Dive Review of Sandals Grande St. Lucian in
St. Lucia

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Sandals Grande St. Lucian: "Better than expected diving", Dec, 2019, by John kirkenir, NJ, US ( Contributor 16 reports with 8 Helpful votes). Report 11393.
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	We’ve done three Sandals trips and dove as many times as we could on all the trips. Overall Sandals diving is a great experience. The boats are all in great shape. Usually Newton 46 ft boats which are great dive platforms. The diving is included as part of the resort cost so you’d think there would be lots and lots of divers but this has not been the case on any of the three trips. Most days there were 15 to 20 divers. There were always plenty of instructors and DM’s so the groups were broken up between students, beginners and experienced divers. The boat pulls up to the dock and it’s easy to get on and off. All dives were led and the first diver in the group to hit 1,000 psi in their tank ends the dive. On dives where a beginner got mixed in with the experienced divers it led to short dives. Only on one dive did we approach and hour bottom time. It was a 20-30 ft dive with amazing fish and coral. But the DM got a couple comments from the boat captain and other DM’s. Sandals is unique in their dive intervals. They provide food. Sandwiches, danish, fresh fruit. Very nice touch. Getting on the boat is easy enough dual ladders, hand up fins and climb up and get helped to your seat. The only odd thing was no tag lines were used. Even on days when the sea was a little sporty. I asked a couple times if one could be used and was either never answered or told to just hold onto platform to take off fins and wait your turn. I’ve seen people (especially new divers get smacked in the head but he platform doing this. Strange that they don’t want to use a line instead. Dive sites were generally 30 -40 minute boat rides away. The trip to the Pitons was over and hour. It’s a windy place so there is always some kind of chop or swell. take your Bonine. Very safe operation and the rental equipment seemed relatively new and in good shape. We had our own so don’t know for sure. They use weight belts not integrated BDC’s. The reef health was generally very good. Very colorful and vibrant. No big stuff but lot’s of critters. The only real negative was the presence of Fish traps on several of our dives. This was in areas that were full of dive boats and snorkel boats. One trap obviously hadn’t been attended in days. Lots of dead fish in it and a large green moray and a small nurse shark. Heart breaking to see and the St Lucian government and the other dive operators need to come up with Marine Sanctuaries and protected areas. These traps were dumped right on top of coral with no regard to the reef. I won’t go back to dive St Lucia until I hear they’ve come up with a better plan so that fisherman and divers have their areas respected and outlined. I wish I had known before that the ride in the Sandals van from the airport was going to be in an old bouncy vehicle and booked my own car for $100 instead. Would be well worth it trust me. We did that on the ride back to the airport and it was a much more pleasant experience.
Websites	Sandals Grande St. Lucian
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Bonaire, Cozumel, Costa Rica, Bahamas, Florida, curaçao, Bermuda, North Carolina, Aruba, Curacao, Antigua, Dominican Republic, Hawaii
Closest Airport	UVF	Getting There	Flight from EWR was direct which was great. The 2 + hour twisty bouncy van ride to resort... not so much
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy	Seas	calm
Water Temp	79-81°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	25-70 Ft/ 8-21 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	All dives were led. Groups were typically 4 to 8 divers. First diver to reach 1,000 psi ends the dive or 45 minutes whichever comes first.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	no
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	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	No camera table on the boat. The table on deck was used for weights and other gear. Camera tank provided but nothing when we get to the dock.

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Dive Review of Sandals Grande St. Lucian in St. Lucia

Sandals Grande St. Lucian: "Better than expected diving", Dec, 2019,

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 Sandals Grande St. Lucian in
St. Lucia