Island Divers - St. Lucia

[10X]

I thought I would give you a report on diving with Island Divers on our recent cruises.

 

On 2/10/07 we returned from back-to-back cruises on the Crown Princess. During these two weeks we stopped in St. Lucia where I did 2 dives with Island Divers. http://www.islanddiversstlucia.com/index.html

 

I dove with Island Divers last year and two nice dives, both done from shore off their beach at Anse Cochon. Nice but pretty basic, although I did get some nice photos. This year they have a newer, larger boat that made it easier to get around and dive elsewhere. The boat is set up for divers and has lots of room. There were only 4-5 of us diving that day and the boat could have handled another dozen or more people, easily.

 

Our first dive was at "Superman's Flight" at the base of Petit Piton, where a flight scene from one of the Superman movies was shot. This was a typical reef, and a nice dive with lots to see including a very large turtle. This site was dual purpose because there were spots shallow enough for snorkelers as well so my wife really enjoyed that.

 

Our second dive was on the wreck of the "Lesleen M" which is located in about 60 feet of water off Anse Cochon, right in front of their dive shop. This is an interesting wreck that is very open for penetration. It doesn't take long to cover this 165' ship so you can take your time and enjoy. The extended dive time this shallow dive gives you is nice and gives you lots of time to explore.

 

Island Divers are very nice and they do all the work for you. You don't even have to bring your gear onboard yourself. However, you do have to board the boat from shore, which can be challenging if there is any surf.

 

Their day package includes transportation from/to the ship, two dives, and lunch for $150. Rental gear is extra. I brought my own equipment so I do not have any idea of the condition of their rental gear.

 

The dive sites they go to are different every day so where you go will likely depend on the day and the weather. All-in-all they are worth considering when you only have a day since they take care of everything. No worries about getting back to the ship on time either. I have dove with them twice now and would not hesitate to do so again.

 

I hope to have pictures posted online within a month.

 

Denny

[Amanda & Roger]

Thanks for the info! My wife and I will be on the Galaxy this March and have booked this dive trip. Any pictures you have would be great!

 

Where else did you stop? We have 8 ports in 10 days. We are planning on diving in Barbados, Aruba, Curacao and St. Lucia. Wanted to do Grenada but the ship arrives too late.

 

Thanks again,

Roger

[Kim in CA]

Your post was perfectly timed, as I am currently trying to choose dive ops in St. Lucia and Dominca for our June 10th sailing on the Destiny. It appears that there are numeous good operations in St. Lucia. Folks on the scubaboard have recommend Island Divers as well as Scuba St. Lucia and Eastern Caribbean Divers. It was good to read that you had a good experience with Island Divers.

 

I am leaning toward Nature Island Dive in Dominica, although Dive Dominca has also been recommended.

 

I cannot wait to dive in the Caribbean. It will be our first time... all our previous dives (only 8 dives since certification in 2004) have been in Hawaii.

 

Thanks again for taking the time to post your review!

 

Kim

[10X]

Roger,

 

We went to Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Martin, St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Grenada, Bonaire, and Aruba. We sailed out of San Juan.

 

I went diving in St. Thomas, twice since we went there twice during the b2b cruises, St. Lucia, and Bonaire.

 

Denny

[w&k]

Thanks so much for the review!

 

I remembered that you had mentioned an operation on St. Lucia awhile back, found the link, and looked into the trip.

 

However, being on the Empress, we have a really short port time (10am to 6pm), and I thought $150 twice was a bit spendy for a short day.

 

We will definitely try it if we get back to St. Lucia again with a longer port day.

 

Wendy

[Mescubamom]

10X I take it you booked this on your own and not through the ship???

Alice

[bruce-r]

10X I take it you booked this on your own and not through the ship???

Alice

I'd think he made his own arrangements, just like most of us do.

[10X]

I made my own arrangements with Island Divers. I don't know who the ship uses for diving in St. Lucia but I did a ship's excursion once and swore I'd never do that again.

 

Denny

[Mescubamom]

I made my own arrangements with Island Divers. I don't know who the ship uses for diving in St. Lucia but I did a ship's excursion once and swore I'd never do that again.

 

Denny

 

Last year was the first time I ventured on my own in St. Kitts only because the ship did not have any offerings. We were a bit nervous at first regarding how do we know they will get us back in time to not miss the boat.

After the dive we were glad we did it. All the other people who we had been with were upset they had not gone out on their own. It was great and after being with a small group we decided next time we look outside the ship again. Like all have said the cattle boats are a real pain. Aruba was by far the worst we had 20 people on one boat. One woman went on and on about how many dives she had made then proceded to jump in the water ontop of me and nearly wiped out by hoes and mask.

That is why I am looking to find other alternatives!!!!!

Is it just a stab in the dark or is their an official list of places and dive opS???

Alice

[TulsaFlyer]

I cannot wait to dive in the Caribbean. It will be our first time... all our previous dives (only 8 dives since certification in 2004) have been in Hawaii.

 

Kim

 

 

Hawaii is nice, but cannot compare to the caribbean. St. Lucia, while not in my top 5, is one of my top 10 places to dive. I did a dive with Island Divers in July '06. We dove just north of the bay where they are located and also dove the wreck (is isn't really a wreck, it is an artificial reef) in the bay. Both dives were very good. I liked the dive on the wreck better. It is a popular dive, the Sandals boat showed up when we were ascending from our dive, they had a boat load of divers. There were only 6 on our dive.

 

I believe the ownership of the dive shop has changed hands in the last month or so. It used to be a private interprise seperate from Ti Kaye, but the owner of the Ti Kaye has taken over the operation now (it was his boat they were using anyway). We dove under the previous ownership. I know the owner of Ti Kaye (his brother is a close friend of mine) and he will make a good dive operation supurb, that you can count on.

 

In fact I will be there over Easter, but we are heading down to St. Vincent and Bequa for a little getaway with my buddy and his brother (Ti Kaye owner).

 

I have do not book anything thru the cruise line. You can save a lot of money by doing it yourself. You just need to remember transportation cost.

You won't be disappointed diving in St. Lucia

 

Mike in Tulsa

[cmdchiefthom]

Its kind of a coincidence that I am reading this post now. I contacted Island Divers earlier this morning about setting something up in a couple of weeks when I visit on the NCL Pearl. I originally had scheduled a cruise aboard the Bring Unicorn, but the vendor cancelled the trip. I've dived St. Lucia several times before using the SHOREX route, and had a couple of great dives, and some not so great based on the skill levels of several of the divers who booked from the ship. So I'm waiting to hear what they can offer me. The comments here are pretty positive, so I hope something will shake out.

 

I love diving the Caribbean for the diversity, but compared to places like French Polynesia and the Red Sea, there really isn't a comparison, especially in the last 20 or 30 years. There's a lot of pressure on the dive sites that wasn't there years ago, and believe me, the reefs and water clarity have suffered. A couple of years ago, I made a dive at Cayo Lavantado in the D.R., and the found that the local fishermen often use explosives.:eek: Hardly any sealife left except of bottom feeder like starfish and sea urchins, and only a lot of dead, broken and dying coral. It as a real shame.:(