Best Scuba Places for Next Cruise

[Laurie S.]

Just got back a few days ago from my Western Caribbean cruise on HAL, where I dove at Costa Maya, Roatan, and Grand Cayman. I enjoyed every place, but liked Costa Maya the best.

 

Over Thanksgiving this year, I'm taking my next cruise and would like to dive at three ports again. The places we're going to are Barbados, St. Maartens, St. Thomas, St. Lucia, Martinique, and HMC. From reading recent posts, it looks like St. Lucia should be one of my choices. What about the other ports, which would you recommend for scuba? I figure it's never too late to start planning! :D

[bruce-r]

That isn't the best itinerary for scuba diving IMO

 

Barbados - Not known for great diving from what I've read

 

St. Maarten - I've dived there and was pretty unimpressed.

 

St. Thomas - Worth diving here. I very much liked diving with http://www.Admiraltydive.com

 

St. Lucia - Have read positive posts about the diving here.

 

Martinique - ?

 

HMC. You can't dive here unless HAL is offering it as an excursion.

 

Recommended ports: Cozumel, Grand Turk, Curacao, and Bonaire

[Laurie S.]

Thanks! When I originally picked the cruise, I wasn't a diver so I was just looking at new places to see. Since I run a business, I need to pick cruises that are over holidays since we normally are slower then (wasn't last month, however). But, now I want to get some diving in among the sightseeing/shopping, sort of do best of both worlds. :)

[bruce-r]

It does look like a nice itineracy, just a little light on the "good scuba" stops.

St. Maarten for shopping, a trip to the French side, or what I'd do is go to the beach at the end of the airport runway to watch the planes land.

[Dgonza]

Diving in St Lucia is my favorite so far. If you can do "supermans flight" I went with island divers at ty kaye resort. They pick you up at the ship and you take their boat to ty kaye resort. Then you get on the boat and go diving. Like I said I loved diving there.

 

Bruce: Where do you recommend for Grand Turk?

[Makorr]

Martinique or St-Lucia would be my best guess. I have been to neither, however I have been to neighbour island Dominica, which has been a favorite dive spot of mine for diving. The topography should be similar as they are the closest islands.

 

cheers

[Makorr]

Just got back a few days ago from my Western Caribbean cruise on HAL, where I dove at Costa Maya, Roatan, and Grand Cayman. I enjoyed every place, but liked Costa Maya the best.

 

Over Thanksgiving this year, I'm taking my next cruise and would like to dive at three ports again. The places we're going to are Barbados, St. Maartens, St. Thomas, St. Lucia, Martinique, and HMC. From reading recent posts, it looks like St. Lucia should be one of my choices. What about the other ports, which would you recommend for scuba? I figure it's never too late to start planning! :D

 

We are going to Costa Maya in 2 weeks...I tried reaching Mayan Palms resort to plan some diving but was unsuccessful.... which dive shop did you deal with down there?

 

Thanks!

[Laurie S.]

I used the ship excursion, and they used Dreamtime. It was an excellent experience and the best place of my three diving ports on that cruise.

[scubadiver888]

Just got back a few days ago from my Western Caribbean cruise on HAL, where I dove at Costa Maya, Roatan, and Grand Cayman. I enjoyed every place, but liked Costa Maya the best.

 

Over Thanksgiving this year, I'm taking my next cruise and would like to dive at three ports again. The places we're going to are Barbados, St. Maartens, St. Thomas, St. Lucia, Martinique, and HMC. From reading recent posts, it looks like St. Lucia should be one of my choices. What about the other ports, which would you recommend for scuba? I figure it's never too late to start planning! :D

 

Bruce has pretty much nailed. This is not a great scuba diving itinerary. I agree completely with everything Bruce has said. I would add that I have been to St. Lucia and it was great.

 

If you love diving (like me) then I'd rank them: St. Lucia, St. Thomas and Barbados, in that order. I've been to St. Maartens for diving and shore excursions. I'd dive it again but I'm the sort of guy who wonders if that water hole in a field of cows is worth diving. :D

[Laurie S.]

Thanks, I've pretty much decided to make St. Maartens my shopping and sightseeing day and dive at St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Thomas, and Martinique. It probably will be only one dive at Martinique since the ship leaves at 1 pm. I'm trying to get as much experience as I can this year, so I don't mind if one area is a little light on fish, etc.

 

I'm like you, I want to check out every water hole! :lol:

[bruce-r]

Bruce: Where do you recommend for Grand Turk?

 

All the ships use http://www.oasisdivers.com/ An operator with a decent reputation, but they separate the cruise divers and take them in a large pontoon boat. Up to 24 divers per trip divided into groups. If you went with them, it would be more convenient, probably cost more, you'd probably have a fine time if you don't mind a guided dive with a predetermined bottom time.

 

I went with Bluewater divers I'd recommend them, but take some snacks with you if you go with them. They only provided water when I went with them, but they did let me dive my computer, which is how I prefer to dive.

[napasvr]

A couple more thoughts. I haven't been diving in Martinique in years (as in ~ 10), but when I did, I thought it was one of the most barren places (devoid of fish life) that I had ever been. The coral was fine, but i like to see the fish as well. It may just have been where we were diving (out of a resort), but there were cages on the reef everywhere that collected every bit of mobile sea life -- according to our DMs, the locals would throw everything (and I do mean everything!) into a stew pot.

