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

Scubaqua/The Old Gin House: "Wonderful", Apr, 2015,

by Steven Shapse Ph.D, MA, US (Reviewer Reviewer 3 reports). Report 8238.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 3 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 2 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments What a delightful trip. Airport five minutes from hotel. Picked up by dive shop and jumped into back of open truck with benches. This is the same truck used to take all to the dive boat. Everything is no further away than five minutes. Then again, St. Eustatius (Statia for short) isn't very big.

The tourist area is about 1/2 mile long. One "hotel" and some guest houses. Three or so restaurants and some of the best reefs in the Caribbean. The waters off the island are a marine park and well maintained. As there are very few divers diving at any one time, the reefs are in great condition. Lots of variety including several wreck.

Scubaqua is one of the best dive operators I've been with. Briefings well done and informative. Dive masters were very concerned, knowledgeable and excited about diving, regularly pointing out fish, creatures and other sites underwater that are easy to miss. Free nitrox provided. Actually, nitrox is almost a must as most dives are consistently 70-90 feet. Dives were long, never rushed and you surfaced only when out of non-deco time or air. Simply, a great operation!
Websites Scubaqua   The Old Gin House

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving Hawaii, Grand Cayman & sister islands, St. Lucia, Belize, Curacao and more.
Closest Airport EUX Getting There via SXM

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, dry Seas choppy, surge
Water Temp 78-82°F / 26-28°C Wetsuit Thickness 5
Water Visibility 35-60 Ft/ 11-18 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile ?
Enforced diving restrictions While marine park rules required divers to be accompanied by a dive master, the DMs allowed you to continue your dive until you or your buddy ran out of air, or non-deco times were reached.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas 1 or 2
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 5 stars Tropical Fish 3 stars
Small Critters 4 stars Large Fish 2 stars
Large Pelagics 2 stars

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

Subject Matter 5 stars Boat Facilities 4 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments Boat only had buckets for cameras. No camera table.
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Subscriber's Comments

By Bobby Munno in NY, US at Jun 07, 2015 09:57 EST  
Confirmed. Wife and I did the same trip in March '15. For us, Scubaqua is THE BEST dive operator in the Caribbean! Two couples run the fantastic show with unmatched dedication and passion. New custom boat. New tanks/valves put in service when we were there. We had better vis. The Old Gin House was best hotel and most convenient to dive shop. Wife found blue beads as promised. We loved DM Noortje! A&B of NYC
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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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