdiving.com). Their price includes all transportation, your selection of dive sites based upon what YOU want to see, lunch and nitrox (assuming you're nitrox certified). They really give you a good value, even though at first blush, it seems like a lot for shore diving.

I've yet to find a good operator for Curacao. My one prior diving day their was disappointing, but I suspect it was the poor dive site.

I've dove a number of times in St. Maarten, with Octopus Diving, Their location on the Dutch side (https://www.octopusdivingsxm.com) , near the port is good and easy to deal with from the ship. On a cruise DO NOT hassle with going to the French side. The diving is really not as good, and there's a lot of non sense with taxis, and traffic. If you can only dive two, St. Maarten should not be on the list out of these four.

Harris

Denver, CO

Thanks, Harris! You gave me some great advice last year when we were headed to Cozumel and Roatan so I am so glad to have your advice here! We are very intrigued by the wrecks in Aruba. I read a little about them already. Never dove a wreck but I think we will do so since they are shallow enough not to scare the bejesus out of me, haha. We will be in Aruba for like 15 hours so I think we will likely dive here and then still have plenty of time to do something else above the water.

Thanks for taking the time to give me more wonderful advice!!

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Thanks, Harris! You gave me some great advice last year when we were headed to Cozumel and Roatan so I am so glad to have your advice here! We are very intrigued by the wrecks in Aruba. I read a little about them already. Never dove a wreck but I think we will do so since they are shallow enough not to scare the bejesus out of me, haha. We will be in Aruba for like 15 hours so I think we will likely dive here and then still have plenty of time to do something else above the water.

 

Thanks for taking the time to give me more wonderful advice!!

 

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The big wreck in Aruba is the Antilla. A German ship that first was interned at Aruba in the early days of WWII, then scuttled when Germany invaded the Netherlands, drawing the Netherlands into the war, and thus the interned ship was to be seized by the Dutch authorities. It's a great wreck for those, like you, that lack much wreck experience, because it's large and shallow (+/- 50 feet). Because of the shallow depth, it's broken up quite a bit over the years due to storms and what not. Consequently it's widely considered unsafe for penetration; and there's really no need to penetrate the wreck, since the large openings that have been created allow one to see well into the ship.

The Pedernales is another good site, even shallower (+/- 25 feet). It's the middle section of a tanker that was torpedoed there in 1942 (The bow and stern were salvaged).

Both of these have plenty of life, and are large and interesting; yet needn't be penetrated to really appreciate.

We'll be there in November this year, as well as February of 2018, so I may get some last minute updates on all the islands for you.

Harris

Denver, CO

We loved diving in Curacao. We used Curious2Dive and had such a fabulous day that we have booked them again for 2018. It was shore diving but wonderful - 4 divers on our first dive and three on our second - pickup and deliver to the pier and we were the only 2 cruise ship divers. I highly recommend them.

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I have dove all four islands and stayed on Bonaire and Curacao several times. My favorites in order are listed below.

1. Bonaire

2.Curacao very close second can`t wrong with either.

3.St. Martin

4. Aruba I did find the history of the the wrecks very interesting. My four cruise dives all to the same wrecks always low vis and twice strong currents that once turned into unplanned drift dive. That unfortunately caused me to practice my rescue skills. Red Sails the operator had one diver and a captain no crew for 12 divers in a ripping current. The operators were picking up over divers total mess and dangerous. Will never use that operator in Aruba again.

The big wreck in Aruba is the Antilla. A German ship that first was interned at Aruba in the early days of WWII, then scuttled when Germany invaded the Netherlands, drawing the Netherlands into the war, and thus the interned ship was to be seized by the Dutch authorities. It's a great wreck for those, like you, that lack much wreck experience, because it's large and shallow (+/- 50 feet). Because of the shallow depth, it's broken up quite a bit over the years due to storms and what not. Consequently it's widely considered unsafe for penetration; and there's really no need to penetrate the wreck, since the large openings that have been created allow one to see well into the ship.

 

The Pedernales is another good site, even shallower (+/- 25 feet). It's the middle section of a tanker that was torpedoed there in 1942 (The bow and stern were salvaged).

Awesome information! We look forward to checking these wrecks out! Will we be able to see both sites in the same day? Since you are familiar with Happy Divers, are these sites frequented by them? If we go with them and request to dive these sites is that acceptable or are we asking for them to go out of their way?

Awesome information! We look forward to checking these wrecks out! Will we be able to see both sites in the same day? Since you are familiar with Happy Divers, are these sites frequented by them? If we go with them and request to dive these sites is that acceptable or are we asking for them to go out of their way?

Happy Diver's boat is a RIB (Zodiac). Jeff doesn't take more than four divers. Consequently, if you are two people you've already got half the say. I'd suggest emailing Jeffrey now, letting him know your date, and preferences. He will - I'm sure - do his best to accommodate you.

info@happydiversaruba.com

One word of caution, Jeffrey can take a few days to respond to emails.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Antilla_(1939)[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Antilla_(1939][/url]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Pedernales

Harris

Denver, CO