Which Island has better diving? Recommendations for an underwater camera

[nikita]

We are on a cruise in Feb. and would like your opinion on which Island has the better diving - Antigua, or St. Lucia. Can you recommend any Dive companies from either Island? Also in the market for a new underwater camera - nothing professional but of decent quality, $500 limit. Thanks in advance.

[bruce-r]

For a camera, I'd get the Canon A540 for around $170 and the Canon housing for it, which can be had for around $170 for a total price of $340.

[10X]

I've never been diving in Antigua but I was in St. Lucia earlier this year. We went to Ti Kaye Resort on Anse Cochon with Island Divers. I had two very nice dives and my wife got in 4 hours of snorkeling. They have package prices for both snorkelers and divers that includes transportation to/from the resort plus lunch at the Ti Kaye restaurant. We enjoyed it so much that we are returning there on our next cruise. We'll be there again on 1/30/07.

 

http://www.islanddiversstlucia.com/schedule.htm

 

Scuba and snorkeling pictures can be viewed at:

 

http://www.sunfield.smugmug.com/

 

Select "Cruise 2006"

Select "St. Lucia Snorekling" and/or "St. Lucia Scuba Diving"

 

Denny

[nikita]

bruce-r and Denny - thank you both for your replies.

 

Denny - your photos are amazing. Thank you for sharing. I think I will be contacting them about reserving space for my DH. The resort looks very nice. Did you stay there? I will probably just hang out there while DH dives -would it be a nice place just to wait and relax while he's diving?

 

Thanks again!

[Penguinlo]

Could you tell me what type of underwater camera you use? Your pictures are great. Thanks

[cruzegirl]

Personally I like the Olympus Stylus 600.... It has several on land settings and 3 underwater settings.... and it's easy to use... the underwater housing and camera were $400...... Check out my Scuba Diving Album.... Realizing that from Acapulco forward, I used the Olympus Stylus 600.... Prior to Acapulco was the Sealife Reefmaster DC310.... Which is c***..... Although a few good shots but not many....lol.....:D

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/547773716nJPqpW

[10X]

Nikita,

We did not stay at the resort but did a one day excursion when we sailed on the Sea Princess. I don't know anything about the resort but we very much enjoyed the snorkeling and diving. I noted that many other resorts were anchoring in the bay, bringing their guests to Anse Cochon for snorkeling and diving. It was not over-crowded though since they stay only for an hour or so then leave.

 

Penguinlo,

I use an Olympus C5050, a 5MP point and shoot type camera that is no longer made. This camera has fully capable manual controls as well, which is what I use when diving. I use an Olympus housing for the camera. When snorkeling I just use the camera and housing, but when diving I add an Inon D2000 underwater flash.

 

My wife, who only snorkels, uses a Canon A95 5MP camera with a Canon underwater housing. The A95 is also not made any longer and is a point and shoot type camera.

 

When selecting an underwater camera, unless you are really big into diving and underwater photography, I would look for a good quality point and shoot type camera where the camera manufacturer also makes an underwater housing for it. That way you can also use the camera "topside" whenever you are not diving. You can expect the underwater housing will be about $150-$200 in addition to the camera. You must follow the directions on preparing the housing for underwater use every time or risk flooding the housing with water and ruining your camera. It only takes about 5 minutes so it's no big deal but you MUST do it.

 

I use a 1GB memory card to insure I have lots of room for pictures, but still download into a laptop after every dive to make sure I have lots of memory for the next time. I also use high capacity rechargeable batteries that are recharged every night so they too are ready to go for the next day.

 

You can check your current camera, as well as others, for an underwater housing here: http://www.digideep.com/

 

Housings made by some companies can run from $1000-$4000, so I would look for one offered by the camera manufacturer.

 

Denny

[penny3333]

We just got back from the Sun. We were in Antigua, St. Lucia, Grenada, Martinique, St. Thomas and Princess Cays. The water in Antigua was great, but too many jelly fish for me. St. Lucia we went to Pigeon Island, snorkeling wasn't that great,but the water was wonderful. Anse Cochon is a great dive. The best was Flamingo Bay in Grenada, but you didn't mention going there. It was a great snorkel but diving would be wonderful as well. The water was clear and the fish and reefs plentiful. My favorite is Bonaire and Dominica. If you ever get to Dominica, do the Champagne Beach snorkel or dive. It is one of the best I've been on.

[Dgonza]

I havent been to any of those two ports, so I cant say. If you are looking for a cheap underwater camera, I got mine from newegg.com it is a pixtreme. It took pretty good pics and for the price you cant beat it. It was $89 ...yup thats right $89. Like I said I cant complain for the price. The pics came out great.