 

My experience with Barbados and St. Thomas is that they would rank about equal. St. Thomas has typically had somewhat better visibility, but there is a lot of dying coral there (?storms coral bleaching? pollution?),and a lot of fire coral -- it can get a little depressing. Having said that, if I were choosin dive ports from your itinerary, I would probably go with St. Lucia, Barbados, and St. Thomas in that order of preference.

 

Anyway, as you know -- any time spent under water is better than none!!

[Natasha708]

I used the ship excursion, and they used Dreamtime. It was an excellent experience and the best place of my three diving ports on that cruise.

 

HI Laurie:

I'll be diving in Costa Maya shortly. :) Can you tell me if the Boats Dreamtime used had a head on them. :) Also did you do a forward stride or a backward roll? How many fit on each boat. Any info will help. Thx so much!

[Natasha708]

Just got back a few days ago from my Western Caribbean cruise on HAL, where I dove at Costa Maya, Roatan, and Grand Cayman. I enjoyed every place, but liked Costa Maya the best.

 

Over Thanksgiving this year, I'm taking my next cruise and would like to dive at three ports again. The places we're going to are Barbados, St. Maartens, St. Thomas, St. Lucia, Martinique, and HMC. From reading recent posts, it looks like St. Lucia should be one of my choices. What about the other ports, which would you recommend for scuba? I figure it's never too late to start planning! :D

 

Out of this list, I have dove in St Thomas & St. Lucia. Both good. If I had to pick I'd go with St. Lucia first. I have also dove in Bonaire a total of 21 days, Grand Cayman 7 Days, Belize 7 days, Roatan 3 times, Bahamas 9 days, Cozumel over 20 times. :) Let me know if you have any questions about any of these places. Thx again!

[Laurie S.]

HI Laurie:

I'll be diving in Costa Maya shortly. :) Can you tell me if the Boats Dreamtime used had a head on them. :) Also did you do a forward stride or a backward roll? How many fit on each boat. Any info will help. Thx so much!

 

 

No, the boats don't have a head (they warned us before we got on). We had to do a backward roll, which I'd never done before. There were two boats the day I was there and both were small. I think they could hold 10 people maximum.

 

I was amazed how beautiful the water was at Costa Maya. The color and clarity were wonderful.

[Natasha708]

No, the boats don't have a head (they warned us before we got on). We had to do a backward roll, which I'd never done before. There were two boats the day I was there and both were small. I think they could hold 10 people maximum.

 

I was amazed how beautiful the water was at Costa Maya. The color and clarity were wonderful.

 

Laurie Thank you so much.

[dirvin0500]

HI Laurie:

I'll be diving in Costa Maya shortly. :) Can you tell me if the Boats Dreamtime used had a head on them. :) Also did you do a forward stride or a backward roll? How many fit on each boat. Any info will help. Thx so much!

 

I just returned from a 5-day cruise where we did two-tank dives in Costa Maya and Cozumel. We went with Maya Palms and couldn't have been happier. The diving was great. First dive was a wall dive that started at the sand in 110 feet and came up to about 20 feet. While we were at 40 feet or so we saw (at the edge of our visibility which was about 80-100 feet) a whale shark of about 30 feet in length. The shark was confirmed by the boat captain which saw it from topside also. Maya Palms is a first rate operation and is also eco-friendly and self supporting which was also important to us.

[Natasha708]

I just returned from a 5-day cruise where we did two-tank dives in Costa Maya and Cozumel. We went with Maya Palms and couldn't have been happier. The diving was great. First dive was a wall dive that started at the sand in 110 feet and came up to about 20 feet. While we were at 40 feet or so we saw (at the edge of our visibility which was about 80-100 feet) a whale shark of about 30 feet in length. The shark was confirmed by the boat captain which saw it from topside also. Maya Palms is a first rate operation and is also eco-friendly and self supporting which was also important to us.

 

dirvin: I've lived my whole life to see a whale shark..and haven't seen one yet!

 

WOWOWOWOWWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!

 

Can I ask you a bunch of questions? Will you be so kind to email me directly? I'm Natasha708@aol.com

 

Thank you so much.

[thunderstar5]

Hi,

 

As mentioned in earlier reply, St. Thomas has some great diving, nice coral and fish.

 

I just got back from HAL Zuiderdam and Curacao was one of our stops. Coral grows right up to beach and it is one of the best 'shore dives' touted in Caribbean, so I gave it a try. However, HAL does not offer tour so I had to search CC and Internet to find an operator.

 

I found Dive Bus run by Mark and Suzy from UK, they've lived in Curacao 6 years now. Mark and I did two dives right off the beach on Pierbaai reef and the 'car pile.' The coral was very good, more Elkhorn and Staghorn and soft corals than I had seen at St Thomas, Cozumel, St Maarten or FL Keys. The fish were awesome. We saw 4 Moray eel the first dive, a Scorpion fish, a school fo about 50 Blue Tangs, reef squid and the highlight was a red FROG fish - at first I just thought it was another bit of coral. But, Mark told me after the dive he's seen it several times in the area. If you travel to Curacao and want a nice dive, try them out. I had a great time. http://www.the-dive-bus.com/

 

 

Tony

[ftelah]

I myself didn't dive in Barbados but my husband,daughters, sister and brother-n-law all did a few years back and the really liked it. They went and explored a old ship that was sunk and still talk about it to others, they also dove in St. Lucia but it wasn't the best day for diving but they still enjoyed it. Have to admit both of these dives were when we were all newly certified (which worried me in Barbados because they ended up going 100' first time out) so everything is exciting at that time, but still must of been pretty good if they still talk about it. One of them may remember the dive shop but I can't really help without them I went to explore other areas of the island with 2 younger children and my mom.