Main Menu
Join Undercurrent on Facebook

The Private, Exclusive Guide for Serious Divers Since 1975 | |
For Divers since 1975
The Private, Exclusive Guide for Serious Divers Since 1975
"Best of the Web: scuba tips no other
source dares to publish" -- Forbes
X
 

Dive Review of Special/La Sirena in
Anguilla

Special/La Sirena, Jan, 2004,

by Lucius, MN, USA . Report 1546.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 4 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving 3 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments Well it all started on a trip to Cozumel in November of 2004. My girlfriend was going to meet me in Cozumel after I had been their diving for a week. I was going to ask her to marry me (on my dive slate) while drift diving the Santa Rosa Wall. However, she turned up for a week with a cold and ear infection. Well, there went my plan to ask her while we dove. I really did not know what to do so I asked her just before she got back on the plane for the States, and I explaned how I had it all planned out to get married if she had said yes while we were in Cozumel. Will to make a long story short, she said yes and we decided to go to Saba to tie the knot. When I got back to the states a week after she did I found out that it would take a couple of months for the Saba goverment to put together the paper work (red tape). Saba was out and Anguilla was in. The reason was, you only need to be on the island three days to get married and the diving was suppose to be pretty good. Ok, there are alot of other islands that take three days two get married. The main reason was the diving (don't tell my new bride). We stayed at the La Sirena at Meads Bay (www.la-sirena.com) in a side by side duplex one bedroom with an airy living room, breakfast room, and kitchen with a front porch that had plenty of space for drying dive gear. It had its own little drive way to park a rental car and the walk to the beach was about 200 feet. Most every day the beach was empty and very private because most people stay and go to the beach at Shole Bay. The food was good and the staff goes out of there way to make sure your stay is comfortable. I would drive every morning about 10 min. to Sandy Ground were Special "D" Diving would leave for the daily AM two tank dive. The 30' dive boat is locally made (like most boats) with twin 150 HP outboards, center counsel drive, with comfortable side bench seats with plenty of room for up to 10 divers. Most every dive never had more then 10 divers and on most days 6 to 8. We were pretty limited to only the AM two tank dive every day because the weather for a week was very windy and the seas were 4-8 ft rough and choppy. The owner (Doug Carty)and dive master was always very professional, environmentally careful, and very safety conscious. The visibility was limited because of the weather however, the dive usually started with a wreck for the first dive then a reef on the second. The coral is very healthy with elkhorn limited due to the last hurricane that ripped most of it up some years ago. Lots of wrecks, healthy fan coral, lobsters, nurse sharks, eels, large turtles, spotted eagle rays, large spotted drums, large schools of atlantic spadefish, and plenty of small stuff for the macro shots. I was pretty impressed and have definately put Anguilla on my list of "I will be backs". It seems to be growing pretty fast and they just completed an expansion to the airport so you can now jet in with having to take the ferry from St. Martin.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 101-250 dives
Where else diving Florida Keys, Bahamas, Cozumel, Hawaii, California, Jamaica, and Lake Superior
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather windy Seas choppy
Water Temp 74-80°F / 23-27°C Wetsuit Thickness 0
Water Visibility 40-60 Ft/ 12-18 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions start assent with no less then 700 psi.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas 1 or 2
Dolphins 1 or 2 Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 3 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 4 stars Large Fish 3 stars
Large Pelagics 3 stars

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities 4 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments There was no real set up for underwater equipment on the boat but Doug (the owner and dive master) will arrange a plastic case or special area for your camera while on the boat. Then when we got in the water it was so choppy, the whole time I was there, that Doug would have the capitan hand him the camera with strobs and he would bring it to me so that I did not have to deal with getting to close to the boat during the choppy seas. When I would come up from the dive he would give me bottled water to rinse the camera housing and strobs and then when we would get to the dock he would take the camera and diving equipment and rinse it all off with fresh water.
Was this report helpful to you?
Leave a comment (Subscribers only -- 200 words max)
Subscribers can comment here
 

Subscribe Now
Subscribers can post comments, ask the reviewer questions, as well as getting immediate and complete access to ALL 13 dive reviews of Anguilla and all other dive destinations. Complete access to all issues and Chapbooks is also included.

 

Want to assemble your own collection of Anguilla reports in one place?
Use the Mini Chapbook Facility to create your personalized collection.

Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

Undercurrent Home


Get more dive info like these and other important scuba updates sent monthly to your email.
And a FREE Recent Issue of Undercurrent

Free Undercurrent Issue
Get a free
monthly email and
a sample issue!


Find in  

| Home | Online Members Area | My Account | Login | Join |
| Travel Index | Dive Resort & Liveaboard Reviews | Featured Reports | Recent Issues | Back Issues |
| Dive Gear Index | Health/Safety Index | Environment & Misc. Index | Seasonal Planner | Blogs | Free Articles | Book Picks | News |
| Special Offers | RSS | FAQ | About Us | Contact Us | Links |

Copyright © 1996-2024 Undercurrent (www.undercurrent.org)
3020 Bridgeway, Ste 102, Sausalito, Ca 94965
All rights reserved.

Page computed and displayed in 0.06 seconds