Dive Review of Scubaqua/Old Gin House in
St. Eustatius

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Scubaqua/Old Gin House: "Pleasant Dive Trip Made Quirky With COVID Protocols", Oct, 2021, by Rik Pavlescak, FL, US ( Sr. Contributor 23 reports with 19 Helpful votes). Report 11711 has 2 Helpful votes.
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Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
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Comments	Diving in the time of COVID can be a challenge and travel is no longer particularly enjoyable. Being in a new place is, though, so if the benefits outweigh the costs for you, go ahead and follow the process. Flights to Saint Eustatius transit through St. Maarten which requires even transit passengers to have a COVID test with 48 hours of arriving and then submitting documentation through their EHAS portal and getting a pre-approval prior to flying into St. Maarten. Fortunately, their processing time is relatively fast--I had my pre-approval back within 2 hours of uploading the paperwork. The same was true for St. Eustatius' portal--very similar to the St. Maarten requirements. Traveling through St. Maarten requires going through a long line where all COVID documentation is reviewed; going through immigration, and then retrieving your baggage and rechecking it in on your flight, clearing security again as well (no TSA pre-check here, so be mindful not to bury your liquid ziplocks, electronics, etc. Shoes also must come off here.) Once on Saint Eustatius, depending on what level of "threat" your country represents, you are under a "COVID Protocol". For US residents this requires masking and social distancing for 5 days--in the dive shop, on the boat before and after dives, and eating only at outdoor restaurants. On the fifth day, you receive a follow-up COVID test (rapid antigen) and, assuming it is negative, you are no longer under the protocol--so masking is not required for your final day of diving (assuming a one week trip). The antigen test can be used for documentation requirements to get back into the US as well. This trip was organized by RU4Scuba out of Rochester, New York. Jim did an excellent job of "coaching" travelers through the COVID requirements and even held a pre-trip Zoom meeting to walk everyone through the various steps, showing the portals and where to enter information, etc. Throughout the week he constantly checked in to make sure that everyone was having a great trip. This was my second trip with RU4Scuba (the first was to the Philippines) and I enjoyed both quite a bit. We were met at the airport in St. Eustatius by the Scubaqua crew. They loaded baggage into trucks and people into an air conditioned van and brought us to the Old Gin House, the hotel we were staying at, which is literally 100 steps away from the dive shop. We were led to the hotel's restaurant where we received welcome drinks and a trip briefing before dinner. Baggage was taken to our rooms while this was happening. The Scubaqua crew provided details about how the week would flow, explained the diving protocols and answered all questions. The trip combined accommodations at the Old Gin House, which provided daily breakfast. RU4Scuba arranged an optional dinner/lunch package to keep things convenient. The Old Gin House breakfasts were typically eggs/ham/bacon cooked to order with fruit and toast. Vegan/plant-based requests were met with cereal, almond milk, and extra fruit. Lunches were simple sandwiches with no sides. Vegan was typically a small salad--I had to ask for bread to be added just to get some calories in, as the salad was not substantial at all. There were no nuts, beans, or other source of protein offered at lunch, if eating a plant-based meal. For the dinners at Old Gin House, I selected the side dishes that came with the main options: for example, side salad, grilled veggies, rice, and coleslaw. Diving with Scubaqua involved a very short (100 steps) walk to the dive shop for gear pickup and a dive briefing. Then divers pile into the back of two trucks for a few minute drive to the dock--going through "customs" at the dock entrance. Outside of COVID this required each diver getting off the truck, walking through a turnstile and then returning to the truck to be driven to the boat. Given that we were under the "COVID Protocol" we stayed on the truck, a manifest was given to the customs agent at each crossing and then we were waved through. At the dock, the crew helped divers board the boat--which was a 3'-4' foot drop from the dock. Many of us older divers sat at the edge of the dock and slipped down onto the boat. Getting out of the boat required most of us to pull ourselves up to the dock in a sitting position and then stand up from the dock. On the boat, because we were under the COVID Protocol, valet diving was not offered. Each diver had their gear in a dive bag and had to set up and break down gear for each dive. At the end of the dive day, gear bags were left on the boat and "rinsed" by the crew. One to two days in several divers had problems with stuck inflaters on their BCDs--most likely not enough rinsing to get salt crystals out of the inflater buttons. Our program called for 2-3 dives per day. Morning dive had an 8:30 a.m. call at the shop for briefing, etc. We typically pulled away from the dock a little after 9:00 a.m. After the first dive, the boat goes back to the dock, everyone gets off, gets back on the truck, drives through customs and returns to the dive shop for a "quick break" (5-10-15 minutes?) This gave a chance to use restroom, change camera batteries, etc. Then there was a briefing for the upcoming dive, everyone jumped back onto the trucks, drive to the dock, through customs, onto the boat, etc. Rinse and repeat for 15 dives through the week with a night dive offered. As I'm writing this it sounds like a lot of work to go diving. In a way, it is. It certainly fills a day. The crew, however, are very high-spirited and good-natured and went out of their way to help everyone with anything they could. Nitrox was offered and tanks were analyzed before each dive, with each diver recording their results and signing. No roll calls were taken on the boat, but counts were done at the end of each dive. We used "Yellow Boat" throughout the week--with anywhere from 7 to 12 divers on each trip, plus 2 guides in the water. Seating is on the gunwales of the boat. Most dives were between 10-20 minutes away from the harbour. Once at the mooring line, the first half would get ready--a dive master would pull tank up to gunwale and assist while diver geared up. Entry was a back roll into the water. Dive profile was always a "U": descend the line, most of the dive at depth, return to mooring line at 700 PSI and ascend the line and return to the boat. Plenty of assistance for handing up cameras, fins, and assisting divers back on the boat. The dive masters were friendly, and some were better than others in terms of pointing out things underwater. Yuri and Seth ranked pretty high, as did Nardia in terms of spotting critters of interest and pointing them out to divers. There were a variety of dive sites: we visited two wrecks during the week (one of them twice: day and a night dive). There were dives with pretty reef and not much else, others, like STENAPA that had a number of "objects" strewn about that attracted a nice variety of sea life. The Aquarium was a favorite offering turtles, stingrays, squid, and octopus, along with a variety of fish on both of our visits. We did the Blue Bead dive--and one of our group found a blue bead. These were used as a currency more than a hundred years ago and are tied up in the dark history of the slave trade. Blue beads are one historic artifact that visitors can remove from the island which is rich in history. The dives offer a variety of subjects for photographers--arrow crabs, lettuce slugs, Pederson shrimp, juvenile trunk fish, etc. on the macro side: turtles, stingrays were plentiful on the larger side, as well as a variety of the usual Caribbean subjects: drumfish (juvenile and adult), French angels, Queen angels, some lionfish, butterflies, damselfish (juvie and adult), triggerfish, durgeons, etc. The Yellow Boat does not have a camera table--after the first day of diving they provided a rinse tank for cameras only--no masks, due to COVID protocols. Crew gladly handed cameras down to divers in the water, and collected them at the end of each dive. Plusses for the trip: nice accommodations, great, friendly dive crew. Wish was different: trucking back and forth between every dive, deep step to and from boat, wished "valet diving" was operational. This was my first trip to Statia--they had very few cases of COVID and have very strict protocols in place. I do not know what conditions are like outside of COVID. If looking to dive in a calm, marine sancturary in the Caribbean, I would recommend Statia and Scubaqua, if you're ok with trucking back and forth between dives and are in general good health.
Websites	Scubaqua Old Gin House
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Costa Brava, Roatan, Key West, Cozumel, Key Largo, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, Cayman Brac, Bonaire, Philippines, Bali, North Sulawesi, St. John, St. Croix, Curacao
Closest Airport	St.Eustatius	Getting There	Miami to St. Maarten and connect to St. Eustatius via Winair
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	82-84°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	40-100 Ft/ 12-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Signal dive master when at 700 psi and start up the line. If one buddy goes up the line, they'll try to pair the remaining one with someone still down--or the dive master so that they can continue the dive until they get low on air.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
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	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Dive shop has a small rinse tank for cameras and provides some shelves for storing cameras between dives. Yellow Boat did not have a camera table and a rinse bin was only provided after second day of diving. Before that, cameras were just laid on the floor of the boat before and after each dive. Some of the dive masters (Yuri, Seth, Nardia) went out of their way to point out various critters of interest to photographers--others just seemed to be doing their own dive, so depending on your spotting skills, getting good subjects could be hit or miss.

