Dive Review of Eastern Caribbean Diving/Bay Gardens Hotel in
St. Lucia

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Eastern Caribbean Diving/Bay Gardens Hotel: "Fun", Jan, 2015, by Rolf Kurzhals, ON, CA ( 1 report with 1 Helpful vote). Report 8119 has 1 Helpful vote.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	First off about us we are rescue and solo certified with over 500 dives. We have dove many caribbean islands, Belize, Florida, Hawaii, Mexico and Oz. We did 19 dives over 9 days with ECD. We were picked up from Rodney Bay at 8:30am by Judy who was usually early. Dropoff was usually 3-4pm. The shop has a shower and good gear rinse facilities-tubs and hoses. We have our own gear but the rental stuff looked well maintained-Cressi weight integrated BCD's, regs with gauges, full foot fins etc. They will store your gear when doing multiple days diving. Andry ran the shop while we were there and made sure everyone had everything they needed. I would recommend a wetsuit, they had shorties for rent. Water temps 76-83 degrees. The weather was 70's 80's everyday, light rain some mornings, a day of heavier surf reduced the viz that day to 20-30ft. Most days viz was 60-80 ft. A couple of sites had surge and a couple had some current(Pinnacles was the strongest currents) The boat is a big boat with lots of space. It has room for 20 2 tank divers and a dozen snorkellers. We had between 2 and 9 divers per trip, no snorkellers. It is a slow boat but very stable and roomy. It is about 80% covered by a canopy for protection from the sun. It had a marine head, a mask bucket and no camera bucket, but I'm sure they would find one if requested. All the usual safety stuff-fire extinguishers, lifejackets, radio, first aid, O2, lionfish kit and most important professional staff. Most dives were live dropoff and pickup instead of mooring/anchoring. Donovan captained the boat and was very good at putting boat where it needed to be. We had some new divers onboard a couple of times but the dive sites chosen did not sacrifice the dives of the experienced divers. I overheard some of the instruction Eget gave the new divers and it seemed very thorough. There were usually 2 divemasters/instructors in the water even with only 2 divers, 3 divemasters when we had the 9 divers. Judy was our divemaster for most dives. Her predive briefings were good and complete. Starfish was a divemaster in training, a very hardworking individual with a love of the sport. They do hunt lionfish(an invasive species) and are very good at it. They even gave us some and it was delicious, thanks Eget. Tanks had good fills usually well over 3000psi. VERY IMPORTANT-You dive till your air is low, not everybody up with the first air hog. Entry is giant stride, exit via 2 ladders and would lift your gear if you needed help. We dove from smugglers cove in the north to coral gardens in the south. We saw the usual caribbean critters including a couple of turtles, seahorses and frogfish. Good macro stuff as well. Between and after dives there was juice/water and cookies/fruit/sandwiches. As with any operation admitting your experience/comfort levels will ensure you get what you need. If you claim to be an "advanced" diver and expect babysitting or claim to be a "novice" and expect to be totally independent, you will be disappointed. I must admit I had a lot of fun diving with Donovan and his staff. Thanks for going above and beyond for the pics Donovan and Eget, and thanks for the pink banana shark signature judge Judy. More Pics Here: [kilroy63.wix.com link]
Websites	Eastern Caribbean Diving Bay Gardens Hotel
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	[Unspecified]
Closest Airport	UVF Hewanorra International Airport	Getting There	WestJet from Toronto
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm, surge, currents
Water Temp	76-83°F / 24-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	20-80 Ft/ 6-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	no
What I Saw
Sharks	None	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	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	(None)

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Eastern Caribbean Diving/Bay Gardens Hotel in St. Lucia

Eastern Caribbean Diving/Bay Gardens Hotel: "Fun", Jan, 2015,

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 Eastern Caribbean Diving/Bay Gardens Hotel in
St. Lucia