Diving Sint Maarten

Two countries, Two seas Although the island of Sint Maarten is divided between two countries with a "border" between the Dutch (south) and French (north) side, the diving is generally best on the Dutch side of the island. This is because at the Dutch side of the island we find the Caribbean sea while on the other side, the Atlanic Ocean rules. A lot of sites For this reason alone, you will find the majority of the divesites on the Dutch side of the island. On old maps you would find a good 63 divesites listed. Closer to the truth is that the hurricane seasons and the weather that sometimes batters our coastal lines, change the divespots over time. A realistic number of divesites that are more or less permanent would be more or less 20, with an additional few that can only be dived on when the weather is really good. In the submenu Dive Sites you will find a short description of the most popular divesites we dive on on the island. When you are diving with us, we might actually take you to a couple of different spot "as a bonus". Water temperature The lowest in water temperature we find in the waters surrounding the islands is about 78 Fahrenheid / 25.5 degrees Celcius, while the maximum temperature is about 83 Fahrenheid / 28.3 degrees Celcius. This means that most people can dive here without a wetsuit. Of course there are wetsuits available for the divers who get cold quickly (and for our instructors who always seem to be cold!)

It can be choppy sometimes! In the winter and during hurricane season, the seas can be a little choppy. While under water this is not an issue at all, it sometimes can lead to an unpleasant boatride for some. Luckily we have Dramamine in the shop. Take one or two of the chewable wonders and the "spell of the sea" will be broken and you can fully enjoy your dives. On days that our staff recommends you to get and take these pills, you are strongly advised to do so. Although it has been proven that the number of fishes around the boat more than quadripples, we think it's always better to chew a little pill than to share your breakfast with the Yellowtail Snappers. Visibility in our waters The visibility is strongly depending on bottom formation and currents. While usually there are no strong currents here, when there is one over sandy bottoms the visibility can get as low as 20-24 ft / 6-8 mtr. Over the reefs and rocks the visibility is usually far better than that. 100ft / 30mtr or more is no exception. Ironically when the seas are very choppy, we usually go to the sandier dive spots. Since these dive sites are sheltered from currents by the island itself, the visibility is still usually better than acceptable there while the boat trip is far better. Regardless what the visibility is, our staff knows exactly where to go to see all the cool stuff.