Ritz Carlton St. Thomas Named One of the Best Snorkeling Resorts
Caribbean Travel + Life named the Ritz Carlton St. Thomas one of the best snorkeling resorts. Their onsite Patagon Dive Center caters to divers of all levels and group sizes and offers a superior snorkeling and diving experience. The resort is located along 30 idyllic acres on the island's picturesque Great Bay, boasting private white sand beaches that feature Elkhorn Coral and yellow sea fans right off the shore. Snorkelers and divers can expect to see jacks, snappers and barracudas!
The Ritz Carlton St. Thomas offers certification courses and children's programs (age 5 and up), as well as a multilingual staff who can accommodate those who speak English, Spanish, French and Italian.
Dive boats depart daily:
- 9:30am 2 tank dive
- 2:30pm 1-tank dive
- 6:30 pm night dive
Private customized charters are also avilable for an extra premium. The staff at the Patagon Dive Center will discuss the specifics of the itinerary prior to booking, including preferred dive and snorkel sites, activities, and food and beverage options. They can accommodate families with young children, serious divers, and a mixed party of divers with a variety of experience levels. Patagon can also provide educational tours on the marine life of the coral reefs and sightseeing around the nearby islands, including a visit to an uninhabited island beach.
Patagon also offers a variety of specialty certifications for divers who want to broaden their underwater skills, some of which may offer the opportunity to earn college credit:
- Deep Diver: Learn techniques for diving 60-130 feet, make at least 4 deep dives with Instructor
- Night Diver: Illuminate a whole new set of night creatures with your dive light
- Underwater Photography: Learn the PADI SEA method for getting great shots quickly, learn techniques for taking good underwater photos
- Wreck Diver: Learn to explore wrecked ships, airplanes and automobiles that are teeming with wildlife
- Peak Performance Buoyancy: Learn how to be neutrally buoyant to avoid both floating and sinking
- Fish Identification: Learn to recognize the mail families and characteristics of fish that will help you identify marine life wherever you dive
- Underwater Naturalist: Observe the relationships of different marine life interacting together
- Underwater Navigation: Become the one in your diving party who knows how to get back to the boat
- Search and Recovery Diver: Learn effective ways to find lost objects underwater and bring them to the surface
- AWARE Coral Reef Conservation: Designed to inform about the world's largest coral reefs
- Boat Diver: Learn to dive from a variety of boats and how to safely enter and exit the water
- Drift Diver: Enjoy rivers and ocean currents by going with the flow