Dive Review of Scubaqua/Old Gin House in
St. Eustatius/N/A

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Scubaqua/Old Gin House: "Great diving, no shopping!", Feb, 2016, by Margaret McGaughey, WA, US ( 1 report with 1 Helpful vote). Report 8898 has 1 Helpful vote.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food	N/A
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Six of us traveled from the U.S. to "Statia" as it is typically called in February. For us it was a perfect Caribbean dive destination. No cruise ships, no shopping, few tourists, a few hotels, maybe 4 or 5 restaurants. And beautiful diving. Scubaqua took excellent care of us. Transfers to and from the airport were smooth. Dive boat was comfortable and well equipped. And the dive masters/guides were great. All the dive masters spoke perfect or near perfect English as well as Dutch and at least one other language (French, Spanish, German, etc.) Nitrox was available and encouraged. Most of the dive entries involved swimming up the boat to the anchor line before dropping, but they nicely accommodated some of us who needed a bit more time/help doing the surface swim. We did a different dive site every dive (5 days of 2-tank diving plus one night dive). Most dives were 60-90 feet deep. Water temp was 77-79 degrees F. We saw sharks (nurse sharks and caribbean reef sharks), barracuda, all the typical reef fish and lots of them, so many turtles!!, eels, gobies, blennies, sting rays, flying gurnard, etc. And the reefs are quite healthy - due to long protection and not so many divers. Many of the dives are over old (really old) wrecks that are covered in life and also interesting historically. The Scubaqua staff told us they had the best night dive in the Caribbean. It was true! (as far as I know anyway) Above water, Statia has lots of history - it's worth checking out the museum and walking around to see the old ruins of buildings from the 17th and 18th century. The Old Gin House is showing its age, but was comfortable (A/C in the rooms, nice shower with lots of hot water). Restaurants: Blue Bead, Ocean View, and Cool Corner were by far the best choices. Old Gin House is also ok but expensive. We did miss our flight from St Maarten to the U.S. owing to Winward Air's very relaxed/uncertain schedule. But there are lots of flights from St Maarten and we were re-booked quickly. Was it worth it? Yes. Would we return? You bet!
Websites	Scubaqua
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Puget Sound, Canada, Iceland, Philippines, Palau, Baja California, Cozumel, Roatan.
Closest Airport	F.D. Roosevelt	Getting There	Via St Maarten Winward Air
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	77-79°F / 25-26°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	Nitrox limited the depth. Otherwise, just had to stay with DM (within reason).
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Scubaqua/Old Gin House in St. Eustatius/N/A

Scubaqua/Old Gin House: "Great diving, no shopping!", Feb, 2016,

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

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

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

Dive Review of Scubaqua/Old Gin House in
St. Eustatius/N/A