St. Maarten, St. Thomas, or Grand Bahama Island for diving?

I'm taking an upcoming cruise from San Juan to Baltimore, stopping at Philipsburg, St. Maarten, Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, and Grand Bahama Island. My wife is not a scuba diver, but I hope to get one dive in. Out of these three locations, can someone offer an opinion on the best one for diving if I had to pick just one?

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Dan Bracuk wrote:
> "James P. Clark" <james.clarkANTI@SPAMsaguarosoftware.net> pounded
> away at his keyboard resulting in:
>
> :I'm taking an upcoming cruise from San Juan to Baltimore, stopping at Philipsburg, St. Maarten, Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, and Grand Bahama Island. My wife is not a scuba diver, but I hope to get one dive in. Out of these three locations, can someone offer an opinion on the best one for diving if I had to pick just one?
>
> Grand Bahama is nice. I have not been to the other places, at least
> not to dive.
>
> Dan Bracuk
> If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.
>
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James/Jim - when are you going?

I have booked two of the dives thru the ship, however my St. Thomas stop
I booked thru Blue Island Divers. If you are leaving after June 12th -
I can give you a recommendation.

Don - who and where did you dive particulars in Grand Bahama?

Joe English <jenglish@wisperhome.com> pounded away at his keyboard
resulting in:
:Don - who and where did you dive particulars in Grand Bahama?

I've dove off Grand Bahama from two liveaboards, the Bottom Time 2 and
the Nekton Pilot. While those boats are not available if you are
doing a cruise, the water certainly is, and it's nice.

We did do a dive just a bit further offshore than where the locals do
their shark dives. We saw the shark dives from a distance, and the
surrounding reef was quite enjoyable.

My gut feeling is that if you pick a shop and go where they take you,
you'll have a good time.

Dan Bracuk
If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.

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My cruise on Royal Caribbean is from May 7-13.

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"Dan Bracuk" <NOTbracuk@pathcom.com> wrote in message
news:965661t552fj3epn40f6boa9rf5d67ov54@4ax.com...
> Joe English <jenglish@wisperhome.com> pounded away at his keyboard
> resulting in:
> :Don - who and where did you dive particulars in Grand Bahama?
>
> I've dove off Grand Bahama from two liveaboards, the Bottom Time 2 and
> the Nekton Pilot. While those boats are not available if you are
> doing a cruise, the water certainly is, and it's nice.
>
> We did do a dive just a bit further offshore than where the locals do
> their shark dives. We saw the shark dives from a distance, and the
> surrounding reef was quite enjoyable.
>
> My gut feeling is that if you pick a shop and go where they take you,
> you'll have a good time.
>
> Dan Bracuk
> If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.
>
> ----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet
> News==----
> http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+
> Newsgroups
> ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption
> =----

James P. Clark wrote:

> My cruise on Royal Caribbean is from May 7-13.
>
Month earlier than me - post some info when you get back & enjoy

the idea of planning a cruise such as you have mentioned, and then
trying, in a retrograde fasion, to hook up diving in various weak
locations is a farce! The places you mention would be held up as some
of the weakest examples of diving in the Caribbean.

Take the goddam cruise and plan some future trip for diving (to some
locations that is really renown where one can experience in a proper
manner, the u/w world).

Joe English wrote:

> James P. Clark wrote:
>
> > My cruise on Royal Caribbean is from May 7-13.
> >
> Month earlier than me - post some info when you get back & enjoy

"Joe English" <jenglish@wisperhome.com> wrote in message
news:cab62$42639fec$ce504822$26015@allthenewsgroup s.com...

> thanks - I will be diving with Stuart's cove (thru the ship) we don't
> have time to do the shark dive (bummer). I am getting anxious about the
> trip wish I was going NOW!

