Coki Dive Center - St. Thomas

[Orcrone]

Anyone have experience with Coki Dive Center in St. Thomas? DW doesn't dive, so I was thinking of diving with them. This way she could stay on the beach and we could meet up after the dives.

[bruce-r]

Anyone have experience with Coki Dive Center in St. Thomas? DW doesn't dive, so I was thinking of diving with them. This way she could stay on the beach and we could meet up after the dives.

 

I have used them for shore diving. They are very nice and the dives are decent at an excellent price. Your plan to dive while DW hangs at the beach is exactly what our family did. I went diving, DW and the kids played in the water and sand. We were done by just after noon. After a rinse off in the shower, we taxied back to the ship for lunch, a nap, and some shopping.

 

The attached photo is from Coki Beach.

[scottlev]

I had a very good experience with them at Coki Beach. I actually got my nitrox certification while there. I was able to do the pre-work prior to leaving home and did a review and exam while there and then 2 dives off the beach. My friends were right there on the beach the entire time, so I was able to meet up with them. Nice relaxing place and easy beach diving. When diving there, turn left to see some nice reefs and fish. Saw a huge lobster!

Enjoy!

Scott

[Orcrone]

Thanks Bruce and Scottlev. Since I posted this I found out that a number of people in our roll call are headed to Coki Beach and possibly Coral World. So DW will have plenty of people to hang out with while I'm under water.

[Indycr]

Wife and I did our first two OW Certification dives with

them last March (did the others in Barbados).

 

Would not hesitate to dive with them again.

[Rumncoke]

We LOVE them. Especially from a cruise ship, I think it's so much easier to just do shore dives and not worry about if you're going to be able to get off the ship in time to meet a dive boat.

 

That's why we love Eden Rock in Grand Cayman, too.

[Orcrone]

I booked Coki Dive Center. Unfortunately, our ship doesn't get in until 10:00 AM and we're docked at Crown Bay. So, I'll already miss the 9:00 AM dive and it's unlikely that I'll catch the 11. That leaves me with one dive at 1:00 PM.

[WISara]

Orcrone - when are you sailing?

 

We are looking to dive with Coki too - but not till December! if you are going soon definitely post a review - Thanks!!

Sara

[Orcrone]

Orcrone - when are you sailing?

 

We are looking to dive with Coki too - but not till December! if you are going soon definitely post a review - Thanks!!

Sara

Sara,

 

I'm going to be there a week from today, WOOHOOO!!!! I'll definitely share my thoughts when I return.

[DiverGirl24]

I was with my family on a Carnival cruise. I had hesitations with booking excursions through them due to the pricing being a bit high for my budget and friends telling me to do it myself.

 

 

 

The driver met us promptly before leaving the docks and was extremely upbeat. On the way to Coki Beach Dive Club, he pointed out important things along the way explaining a lot of the culture of the island. When we arrived to the beach, we were met by our Dive Master before the taxi even stopped and taken to an area where they did an informational session on the basics of Scuba and safety procedures. The guys were EXTREMELY friendly and down to earth as well as professional. You could tell these guys LOVED what they did! After class, they split us into two smaller groups to keep the ration about 1 Dive Master to 3 students! We then headed out to the shop and were fitted for mask and fins and then down to the beach for BCD’s and tanks. When the team was ready, we waded out to water about 5 foot deep and reviewed the hand signals and skills underwater. They teachers were EXTREMELY patient and encouraging as I choked on water a few times while practicing skills and kept leaving class for “air”. I still didn’t trust the tank:) One of the instructors followed me to the surface once as I was chocking and he was SO encouraging that I could do this when I was starting to freak out (not like the swimmer in me at all to say that I couldn’t do it). He worked with me at the surface to get it before we went back down to show the teacher I could do it:) Then, after we all demonstrated the skills in shallow water, off we went to explore the ocean.

 

 

 

It was truly amazing and honestly, has changed my life. I have never seen “nature” in such a beautiful and honest way. We explored out to about 40 foot of depth and were out in the depths for about 35-40 minutes. The Dive Masters pointed out things to notice and even took pictures with our cameras (of us with the scenery) for those who were snapping pics. It was extremely fun and most important – memorable! The only downside to any part of this “excursion” was that it didn’t last longer – it was truly THAT great and worth every penny!!:)

[Putterdude]

This rather an old thread and I confess that I snorkel but from what I have observed the last 3 times I have been there, they are very good operators and spend a lot of time with their clients.

