Dive Review of Low Key Watersports/Suite St. John at Gallows Point Res in
Virgin Islands/St John, USVI

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Low Key Watersports/Suite St. John at Gallows Point Res: "Fun Family Get-Away", Mar, 2019, by Dorothy McDonald, OH, US ( Sr. Contributor 22 reports with 12 Helpful votes). Report 11055 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	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This was an extended family trip with 4 adults and 4 teens/young adults. We chose St. John because it is a beautiful island that we all enjoy, and we knew it would be a good spot for one of the kids to do his open-water certification dives. We all enjoy Gallows Point Resort because of the condos and the easy walk into town to go to the dive shop, restaurants, shops, and other activities. This eliminates the hassle of finding a parking spot in a crowded tourist town. Some of the group went snorkeling at a variety of beaches on one day and hired a driver which worked out fine. The person in our group who was doing his open-water certification dives felt very comfortable with Max, his instructor for those dives. Max was attentive and thorough when going through the skills with the new diver. Although the visibility was generally only 25'to 50', there were no currents and it was a great place to do certification dives. My husband and I were diving from the same boat as our diver who was getting certified. On the first dive we were told to go ahead and get into the water and join the rest of the guided divers as they got into the water. Although we waited under the boat, we never saw the rest of the dive group when they got in - and they didn't see us (vis wasn't very good on that dive). Eventually we realized that the group had to be in the water and we had missed them, so we made the poor choice of staying in the water and just swimming around looking at things under the boat. We could see our trainee diver with his instructor - but never spotted the other group of divers. Later we were severely chastised by one of the guides. In hind-sight we understand why they would have preferred that we return to the boat and we realize that's what we should have done, but the incident could have been handled much better - the point made without creating all the anger on everyone's part. Fortunately, we were able to avoid that guide the rest of the trip and it did not affect our new diver's experience or the remainder of our dives. We had arranged in advance through Low Key Watersports to charter a boat with a captain and one crew for the day after our new diver became certified. So that we'd have a little different experience, we chose to spend the day going to the British Virgin Islands. Max, who had certified our new diver was our crew and dive guide. During the day trip we stopped at 3 different sights for diving/snorkeling. While 5 of our group snorkeled, Max led the other 3 of us on the dives. It was a great experience for the new diver who got to dive the wreck of the Rhone and see some things he hadn't seen before. The visibility was better and we saw more fish than we had seen during our St. John dives, including reef sharks and small schools of grunts, glassy sweepers, jacks, and squirrel fish, we even saw a couple of turtles. For lunch we stopped at the Willie-T, a boat that is an iconic bar and restaurant in the BVI's. Having the chartered boat for the day was the favorite activity of everyone in the group. In hind-sight I'd say that St. John is beautiful, has a nice variety of restaurants, with plenty to keep water-oriented people busy. The water is calm and gentle; however, there is not a lot of sea life. It is a great place for snorkelers and new divers and for people who want to do some quick, easy dives. Experienced divers would probably be bored - especially if they are required to stay close to a guide at all times! The BVIs are an easy day trip from St. John, and if you want to visit the BVIs, be sure to take your passport along.
Websites	Low Key Watersports Suite St. John at Gallows Point Res
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Philippines, Caribbean, Indonesia, South Pacific, Maldives, Florida
Closest Airport		Getting There	Flew from Miami to St. Thomas, USVI. After arrival in St. Thomas we shared a cab/van to Red Hook where we took a ferry to St. John. Sounds like a lot, but its very easy and scenic. The resort sent their van to pick us up at the ferry dock.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	80-84°F / 27-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	25-50 Ft/ 8-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Stay with guide at all times.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	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	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Low Key Watersports/Suite St. John at Gallows Point Res in Virgin Islands/St John, USVI

Low Key Watersports/Suite St. John at Gallows Point Res: "Fun Family Get-Away", Mar, 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 Low Key Watersports/Suite St. John at Gallows Point Res in
Virgin Islands/St John, USVI