Some feedback from my trip. I dove St Thomas, St Croix, Antigua, St Lucia and Grenada. All the dive operators were pretty good and competent. Dive shops ranged from big to hole-in-the-wall.
Worst place to dive: St. Thomas. I've been there 3 times since 2007 and every time it was murky (3 different dive sites) with so-so reefs.
Best place to dive: St Lucia, and it's not even close. Mostly because the water was so very clear, but the scenery was top notch as well. (I dove a spot called Turtle Reef)
In Antigua I used Jolly Diving in Jolly Harbor. Had to rush off the ship and take a $24 (each way) 30-minute cab ride from the cruise ship harbor to the dive shop. Small-ish boat but very experienced dive operator - and quite the character. Dove in a long sleeve shirt, bow tie and shorts. Let me go with an experienced pair of divers who sort of volunteered for them so I could take my time with photography while the divemaster took new divers around in a big loop. I think his name is H Paul Roos. Recommended, but it was not easy to get there on time, and not cheap.
In St Lucia I used Eastern Caribbean Diving - very good company there, with nice, big dive boat. They picked me up at the cruise ship dock, drove me a short distance to the dive boat, and then took me on the dive boat (46 foot Newton) a few miles to the dive shop to pick up other divers. Then a long (about an hour) cruise down to Turtle Reef near the Pitons. And they dropped me off close to my cruise ship, which was much appreciated since I was carrying over 60 pounds of dive and camera gear.
In Grenada I used Native Spirit Scuba, who picked me up in their small (but very fast) dive boat. We had rainy cloudy conditions, but pretty decent diving. One my first dive, we got there so fast I was rushed putting my camera gear together and just forgot to put on the fiber cables to the strobes. Immediately came upon two seahorses, but at ISO 6400 I couldn't get decent shots. However, we dove a wreck, and the dive master took me into an air pocket - my first. Pretty cool, and since we could talk in there I told him about the missing strobe cables. He said 'want me to go get them?' Sure! 5 minutes later he comes back and hands me the cables and I was back in business.
St Thomas and St Croix dives were booked through the cruise ship. No complaints there, but had no choice either. The divemasters in St Croix (Cane Bay Dive Shop) were definitely characters and quite fun.
Water temp was 81-82F on all 5 islands. Only had one sunny day though, in St Lucia. Lots to see in all sites except St Thomas.
Wished I had the macro lens on instead of the dome port in St Thomas. Wished I had both ports to use in St Lucia. (Just too big for me to carry it all). I was fine with the 105vr macro everywhere, though it's limiting.
