St Lucia February 2019

Six divers and three non-divers visited the West Indies Caribbean Island of Saint Lucia for 8 days diving 29 January to 8 February 2019.

The trip was booked through ‘Caribbean Fun Travel’, who we would highly recommend, answering all questions and sorting various issues as they arose. Saint Lucia is in the West Indies 21 miles south of Martinique, getting there involved a Virgin Flight from London Gatwick to Hewanorra International Airport.

We stayed at the Marigot Beach Club and Dive resort, the diving was arranged through the on site dive center ‘Dive Fair Helen’. Two boat dives were available every day except Sunday, the boat had plenty of room and a nice lunch and refreshments were provided between the dives, stride entry off the boat with two good ladders for getting back in. Snorklers were also welcome and we also arranged an additional night dive from the boat.

Accommodation was excellent; we had two studio apartments and one three bedroom villa, the resort is on the north side of the bay and mangrove trees meant that the only way off the resort was by using two free ferries. The resort has its own restaurant (Doolittles: named after Dr Dolittle which was filmed here) and two beaches; it was on one of the beaches that the snorklers found the sea horse. The South side of the bay has a few restaurants and shops, a supermarket and an ATM machine. Whether this ATM machine was functioning or not and conversion from $EC to $US provided the basis of most after dinner conversations.

The dive sites are mainly on the leeward west coast and most are south of Marigot Bay down to south of Soufriere and the volcanic Pitons. We dived, Anse La Raye Wall, Anse Cochon South, Vicky ‘B’ (sank May 2018) and Lesleen ‘M’ (sank 1986), Anse Cochon North, Trou au Diable, Anse Hasul Point, Grand Caille, The Pinnacles, Superman’s Flight (Superman was filmed around the Pitons), Turtle Reef, Piton Wall, Trou au Diable Wall, Anse Cochon north bay for the night dive, Jalousie (Sugar Beach) and Rosemund’s Trenches.

For boat diving and snorkelling you simply registered at the dive shop by 9:30 and the boat is at the dock by 10:00 with cylinders loaded. We had 86 boat dives in total, the reef angle gets steeper and as you go south towards the Pitons where the volcanic faces continue into the sea.

All dives were great with little current, visibility was around 25 m, the water temperature was 27 deg C so a 3 mm suit was ample and air temperature was around 32 deg C.

We did spend some time exploring the island: Soufriere, the sulphur springs, the botanical garden, Castries market and the Bobonneau rainforest Sky Ride, from the top you could see Martinique. The highlight being a trip to the Saint Lucia Rum Distillery, just south of Marigot Bay, with a tour, unlimited rum tasting and the discovery of Admiral Rodney.

All in all a very enjoyable trip, good company and good diving, we hope you enjoy the attached photos and that they give you some idea of our trip to Saint Lucia.

Photos from the trip