Dive Fair Helen / Kenneth's Dive Center

[cruzegirl]

Scuba Diving review

St. Lucia

Nov. 27, 2007

 

A little background on our group. We were all part of the Carnival Miracle Scuba Cruise. Most of us had cruised together last year on the Carnival Valor Scuba Cruise. Most of us are certified divers and many Adv. Certified & beyond. One of our members is a dive master & used to teach but now has a medical condition stopping him from using SCUBA. He can still free dive on his own but no SCUBA. Part of our group are free divers and those that like to snorkel.

Dive Shop--Dive Fair Helen

First Dive--Reef Dive

Location--Anse Cochon west

Visibility--50-60 feet

Deepest Dept./Bottom time-- 82ft./41 minutes

Overall rating--*****

Not sure what kind of boat they used but it was nice. It had a front bow area to stand while sailing to our dive site. It also had a shaded area towards the engine area and then a back area uncovered. Plenty of room. They did not have rinse tanks for cameras but the 3 of us with cameras, used the mask rinse tanks. They did have a fresh water tank/hose with which you could rinse yourself off after diving. They also fed us on our surface interval on this dive. It was a giant stride entry with ladder to return to the boat. They seemed very knowledgeable and also seemed to check to be sure you were a cert. diver.

They don’t have a regular shop. It’s a hut area off a resort spot. I think the name of the resort area is Marigot Bay. If anyone has different info., feel free to correct me. The equipment seemed to be good/up to date. Nothing looked so old you’d be afraid to dive in it. Personally, I bring my own equipment. I’ve gotten it down to only needing a weight belt from the shop when I dive. Everything else I bring.

The reef is in 100+ ft. of water. It was lovely. Nice marine life, nice coral. Not quite the pretty colors as Belize but quite lovely. There were Yellowtail Snapper, Blue Tangs, Green Moray Eels, Grunts, Trumpetfish, Sergeant Majors, Flamingo Tongue Nudibranchs, Bristle Worms and something I can I.D. yet. It looks like a bubble. It’s shiny and looks like it has O2 in it. Can’t find it anywhere. We also saw Yellow sponges, Red sponges, Barrel sponges, red coral, blue coral. Very enjoyable. My deepest depth on this dive was 82 ft. There was such a variety of stuff to see.

Second Dive--wreck dive

Location--Lesleen M

Visibility--40-60 ft.

Deepest Depth/Bottom time--62ft./43 minutes

Overall rating--*****+

The wreck The Lesleen M, Location: North of the Pitons

Description: Freighter

Length: 55 metres (180 feet)

Depth: 19 metres (62 feet)

LESLEEN M

The Lesleen M was a 165 foot long, steel hulled cargo vessel. Lue Flotte

and Mary Ellen Kenny, New York based photographers, report that she

was intentionally sunk in 1986 by the ministry of fisheries with the intention

of creating an artificial reef. The Lesleen M was prepared for sinking by

the St. Lucian Port Authority. They removed her mast and wheel house as

these items may have caused the ship to protrude too high off the sea floor,

possibly causing a hazard to navigation. The Port Authority also cut holes

in the vessel above her water line in order to help the ship sink quickly

yet not take on any water while being moved. She was towed by the Port

Authority tug to a spot in 90 feet of water, but due to a strong current and

a half hour of sinking, She drifted quite a bit and ended up sitting upright

in 65 feet of water.

I was in heaven. I had been fearful of wreck diving. Mostly of penetration, getting in a spot where I can’t get out. So as our dive master gave a briefing, I finished by insisting I wouldn’t go inside. He just smiled. Even though I insisted. Lol.

We descended to 62 ft. and here was this lovely wreck. You can still make out the wreck, bow and stern. The marine life was amazing. From Grunts, Yellowtail Snappers, blue tangs, surgeonfish, so many to keep track of. Beautiful sponges and corals. You could see into the cargo area following the ladder down visually. And around the bow, you have a side area that you can swim around the ship, not the outside but like an outside walkway. You ask, did I do it…… YES. Lol. I went into the open area of the gut of the wreck and around the walkway area as it was open. I actually drained the battery on my camera taking photos. It was awesome. I could have stayed there forever just checking out all the nooks/crannies. This site is known for Seahorses but I didn’t see any.

I would definitely dive with Dive Fair Helen again. I like them, their dive masters and their boat, the Denise. Plenty of room. They had shade. It was a great time.

