Diving on St. Thomas and St. Maarten

[NeurosurgeryNP]

We are comtemplating on going on a November cruise with Princess on the Crown Princess Eastern Caribbean. We were on the same itenerary in January 2008 on the Caribbean Princess with the exception that Grand Turk has been added as an additional port. On our January cruise, both DH and I did the Discover scuba (DH not certified, I am but had not been diving in a long while so I used it as a refresher).

 

So, what I am interested in is who has been diving on St. Maarten and St. Thomas and what they thought about it.

 

We are also going to Grand Turk, which I really want to dive again, but would use an independent operator as we were just there 2 weeks ago and dove with the ship's operator and would like to experience different sites. I hear Blue water divers is excellent.

 

 

We don't intend to dive at every port as this can be too costly for the 2 od us.

 

So, if you had a choice between St. Thomas and St. Maarten, where would you dive?

 

Thanks!

[bruce-r]

So, if you had a choice between St. Thomas and St. Maarten, where would you dive?

I'd pick St. Thomas over St. Maarten for scuba diving by a wide margin. I like http://www.admiraltydive.com for St. Thomas. If you are on a limited budget, a guided shore dive at Coki Beach would be my second choice. http://www.cokidive.com

[scubaran]

We are comtemplating on going on a November cruise with Princess on the Crown Princess Eastern Caribbean. We were on the same itenerary in January 2008 on the Caribbean Princess with the exception that Grand Turk has been added as an additional port. On our January cruise, both DH and I did the Discover scuba (DH not certified, I am but had not been diving in a long while so I used it as a refresher).

 

So, what I am interested in is who has been diving on St. Maarten and St. Thomas and what they thought about it.

 

We are also going to Grand Turk, which I really want to dive again, but would use an independent operator as we were just there 2 weeks ago and dove with the ship's operator and would like to experience different sites. I hear Blue water divers is excellent.

 

 

We don't intend to dive at every port as this can be too costly for the 2 od us.

 

So, if you had a choice between St. Thomas and St. Maarten, where would you dive?

 

Thanks!

 

 

Agreed, St. Thomas. And Blue Water Divers is my dive shop of choice on GT. I've dove with them twice and both times had excellent dives with great staff.

 

Randall

[NeurosurgeryNP]

I'd pick St. Thomas over St. Maarten for scuba diving by a wide margin. I like www.admiraltydive.com for St. Thomas. If you are on a limited budget, a guided shore dive at Coki Beach would be my second choice. www.cokidive.com

What are the prices for Admiralty versus the using the ship's operator? We would need all of the equipment other than personal gear. I don't know in that case if it would be more economical to go with the ship's excursion versus a private operator.

[BuzzF117]

I used admierality in FEB 08 and was very pleased with them. I used Princess for my two previous days of diving and we had a min of 12-15 people on the boat but at admirality we only had 5 total divers and we had a great time. the DM was finishing up a student but still showed us the best sites at two locations. They picked me up right in front of the large windmill in St Thomas and dropped me off there after taking me back to the diveshop so my gear could be rinsed. I didn't get the same service from either of the other dive ops arranged through Princess excursions. The price at the time was $90 using my own gear and $100 if you used theirs. The bonus of admirality is you can actually do a 3rd afternoon dive if you have enough time I regret not doing the 3rd dive ofthe day since the weather and conditions were perfect. I would suggest giving them a call I spoke with Laura and then we did all arrangements via email and they also wouldn't have charged me if for some reason the ship did not dock.

[NeurosurgeryNP]

Thanks for all of your suggestions.

 

In speaking with my DH, we may have a change of heart and take the soutern Caribbean intenerary, also on Princess. Better diving ports in Aruba and Bonaire, Grenada and DOminica. Likely only to be diving in Aruba and Boaire though as it will be too costly for all.

However, if we stay with the Eastern, I will definitely be using the dive shops suggested.

