Diving St. Thomas/ St. Maarten -confused!

[cardbucfan]

Hey, I posted this the other day and *poof* it's gone! So, I'll try again! Going on a Thanksgiving cruise and hitting 3 ports we could dive at. Gonna dive for sure in Grand Turk but are trying to decide between St. Thomas and St. Maarten. I'm finding very conflicting advice on here, Tripadvisor and Scubaboard so wanted some more feedback. Will do independent vs. ship's excursion and know who the good shops are but some places say St. Thomas is "dived out" and others that it's soooo much better than St. Maarten. We are novice divers still (only about 20 dives post cert.), all nitrox certified and have been in some rough conditions and handled them well. Any advice would be great as well as why you think one is better than the other. Thanks! (hope this shows up this time!)

[gerryl12]

I found the visibility better in St. Thomas but that was last December. Both islands have good dive sites (wrecks etc.) with my limited experience. Coming from the north the water is so nice and toasty.

[cardbucfan]

Thanks for that feedback. We are checking with some friends around here who are big divers to get their input. I'm gonna book a back up excursion on St. Maarten in case we decide to dive St. Thomas so we have something to do. Unfortunately, for us hanging out at the beach is kinda boring and the water is cold for us! Getting out the 3 mils.!

[BWDscotty]

Dive St Thomas and go watch the plains land at St Maarten. Look it up on Youtube and you'll understand.

[ScubaCruiser54]

More dive shops on St. Thomas. Both places have about the same clarity of water, but it depends on the dive and the profile. If you are a shopper, dive St. Marteen and Shop St. Thomas.

[releck97]

For my money, I would dive in St. Thomas. Vis is better. Reefs are healthier. Currents are non-existent. My wife and I recently did a week's worth of diving in St. Thomas and loved it. It's not St. John or even St. Croix, but it beats St. Maarten by a long shot.

[scubadiver888]

I learned to dive in Jamaica. It was fantastic. I'm now a Divemaster with a huge variety of dive locations under my belt. Jamaica stinks.

 

St. Thomas was one of the first Caribbean locations I went to after certification. I thought it was great. Last time I was there it was an okay dive (2008). I think you'll have a great time there.

 

In general, I think St. Thomas is better diving than St. Maarten. Even after my first dive at each, I would pick St. Thomas over St. Maarten.

[travlnblueberries]

DH is new to diving as well. He said St. Thomas over St. Maarten.

[agc291]

We dove with Coki Beach Dive Club in March and had a great time! Water was very clear but i cant compare it to St. Maarten because when we were there we just walked around and shopped and layed beach side.

[cardbucfan]

Thanks all. We are going to dive St. Thomas and Grand Turk. Booked the America's Cup excursion on St. Maarten-definitely something different!