St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Dominica, Martineque, and Barbados, 1999
Author: Craig

Sorry it took so long for report. Trying to catch up at work. Overall the trip was outstanding! I would highly recommend a Carnival Cruise to anyone who hasn't been on one before. Now on to the diving... The ship hit St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Dominica, Martineque, and Barbados.
First stop, St. Thomas. We were going to do the ship's dive tour just to see how it was going to be. Common sense prevailed and we ditched that trip and went out on our own. Tried to make the early morning dive with Chris Sawyer Dive, but we were too late and since we didn't make prior reservatios, they couldn't wait. So we had to walk over the hill to Coki Beach. The guys at Coki Beach Dive Club were great. Since we each had our own gear, all we needed were tanks and weights. Both dives were beach dives. This was also our first 'real' dives in the ocean after certification. The reefs were only about 20 to 30 yards off the beach. Fist dive was at East Reef. Nothing special but it sure beat the crap out of quarry diving. Lots of Parrot fish, Sea fans, many others I didn't recognize. One note: the current was very strong at times. Lets you know real quick that your out of shape! Second dive was at West Reef (real creative naming). Better dive than East reef. More color. More fish. Somewhat less current. Same marine life. Did see a Honeycomb Cowfish, kinda cool. As far as topside went, not much there. Some food shacks. Nice resort over by Chris Sawyer dive shop though.
Stats:
East: max 40ft 35min vis=80ft temp=82F
West: max 50ft 40min vis=80ft temp=82F

Next stop was St Maarten. No diving. Rented taxi and toured the island. Very interesting. Cabbie was real cool. Took us where we wanted. Showed us the sites. Went to Orient Beach and saw the older, fatter naked people. Came back and walked around the shops by the ship. Not much else to tell.

Third stop was Dominica. By far the best diving we encountered on our trip. We had made arrangements ahead of time with Nature Island Dive. A++ rating on the shop. Very nice, very friendly. Doing some renovations, but very clean. going to look great when their done. Simon was the best. Very knowledgeable. Exelent DM. Took the time to show us around and talk with us. First site was Dangle Bends Pinacles. Holy crap! I was hooked before we reached depth. Crystal clear blue water. Little to no current. Pinacles and dropoffs with white sand in between. Fishies galore. Extreamly colorful coral. Many Banded Shrimp. Saw a couple of Spotted Morays, Trumpet fish, Butterfly fish, Simon was sure to point out the resident Longsnout Seahorse and a Flamingo Tounge.(very cool!) Ten minutes into the dive, a hawksbill turtle came swimming up for air about 20 yards from us. Second dive was at Scotts Head Dropoff. Very cool site for both divers and snorkelers. Shallow reef along a 150-200ft wall.
Many of the same life. More colorful than DangleBends. Saw a large mackerel (sp?), a puffer fish, some more Spotted Morays. I would highly recommend this place to the novice as well as the advanced diver. They have their own cottages along the water that looked real nice. Not too primative. Not busy this time of year. My brother and I were the only divers on each trip.
Dangle Bends: max 80ft 42min vis=100ft+ temp=84F
Scotss Head: max 65ft 55min vis=100ft temp=86F

Fourth stop was Martinique. No diving. No tours. Just went into town for awhile. Very crowded. Not much to see. Rest of my group went on the island tour. They said it was good. Lots of rain forest type vegitation.

Last stop was in Barbados. By far the best looking island with lots of nice beaches along the shoreline. We had reservations with Dive Hightide. Great operation. Shop was just a 6X12ft shack, but sufficiant. Willie was very cool, although he only dove with us once.
First site was Tropicanna Reef. Huge reef with very colorful coral. Saw a puffer fish but not much else of interest. There were a couple of girls on the dive who were looking for turtles to tag. Their group was looking for the elusive #100. They had been trying for the last 3 days. Today was no different. No sightings. Second site was The Pamir. A 165ft cargo ship which was sunk purposely in 1983 after drugs were found aboard. First wreck dive. Kinda cool. Good for beginners. Saw a huge French Angelfish. Last dive was sort of a let down. The boat broke down on the way to Carlisle Bay which has 4 wrecks in one area. Good for snorkelers and divers. Overheating problem. By the time it ws fixed, we were running out of daylight so we had to settle for a closer sight. Bell Bouy was the site. Forest of Sea Plumes with coral intermingled. Saw a puffer and a small school of baracuda. Not much else. Would like to go back to dive the Stav someday. The shop in in a resort area. But the rooms were $800US a night! They had other places nearby. Overall it was great, but would have been better if we had made it to our original site for our third dive.
Tropicanna: max 80ft 37min vis=60ft temp=84F
Pamir: max 60ft 41min vis=60ft+ temp=84F
Bell Bouy: max 45ft 45min vis=100ft temp=84F

Like I said, the trip was outstanding. Both the cruise and the diving. Thanks to Doc V for his advice and recommendations. I would encourage anyone to take all their gear if they have it. Kinda sucked luging it around but that was partly due to my wet bag not having any andles or straps. Plenty of room on the ship to hange BC and wetsuit. Although, the room started stinkin' there for awhile. Definitely make dive arrangements prior to the trip. In St Thomas the cruise wanted $40 for a one tank dive. We were able to do 2 tanks for less than that. And they went to the same place we did. Both of the other shops don't do the cruise dive tours only snorkeling tours. Plus they take you to the good sites. Let me know if I left anything out or if there are some other specific questions you guys have.

Craig
DSAO

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