[w&k]

When we went, we did a boat dive with Coki, and it was wonderful.

 

Maybe the beach dive next time... but we'll opt for the boat dive if it's available.

 

Can't wait to get back there in a few months. Of course, the next cruise we did stopped in St. Croix instead of St. Thomas, but we'll be going back soon.

 

Have a great time and an awesome dive!

 

Wendy

 

dive pix

http://community.webshots.com/user/wendyandkeith

[C Cruise Dude]

Coki Beach Shore Certified Dive

March 6, 2012

 

This certified dive was in St. Thomas. I was on the Carnival Liberty. We met at the pier and were separated into two groups, certified divers and discover scuba group. It was five of us in the certified group which was nice, not a large group. The taxi driver was the person who met us at the pier. He provided the paperwork then took us for a 20 minute ride to Coki Beach.

 

We met Jeff, Coki Beach Dive Club, our guide who provided us a place to secure our personal belongings. We headed to the beach to be sized for our gear. The crew was great, very friendly. We were ready to hit the water after about 45 minutes.

 

We walked into the beach and put our fins on, checked our weighs and off we went. The dive was only about 36 feet. I didn’t see anything but the norm, snappers, some colorful small fish.

 

I recommend this dive for new divers and those that don’t want to go very deep. It’s very relaxed, no rushing, just take your time and explore.

Jeff our guide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Currently at 24', 81 degree water temp, Max depth 28'

[C Cruise Dude]

more photos: Coki Beach Dive

 

 

Now you see it..

 

Now you don't.

 

Coki Beach Dive

[Heather Frazier]

Because this is a beach dive and you cruse along the reef, DH and I assumed it would be OK to rent equipment dive without a dive master. (we dive once or twice a year at most.) Wrong.

 

We were caught in the most wicked rip current I've ever experienced. We could not make our way back to the beach. We ended up being picked up by glass-bottom boat. Good thing, the shore was rip rap rock and beyond that was the Pillsbury Sound!

 

We take full responsibility for thinking, "Oh beach dive, no problem." We have done several dives previously from the Coki beach and husband, son and I all completed our open water certification with this dive shop. So we thought we were familiar with the dive.

 

I lived on Saint Thomas during high school and had NEVER experienced rip current swimming or snorkeling. I'm here to tell you it can happen!

[Sailfish]

Because this is a beach dive and you cruse along the reef, DH and I assumed it would be OK to rent equipment dive without a dive master. (we dive once or twice a year at most.) Wrong.

 

We were caught in the most wicked rip current I've ever experienced. We could not make our way back to the beach. We ended up being picked up by glass-bottom boat. Good thing, the shore was rip rap rock and beyond that was the Pillsbury Sound!

 

We take full responsibility for thinking, "Oh beach dive, no problem." We have done several dives previously from the Coki beach and husband, son and I all completed our open water certification with this dive shop. So we thought we were familiar with the dive.

 

I lived on Saint Thomas during high school and had NEVER experienced rip current swimming or snorkeling. I'm here to tell you it can happen!

 

 

Timing is everything. Since you lived on the island, you know that you have to get an early start to dive there - the dive shop opens at 8:30am - but given what you describe, it probably wouldn't have mattered. By 11am, the trade winds kick up, as will the current there. There has always been a late morning current at the reef off of Coki beach; that should not keep experienced divers from diving from shore, but you need to be aware of it. The key is to dive back to shore - not swim, hugging the bottom. I am guessing you probably attempted to do this - a wicked current is nothing to mess with.

 

I wouldn't recommend going out after 10am, as it's always more work getting back to shore if you. We had a strong current running parallel to the shore on our third dive, around noon when we were there last month, but we didn't have any issues getting back to shore, but it was definitely a little more work.

 

The guys at the dive shack will let you know what conditions are like, if you call before you head out there. This winter was cooler and more windy all over the Caribbean. I was warned to get an early start prior to our arrival, but I called before we went out there and was told the day we dove that the current would most likely be ripping in the afternoon. We dive from shore all the time, and we are not "cruise ship divers" in that we dive frequently. I love the dives at Coki Beach - but then shore diving (especially in Bonaire) is my favorite.

 

Suzi