Tortola--Dive or Snorkle

[Chade5772]

We will be on the HAL Zuiderdam March 18-25. We already know we will be scuba diving in St. Thomas and in Nassau. We have been told that Tortoala has really good diving, however others have told us to skip the diving and just snorkle in the Baths at Virgin Gorda because we shouldn't miss that. Does anyone have any advice regarding this? I have just heard so much about Virgin Gorda we are having trouble making up our minds.

[bruce-r]

For me, mediocre diving would win out over "good" snorkeling every time. I think that even the "best" snorkeling isn't all that great compared to diving.

[Stevesan]

We will be on the HAL Zuiderdam March 18-25. We already know we will be scuba diving in St. Thomas and in Nassau. We have been told that Tortoala has really good diving, however others have told us to skip the diving and just snorkle in the Baths at Virgin Gorda because we shouldn't miss that. Does anyone have any advice regarding this? I have just heard so much about Virgin Gorda we are having trouble making up our minds.

 

We didn't spend much time at Vorgin Gorda. However, our Patouche snorkel/dive guide said that the snorkeling is poor there. Too many people over too many years have killed off nearly all the coral. My own experience corroborated that. We spent most of our snorkel time at Cooper Island. Saw abundant live coral and good marine life.

 

Virgin Gorda is best known for its beaches and climbing around, over and thru the rocks. We did some of the latter.

 

http://www.patouche.com/

 

http://www.thebathsbvi.com/

[Stevesan]

We will be on the HAL Zuiderdam March 18-25. We already know we will be scuba diving in St. Thomas and in Nassau. We have been told that Tortoala has really good diving, however others have told us to skip the diving and just snorkle in the Baths at Virgin Gorda because we shouldn't miss that. Does anyone have any advice regarding this? I have just heard so much about Virgin Gorda we are having trouble making up our minds.

 

We didn't spend much time at Virgin Gorda. Our Patouche snorkel/dive guide said that the snorkeling is poor there. Too many people over too many years have killed off nearly all the coral. My own experience corroborated that. We spent most of our snorkel time at Cooper Island. Saw abundant live coral and good marine life.

 

Virgin Gorda is best known for its beaches and climbing around, over and thru the rocks. We did some of the latter.

 

http://www.patouche.com/

 

http://www.thebathsbvi.com/

[Stevesan]

We will be on the HAL Zuiderdam March 18-25. We already know we will be scuba diving in St. Thomas and in Nassau. We have been told that Tortoala has really good diving, however others have told us to skip the diving and just snorkle in the Baths at Virgin Gorda because we shouldn't miss that. Does anyone have any advice regarding this? I have just heard so much about Virgin Gorda we are having trouble making up our minds.

 

We didn't spend much time at Virgin Gorda. Our Patouche snorkel/dive guide said that the snorkeling is poor there. Too many people over too many years have killed off nearly all the coral. My own experience corroborated that. We spent most of our snorkel time on the return sail from Tortola at Cooper Island. Saw abundant live coral and good marine life.

 

Virgin Gorda is best known for its beaches and climbing around, over and thru the rocks. We did some of the latter.

 

http://www.patouche.com/

 

http://www.thebathsbvi.com/

[joediver]

As bruc-r says....always dive. I dove with Dive BVI last February ....good people, good boats, nice gear if you don't bring your own. HMS Rhone is one of the BEST wreck dives in the area. It's a must do if you are anywhere near the BVIs.

[Hilary]

I agree 100% that you should definitely dive the RMS Rhone while in Tortola. It is rated as one of the best wreck dives in the WORLD. This is because there isn't anywhere else in the world that you can dive a 140 year old wreck that is partially intact.

 

We dove with UBS Dive Center last year, chartering a boat for 4 of us. It wound up being cheaper than anyone else on the island at the time, and the service was amazing.