Instant Reader Report
on Blue Island Divers / Marriott Frenchman's Reef in
Virgin Islands / St. Thomas on
2003/06
by
David E. Reubush , VA, USA
Report Number 030630215829354

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 Little Cayman, Grand Cayman, Belize, Galapagos, Red Sea, Dominica,  Turks
& Caicos (Provo & Grand Turk), Bimini, Bonaire, Curacao 

Dive Conditions

Return with 500 psi  

Told them upfront that I had a camera.  No camera table on the boat and
rinse bucket was forgotten most days.  When they brought it it was a big
dishpan and camera and strobe would not really fit.  

Overall Rating

The boat was small, with no head and, when you reach a certain age, a head
is a welcome relief after each dive.  (I was told a new boat is in the
works so this may not be a problem in the future.)  However, a great and
agreeable staff made up for any shortcomings.  We delivered the gear
(except for the camera gear) to the dive shop the day before we started
diving and the crew put it on the boat for us and picked us up at the
hotel dock. They changed BC's and regulators to the new tanks after each
initial dive and took the gear back to the shop and hung it up after each
day's diving.   The boat did not have a ladder so you had to swim up to
the back of the boat and take off your weight belt and BC which were
lifted into the boat by a crew member.  Then you had to kick up onto the
swim platform and climb the rest of the way into the boat.  This got
interesting when the boat was rocking and rolling early in the week.   The
wind had been blowing for about a week before our first day's diving.  As a
result, the boat could not go very far out and the visibility was only
about 30 ft. because of all the particulates in the water.   Things calmed
down later in the week and we were able to go further out where the
visibility was up to about 80 ft. and the dives were much more enjoyable. 
While St. Thomas is not Little Cayman there was plenty to see, including
some interesting (and large) wrecks.   I will probably return to St.
Thomas (There was lots of shopping to make my wife happy.) and will
definitely dive with Blue Island Divers again.  The clincher occurred when
we settled up with Aitch at the end of the week.  We had paid for 5 days of
diving for myself and 3 days for my wife.  Because of the poor conditions
at the beginning of the week I cut back to 4 days and my wife to only one.
 Aitch refunded the difference with ABSOLUTELY NO HASSLE.   He can also
hook you up with a local car rental that cost about half of the going rate
for one of the majors.  The two things that I wished I had known before I
left home were the water temperature (I didn't bring enough neoprene.) and
visibility. (I would not have bothered to haul the camera gear.)      

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