My family will be on a cruise in March that stops for a day in St. Maartin. We will also stop at St. Thomas. My husband and I are divers and have never visited either location. We have dived the Cayman Islands, Hawaii and the Bahamas. We want to dive either St. Maartin or St. Thomas, and tour the other. If feasible we may take our child along so he can snorkel while we dive (the grandparents will be there). <BR>Does anyone have advice for me as to which offers better diving/snorkeling, and which offers better land excursions? My fear is that St. Thomas/St. John is better for both, and if that's the case, please tell me whether you think we should even do anything on St. Maartin. Thank you for any advice you can give us.

I heard diving stinks in st. martin.

Diving isn't great on St. Martin, and the island isn't great for scenery; the main attractions are the beaches (and shopping). Take a trip to the butterfly farm; it should fascinate a child and most adults enjoy it too. Depending on the child, Fort St. Louis at Marigot also might be interesting to see.

Wait wait wait.<BR>Saba has great diving. Thats right near st. martin. You could try that!

St. maarten has nice beaches, duty free shoping, and fabulous gourmet restaurants<BR>a very nice thing to do while stopping on a cruise is take the America's Cup 12 metre yachts on a race around the harbour. Great fun and great sailing

Thanks for your replies! Now I feel I can definitely plan better. You were very helpful, thanks.