Scuba Diving in St. Thomas

[Diane Roxs]

Does anyone have recommendations for which dive company to use (or to stay away from) for diving during our one day stop. We would prefer a smaller group of around 10 and not being with 30 divers. Also which dive spots do you recommend we try to dive?

[Embre]

I can't say this is a personal recomendation from me, but rather one I got from someone else on the boards, and its the only one I have seen.

 

Cokidive.com

 

I took a look at their website and it looked promising. Good Luck

[diveusvi]

For personal service and a pickup at the dock try Blue Island Divers

http://www.blueislanddivers.com

[Middleager]

Blue Island and Admiralty both pick up from Havensight, very convenient.

 

We went to Coki Beach. I did the 2-tank boat dive and my BIL tried the 1-tank Discovery scuba, with the Coki Beach Dive Club. The others snorkeled at the beach. We all enjoyed. The boat I went out for diving was quite small. It won't fit 10 people. Maybe they have a bigger boat that can take 10 people. The shore diving at Coki Beach is apparently very good.

 

At Coki Beach, I saw a stand where someone was renting out small scuba tanks. They might be 50cf. Maybe ok for a few minutes of shallow dive, but I'd rather use the 80cf from Coki Beach Dive Club.

[cruiser2202]

We went scuba diving at Coki Beach through our ship excursion two weeks ago. The scuba company that is set up on Coki beach did our excursion and they were great. I thought they were called Dive World, but I looked at the link for Coki Beach Dive Club and I think they may be the same. You can contact them through the website cokidive.com. This was our first dive and it was an amazing experience. They have a dive shop up the road, so I'm sure they could accomodate any level of diver.

 

We loved the beach and stayed there after our dive and snorkeled all day. The snorkeling was great. Here are pics of the beach, scuba and snorkel:

[jimw]

We rented tanks from them in September and dove out front--it was very nice, lots of fish and pretty good coral. They have tanks of all the usual sizes 50,63,67,and 80cu ft. We used the 67's for an hour long shallow dive to around 45 feet.

 

There's at least 1 other place that seems to do most of the Resort Courses, as that's where the tourbus first took us--it's evidently part of the uw amusement park down the way.

 

Anyway, it's $10. to rent a tank and weights. And WELL worth it. I liked the dive enough I bought a blue Coki Beach Dive Club tshirt and I'm happy to report that it's holding it's color after about 3 washings now.

[KJHorton]

Has anyone done any independent scuba trips on St. Thomas recently? Any other recommendations. We will be there in March. Thanks.

[longislandqueen]

We have heard that the coin toss is between Admiralty Dive Center and Blue Island Divers. A friend of ours went diving with Blue Island Divers last week, and the captain did not even know the name of the dive site. Based on that, my vote is with Admiralty Dive Center. If you check out both of their web sites, it appears as though they offer similar dives.

[diathoney]

We dove with Admiralty last year. We reserved via e-mail. They were very good with the communication (response time and info). They sent us the forms ahead of time so we could reserve equipment and have the releases completed.

 

They pick up at the base of the CA pier. You walk all the way to the base, to the small marina and pier. They were on time! Another Dad and son were hanging out waiting for another boat that was late. On time is good!

 

We did 2 sites that were fairly close to each other - max of maybe 40 feet deep - The second site was better than the first. The weather was a little rough that day, so visibility wasn't as good as you would hope, but still way better than the Gulf of Mexico on a rough day. They provided a selection of snacks and sodas in between dives. The guide was very good directing us to shrimp, a nurse shark, moray eel and some fake treasure they had tossed down (all fun)!

 

The crew was great about setting up the gear and helping you in/out of the water. Their rental gear is first rate - seriously. It's like what you would buy for yourself and in top condition. Nothing old or leaky or nasty.

 

At the end of the dive they gave us souvenirs and stickers with our times for our log books. Very nice couple that runs the place - laid back but serious about safety.

 

I'd dive with them again.