You might be better off diving some of the areas they **used** to feed
sharks at, rather than the shark dives themselves. One of these sites is
Bahama Mama. Years ago they fed the males there and so sharks still frequent
the area, and the site is not that far from Shark Arena where they still
feed and Shark Wall, where they set the sharks up for the feeds. Last time I
was there we had 12-13 sharks, in a seemingly more natural environment and
behavior pattern. In fact, I have never dived it without sharks being
present, but I don't know if I'm lucky or if the sharks are always there.

In my experience, if you can get them to visit Bahama Mama, you will likely
see plenty of Caribbean males (the shark "feeds" are done with females) in a
beautiful setting of clear water, white sand bottom with a small wreck. It's
actually a very nice dive. One I would suggest is maybe of the better dives
Cove's does. And you don't pay extra for it and it falls within their normal
schedule.

While, unlike some others, I don't have any specific problem with staged
shark dives or feedings I have always enjoyed regular dives, where sharks
are, whether it's Darwin, Baja Alcyone, Silverado, Bahama Mama, Sanganeb,
etc.

OK, I'll bite. How do they ensure that they only get the females out to the
shark "feeds"?

"Daniel Arrepas" <arrepas.daniel@butler-rosebury.com> wrote in message
news:YiP8e.1$Oe5.352@news.uswest.net...
>
> "Joe English" <jenglish@wisperhome.com> wrote in message
> news:cab62$42639fec$ce504822$26015@allthenewsgroup s.com...
>
> > thanks - I will be diving with Stuart's cove (thru the ship) we don't
> > have time to do the shark dive (bummer). I am getting anxious about the
> > trip wish I was going NOW!
>
> You might be better off diving some of the areas they **used** to feed
> sharks at, rather than the shark dives themselves. One of these sites is
> Bahama Mama. Years ago they fed the males there and so sharks still
frequent
> the area, and the site is not that far from Shark Arena where they still
> feed and Shark Wall, where they set the sharks up for the feeds. Last time
I
> was there we had 12-13 sharks, in a seemingly more natural environment and
> behavior pattern. In fact, I have never dived it without sharks being
> present, but I don't know if I'm lucky or if the sharks are always there.
>
> In my experience, if you can get them to visit Bahama Mama, you will
likely
> see plenty of Caribbean males (the shark "feeds" are done with females) in
a
> beautiful setting of clear water, white sand bottom with a small wreck.
It's
> actually a very nice dive. One I would suggest is maybe of the better
dives
> Cove's does. And you don't pay extra for it and it falls within their
normal
> schedule.
>
> While, unlike some others, I don't have any specific problem with staged
> shark dives or feedings I have always enjoyed regular dives, where sharks
> are, whether it's Darwin, Baja Alcyone, Silverado, Bahama Mama, Sanganeb,
> etc.
>
>

Daniel Arrepas wrote:


> In my experience, if you can get them to visit Bahama Mama, you will likely
> see plenty of Caribbean males (the shark "feeds" are done with females) in a
> beautiful setting of clear water, white sand bottom with a small wreck. It's
> actually a very nice dive. One I would suggest is maybe of the better dives
> Cove's does. And you don't pay extra for it and it falls within their normal
> schedule.

We did the Bahama Mama wreck/shark dive with Nassau Scuba Centre, there
were a good number of sharks for us as well.

Daniel Kessler wrote:

> the idea of planning a cruise such as you have mentioned, and then
> trying, in a retrograde fasion, to hook up diving in various weak
> locations is a farce! The places you mention would be held up as some
> of the weakest examples of diving in the Caribbean.
>
> Take the goddam cruise and plan some future trip for diving (to some
> locations that is really renown where one can experience in a proper
> manner, the u/w world).
>
> Joe English wrote:
>
>
>>James P. Clark wrote:
>>
>>
>>>My cruise on Royal Caribbean is from May 7-13.
>>>
>>
>>Month earlier than me - post some info when you get back & enjoy
>
>
Not retrofitting anything - but its nice to see someone jumoing to
conclusions