Anse Chastenet, July 1995, John McMullin, St. Louis, MO. "About average, lots of reef fish and corals, nice sponges -pay a government fee to dive. Squid in schools. Above average snorkeling from beach. Unusual 10' worm on night dive. Boats modern and roomy. Staff friendly and helpful. Every dive a guided tour. No big fish. Almost all sites close to the resort. Resort beautiful and food fantastic! No air conditioning and it's very hot in the summer."

Anse Chastenet, October 1995, Jean and Bob Kirkpatrick, Russellville, KY. "Two dives/day with some night dives available. Unescorted shore dives not allowed; twice daily escorted shore dives are at the same time as the boat dives, so there is no way to do more than two dives. Water: 84°. Vis: 60 to 100 ft. Dive operation excellent; staff friendly and helpful. . . . The resort is nice, though hundreds of steps from beach to rooms. Food is expensive, pretentious, often not good. Service (especially at lunch between dives) was slow. . . . Resort is isolated; due to quality of road it is difficult to go anywhere by car."

Anse Chastenet, November 1995, Steven Schwartz/Beth Katz, Great Neck, NY. "Lovely accommodations. Mountainside huts quiet, secluded and romantic. Food good and abundant - afternoon tea delightful event. Diving wonderful: mostly small fish and little current. Shore dives count as part of the dive package. Night dives among the best - myriad of creatures: octopus, lobster, a monster crab, eels. Most divemasters appeared burnt out and bored. Briefings short, if at all. Information about the wreck dive was poor. vis. 50­70 ft. water: 80°­82°."

Anse Chastenet, December 1995, no name, Dallas Texas. "Lots of sponges and corals, schools of small fish, nice night dive from shore. Diving operation is geared towards Europeans. Little assistance with dive gear on boats. Check out dive from shore required. Dive sites repetitive and close together. Some coral death. Debris (tires, bottles) at some sites. Dive briefings varied widely (some good, some non-existent). Vis: 40­60 ft. water: 80°. . . . Resort often overbooks during "peak" times, which can results in transfer to different hotel."

Anse Chastenet, December 1995, Michael Waring, Pulborough, UK. "Hotel well situated, diving fun but boring for experienced divers. Hotel service poor, noisy, steps a pain, only one dive in morning, dive shop busy with divers boated in from elsewhere. Dive times limited even with computers. Hotel food boring, we moved after 3 days to Jalousie Maulehon which was much better, although did dive again with Dive St. Lucia. vis: 50­75 ft. water: 80°­82°."

Anse Chastenet, January 1996, Gary Banas, Leesburg, VA. "Class act. Five Star, people gracious, food, especially dinner, near gourmet. Beach is lovely gray volcanic sand. Diving superb. Vis: 80­100 ft. water: 80°­82°. Did 10 dives - usually 3 or 4 divers, never more than 8. Computer divers told to "keep guide in sight" - return to 15' safety stop w/500 psi. Corals, sponges and critters as good as Provo, better than Cayman or Cozumel."

Anse Chastanet, January 1996, Marty Johnson, East Hampton, MA. "Resort is well kept; beautiful beach. Our suite airy and spacious. Nightly live entertainment. All-you-can eat barbecue on Thursday is sumptuous. Evening meals excellent; nice variety of dishes, though occasionally less than filling. . . . 134 steps to the restaurant from the beach and our room tedious. No pool. Narrow, winding, pot-holed one lane road to the nearest town, Soufriere, two miles, and takes a car 20 minutes. Water taxi is quicker, but only runs between 8:00 AM and 4:00 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays. . . . Most diving is relaxing drift diving. Variety of hard and soft corals, in all colors: red, orange, yellow, green and lavender. Large barrel and brain corals. Lots of lobsters and crabs. . . . Diving staff friendly and laid back; escort every dive. . . . Few fish larger than 4 inches; every morning outside the small roped-off marine sanctuary there were at least three fishing boats with nets. Shore dive: slow current pulls divers out to sea; start with the current but go against in on the way back; the opposite of an ideal dive. One night dive cancelled due to surge. . . . Shore entry and exit points are used by the dive boats, water taxis and charter boats, which often jockey for position with people in the water."

Anse Chastenet, August 1995, Steve Laughlin, Hartsdale, NY. "Very satisfied for first warm water experience. vis: 50­75ft. water: 80­85°. Great shore diving, easy wreck, a taste of current (Superman's Flight, 6 knots!). I saw the Thing on both night dives. Karen & staff friendly and prepare you for dive. Resort Brit run, everyone nice, European crowd. Big rooms on top of hill are pricey but great, others okay, don t go for beach rooms. OK food! Island has lots to do, great views around Pitons!"

