Dive Op Review

Dive Op Name: Dive Safaris
Address: Bobby's Marina, Philipsburg, St. Maarten, NA.
Phone: 011-599-545-3213
Email: divesafaris@caribserve.net
Website: http://www.diveguideint.com/divesafaris
http://www.thescubashop.net
http://www.divestmaarten.com

Staff Rating: 8.5/10
They, like most modern dive shops hire divemasters from around the world. They all seamed excited about diving and tried to be as courteous and accommodating as possible
They do a lot of cruise ship divers and if you don't let them know your interest they tend to point out the same eels, lobsters, stingrays and scorpion fish over and over, but they can be very helpful in helping find the stuff you are interested in (for me I'm on a macro kick). Sometimes it may be better to go out on the second boat and sometimes the first. If you are spending several days there talk to them they are very accommodating.
Boats Rating: 9/10
They used three boats from this location, they were all different sizes but adequately fast for the location of the dive sights. They seamed to try to step up not down to the next larger boat when necessary and I never felt over cramped. They do a lot of cruise ship traffic from this location and are very busy on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and quite slow on Saturdays, crowds and experience of divers can vary a lot from day to day.

Sights Rating: Good (take a short trip to Saba for excellent)
Visibility was good, 80 feet maybe a little better most of the time however there are a couple of wrecks, Cara Cargo, and Tiegland that are very popular and can get several groups at the same time in which visibility can suffer.

Cara Cargo is a recent wreck and although it is great in that it sets up right and has some very good beginner to intermediate level swim through the coral and aquatic life is not yet built up to a truly great wreck. I'll love to go back in a few years and see how it is developing.

Another interesting wreck in the area is the HMS Proselyte it has an interesting history but not much to see other than a few canons and anchors. The coral is well developed here and you might find any of the usual Caribbean aquatic life here.

The Maze had about the best and healthiest reef I dove on here and was my favorite of the usual dives for this area. They also go to an area they call Mamma's reef named for a large Black tip reef shark that is often spotted in the area. The reef is about average with no great walls or swim through but they do there shark dive here twice a week so you do stand an above average chance of spotting a shark.

The shark dive is in about 50 feet of water in a sandy patch in the reef. They do it at one in the afternoon making for best possible sun light for photos. When I did it about 20 sharks showed up all Black tips including Mamma. It was very exciting for a while but after I clicked off about 80 photos with my point and shoot digital I was ready for something else. I felt like it was one of them everyone should do once but don't know about how many times I'd do it again.

I really enjoyed a shallow afternoon dive in "little Bay". This is an area they have set up for discover scuba and open water check-out. Maximum depth is about 30 feet and patchy reef along a boulder wall. I spent an hour and eleven minutes on this sight finding it a macro photographers dream. No pressure to follow the leader and get back to the boat type routines just gentles currents and plenty of juveniles and interesting macro life. There were a couple of small wrecks teaming with life and plenty of photo opportunities.

Additional comments
They normally get cruise ship or occasional divers and not customers who dive several repeat days, they like to go back to the same 6 sights close to the Bay, although they may be coaxed to breaking the routine.

Although some might consider this a cattle boat type operation they try hard to accommodate every individual while working with the cruise ship crowd. I found the management to be very friendly and helpful including helping me set up travel and diving on the little island of Saba. If you go to Saint Maarten this is a must do, and if all you want to do is dive just go there instead.

Tricks
Just be sure to talk to them about what you want or expect they are good people and will try to help. You might also consider switching between them and there other location to get more variety.

Overall Rating: 8/10