Certified Scuba in St. Thomas

[debsea]

I just went to book shore excursions on-line, but the St. Thomas 2-tank scuba excursion isn't listed. It's still listed on the website and in the Shore-ex booklet that came with our documents. What gives?

[debsea]

Subsequent to my first post, I have done some surfing on the net. If we have to book our own diving excursion in St. Thomas, does anyone have any recommendations? Chris Sawyer and Blue Island look pretty good, but I'd like to hear from someone who has used them.

Thanks.

[bruce-r]

Chris Sawyer has an excellent reputation. Don't know about Blue Island. I would also suggest that you look at admiralty dive I think that they still offer pickup from the cruise dock. Very convenient for cruisers. Sawyer has larger boats, Admiralty has a couple of 6 pack boats (my preference). Finally, there is Coki Beach Dive Club which is an excellent choice for some less expensive shore dives. The added bonus here is that it is a good choice for a mixed group of divers and non-divers. The divers get to dive and the rest of the group has the choice of snorkeling, discover scuba, hanging at the beach, or going next door to Coral World.

[Hilary]

We're booked with Blue Island Divers in a couple of weeks, based mostly on the excellent reviews I've read of them. They pick you up right at the cruise dock in their boat, so there's no ground transportation involved. Blue Island also runs smaller boats than Chris Sawyer, but I've heard nothing but good things about Sawyer too.

 

I've been super pleased with the personalized service I've received so far from Blue Island in regards to my booking, etc. I also like that they offer Nitrox and Tech diving, even though I won't be taking advantage of either of those on this trip. ;-) Just seems like a really good operation to me, but I'll let you know for sure in a few weeks when I get home. <VBG>

[Hilary]

Debsea, I checked some of your previous posts and noticed that you're leaving on 12/28/04 for your HAL cruise. Bummer, I'm leaving on 12/20 on Celebrity for 11 nights, so won't return before you leave.

 

I also saw your itinerary and wanted to ask if you're diving the RMS Rhone in Tortola on this trip?? It's one of the highlights of our diving on our cruise and we can't wait to see her. We had to book a private charter since Celebrity isn't offering a ship's dive, but this worked out even better as far as I'm concerned, and now that we found another couple who is diving with us, it's cheaper than the ship's excursion and we'll be the only 4 divers on the boat!! <VBG>

 

Have a great trip and definitely post a review of it and your dives when you return.

[White House]

We did a discover dive with Admirlity, but I am fairly certain that they do certified dives as well. They were awesome. They were easy to work with and picked us up right at the pier where our ship was docked. They provided a much better package than we would have received from our ship's excursion. Their website is http://www.admiraltydive.com/.

[debsea]

Thanks all for your replies. I have ruled out Chris Sawyer since we like small boats. I have heard from both Admiralty and Blue Island, and we will go with one of them. Both sound very accommodating. These boards have been a terrific help arranging our scuba and snorkeling excursions independently.

[debsea]

I think we've finally got all our independent tours arranged.

 

We're going with Eagle Ray Divers in Cozumel for a 2-tank dive, Native Way Watersports in Grand Cayman for a Stingray City Sandbar and Coral Gardens snorkel, and Admiralty Dive Center for a 2-tank dive in St. Thomas.

 

I'll post reviews when we get home in January.