St. Lucia is a beautiful volcanic island at the easternmost edge of the Caribbean, Its windward side is too rough for diving but the leeward side is quite protected. There are not a whole lot of dive sites, and the reef in front of the resort I stayed at on all three of my visits to St. Lucia, Anse Chastanet Resort, is one of the best, if not the best, the island has to offer.

Anse Chastanet is one of the nicest resorts I've ever stayed at. The rooms are large, elegant, airy and have spectacular views, particularly those at the top of the mountain whose side the resort climbs. The food is excellent and the beach delightful.

As usual in those days, I was accompanied on all three trips to St. Lucia by my friend Derek van Bever. On our first trip, in 1992, it was just the two of us; on the second and third we had families along. We both took our PADI "Advanced Open Water" certification courses there on the first trip, and had a great time diving there. Our divemaster/instructor was a woman who was in Derek's class at Brandywine High School in Wilmington, DE! I couldn't dive during our second trip there due to a recently-broken leg. On the third trip, in 1998, we were disgusted by the hordes of tourist divers coming down from other resorts farther north (can you say "cruise ships"?) resulting in incessant boat noise during dives as well as the Scuba St. Lucia's unreasonably restrictive policies. At this point Derek and I were both quite experienced divers with nearly 200 dives each, yet the divemasters freaked every time we got more than 10 feet from the group - and this in 30 feet of water 30 yards offshore! They were also very stingy with bottom time - I "finished" one dive with 1,700 PSI of air in my tank and don't think I ended with less than 1,200 the whole trip. We were rushed out of the water on every dive, including a night dive where we'd just found a tame and playful octopus. As much as I love Anse Chastanet I swore after that trip never to dive with them again. I like freedom while diving.

Marine life was fairly plentiful and interesting, I saw a "black brotula" fish there for the first and only time of my diving career. There were no large animals of any kind, however; probably fished out. Superman's flight, so named because a scene from Superman was filmed nearby, is a fun drift dive a short boat ride from Anse Chastanet. Onshore there are some nice rain forest hikes.

I've heard terrible stories about St. Lucia in recent years. The waters around the island are frequented by sperm whales, still hunted by Japanese factory boats. The St. Lucian government granted permission to the Japanese to hunt the whales in return for thousands of used cars and trucks which were then sold to St. Lucians for a pittance, resulting in horrendous traffic congestion on the once idyllic island. Way to go, guys.

Here are my dive log entries for the 1992 trip: