Best Islands to Dive, Locations of Dives & Dive Shops???

[bling19572010]

We will be on the AOS in Dec. 2010 and would like to at least do one dive. Can you give me advice of which island would be the best to dive, the best location to dive on that island and a god dive shop on the island? We will be visiting Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten & St. Croix. Thank you!

[Pilot70D]

Can you give me advice of which island would be the best to dive, the best location to dive on that island and a god dive shop on the island?

 

Personally we have always found it better to go diving in the ocean.:p

 

Sorry, the devil made me do that. The best of the islands you listed IMHO is St. Lucia. I would do Superman's Flight and I would go with Dive Fair Helen. We have been diving with them on our last three trips to St. Lucia and they do an excellent job. They also serve a really good home cooked lunch aboard their dive boats.

 

On the other islands which you mentioned the diving is no better than fair when compared to the really good Caribbean diving destinations.

 

Hope this is hlepful and that you enjoy that next cruise along with the diving.:)

[bling19572010]

Personally we have always found it better to go diving in the ocean.:p

 

Sorry, the devil made me do that. The best of the islands you listed IMHO is St. Lucia. I would do Superman's Flight and I would go with Dive Fair Helen. We have been diving with them on our last three trips to St. Lucia and they do an excellent job. They also serve a really good home cooked lunch aboard their dive boats.

 

On the other islands which you mentioned the diving is no better than fair when compared to the really good Caribbean diving destinations.

 

Hope this is hlepful and that you enjoy that next cruise along with the diving.:)

 

 

You have been very helpful. Thank you so much!

[Dgonza]

I also recommend St Lucia and Supermans flight......I was there this past summer and went diving with island divers at ti kaye resort. They served food at the restaurant at the resort...I think it was included in the price....Also they pick you up right at the pier and take you to the resort which is about a 30 boat ride. Supermans flight is at the base of the pitons too so it is a great photo opportunity.

[bling19572010]

I also recommend St Lucia and Supermans flight......I was there this past summer and went diving with island divers at ti kaye resort. They served food at the restaurant at the resort...I think it was included in the price....Also they pick you up right at the pier and take you to the resort which is about a 30 boat ride. Supermans flight is at the base of the pitons too so it is a great photo opportunity.

 

Thank you!

[jamga02]

I agree with Superman's Flight in St. Lucia. As far as booking it, that can be a little hard to do. The dive site is at the base of the Pitons, which is a good boat ride (45 minutes or so?) from most of the dive shops. We were able to book it since we had a larger group (10 divers) that all wanted to go to the same site.

[Middleager]

The best of the islands you listed IMHO is St. Lucia. I would do Superman's Flight and I would go with Dive Fair Helen.

That's who we used in St. Lucia, going to Superman's Flight, at the base of the pitons.

 

The cruise ships dock at the northwest, while the pitons are at the southwest. Most cruise ships don't go near the pitons. If you're on land, you can't see the pitons well. So the only way to see the pitons well is from boat. A dive or snorkel trip to Superman's flight by boat, is a good drift dive, and also good top side scenery.

 

In Antigua, the good dive sites are at the south of the island, 30min ride from the north where the ships dock. If you're willing to go that distance, the diving is pretty good there.

 

In Barbados the ship docks s/w of the island. Most of the good dive sites are at the s/w or west. The east is rugged with rough sea, not quite for diving. The diving in Barbados is not bad, but certainly not outstanding like Cayman, Cozumel, Belize, G. Turk, etc. But it's still good warm water diving with decent viz.

[bling19572010]

That's who we used in St. Lucia, going to Superman's Flight, at the base of the pitons.

 

The cruise ships dock at the northwest, while the pitons are at the southwest. Most cruise ships don't go near the pitons. If you're on land, you can't see the pitons well. So the only way to see the pitons well is from boat. A dive or snorkel trip to Superman's flight by boat, is a good drift dive, and also good top side scenery.

 

In Antigua, the good dive sites are at the south of the island, 30min ride from the north where the ships dock. If you're willing to go that distance, the diving is pretty good there.

 

In Barbados the ship docks s/w of the island. Most of the good dive sites are at the s/w or west. The east is rugged with rough sea, not quite for diving. The diving in Barbados is not bad, but certainly not outstanding like Cayman, Cozumel, Belize, G. Turk, etc. But it's still good warm water diving with decent viz.

 

I appreciate your input!!

[Pilot70D]

Thank you!

 

There is no guaranteed way to book Superman's Flight. The best thing to do is decide with which dive operator you're going to go with and then send that operator an email requesting Superman's Flight BEFORE making any reservations. Most of the dive operators on St. Lucia are very cooperative and will grant this request if possible. If your first choice in operators arbitrarily says no then I would try another operator.

 

One year when were there the waters out by the pitons were stirred up and visibility was quite limited. Under those circumstances we opted to go to a different site. This wasn't a fall off though because there are numerous spectacular dive sites surrounding St. Lucia. BTW if you do Superman's Flight and you get down to the bottom please let me know how deep it was.

 

Have fun on that next dive trip.:):D

[Dgonza]

BTW if you do Superman's Flight and you get down to the bottom please let me know how deep it was.

 

Have fun on that next dive trip.:):D

 

I did supermans flight in June and It was about 40-50ft deep. At the base of the Pitons though it drops off to Thousands of feet.

[fbe2228]

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.)