Dive Review of Scuba St. Lucia/Anse Chastanet in
St. Lucia

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Scuba St. Lucia/Anse Chastanet, Nov, 2007, by Jeanne & Bill Downey, PA, USA ( 2 reports). Report 3731.
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	From the moment we arrived at the airport and handed bottled water, until we boarded our cabs back to the airport, we were totally pampered and spoiled. If anyone in our group had a complaint, they kept it to themselves; mostly people said “we want to come back.” We lucked out weather-wise, with moderate temperatures and occasional showers, but nothing to hamper our activities. At Anse Chastanet you can laze around on the beach all day, having drinks delivered to your umbrella, or you can be busy all day long. There are many complimentary activities, such as the plantation tour, which we highly recommend. Several of the group tried out the biking trails, which are also great for hiking. Windsurfing and sailing are also complimentary. There are also many tours available at additional cost. Then there’s the spa—many massages were enjoyed, along with freshly manicured toes and fingernails. Of course most of us went to dive, and we did plenty of that. Because planes leave late in the day, we were able to dive six days on a week long package, two boat dives each day, plus shore diving. The diving is average to better than average for the Caribbean. Some of the diving got a bit monotonous, but then I would see something unusual, like jackknife fish, “The Thing”, tiny juvenile trunk fish, seahorses, and the black brotula. We saw several turtles. The wreck of the Lesleem M was pretty cool as everyone explored on their own. Two shore night dives were included in our package, and these were very good—I counted at least 30 lobsters of various kinds on the first, along with numerous crabs, scorpion fish, eels, an octopus, tons of shrimp, and sleeping fish. There were 15 divers on our boat, with plenty of room. There were two guides and all dives except the wreck and night shore dives were easy drift dives. Dives lasted 50-60 minutes with a couple lasting 65 minutes. Some of us did an additional daytime shore dive, also guided, where we saw a seahorse and a flying gurnard. Since St. Lucia is a volcanic island, the underwater terrain consisted of large volcanic rocks with some coral growing on it. The sponges, some as large as 5 feet, and soft corals looked healthy and vibrant, while much of the coral looked bleached and dead. Accommodations varied from the standard room with screened slat windows to two-bedroom suites, to the beach rooms, to the almost top-of-the-hill, no wall rooms. The new Jade Mountain, each room with its own endless pool, was so popular we couldn’t even do a tour. Shuttles were available for those not inclined to hike up and down the many steps. We picked a week at Anse Chastanet that had few mosquitoes and cooled down enough at night so AC was not missed. Although the rooms do not have telephones or televisions, there is a high speed internet connection in the main bar back by the small library. Breakfast was available buffet style or off the menu upstairs or beach level. Lunch was buffet style or off the menu at the beach restaurant, and dinner was available in any of three restaurants, with choices of world, Indian/Caribbean, or simpler grilled menus. The food was good to excellent, and there were some killer desserts. Anse Chastanet can be very expensive; the best deal is getting a package with a group. It's a great place for nondiving spouses and people that want to do things besides dive all the time. Even though we got a bit bored with some of the diving, we had a wonderful time. We heard the age limit for children was being raised to fifteen so double-check before taking children. One couple in our group rode the helicopter from Jade Mountain to the airport and loved it. Anse Chastanet advertises itself as a five star hotel. Although it’s a beautiful place and AC would be tough to institute in many of the room lay-outs, air-conditioning is sorely missed if it’s hot and muggy, which in my opinion keeps it from being a true five star resort. But with the excellent food, decent diving, numerous activities, and pampering by the entire staff, it gets darn close.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Bahamas, Caribbean, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cocos Island, Galapagos, Micronesia, Guam, Hawaii, Bikini, Caymans, etc.
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm
Water Temp	84-84°F / 29-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	70-80 Ft/ 21-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Depth limits recommended, but allowed to go deeper. No decompression. Time limit.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 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	Small water bin on boat. Large rinse tank at dive shop.

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Dive Review of Scuba St. Lucia/Anse Chastanet in St. Lucia

Scuba St. Lucia/Anse Chastanet, Nov, 2007,

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 Scuba St. Lucia/Anse Chastanet in
St. Lucia