Dive Review of Cruz Bay Watersports Co. and Dive Boats Inc./Westin in
Virgin Islands/West Congo

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Cruz Bay Watersports Co. and Dive Boats Inc./Westin, Aug, 2004, by Gary, NJ, USA . Report 1862.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	The dive boat Sea Quest was well laid out for about 15 to twenty divers. It has all the safety gear on board. A warm fresh water shower is located in the stern and a 3-tier table is also in the stern for weights, flippers, masks in that order from the floor up. There is no photo station on the boat. Inside the boat there are dry shelves for the divers to store their gear during the dive. The Sea Quest is also equipped with a working head and a fresh water dunk tank for the gear. The crew provides cold water for the guests. Captain Charlie and Dive Master Trevor were competent and knew the islands and dive sites including what fish, creatures, and landmarks would be of interest. Prior to entering the water Trevor reviewed the basic hand signs and gave a detailed description of the dive site and things to look and look out for during the dive. Before diving at night with Cruz Bay Water Sports you first have to dive at least once during the day allowing the dive master to access your skills. I was surprised that the PADI 5-Star dive shop had this restriction in light of my 71 logged dives including night dives and recent PADI Rescue certification and logged dives. I attempted to negotiate a better price for the 1-tank afternoon trip with snorkels, divers, and swimmers, to include the night dive but was unsuccessful. The 1-tank afternoon trip is $74 and the night dive was around the same price. I reasoned that a 2-tank morning trip was $86 and I really only wanted the night dive. Wishful thinking I suppose. I missed the night dive since the afternoon trip already left and instead booked a 2-tank morning dive later in the week. Water clarity was very good with 50 ft around the mooring buoy to about 80 or 100 ft during the dive. Dives ranged from about 60 ft to 100 ft for the fist dive and about 40 ft to 60 ft for the second dive. Water temperature at the bottom was 84 F and 86 F. The reefs were abundant with small tropical fish, blue tangs, French grunts, Lettuce Sea Slugs, octopus, spiny lobster, small fans and barrel sponges. There were also brain corals from several inches to several feet in diameter. I didn’t stay at the Westin where the dive shop and dock are located but the snack bar and pool were nice to come back to. The staff was professional and very safety minded. Cruz Bay Water Sports operates US Coast Guard approved vessels and performed several head counts prior to leaving the dive site and moving to the next. This was my first trip to the Virgin Islands and the diving was much better than my recent dives in Florida due to poor visibility. Beach diving is possible at many locations around St. John and tank rentals are $6. During my next visit I plan on taking a diving friend along to make use of the beach diving.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	51-100 dives
Where else diving	Turks & Caicos; Pompano Beach, FL; Cozumel; Cabo San Lucas; Key West, FL; Nassau; Purto Ventorus, MX
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	84-86°F / 29-30°C	Wetsuit Thickness	0
Water Visibility	50-80 Ft/ 15-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Divers were asked to notify the dive master when they reached 1,500 PSI and were to be at the specified location for a 15-feet 5-minute safety stop with 750 PSI so when exiting the water the tank was no lower than 500 PSI.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 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	[None]

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Dive Review of Cruz Bay Watersports Co. and Dive Boats Inc./Westin in Virgin Islands/West Congo

Cruz Bay Watersports Co. and Dive Boats Inc./Westin, Aug, 2004,

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 Cruz Bay Watersports Co. and Dive Boats Inc./Westin in
Virgin Islands/West Congo