Any questions, feel free to ask……

 

Blue Sponge

 

Flamingo Tongue Nudibranch

 

Featherduster Worm

 

Deck of the Lesleen M

 

[cruzegirl]

Scuba Dive Review

Kenneth’s Dive Center

St. Kitts

Nov. 28, 2007

 

As I mentioned on the St. Lucia review, we were part of the Carnival Miracle Scuba Cruise. Most of us had been diving together before. I am Adv. Certified. For this dive, my friends from California (divers/free divers/snorkelers) decided to do their own thing on this Island. So I was diving with our group organizer for the cruise/dives and 2 new members of our group. Excellent divers all of them.

We booked privately with Kenneth’s Dive Center via Shoretrips.com versus using the ships excursion. I much prefer this. They picked us up in the dive boat at the dock to the side of where the ship docks. This was very convenient. They knew the amount of folks ahead of time and had all the equipment. Again, I brought my own and only needed weights. They had a dry closet for dry gear and it was big. Once the dive bags were empty of dive gear, you could place it in the dry closet. And your official dry bag could go there too. The boat does have shade. It’s a giant stride entry with ladder to return to the boat.

Dive Shop--Kenneth’s Dive Center

First Dive--Reef Dive

Site-- The Brimstone

Visibility--40ft.

Deepest Depth./Bottom time--90 ft./42 minutes

Overall rating--****

This reef is in 100+ ft. of water. My deepest depth was 90 ft. on this dive. We were at 90 ft. for about 10-15 minutes then continuing along to more shallow depths. This dive was pretty cool too but rates a 4 star for me just due to visibility. Nothing having to do with the dive shop or the diving, just not great visibility.

 

We saw the usual cast of characters, Yellowtail Snapper, Grunts, Parrotfish, Tangs, Trumpetfish. Lot’s of pretty corals and sponges. And we saw this Green Moray Eel that just wasn’t shy at all. Got several photos. He even went after one divers fins… Better the fins than something else. Lol. It was a nice relaxing reef dive with the exception noticing condensation inside my housing and thus thinking the worse. As well as hitting a button on the camera, still not sure what, causing my photos to almost all be dark. Very frustrating. But all in all a good dive with lot’s to see.

We did our surface interval on the way to the new site. But FYI, they do not feed you. They do have juice/water but bring a granola bar or something.

Second Dive--Wreck Dive

Site--The River Taw

Visibility--25-30 ft.

Deepest Depth/Bottom time--43 ft./57 minutes

Overall Rating--*****

This site has the wreck, The River Taw. It is named for a ship called the River Taw, which sank there during a hurricane in 1980. It also has a Van & Bulldozer that were sunk there to create artificial reefs. The River taw broke into 2 pieces, separated by a small distance. The Van/Bulldozer have been recently sunk and don’t have too much marine life yet.

Overall I rate this a dive a 5 despite the less than stellar visibility as there was so much to see. The wreck lies in 40-45 ft. of water. My deepest depth was 43 ft. at the bottom. First we surveyed the wreck. Lot’s of marine life. The same critters as before. Pretty fish and lovely Coral/Sponges. We then checked out the van. Not much there. The bulldozer was fun, divers going in/out of it….. Then our dive master decided to fee the fish. Now the whole time we had a Remora following us as soon as we showed up on the site. It’s funny, he looks like a shark but isn’t. But was very docile and quite friendly. But not too friendly. The fish feeding was cool to watch. Caught that on little video.

Then we headed back to the wreck. So much to photograph. I was in heaven. Our dive guide found us an Octopus to try to see. It retreated so not much to see. Plus an Eel headed that way and we got out of the way of those two. Saw Crabs, Blue Bell Tunnicates. They are so pretty. A wide of variety of marine life. And tons of Conch shells…. I gently tried to move one to see if it was alive or a cast off and it wouldn’t move. So my assumption is it was alive…. Still not sure.

All in all, a great dive. I would definitely dive with Kenneth’s Dive Center again. They were very safety conscious. Really looking over our Cert. cards. I felt very comfortable with them. Good boat. Great crew.

 

Squirrel Fish

 

Green Moray Eel

 

Peacock Flounder

 

Wreck of the River Taw

 

Bulldozer

 

Anenome with Arrow Crab far right corner

 

[cruzegirl]

Addendum:

I mentioned about the snorklers we had in the group and this was the only dive shop that WOULD EVEN consider keeping the snorklers with the divers. They were very accomodating. :D

[10X]

I've done both of these dives with Island Divers, who are based at Anse Cochon. They also keep divers and snorkelers together, that's one reason why I used them. My wife only snorkels, while I prefer diving.

 

If you follow the link, I have about 15 pictures of Superman's Flight and the Lesleen M, posted.

 

http://www.sunfield.smugmug.com/gallery/3345692#186449758

 

It sounds like you had a great trip with Dive Fair Helen.

 

Thanks for the review.

