Scuba Diving in St. Maarten

St. Maarten is a great dive destination with its outlying wreck and reef sites offering fantastic dives and excellent photo opportunities. Waters are warm and inviting, and the marine life is abundant. Moray eels, turtle and southern stingray are common sightings - and frog fish and jaw fish are a treat to find.

We go out every day for a double tank dive at 9:00 am and in the afternoon at 1:00 pm for the single or shallow dive. Check in at our office in Simpson Bay (Pelican) 45 minutes in advance where we will gear you up and lead you to the dive boat. As we head out we give you a safety briefing and discuss which dive site to choose.

When booking: If you are booking more than a two tank dive, choose the date when you want to do your first two dives and you will discuss the other days via email, phone or when you check-in for your first dive. Please indicate in the comment section at the check-out, what dive certificate you have and when you did your last scuba diving. Each package option is to be used by one person only, you cannot share a package between two people.

The sites on the Dutch side of St Martin are completely different to the dive sites on the French side of the island. There are more wrecks on the Dutch side of the island and the reefs have a higher density of barrel sponges. Depending on current sea conditions, we may go to any of the following dive sites:

Long Bay Reef

Beautiful reef (maximum depth 57 feet) with lots of caves and crevasses, good chance to find some good size King crabs and lobsters. On top of the reef: big barrel sponges and a variety of hard and soft corals. Lots of fish, good chance to spot turtles.

Gregory

his is a wreck dive, a flat bottom barge – deliberately sunk as a dive site. She turned upside down as she sank. Maximum depth about 55 feet. Check out the enormous props! Our favourite dive site for night dives, we prefer to call it Turtle Hotel then… Nice reef surrounding this wreck with big barrel sponges and lots of marine life.

Fuh Sheng

This is a wreck that lies at 110 feet deep on a sandy bottom. Big fishing vessel mainly intact, lying on her port side. A dive site for advanced divers!

Porpoise

This is a tugboat that was sunk on purpose, lying on a sandy bottom at 90 feet deep. It’s slightly tilted towards her starboard side. Beautiful gorgonians growing on it. Take a look in the engine room. Lots of fish, good chance to see stingrays. Eel garden next to the wreck.

The Bridge

The old Simpson Bay Bridge surrounded by 3 sunken sailboats. Maximum depth: 50 feet. The remains of the bridge are encrusted with corals and sponges, a great artificial reef with lots of marine life. Moray eels, lobsters, stingrays are often seen here. Sometimes a reef shark passes by. Big schools of small fish, loved by photographers!

Carib Cargo

Cargo ship at a depth of 65 feet. This ship was badly damaged as a result of hurricane Luis in 1995. Another hurricane in 1996, Bertha made her sunk. She’s 200 feet long and lying on a sandy bottom, with a good chance of spotting stingrays. You can penetrate the wreck, use the bathroom. Divers often see turtles, spotted eagle rays and sometimes a reef shark passing by at this dive site.

Proselyte

A famous historical dive site! In 1802 the HMS Proselyte ran into this beautiful reef, they tried to keep the vessel afloat by throwing overboard their heavy load like anchors and cannons. Unfortunately the ship went down, not much left of it since it was made out of wood and became part of the reef. What’s left are the 13 cannons and 3 enormous anchors, all encrusted with corals. Great reef with walls encrusted with colorful sponges everywhere. Beautiful dive with a maximum depth of 50 feet.

Fish Bowl

At 60 feet there’s this great reef with a fantastic swim through – lots of spiny lobsters in there! Apart from that, a good variety of corals and sponges with its marine life. There’s a good chance for reef sharks!