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Dive Review of Bill Tewes' Dive St. Vincent/Young Island Resort in
St. Vincent and the Grenadines/St. Vincent

Bill Tewes' Dive St. Vincent/Young Island Resort, Jan, 2013,

by Thomas W. Doeppner, RI, US (Reviewer Reviewer 5 reports with 3 Helpful votes). Report 6862 has 1 Helpful vote.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling 2 stars
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments This was our seventh trip to St. Vincent; in all of them we dove with Dive St. Vincent and stayed at Young Island Resort. Young Island is separated from the main island by a channel around 100 yards wide. There's a small ferry available 24x7 that carries people across on demand. Dive St. Vincent, on the main island, uses the same dock as the ferry, so transfers are smooth. They leave you off at Young Island after the day's diving.

There is no better place in the Caribbean for macro photography than St. Vincent. Every year we go I see things I hadn't seen before. This trip the new stuff included a species of mantis shrimp I hadn't seen before (and still haven't identified) and a bluethroat pikeblenny. The "usual" cast of characters include blennies of various sorts, fingerprint cyphoma, cryptic as well as southern teardrop crabs, neck crabs, golden coral shrimps, nudibranchs and flatworms, both roughback and shortnose batfish, brotulas, octopus, squid, the usual caribbean morays as well as the unusual, such as chain and viper morays, pipefish, seahorses, frogfish (numerous longlure; we saw striated a few years ago), etc., etc.

Unfortunately, Bill Tewes has retired. He's well-remembered for his enthusiasm, expertise, and curmudgeonly ways. I dove with DJ and Ray on this trip. Both are great at spotting things and helping you get a good shot. DJ, as Bill did, carries a slate and identifies some of the more unusual creatures you find.

Dives often go on for 70 minutes or more. Though it's usually only two dives a day, I typically end up with more photographs from a week's worth of diving than I do when on a 5-dive-day liveaboard.

Young Island Resort is a quiet resort occupying all of Young Island. The food is very good (and certainly excellent by the standards of most dive resorts) and service is truly excellent. There isn't a whole lot to do on Young Island itself. You can take short walks on the rather hilly island, play tennis, sit on the beach, swim, or paddle a kayak. There's nightlife on the main island, but we've always occupied ourselves editing photos, reading, and enjoying the restaurant.

Getting to and from St. Vincent can be a bit of an adventure. No major airline flies there. Our latest trip involved Liat. They got us there on time from Barbados and got us back to Barbados on time, but not without some tense hours as they had discontinued our first return flight, booked us on another that would have gotten us to Barbados too late, booked us on another which was effectively cancelled due to maintenance issues, and finally getting us on a flight that got us to Barbados when we'd hoped to have arrived, after spending six hours at the St. Vincent airport.

There are plans for a new airport at St. Vincent that, perhaps, major US carriers might use, but there's no clear word on when it might be completed.
Websites Bill Tewes' Dive St. Vincent   Young Island Resort

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience Over 1000 dives
Where else diving all over
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, rainy, dry Seas calm
Water Temp 80-82°F / 27-28°C Wetsuit Thickness 4
Water Visibility 40-50 Ft/ 12-15 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions none. If you don't demonstrate good buoyancy control, they won't take you to some of the better sites.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? no

What I Saw

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

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

Subject Matter 5 stars Boat Facilities 4 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 5 stars Shore Facilities 3 stars
UW Photo Comments Despite having rather minimal rinse tanks on board, they definitely cater to UWP. Much of their clientele are experienced photographers.
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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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