oldmac, welcome back to the boards and congrats on getting back in the water again after so long.

As for st maarten (sxm), h2o is right, it's not that good - there are far better places to go diving in the caribbean - st lucia for one .

If you are going to sxm, try and see if you can get a ferry over to saba as the diving there is markedly superior (so, i've heard anyway).

The only place i know of in sxm is Dive Safaris, based out of phillipsburg. I have heard they are a bit of a cattle boat outfit?!

HTH