Dive Operators in St. Lucia and Barbados?

We are going on the Caribbean Princess in April -- plan to dive St. Lucia, Tortola, Barbados and maybe Antigua.

Does anyone have experience booking their own dive excursions at any of these ports, and who they booked with? Thanks so much! :) Janie

We have been diving on three separate trips to St. Lucia. We went diving with DIVE FAIR HELEN each time and they did a very good job. They also provide a really good home cooked lunch aboard their dive boat. Usually Dive Fair Helen picks the divers up by boat that are going diving with them.

We have been diving with UNDERWATER SAFARIS on Barbados twice. They did an OK job and wouldn't hesitate to dive with them again. Underwater Safaris is located just outside the cruise ship terminal and is an easy walk from the ship to their office. The diving around St. Thomas is good but not as spectacular as some of the other islands namely St. Lucia, Dominica, Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.

BTW, the diving around St. Lucia is spectacular. The dive site Superman's Flight is one of the more famous dive sites in the Eastern Caribbean. We didn't do that dive this past December when were there but it is a spectacular dive site.

Hope this is helpful info.

Everyone have a safe and prosperous New Year.:):D:)

Dive Fair Helen takes a mix of snorkelers and divers with separate guides.

Extract from my cruise review:

Feb 12 2008 – St Lucia: Full day snorkel with Dive Fair Helen.

http://www.divefairhelen.com/cruise_ship_special.htm

Boat meets us at ferry dock just across from cruise ship. Bumpy ride to dive shop at Marigot Bay.

Ten snorkelers and nine divers board boat and head for Anse Cochon. Excellent marine life.

The reef is easily accessed from the Tiki Village beach. Lunch is served on board, then a second stop at Richmond’s Trench.

Large coral formations on each side are near the surface.

A good day with an excellent operator. A big thumbs up for DFH.

We are going on the Caribbean Princess in April -- plan to dive St. Lucia, Tortola, Barbados and maybe Antigua.

 

Does anyone have experience booking their own dive excursions at any of these ports, and who they booked with? Thanks so much! :) Janie

I have been diving in both St. Lucia and Barbados. In Barbados we booked privately with Eco Dive Barbados. Andrew is the owner and divemaster that took us out. He's very good and had great sites. Just beware, he's incredibly cautious. I had no problem with it, he kept us on conservative dive profiles. But some of the divers thought he went overboard. I liked him, thought he was great and would use him again.

I was in St. Lucia twice. Once in 2007 and we used Dive Fair Helen. The dives were great and excellent DM's. My only issue as someone else mentioned, is that you must take a small boat to the dive shop and then get on the bigger boat. Not a big deal but a pain. Then in Nov. 2009 we were there again. We used Island Divers St. Lucia. I really liked them. They took us to Superman's Flight. One of the best dives I've ever done. The visibility was awesome. Tons of stuff to see. I would use them again.

As far as Antigua. We went there but all the research I'd done on that Island, it's shallow and poor diving. So we did a beach day. Glad I did. The divers that did go out said it was horrible visibility and very rough.

Hope this helps.

I went with Dive Fair Helen in January 09 and they picked us up in a van at the port. Good service in general, a little slow to get things on the road in the morning and as a result cut things a bit close for passengers on another ship. My timing was okay, I had time enough to go for a stroll around the flea market.

Thanks everyone for your feedback -- this forum is a wonderful resource! Happy Diving and Cruising to you all in the New Year :)

I dove with Island Divers, associated with Ti Kaye Resort, in St Lucia on December 29, 2009 and had a great day.

We were met at a dock near the cruise ship pier at 8:30 am for an approximately 30 minute boat trip to the resort.

Once there, I did two boat dives just a few minutes away from the resort. The Dive Fair Helen boat was at the second site. I was the only diver on the boat, which had me, the dive guide and the boat captain on-board. First dive was 64 feet max and second was 37 feet. Both dives were time limited at 45 minutes (which was the only negative as I still had over 1000 PSI in the tank after both dives). No wildlife sightings stand out but the reef was quite pretty, particularly the first dive in the bay where the resort is located. A very good lunch was included and we were returned by boat at 3pm.

My wife does not dive but purchased a package which included transportation, 1 hour massage at the resort and lunch.

Her trip price was $100 and my trip price was $140. The only additional expense was tips. It was a very nice day and probably the best combination of activities for my wife and I to enjoy of our entire Caribbean cruise.

My husband and I also used Island Divers on our Pacific Princess cruise in April 2009. There were 5 divers on our boat: the two of us, two people from the Sea Princess, and one person who was staying at the resort.

One thing to note is that we were in port on a Sunday and Island Divers was the only dive operation I could find that was willing to pick us up at the dock. Other operators would do this on Sunday for a larger group but not for just two divers. Or they would do it if we paid in advance with no refund if the ship did not stop in St. Lucia. Because of this, we had originally booked the dive through the ship. However, the ship's tour was canceled because we were the only two divers to sign up for it.

The only downside was that neither of the Princess ships was in port for very long, so we did not have any extra time to enjoy the resort after the dives and the lunch.

BTW, this was a B2B cruise, so we stopped in St. Lucia twice. Our first visit to St. Lucia was delayed by a day (and we skipped Tobago) because the ship fouled a propeller in Dominica. On that first stop, we did the island tour with Cosol, who had no problems accommodating the change in schedule. So be careful about booking with anyone who will not reschedule or refund your deposit/advance payment if the ship does not dock.

Carolyn

I dived with Dive Fair Helen in St Lucia. Very enjoyable. They had a large boat and the DMs were great.

Agree with Island Divers. Dove with them the last two yrs. In 08 there was 5 divers in 09 only 3. Boat ride is nice to the resort. You can opt out of the lunch and just do the 2 tank dives for less money. More $$ more beer.

Just a word to the wise for those looking for dive operators in St. Lucia...

We were supposed to do Superman's in St. Lucia with Dive Fair Helen last month, however, the representative from Dive Fair Helen never showed up at the designated meeting point off the cruise ship. Prior to leaving home, we had verified our dates of travel and confirmed our dive trip via email. We talked to one of the ladies at the St. Lucia information booth, and she verified that we were indeed at the right location. After waiting 15 minutes or so, she was kind enough to allow us to use her phone to call Dive Fair Helen. My husband spoke to the gentleman at Dive Fair Helen who stated that the dive trip was cancelled. He offered to call "his friend" who would take us out for significantly more $$$. We declined and just took a taxi to the beach instead. After returning to the ship mid-afternoon, we were sitting up on the sun deck, and we noticed the Dive Fair Helen dive boat dropping off other divers along the same pier where our ship was docked. We were extremely unhappy about this (especially since St. Lucia was the only island on this cruise we had planned to dive.)

We were quite disappointed with Dive Fair Helen since we had read so many positive comments about them here on the message boards. If we return to St. Lucia in the future, we will probably pay a little more and go with Scuba Steve or Island Divers (people we met on our cruise used these dive operators and had a good experience.)