Dive Review of Bill Tewes' Dive St. Vincent in
St. Vincent and the Grenadines/The big island of St Vincent

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Bill Tewes' Dive St. Vincent: "Definitely the "Critter Capital of the Caribbean"", Aug, 2018, by Ray Haberman, NM, US ( Sr. Contributor 23 reports with 7 Helpful votes). Report 10533 has 2 Helpful votes.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	I first came to the island in Nov, 2003 after reading an article in Undercurrents about the "critters" found here. I wanted to dive with the "Critter King" Bill Tewes. I spent the week but Bill was away at a dive show so I came back in Jan. of 2004 and stayed 3 months. I returned in the fall of that year and stayed for 4 months. I did that for many years before deciding to just stay here and dive. I now have over 2500 dives here and I'm amazed that I'm still able to find critters that I have never seen before. Just the other day I found a Blue Stiliger, P.210 of the 3rd edition of the Paul Humann/Ned Deloach/Les Wilk "Reef Creature ID Book". In their books they tell you the "Abundance" of the fish or critter. When it says "Rare or Uncommon Caribbean" in many cases, it has been found here. We like to say " St Vincent, Where the rare is common." St Vincent is second to the Pacific for critters. If you leave here after diving and you can honestly say that you didn't see one new thing, that would be rare. I asked a diver to keep track of everything that he saw for the first time in all his diving. He stopped counting after 35. The next section "Diving Conditions" is not a good sampling of the conditions. Come here in the rainy season and you are going to get a lot of sun, a nice breeze, lots of rain showers, lots of clouds and some dry spells. Come in the dry season and you are going to get less rain but the same of everything else. You will probably experience some water conditions that are calm and flat, choppy, surge if you dive near the surface along the shore and some unexpected currents that pop up occasionally. Most of the diving is done off moorings close to shore. We on the big island don't experience constant strong currents (like Cozumel) so there isn't to much drift diving. In the summertime the water temp will be around 83/84 and in the winter the temp will be around 78/79, depending on whose computer you are taking the reading from. Do you need a drysuit? No. Do you need a wetsuit? That depends on you. I use a vest all year round but I have seen people in 7mm suits. The water vis is going to depend on the weather. Lots of rain means lots of runoff from the island and that will reduce the vis. On a good day, expect it to be 100+ feet. What you aren't likely to see diving on the big island is large pelagic's. For that, it is recommended to dive one of the Grenadines Islands. There are several excellent dive shops there. In my 15 years of diving the big island, I have seen one (1) 4' nurse shark. We do see an occasional turtle. Several of the hotels offer a dive package with the shop. For further info on that contact Jackie at 1 784 457 4714 Mon-Fri from 8-4. Most divers that want to splurge, stay at Young Island Resort. Most divers stay a short walk from the shop at Mariner's Hotel. If you would like to see what I see on every dive, please go to raymondhaberman.smugmug.com/ where I post what I have seen on each dive for the past several years.
Websites	Bill Tewes' Dive St. Vincent
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Saba, Bermuda, Bahamas, Costa Rica, Belize, Aruba, Statia, St Kitts, PNG, Yap, Truk, Palau, Australia, Bonaire, Cozumel, Belize, Roatan, Grand Turk, Puerto Rico, Florida and Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and Lake Geneva, WI.
Closest Airport	Argyle International	Getting There	With the opening of the new airport 3 major airlines are now offering nonstop service from Canada, NY and Miami. LIAT the local island hopper is available for those that can't get a nonstop flight. LIAT stands for "Leave Island Any Time, Lord, It's Awful Transportation, Luggage In Any Terminal and Laugh It's All True." So we recommend the charter airlines out of Barbados, SVG Air and Mystic Air. They are a little more expensive but more dependable.
Dive Conditions
Weather		Seas
Water Temp	-°F / -°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	- Ft/ - M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	You are evaluated on your first dive and then it is determined if you can solo. No deco diving and return to the boat with 300 lbs. of air.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	no
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		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Dive shop has been in operation for over 30+ years. It is a very small shop in a very old building that was not built to be a dive shop. They have one rinse tank (a converted bath tub) for the dive gear (excluding wetsuits and cameras) They ask that you rinse those off at your hotel. There is fresh water provided on the dive boats to rinse your camera between dives. Camera maintenance has to be done in your hotel room. They can loan you a container to take to the hotel to rinse your camera gear. I give "Subject Matter" a 5 star rating because the fish, coral, sponges and critters are here and healthy. It is the "Boat and Shore Facilities" that are the downer, but don't let that deter you from coming down. What you see is worth the trip.

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

Subscriber's Comments

By Daniel Zielinski in NY, US at Jan 07, 2019 15:42 EST

Solo diving? Pony bottles available?

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Dive Review of Bill Tewes' Dive St. Vincent in St. Vincent and the Grenadines/The big island of St Vincent

Bill Tewes' Dive St. Vincent: "Definitely the "Critter Capital of the Caribbean"", Aug, 2018,

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 Bill Tewes' Dive St. Vincent in
St. Vincent and the Grenadines/The big island of St Vincent