Dive Review of Blue Island Divers in
Virgin Islands/St. Thomas

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Blue Island Divers: "Blue Island Divers - Excellent choice for cruise ship divers", Dec, 2014, by Bill Radunovich, FL, US ( 2 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 8087 has 1 Helpful vote.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food	N/A
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	I arrived in St. Thomas on a cruise ship, docking at the Crown Bay cruise terminal, which was great because the shop and boat is on the far side of the Crown Bay Marina next to the terminal, and it was not difficult to walk over there once I got off the ship. I arrived at the shop a little early and Morgan and Kilian were already getting the boat ready. It turned out that of the 3 cruise ships docked that day, I was the only person on any of them to book a dive that afternoon. There was one other diver, who was on vacation on St. Thomas. So I grabbed some food from the grocery store that's right there (and you should not expect this place to be cheap - this is a yacht-supply store, so you are paying for the convenience of having a grocery store right there at the dock) and came back to the boat. And here is where the quality of the shop began to emerge. It was just the two of us, but Kilian and Morgan decided to go out anyway. I feel they could have easily told us that 2 divers wasn't enough to justify their costs, but they didn't even hint at that. They just said "Let's go." And off we went. The weather wasn't great. It was cloudy and drizzling. But the water was pretty smooth, with a very slight chop. Kilian gave the boat briefing, which was inclusive of everything that might be considered relevant. Our first stop was the Miss Opportunity, a WWII hospital ship that sunk upside down. Morgan gave a thorough briefing on the ship and our path through it. Then we geared up and dove in. Despite the weather, the water was warm and comfortable. But because of the weather and recent storms, it was cloudy, with visibility no more than 15-20 fsw. Morgan led us down and through the wreck, which includes a somewhat tight swim-through that was just at the edge of my comfort level, partly because of the dark and cloudy water. The other diver, in fact, didn't go all the way through, opting instead to exit through a hole in the hull of the wreck and following along outside. Then we swam around the wreck a bit, and while I had no idea where we were, Morgan led us right back to the boat. All in all a great dive. Then we proceeded over to our next site, a shallow reef named Flat Key. Again, we got another briefing, complete and thorough, and I felt I had a good understanding of what was in store for us. We got in and did the dive, which lasted about 40 minutes. This is a beautiful reef with a lot of great coral formations and fish. On both dives there were spotted eels, which Morgan deftly pointed out. So the dives were great, and the water was nice a warm (especially for December, though of course St. Thomas IS a tropical paradise!). But I can't stress enough the degree to which Kilian and Morgan made it a great dive trip. I suppose it was helpful that there were only 2 of us diving, so we could all just sit and talk both on the way out and during our surface interval between dives. That aside, though, both of them combine friendliness and professionalism to a degree that I've rarely encountered. Kilian, especially, seems every bit the I'm-gonna-move-to-the-tropics-and-dive-all-day-and-drink-all-night ex-pat American, but he's also a complete professional who know his stuff and whose first consideration was safety of the people on board his vessel. It was funny, in fact, to see how quickly he went from making jokes about drinking to discussing proper dive safety and DCS avoidance. And, on both dives, he was there to help us in and out of the water. Morgan, too, was both a great dive companion and a great dive leader. She kept track of how both of us were; she pointed out wildlife regularly (which was especially important to me, who was using an underwater camera for the first time - fun!), kept track of where we were, and brought us right back to the boat each time. Above water, she was helpful with gear. In short, she did everything she could to make sure that our dive went well. All this for just two divers. And all for a very reasonable price - less than I've paid in South Florida, where I regularly dive. So whenever I'm back in St. Thomas, I'll be almost certain to go back tot hem again. It's a first-class operation.
Websites	Blue Island Divers
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Florida, Springs and from Palm Beach to Keys; Cozumel; various Caribbean islands; New Zealand, Poor Knights Islands.
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	windy, rainy	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	-°F / -°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	0-20 Ft/ 0-6 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Depth limits were given, but enforcement was not necessary. The bottom was our limit.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	This was the first time I've ever taken an underwater camera with me on a dive, so I can't really compare them to other operators, because I don't know what other operators do or don't do. But I can say that a) Morgan did a great job of pointing out things to take pictures of as well as waiting for me while I was taking pictures, and b) Kilian was there to help me in and out of the water, which included giving me my camera after I got in and taking it from me when I got out.

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Blue Island Divers in Virgin Islands/St. Thomas

Blue Island Divers: "Blue Island Divers - Excellent choice for cruise ship divers", Dec, 2014,

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 Blue Island Divers in
Virgin Islands/St. Thomas