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Dive Review of Golden Rock Dive Center/Old Gin House and Orange Bay Hotel in
St. Eustatius

Golden Rock Dive Center/Old Gin House and Orange Bay Hotel: "Incredible Personal Service", Aug, 2019,

by Douglas , IL, US (Contributor Contributor 19 reports with 10 Helpful votes). Report 11057 has 3 Helpful votes.

Photos Submitted with this Report


Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions

Airport Welcome Cap'n Dave GR testing NEW dive boat GR Temp HQ Old Gin Restaurant
Orange Bay Restrnt and Rooms

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 4 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments Sarah's immediate responses to my many pre-trip emails were friendly and helpful, as she set up excellent accomodations for us as part of a dive package. Golden Rock is right at the dive dock, so it's a short hop from their ops (gear rinse, freshwater showers, relaxation patio, etc.) to their boats. They dock after each dive (nice!). (btw, I noticed the other dive shop daily transporting divers to and from the dock in the back of a pickup truck.)

My wife (Lori) and I prefer smaller dive shops, because we've found them to be more laid back and accommodating to special requests, and that's exactly how it was with Dave and Sarah. "Is there somewhere special you'd like to dive?" was a common question. "Afternoon dive will be when you've had a nice lunch and are ready," Dave once remarked. One morning, he announced "I'm taking you guys somewhere special," and set off all the way to the north point of the island for the Gibraltar site, with its unique massive underwater volcano boulders. 2x, Lori and I had the boat to ourselves, and Dave still went wherever we wanted.

Golden Rock is very safety conscious on all dives, with careful briefings and highly attentive dive guides, something I take seriously after having been lost at sea (temporarily thank goodness) off the coast of Costa Rica. And I especially respect that attitude being available for the less experienced. Both tank straps tore off Lori's veteran BC during a night dive (that added some excitement), and the next morning, Sarah had a virtually brand new Lady Bella ready for Lori's use throughout the rest of the week.

Both boats had plenty of shade and were super comfy, and we especially liked being on EZ-Going, which had tons of room to move around, even on the day when we had a full group of dive architecture student interns.

I logged 21 dives, and many of my notes contain exclamation points. Chien Tong wreck at night! Massive fields of open orange cup corals with a huge number of bigass sleeping turtles!! Worth the price of admission all by itself!!! We asked to repeat Double Wreck site for its combo of architectural features- a colorful coral plateau, sea grass fields, sculpted sand features, and an ancient anchor; along with garden eels, arrow, anemone and decorator crabs, cleaner shrimp, leopard eels, tiny brown blennies, black and yellow lined angels, juvenile rock beauties, schools of tiny reef fish of all flavors, a creamy pink frog fish and then a lime green one, big lobsters, reef crab, a hovering line of 12 squid, undulating tile fish, a lone remora, big sponges and healthy hard and soft corals, porcupine and puffer fish, damsels, mini creoles, big sand rays, goatfish, trumpetfish, cowfish . . .

We had an absolutely wonderful week of relaxation time, with super entertaining diving which I rate 5 Stars on a Caribbean level, hosted by Sarah and Dave, a wonderfully friendly and kind, laid-back but super-professional dive couple. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Websites Golden Rock Dive Center   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 501-1000 dives
Where else diving Solomons, Truk, Yap, Palau, Coral Sea, GBR, PNG, Roatan, Maui, Jamaica, Florida Jupiter and Keys, L'il Cayman and Grand Cayman East, Belize Ambergris and Isla Marisol, Grand Turk, Cabo Pulmo, Cozumel, Dominica, Bonaire, Fiji, Komodo and Lembeh, Bonne Terre mine, Saba and Statia
Closest Airport Statia Getting There St Maarten then WinAir to Statia

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, dry Seas calm
Water Temp 82-82°F / 28-28°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 70-90 Ft/ 21-27 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Statia law requires divers to be in site of dive guide at all times.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 5 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 5 stars Large Fish 1 stars
Large Pelagics 1 stars

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter N/A Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments Lori and I use a Go Pro but one of the divers during our week humped around a big rig, and he said he loves Golden Rock and has been repeat visiting for years.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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