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

 Roatan, Bonaire, Aruba, Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, Belize, British Virgin
Islands, St. Kitts, Saba, Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Barbados, Cozumel 

Dive Conditions

All dives guided, even shore dives (required by law in St. Lucia).  

[None]  

Overall Rating

We actually did not expect at lot from the diving in St. Lucia but were
pleasantly surprised. Reefs are very healthy with large schools of typical
Caribbean fish - angels, parrotfish, butterfly fish, creole wrasse, fairy
basslets, blue chromis, etc.  Noticeable lack of large species such as
grouper, barracuda, sharks, turtles, rays etc.  Scuba St. Lucia is onsite
at Anse Chastenet Resort.  Lockers and spacious rinse facilities are
available to divers.  Most of the staff is friendly and helpful, especially
the divemasters.  Some of the administrative staff are constantly
preoccupied and can't be bothered. The Anse Chastanet Reef is a shore dive
right off of the resort which is one of the best dives in this area.  You
may see it a lot as there are only 2 single tank boat dives per day and all
other dives are shore dives.   Keep this in mind if you purchase a dive
package.  The shore dives are guided as St. Lucia law does not permit
divers to go it alone. We were told that they offer an additional boat dive
in the morning if we had four or more divers who wanted to go.  When we got
four divers together and tried to reserve an early morning dive the next
day, they told us that the dive boat was being used to escort other guests
to Castries for a shopping trip.  Having booked a dive package, we were a
bit annoyed that we (the divers) didn't seem to be a priority to the dive
shop or the dive boats.  

The Anse Chastanet Resort is only 25 miles from the airport but the trip
took a hot and dusty 1 ½ hours because of the poor roads and
construction. Anse Chastanet is a beautiful resort with amazing
architectural design built into the side of a mountain near the town of
Soufriere.  Because the resort is built into the side of a cliff, you’ll
need to climb at least 118 steps once or more a day.  The restaurant and
hillside rooms offer spectacular views of the ocean and the Pitons. The
rooms are amazing with West Indian decor and an open design, using slats
instead of windows. Of course, there are no TV's, phones or A/C, but most
self-respecting Caribbean travelers don't want or need these things anyway.
 We were very happy with our beach deluxe room but note that these rooms
are not directly on the beach, but tucked away in a garden area near the
beach.  There is some noise in the evenings from the live entertainment and
you’ll hear the staff arrive every morning at 6am.  Food at the resort is
mediocre, but the roads are too treacherous to venture out at night to
another restaurant.  A la carte prices off the menu are outrageous so I
advise getting your meals included in a package in order to avoid total
outrage. Every night, we had some sort of entertainment such as a jazz trio
or a steel drum band.  The black sand beach is great with beach huts and
lounge chairs. You can stake your flag outside your beach hut when you're
ready for a pina colada or some lunch.  

Overall, St. Lucia is one of the most beautiful, romantic islands we’ve
visited and Anse Chastenet Resort is a great place to go if you want to
chill out on the beach and do a little diving.  People who DIVE-DIVE-DIVE
their vacations may be disappointed in the lack of dive site variety and
the fact that diving is not the highest priority at the resort.



 

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