[bruce-r]

What are the prices for Admiralty versus the using the ship's operator? We would need all of the equipment other than personal gear. I don't know in that case if it would be more economical to go with the ship's excursion versus a private operator.

 

I think Admiralty posts their prices on their site, and if they don't you should contact them directly to inquire.

 

I have no idea what Princess charges for their excursions.

[BuzzF117]

Let me add that even though we were just 5 divers which included the DM/instructor who was finishing up a students cert the other three of us were matched up pretty well skill wise with one diver having only 6 dives total but she was very compitent and the other diver have over a hundred dives in Peuget Sound Washington (spelling) and I had over 20 dives in local murky lakes and cold Lake Michigan. While on the Princess excursion I saw poeple that had no clue how much weight they needed and were diving with their wieght distriputed unevenly and another diver that was diving with to much weight and not a good knowledge on how here BCD powere inflator worked as the DM had to stop her from making a rocket type accent. For the pure enjoyment factor of the dives all week I preffered my dives with Admirality in St Thomas.

[S&M in Pgh]

Count me as another who would rather dive St Thomas instead of St Maarten. I have been diving at both islands twice. Even on a bad day, St Thomas was a much more enjoyable experience. It may have been that the sites we dove in St Maarten were to exposed to the Atlantic, but it was like swimming in a white water rapid. Lots of finning just to stay in place. Best thing about the St Maarten dives, was that both times (both in early april) we saw whales. Interesting experience when you are in a boat small then the calf. Puts things in perspective.

 

I like Admiralty Dive Center in St Thomas, but my brother recently spent a week diving with Chris Sawyer Dive Center and loved it.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Mike

[Wspinelli]

We are comtemplating on going on a November cruise with Princess on the Crown Princess Eastern Caribbean. We were on the same itenerary in January 2008 on the Caribbean Princess with the exception that Grand Turk has been added as an additional port. On our January cruise, both DH and I did the Discover scuba (DH not certified, I am but had not been diving in a long while so I used it as a refresher).

 

So, what I am interested in is who has been diving on St. Maarten and St. Thomas and what they thought about it.

 

We are also going to Grand Turk, which I really want to dive again, but would use an independent operator as we were just there 2 weeks ago and dove with the ship's operator and would like to experience different sites. I hear Blue water divers is excellent.

 

 

We don't intend to dive at every port as this can be too costly for the 2 od us.

 

So, if you had a choice between St. Thomas and St. Maarten, where would you dive?

 

Thanks!

I did the Coki beach dive and it was a super dive. I decided on this over a boat dive as it was my daughter's first OW after her cert dives as well as her first time in the ocean. The reef was in great shape, I thought it would be torn up because it was shallow. I saw the largest Feather Dusters/ Tube worms I've seen in the Carribean. Thre was a pretty good level of diversity on the reef. All in all, I'd do that dive again, and I'd like to see it at night too.

[NeurosurgeryNP]

We have even changed our cruise one last time and we're sticking to it now!

 

NYC-San Juan "repositioning" cruise

 

Antigua

St. Kitts

St. Thomas

 

Disembark in San Juan (we will be staying there for a few nights after disembarkation)

 

 

I know you have all talked about St. Thomas. What about the other ports in terms of diving?

 

I don't think we can swing diving in each port - but maybe two of the three ports - which would you do?

[jtonra]

St Kitts was written up in one of the diving mags recently. You may still be able to find it on the bookstore shelves. Sorry but I don't remember any of the details.

[Woodsmaster]

Just came off of a cruise that stopped in both locations. We personally liked St. Maarten on this trip. Better water clarity and we saw more things (sharks, old wreck, and turtles) that attracted our attention. I also enjoyed St. Thomas as well. We had dove St. Thomas on four occassions and at St. Maarten on two occassions. We will dive both again. St. Maarten had a bit of a heavier swell than St. Thomas. See my threads about each. We used Admiralty Dive Center at St. Thomas and Dive Safaris on St. Maarten. They will be our dive centers of choice unlsee something better comes along. Coki Beach is OK.