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

Subscriber's Comments

By Burton Schuler in FL, US at Jan 12, 2022 20:50 EST

Thanks for this detailed report, I really appreciate it. I was supposed to go for a week to old Gin House and Suba aqua starting on 1/19 but cancelled due to C 19. But i did rescheduled for July, but being 71 i am not thrilled about getting in and out of the boat as you described. I have been spoiled by Capt. Don's in Bonaire where i just roll down to the boat and they take care of everything else. But i must admit i still want to go Statius. Thanks Burt Schuler, panama City Fl

By report author: Rik Pavlescak in FL, US at Jan 13, 2022 07:09 EST

I definitely enjoyed the diving in Sint Eustatius, but it was some work. Our group ranged in age from the 30s to late 60s (possibly early 70s) with no injuries--the crew will assist. They also have two boats--we were on the smaller of the two. I'm not sure how entries/exits are off of the larger boat. Enjoy your trip!

By Burton Schuler in FL, US at Jan 13, 2022 15:12 EST

Thanks again, by any chance have you been to Saba ?

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Dive Review of Scubaqua/Old Gin House in St. Eustatius

Scubaqua/Old Gin House: "Pleasant Dive Trip Made Quirky With COVID Protocols", Oct, 2021,

Photos Submitted with this Report

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):

Subscriber's Comments

Dive Review of Scubaqua/Old Gin House in
St. Eustatius