Club Med St. Lucia, March 1995, John Sakson, Pennington, NJ. "13 dives in week. Kids Club perfect solution for diving parents with small kids. Dive staff thorough, professional and pleasant. Dive briefings geared to lowest ability. Dives too short. All drift diving led by a float-holding divemaster; currents can run fast. No large fish, but huge variety of juveniles. Macro heaven; forget straight 35mm. Food was fantastic, quality of guests excellent."

Dolphin Divers/Doolittle's Resort, March 1995, Gloria Davis, St. James, MO. "Doolittle's friendly, accommodating, food great: lots of choices, fresh seafood, steaks, some gourmet - super chef. Rooms comfortable with large screened decks overlooking Marigot Bay where we watched yachts come and go. . . . Dive operation well run. Sometimes made late waiting for divers from other resorts or cruise ships. All drift dives had good currents! Great night dives at "Virgin Reef" Boats small, V bottomed China Whalers. Hard to gear up in. Some had no ladders and had to climb in over motor. They are building a large catamaran. Definitely will go back when they get new boat. Water: 80°. VIS: 60 to 80 ft."

Dolphin Divers/Windjammer Landing Resort, July 1995, Jeff and Sherry Hotham, Phoenix, AZ. "One of best resorts, but no air conditioning except in sleeping areas. Open air in living areas mean birds flying through and bugs. Grounds are beautiful, restaurants good. . . . Dolphin Divers average: main boat was being repaired so boats too small for 6 to 9 divers. Had to ferry from our resort to main facility before diving. Staff seemed inexperienced. Put us with beginning divers at times. $3/day fee to dive in the marine preserve. No large fish. Even though we had computers we had to surface early every dive."

Frog's Diving/Windjammer Landing Resort, October 1995, Fred & Kim Meares, Lake Arrowhead, CA. "Small operation, one boat, eight divers in resort. Staff friendly and helpful. At times experienced divers had to go to sites certifying divers (still beautiful dives). All diving in groups, so we all came up with the biggest airgulper. Enjoyed fun-loving Rasta diver, Ikey, and super-competent, British-accented Thomas. Diving enjoyable (82F, 30'­80' vis), some drift diving. Myriad of small colorful tropicals, plenty of morays, lots of lobsters at night, octopi, turtles, barracuda, large ray. Reefs in excellent condition."

Rendezvous, May 1996, James A. Knieling, Las Vegas, NV. "St. Lucia an incredibly green volcanic island that reminded me of Moorea, Tahiti. Resort is a converted plantation whose distillery owners are botanical lovers and have the best botanical garden. Resort is cozy, with great live bands; popular wedding resort with 80% British travelers. All-inclusive; native libations from the owners distillery led to parties that lasted the night away. Prices reasonable compared to Sandals. Top rooms comfortable, food was very good, including unique island produce. Diving staff courteous locals except for U.S. divemaster. Boat recently stolen, so we were using a local cabin cruiser. Dive sites within 30­45 minutes. Currents strong in some areas, with drift diving. Equipment and staff 4 Star. Marine Reserve: water clarity schools of fish remarkable. Lobsters, crabs, stone fish, schools bright blue fish. No large fish. Japanese Factory Ship Menace had invaded the island with nets from hell. Appreciate life in God's Little Fish Bowl."

Sandals Resort, 1995, Lea Ann Williams. "All-inclusive even the diving and the equipment. Divemasters won't let you wander from group. Dives great. 13 in a 7 day stay. Each Sandals resort on the island (there are 2) offer alternating 2 tank dives. Two tank dives are definitely better. You get to go to better sites that are perhaps 20­30 min away by boat. Anse Chastanet the shore dive where the fish were most abundant. Parrotfish, barracuda, squirrelfish, morays, blue tangs, angelfish, Only 40 feet. Coral Gardens (80 feet) with beautiful coral. . . . Store your dive equipment at their dive shop. Freshwater tanks. 10 minute check out required."

Copyright 1997 by DSDL, Inc.Publishers of Undercurrent. All rights reserved. No portions of this report may be reproduced in any way, including photocopying and electronic data storage, without prior written permission from the publisher. For more information, contact DSDL, Inc., P.O. Box 1658, Sausalito, CA 94966.