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Review
Dive Fair Helen is a friendly independent dive company which is owned and managed by André St Omer, a marine ecologist from St Lucia who has been involved with scuba and marine management on the island since 1986.
Started in 1992, Dive Fair Helen is a PADI Resort Dive Centre which offers a good range of services, from beginners resort courses and children’s bubble-maker programmes to Advanced Open Water Certification and speciality courses such as underwater naturalist and deep diver. They offer referral dives and a number of NAUI certifications and then they also take snorkelling and kayak trips.
The name Fair Helen refers to St Lucia itself, which in the past was known as the Fair Helen of the West Indies. The island is so beautiful and desirable that it was likened to Helen of Troy. And like her, in the wars for empire two centuries ago, it moved whole armies in an effort to capture her. It is true to say St Lucia is beautiful underwater too, particularly for the diversity of the species and types of diving.
St Lucia has reefs, sloping drop-offs and vertical walls, pinnacles, trenches and valleys, some drift dives and a few wrecks. There are even a few scuba oddities such as thermoclines created by the sheer depth right offshore. The Pitons continue as steeply offshore as they are above the water. The dive-sites are mainly down the protected Caribbean coastline, particularly around Anse Cochon and Canaries, and around Soufrière. Very occasionally they further afield, at Pigeon Island in the north or Vieux Fort to the south.
As a marine environmentalist who has been conducting research in St Lucia for over ten years, St Omer is a pleasure to dive with. He was an integral part of the policy of marine management in the island and formulated the plan for the SMMA, the Soufrière Marine Management Area (see below), which was put in place in 1994 in order to limit the pressures placed on the environment by the many different users, from fishermen to yachts and swimmers to course scuba divers. He has also been part of the environment awareness programmes taught to children in schools.
Dive Fair Helen has two locations, one in Vigie Marina in Castries harbour and the other in Marigot Bay, the extremely pretty cove on the Caribbean coast. Divers are brought to the Castries shop (if you are in a hotel right in the north of the island, departure can be as early as 7.45am), where they pick up their gear and then load up onto the boat. There are showers and lockers, so divers who have brought their own gear are able to store it here free of charge.
The ride to Anse Cochon takes about 35-40 minutes and if the day’s trip is headed all the way down to Soufrière then that takes one hour. It is a nice ride though, because you coast beneath the vast green headlands that come tumbling down to the shoreline. Cocoa tea and coffee are served on board. You arrive back in Vigie at between 1pm and 3.30pm depending on the dive-site. The boat can carry as many as 25 people. There can be snorkellers, resort course divers and qualified divers on the same trip, but at the destination they are divided up head off in their separate groups. Practically speaking divers are likely to be in groups that are maximum ten.
For non-divers, Dive Fair Helen also offers snorkelling, close to the west coast beaches and kayaking, including two trips in touring sea kayaks, see Tours below. Finally they also offer private excursions by boat and combinations of kayaking, walking and camping (at the Anse Liberté campground which is set on the hillsides above its own private cove). |
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Dive Sites
The dive sites are almost all located in the two areas - The Soufrière Marine Management Area and the The Soufrière Marine Management Area. The land beneath the surface roughly mirrors the land above it. In places it drops very steeply from the headlands in some places (particularly off the Pitons), giving near vertical walls, but there are other areas where it shelves out into a bay before rolling down to a deep sea floor.
Anse Cochon
There are beach dives to two reefs in Anse Cochon, and because they start in shallow water they are used for training dives for novice instruction a s wellas snorkelling. The reef starts in five feet of water and descends gradually to 30 and 40 feet. You can expect to see a good variety of colourful corals and small reef fish.
Virgin Cove Reef
Adjoining the reef at Anse Cochon, Virgin Point reef is a sloping drop off from a depth of about fifteen to 50 feet, from where it drops vertically to create a wall. There are boulders near the surface which hold all manner of small fish and small creatures, then the corals become more defined and but in the lower stretches, where there are large barrel sponges, you can see barracuda and turtles from time to time.
Anse La Raye Wall
A near vertical drop off about sixty yards from the coastline. It starts shallow but then drops increasingly steeply from around 30 feet. The reef is clad with corals which then become larger and darker (to gather more of the diminishing light spectrum as you descend)
Lesleen M
Sunk by the Fisheries Department in 1986 to encourage coral growth (and personally sunk by owner of Dive Fair Helen who had sailed on it as a boy), the Lesleen M is a 165ft freighter that sits upright in about 65 feet of water. It has served its purpose and is now furred with corals in which juvenile fish are able to grow in protection. It sees eels and angel fish. It is possible to swim into the hold and the engine room.
Daini Koyumaru
Another wreck, is a 240ft dredger that was sunk (again by the Fisheries Department in an effort to create an artificial reef for fish regeneration) is located at the northern end of Anse Cochon. It lies on its side, its holds open, so that you can penetrate inside, at depths between 75 and 100 feet. It is close to a reef and so plenty of fish go in there, including barracuda.
Soufrière
The diving around Soufrière is characterised by its very steep drop offs, which range in gradient between one in three and vertical. It is steepest directly off the Pitons, where the depth is known to drop from thirty to three thousand in the bleep of a depth sounder. They are covered in corals and you may come across thermoclynes, bodies of hot and cold water than move through one another. There are also currents – this led to one of the dive sites being called Superman’s Flight (also because he flew between the Pitons in one of the movies). The area has been badly fished out and so you will not see many groupers for instance, though you may see eels and smaller fish such as snappers and some of the larger species such as barracuda. Coral Gardens, close to the Gros Piton, is called so because of the variety of soft corals, including sea fans and gorgonians. |
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Dive Courses
PADI Bubblemaker
For children aged 8 – 11, an introduction to underwater breathing in the secure confines of a pool, under the instruction of a PADI instructor, cost US$25.
