St Thomas vs St Maarten for a dive

[cgvmer]

So my family and I are going on a Royal Caribbean cruise Aug 3, and will be stopping in Bermuda, Phillipsburg St. Maarten and Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas then Puerto Rico.

For this trip I will be able to dive either St Maarten or St Thomas any recommendations?

Anyone know who Royal Caribbean uses in these two places?

Any help would be appreciated

[Asiadiver]

I dove with Chris Sawyer Dive Center. They do a couple of trips a week to the Rhone, it's a nice dive if you have the time. Here is their email address:
sawyerdive@islands.vi

Good luck,
Greg

[georoc01]

There is a scuba section on www.cruisecritic.com that I use when planning dives on cruise ships. You might find more info there.

[Zenagirl]

You won't have time to do the Rhone charter from St. Thomas since you're diving from a cruise ship.

We booked through Blue Water Divers in St. Thomas and had a great time. Admiralty is also a very good dive operator, so you can't go wrong with either of them. The will literally pick you up (in their boats) in front of your ship at the pier and drop you there after the dive.

St. Maarten isn't known to be a very good dive destination. Often there is strong current, surge, and surf, causing really bad viz conditions. The reef system is also in the recovery stages from hurricanes and I've never heard of anyone recommending St. Maarten over St. Thomas given the choice.

On St. Maarten head over to Orient Beach for the day. Gorgeous beach with lots of activities to do. We book through the cruiseship since they provide transportation, a free drink, and a guaranteed chair on the beach. We just think it's easier that way than doing it ourselves.

[PlatypusMan]

I dove both on a cruise about two years ago; St Maarten was a very sterile dive, St Thomas a lot of fun.

[bks]

We have dived in both places from the cruise ships and we have found St Thomas to be much better. St Martain usually has vis problems and alot of wave action. If you dive here the ships tend to use Dive Safaris. There is also an operator right near the pier that uses a zodiac for a dive boat.
St Thomas is a better option and we love Chris Sawyers operation. You have to catch a cab to Red Hook for about $8-10. He used to have a late boat going out for cruise ship people. Last time we were there he went out with just 3 divers. Fish life seems a little better on St Thomas.

[cgvmer]

So we dove in St Thomas and had a great time.

I called the admiralty dive center http://www.admiraltydive.com/ and scheduled my 2 sons and I for 3 dives.

The night before we arrived at St. Thomas, my older son developed an ear infection. I called the dive center the night before to let them know only 2 of us would be diving, they thanked me for calling.

When my son and I arrived at the pier, the boat pulled it, the owner, the boat operator, and the DM. It turns out we were the only passengers. They told us we would be doing one dive on Kennedy barge wreck, then pick up other divers at one of the local hotels.

This day the wind was pretty steady and the boat was bouncing some, my son felt ill , but the DM cooled him off with a hose and talked him to get his mind off his queeziness. The crew rigged all the equipment, including my yet un-used bp/w. I talked with the DM that I needed time to configure my new equip in the water he took his time and assisted me with my setup.

When we were ready, we pulled ourselves down the anchor line, to the wreck( the top was in 65ft)

We took our time on the bottom, the DM spent time showing us a nice variety of sea life. We saw rays, turtles, barracudas, lobster, plus more a nice first dive of the day 37minutes long.

After we picked up 3 divers, who were going to work with the owner on their OW dives, leaving the DM to dive with my son and I.

The 2nd dive was on a ridge line in a protected cove Flat Cay again alot of beautiful sea life on a leisurely 41 minute dives.

The 3rd dive was a drift dive after a tasty lunch of sandwiches which were included in our 3 dive package. The dive called Cisco's Drift started with a dive against a stiff current, until we reached the bottom of a coral ridge. The rest of the 43 min dive was relaxing just floating on a steady current around this coral valley.

I apologize, my retention of name is horrific but the owner, the female captain, and the dm were excellent. They all were helpful, giving background on the island during the surface intervals.

The nicest surprise was when the captain settled out our bill. He charged us for 2 divers, even though I he could easily charged us for the third since we did reserve 3 (and guarantee it with a credit card).

So a nice boat, CG approved, good dives, helpful dm combined with a great customer service. this was a great day and I would recommend this boat to anyone.

[PlatypusMan]

Thank you for sharing this with us!

Great to hear that you had such a good time in St. Thomas, I envy you --wish I could go back right now to that beautiful island.

[scubasamurai]

just in st marteens this past summer, great small wrecks and lots of fish and coral seems to be built up, but after dean hard to say. visability was not a problem, 80 ft all the way around and minimal wave action. current was hard on a dive pretty close to open sea, but the interior areas were great. dive safaris has little training inlet that has a sub and some old wrecks as well. i hate to say it if your not a nudist orient beach is becoming that way as well. and i do prefere the night light of st marteens that the americanized st thomas, even though the diving maybe better.

[TexasScuba53]

Originally Posted by Asiadiver

I dove with Chris Sawyer Dive Center. They do a couple of trips a week to the Rhone, it's a nice dive if you have the time. Here is their email address:
sawyerdive@islands.vi

Good luck,
Greg

Ditto with Chris Sawyer. Dove with them for a week in March. If time permits, the Rhone is a must. If you do get to dive the Rhone, rent the vid The Deep prior to going. It was made in 1977 so the quality is definitely old school but there are great shots of the Rhone.