[Divers] St. Thomas Excursion Options - Coki vs. Other

[BlueC5Kitten]

Hey...I'll be sailing on the Valor in January, and there are two dive options in St. Thomas...Beach Dive at Coki Point and Two-Tank Certified Dive with locations TBA (DM's choice). Has anyone done either of these dives and do you have a preference or recommendation?

 

My dive experience has included great locales such as Bonaire, so I am interested in healthy reefs and great sealife!

 

Thanks!

[Loves_Dogs]

Hello, you may want to post this on the Scuba section of Cruise Critic, there is lots of good info there. Here is the link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=40

 

When we scuba dived in St Thomas we booked our own (outside the ship offered excursion) and used Coki Beach Dive Club. They were GREAT, I highly recommend them. Here is their link:

http://www.cokidive.com/index.htm

 

I also frequent a scuba message board called scubaboard dot com, lots of helpful divers there. Have a great cruise and safe diving!

[scuba diver]

If you want diving on par with Bonaire you will have to cruise to Curacao. However, Coki Beach is good. You can make numerous dives and the various beach venders will make for a very interesting surface interval. Be sure and leave yourself enough time to get back to the ship from the beach. The traffic gets very heavy just about the time you will be trying to rush back to the ship if you wait until the last minute.

[BlueC5Kitten]

Hello, you may want to post this on the Scuba section of Cruise Critic, there is lots of good info there. Here is the link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=40

 

When we scuba dived in St Thomas we booked our own (outside the ship offered excursion) and used Coki Beach Dive Club. They were GREAT, I highly recommend them. Here is their link:

http://www.cokidive.com/index.htm

 

I also frequent a scuba message board called scubaboard dot com, lots of helpful divers there. Have a great cruise and safe diving!

 

I'm on Scubaboard and ScubaToys Forums too...same username. Will give the post a try in the dive section of CruiseCritic, but wanted info specific to the Carnival excursions as I hesitate to go outside Carnival vendors for a myriad of reasons I won't delve into here. When you dove Coki Beach, was it a shore dive or a boat dive?

 

If you want diving on par with Bonaire you will have to cruise to Curacao. However, Coki Beach is good. You can make numerous dives and the various beach venders will make for a very interesting surface interval. Be sure and leave yourself enough time to get back to the ship from the beach. The traffic gets very heavy just about the time you will be trying to rush back to the ship if you wait until the last minute.

 

Well, I wasn't looking to dive something just like Bonaire, just somewhere that has a variety of sealife and reef growth. I'm looking forward to visiting Curaçao in the future, but not this trip or the next few. :)

 

I'll be in St. Thomas for 10 hours, so I doubt I will need to rush to get back on the ship...looking to do 2 dives tops for the day (having done as many as 5-a-day in Bonaire, I just don't like how hurried I felt...always thought I would leave something I needed behind...fortunately, I didn't). One of the biggest reasons I am considering sticking with the Carnival excursion is that I am solo in my endeavours in diving...no on else in my group dives, so i will need a DM or other buddy with whom to be paired.

[Loves_Dogs]

I'm on Scubaboard and ScubaToys Forums too...same username. Will give the post a try in the dive section of CruiseCritic, but wanted info specific to the Carnival excursions as I hesitate to go outside Carnival vendors for a myriad of reasons I won't delve into here. When you dove Coki Beach, was it a shore dive or a boat dive?

 

 

 

Well, I wasn't looking to dive something just like Bonaire, just somewhere that has a variety of sealife and reef growth. I'm looking forward to visiting Curaçao in the future, but not this trip or the next few. :)

 

I'll be in St. Thomas for 10 hours, so I doubt I will need to rush to get back on the ship...looking to do 2 dives tops for the day (having done as many as 5-a-day in Bonaire, I just don't like how hurried I felt...always thought I would leave something I needed behind...fortunately, I didn't). One of the biggest reasons I am considering sticking with the Carnival excursion is that I am solo in my endeavours in diving...no on else in my group dives, so i will need a DM or other buddy with whom to be paired.

 

It was a shore dive.

[Dgonza]

I booked coki dive club on my own. They picked me up at the pier and there were taxis readily avail to take you back. No need to worry about diving alone. There will be other people there too. If not(rare) then there is always the dive master. The dive master will be with you no matter what. You can always buddy up with someone even if is a 3 way buddy system.

[scuba diver]

I have been to Coki 4 times. I just grabbed a taxi or shared a van to the beach and spent the day. I have never had a problem, but have seen others getting back just as the boat was about to sail. The open air trucks are the most fun.

 

When I arrive around 8 a.m. in the morning, I usually make at least 3 dives. The area is very shallow. The comment about Curacao was a subtle way of saying that Coki is no way comparable to Bonaire. The area gets lots of use by novice divers and it shows. It still is an easy dive and lots of fun.

 

Beach is fun, but you have to say "No Thank" you quite often.

[BlueC5Kitten]

Again, thanks everyone for the tips! I may be skipping Coki for a two-tank boat dive.