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    TimG

    By TimG

    TimG

    By TimG •

    Bored with Bonaire? Try Sint Maarten

    I’ve been to Bonaire 7 times over the years and logged 235 dives there. I like it for the shore diving and, generally, for the macro critters. I love the laid-back feeling.

    But, for me, the reefs are not what they were and marine life now seems a bit limited: reef fish, shrimp and arrowcrabs. Slight exaggeration I know but no big things (yeah, the odd tarpon, some turtles) and even the macro life now seems to take some hunting. Very little, if any, schooling fish.

    Yes, I know it usually wins all the prizes for diving in the Caribbean. But, frankly, I had to admit to myself I was getting bored diving there. 

    By the happiest turn of fates my partner, bless her, was seconded to a job in Sint Maarten and I felt obliged to join her (NB: British irony). Almost three very happy years followed and 436 dives.

    Sint Maarten is another of those curious Dutch outposts in the Caribbean. Although not part of the Netherlands (Bonaire is actually a city in the Netherlands), Sint Maarten (or SXM as it’s known) is in the Kingdom of the Netherlands so similar in status to, say, Jersey or Bermuda. It has a significant international airport and is a stone’s throw from the British hold-out of Anguilla. I read that Anguilla to Sint Maarten is the world’s shortest international flight.

    In addition, the northern part of the island is actually an area of metropolitan France and as such part of the EU. One island, two cultures. Best part: two cuisines – the Dutch part slightly more American plus Heineken; the French part, oh la la, French. Think top quality pain au raisin or croissant for breakfast, patisserie for afternoon tea. Excellent inexpensive wines, good restaurants, great supermarkets and entrecôte……  

    Unlike Bonaire, Sint Maarten is hardly known as a dive destination. But if you are into macro, there are all sorts of shrimps; you can trip over arrowcrabs; lots of reef sharks, turtles, gobies looking out of crevices, loads of morays, SCHOOLS and I mean serious schools of grunts, blackbar soldierfish, snappers…. I was teaching the West Atlantic REEF fish identification course there and the place is a Caribbean fish spotter’s dream. Plenty of wrecks covered in marine life and schools of fish….. and some intriguing coral mazes which are playgrounds for divers.

    Yes, you must boat dive which means, probably, a max of 3 dives a day. Shore diving is, sadly, minimal verging on the negligible. 

    If I don’t get bored after 436 dives this place has to be good, right?

    So if you dive in the Caribbean and you fancy a change from Bonaire, check out Sint Maarten. Pack your camera, charge your GoPro, pack your snoot. You won’t regret it. 

    I can recommend diving with Ocean Explorers (info@stmaartendiving.com) run by a super Brazilian couple, Lu and Jef. Jef knows the reefs there like the back of his hand and he and Lu have been running Ocean Explorers for decades.

     

    Blue-stripped grunts and goatfish school on the wreck of the Carib Cargo.jpg

    Blue-stripped grunts school in an old plane wreck.jpg

    Sint Maarten view.jpg

    Spotted cleaner shrimp on Sint Maarten reef.jpg

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    Buddha

    Great photos. I'm going back to Bonaire in February only because we paid for the trip like 2 years ago and if we don't go we lose the money. But I have to agree with you that it is limited. I'm sure I'll spend most of my time at Salt pier again doing some hunting for critters.

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    Whipauee

    As someone who has spent many dives in the Caribbean through the archipelago from the Bahamas, through Bonaire. I always thought St Lucia was special. Looking at the Google map for Sint Maartin, it seems to be at the eastern most edge of the Caribbean on to the Atlantic. That has such promise for exploration. Thanks for the heads up, I will place my next dive visit with the island in mind.

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    RuudStelten

    Thanks Tim, couldn't agree more. I lived in Bonaire from 2013-2018, and always enjoyed diving there, I was in the water almost every day for either work or pleasure. I returned this past summer and found the diving has deteriorated quite a bit, not just fish life but the SCTLD of course as well. The east coast is still amazing though! Lots of turtles, eagle rays, etc., but very few sharks or big groupers anywhere around the island.

    The few dives I've done on SXM were a lot of fun, lots of life. I was in Anguilla last month and dove all around the island. Lots of life on the wrecks, and fun diving on the eastern tip at Anguillita as well. It reminded me a lot of St. Maarten actually...

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    Cromagnon

    Thanks Tim for the great recommendation.  My wife and I are retiring to St Croix in a few months and will put Sint Maartin on our list.  Looks like we need to fly out of Miami to get there but we will see what a local charter will cost.  Is there rebreather support available?

    Joe

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    TimG

    Hey Joe

    Drop Ocean Explorers an email on the rebreather. One of their regular divers used one all the time. I think Jef got O2 for him but I think the diver brought in his own scrubber. Lu and Jef are super helpful so worth asking. Use my name by all means. 

    On travel, inter-Caribbean island travel is notoriously tricky. Yes, Miami of course. We found Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) and Antigua reasonably useful transit islands. There are times though when it seemed easier, honestly, to use Europe as the transit point. For a liveaboard out of Providenciales (Turks and Caicos) we went through 21 flight ticket changes as flights were constantly being cancelled, reschedule, redirected, re-whatever. 

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    TimG
    27 minutes ago, Flo said:

    Why not ? i did not considere this destination, direct from France.
    Thank you !

    It's so easy from France, Flo. Non-stop, daily flights from CDG - twice a day sometimes! Similarly easy from Amsterdam: 3 times a week. 

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