[10X]

I almost booked with Kenneth's Dive Center but had trouble contacting them. I eventually gave up. I'm glad to hear you had a great time and that they did a good job for you. Maybe I'll have to be more diligent in trying to contact them in the future.

 

To help keep moisture from forming inside my camera housing, I use some small desiccant packs that I buy from Reef Photo & Video. I think it's around $6 for 10 packages. They are very small and will fit between the bottom of my camera and the housing. I've never had moisture form inside my camera so I guess they work pretty well.

 

Thanks for the review.

[10X]

Given that there are a couple of missing posts this morning and that information is now lost to me, I have a question, that I hope will comply with the "rules" for posting.

 

Has anyone recently used Dive Fair Helen or Kenneth's Dive Center for scuba excursions? Could you please post your experiences?

 

Thank you.

 

Denny

[w&k]

Hi Denny-

 

We have been with Kenneth's Dive Center in St. Kitts three times, and I just E-mailed them last night to set up for dive trip #4. http://www.kennethsdivecenter.com/ and the E-mail I use is kdcsk@yahoo.com.

 

I copied off some of the information you may be looking for last night - try this link. http://www.freewebs.com/wendyandkeith/

 

If you tell Gail or Vajai that I sent you, you will probably will get extra abuse.

 

Have a wonderful dive!

 

Wendy

[cruzegirl]

Given that there are a couple of missing posts this morning and that information is now lost to me, I have a question, that I hope will comply with the "rules" for posting.

 

Has anyone recently used Dive Fair Helen or Kenneth's Dive Center for scuba excursions? Could you please post your experiences?

 

Thank you.

 

Denny

 

 

Denny,

I hear ya. I was confused as to what happened too. But now it's back. Thanks for asking the question.

I use the dessicant packs too. First time I'd seen any moisture in the camera housing. Opened it up on the boat on my surface interval and it had a hair. Luckily no flooding, just a drop or two. But then I reset all my setting to undo what was causing the darkness. Then it got better, even though visibility wasn't great.

[10X]

Wendy,

 

Thanks for the info. I bookmarked your website so I can access the info as needed. I was surprised that Stuart Cove's in the Bahamas rated so poorly. They advertise heavily in Scuba Diving magazine and are quite well thought of there. However, that may be because of the shark feeding dives.

 

Cruzegirl,

I'm glad the hair didn't cause you any real grief before you caught it. I'll be doubly careful now.

 

Denny

[w&k]

Denny-

 

I was quite suprised as well, particularly as the shark dive gets such good reviews (and hopefully we can do that one of these trips). However, I had a co-worker that went to the Bahamas on a land trip with a dive shop a couple of months ago, and the shop had booked dives through Stuart's Cove.

 

They had two days of diving where they were their own group on a boat - a group of 6, and they went to fantastic sites. Their third day, they were mixed in with another group and their dive experience was very similar to the one we had.

 

It seems the key to good dives is to get your own group and boat, and to stay away from the 'big trips'. Not too different from our own Keys...

 

Wendy

[w&k]

Debbie-

 

Thanks so much for the info on Dive Fair Helen!

 

What were the pickup/dropoff arrangments? We were thinking of going with them on our last trip on the Empress, but our port times didn't even get close to permitting it. This time off the Galaxy, we're going to do an island trip with some CC buddies with Frank, but there's always a next time.

 

Did you have Vajai as Captain/DM and Yellowman for crew with Kenneth's on St. Kitts?

 

Thanks!

 

Wendy

[cruzegirl]

Debbie-

 

Thanks so much for the info on Dive Fair Helen!

 

What were the pickup/dropoff arrangments? We were thinking of going with them on our last trip on the Empress, but our port times didn't even get close to permitting it. This time off the Galaxy, we're going to do an island trip with some CC buddies with Frank, but there's always a next time.

 

Did you have Vajai as Captain/DM and Yellowman for crew with Kenneth's on St. Kitts?

 

Thanks!

 

Wendy

Wendy,

Your welcome on the dive info. The arrangements for Dive Fair Helen are that they meet you at the dock and then in a small boat take you to Marigot Bay where their shop is. You get whatever gear you need, fill out forms and then board the dive boat. It was all convenient except for the pouring down rain on the way to the dive shop. I mean cool, raining hard. And then it stopped and the sun came out. It was beautiful.

We had Yellowman from Kenneth's. He was doing an adv. group cert. on our dive so he wasn't with us, but he was there. Can't remember who the DM's were. This is the first dives that I didn't get names or take a photo with our DM's. I usually do that.

[sassmofi]

Thanks for the review! I am booked with Kenneth's for our trip in January.

 

I had no trouble with the response from Kenneth's. I received an email response the day I emailed them. I also received an email from them this morning checking to see if I still planned to make a reservation.