PADI Discover Scuba
An introduction to scuba diving. You experience underwater breathing and learn about scuba equipment in a pool or in sheltered water, taught by a PADI instructor. Free of charge. The dive can count towards certification. Certain locations only.
PADI Discover Scuba Diving
After an introduction to the equipment as above and a preliminary dive in confined water you will be taken on a first open water dive, usually from a beach, under close supervision and instruction. This dive can be counted towards qualifications listed below. Cost US$90.
PADI Scuba Diver Course
A basic certification that enables you to dive anywhere under the supervision of a PADI Professional. It involves some classwork (an instruction manual) and then training involving video, lectures and some exams. Then there is the confined water training and evaluation followed by two open water dive under close supervision and instruction. Cost US$300.
PADI Open Water Certification Course
You will become qualified to dive anywhere that recognises a PADI qualification. The introduction is the same as the Scuba Diver Course above with classroom work, some lectures and exams and there is a total of four dives over two separate days, Cost US$489.
PADI Open Water Referral Course
This allows students to stagger their scuba training over the duration of one year. The main advantage is that you can do the theoretical sections at home and then the practical dives in the warmth and more colourful setting of the Caribbean, without having to waste holiday time in the classroom when you could be getting a suntan. Prices vary.
PADI Advanced Open Water Certification Course
The next step up from the Open Water course, helping you to advance your skills and confidence in the water, also your enjoyment through understanding more about the underwater environment. Training will introduce you to deep dives and drift dives, wreck diving, in which you can penetrate inside underwater wrecks, and night diving. Cost US$339.
Other PADI qualifications available through Dive Fair Helen include Underwater Photography and Videography, Wreck Diver, Deep Diver, Underwater Naturalist, Night Diver, Boat Diver, Underwater Navigation and Drift Diver.
Dive Fair Helen also offers the following NAUI courses – Open Water Diver, Open Water Referral (in which course work is done back home and the dives and certification in St Lucia), Advanced Open Water Diver, Rescue Diver, Divemaster. |
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Package Plans
Diving rates include taxi/boat transfers, lunch, mask, fins, snorkel, tanks, welt belt and weights. 1 Day (2 dives) - US$84 2 Day (4 dives) - US$155 3 Day (6 dives) - US$230 4 Day (8 dives) - US$285 5 Day (10 dives) - US$355 Other equipment charges (US$)
| | Daily | 4 Day Rate | 5 Day Rate | | BCD (Jacket) | 10 | 8.75 | 8 | | Regulator | 10 | 8.75 | 8 | | Wet Suit | 7 | 6 | 5 | Marine Reserve Permits (US$) | | Daily | 4 Day Rate | 5 Day Rate | | Daily Pass | 5 | 20 | 25 | | Annual Pass | 15 | - | - | |
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Guided Tours
Dive Fair Helen offers two kayak trips out of Marigot Bay.
The two hour Coastal and River Kayaking tour departs from Marigot Bay and heads out into the Caribbean Sea before entering the Roseau rivermouth, where the trees close over the top of you and you will pass through an area of mangroves. The Coastal Kayaking tour is three hours long and takes you beneath St Lucia’s dramatic coastline down to Anse la Raye, where there is a village walk before the return paddle.
Private Boat Charters (skippered) are available and cost US$600 for 4 hours or US$800 for 7 hours but do not include dive costs, transfers etc.
Snorkelling
Some of the finest snorkelling in the region is located here. Because the island is volcanic in nature there are spectacular coral reefs, trenches, caverns and walls all nestled with an array of Caribbean reef fish. These sites can be found literally within a stone throw from most of the beaches along the sheltered west coast with the more popular sites located within the marine reserve areas. Snorkelling could not be easier - just put on your mask, snorkel and fins and you're ready to experience the adventure of a lifetime.
Cost: US$50 or US$30 if you are under 12 years old, which includes taxi/boat transfers, lunch, mask, fins, snorkel and snorkel vest. |
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Boats
The company operates two custom-built dive boats. Diver Fair Helen II is a 47ft Burpee and Dive Fair Helen III is a 39ft Sea Hawk. Rigged out with plenty of shade and easy entry and exit points they each have an on-board washroom. |
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Pick up Points & Times
Club St. Lucia by Splash / Le Sport Hotel – 7.45am
Cap Estate (including villas and other private homes in the area) - 7.45am
Gros Islet to Rodney Bay (including Glencastle Hotel, guest houses in Gros Islet and environs, Marlin Quay, Bay Gardens, Rex, Papillon and Royal St. Lucian Hotels, Rainbow Hotel and other Villas, guest houses and private houses in the area) – 8am
Windjammer Hotel – 8.10am
St James's Club Morgan Bay – 8.20am
Cruise Vessels in Port Castries – 8.45am |
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Safety & Medical
All boats carry oxygen and other safety equipment. There is no recompression chamber in St Lucia but the protocol is established in case of a problem and a helicopter is on call. The closest are in Barbados and Martinique. |
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All the information on this page comes to you free of charge. Please don’t forget to mention DefinitiveCaribbean when you contact Dive Fair Helen for your St Lucia diving requirements.
Thank you for your interest. |
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