Chris (pflaum@aol.com)
Yes it's true, St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands has great diving. In fact, some of the dives on St. Croix are among the best I have done--walls comparable to Cayman Brac, reefs teaming with unspoiled hard and soft corals and a colorful sponges that put the Florida Keys to shame, and an incredible variety of fish life.
That's the good part; the bad part is that few divers visiting St. Croix will get to experience the high quality diving available, since most of the operators on the island dive the really good sites very seldom. But more about this later, first the diving.
The good diving on St. Croix is generally in the area on the northside of the island from just east of the Salt River west to Butler Bay and encompasses the areas of the Salt River canyon, Cane Bay and Davis Bay. To the east of this area is the section of Long Reef right off Christiansted which provides mediocre reef diving comparable to the upper Florida Keys.
There is little worthwhile diving east of Christiansted... or on the southside of the island, with the exception of the Fredricksted pier.
DIVE SITES:
Some of the sites I found interesting in 7 days of diving in late March were:
- Salt River Canyon West Wall is a stunning wall which starts at about 60 ft and drops steeply to several thousand. This is a rugged wall covered with interesting coral formations and sponges and reminded me of the walls on the south side of Cayman Brac. On one dive here, we saw the largest southern sting ray I have ever seen, a monster with a seven foot wingspan. On another dive, we could hear the dolphins in the distance. Most of this dive is done at 80 to 100 feet.
- Cane Bay Wall is less interesting, in my opinion, than Salt River but none the less a beautiful wall which starts at about 70' and drops to the blue. The wall is covered with plate coral and an abundance of sponges. This is a shore dive requiring about a 200 yard swim.
- The Pavilions is directly off shore of the Waves Hotel at Cane Bay. It is one of the most beautiful dives I have ever done, magically so. At the eastern end of the Cane Bay Wall and 40 to 60' this reef is covered with an abundance of barrel and rope sponges and a fantastic variety of hard and soft coral.
- Gentle Winds is a reef off of the Gentle Winds Condos just west of Cane Bay. This dive is pure Zen during the day with coral growing over coral to form a garden which is an explosion of life and color. This is reputed to be one of the top night d ives on the island.
- Jimmy's Surprise is a pinnacle rising from the sea floor at 95' to about 55'. It is reminiscent of the Pinnacle at Guanaja. As we approached it, we could see it swarming with schools of jack.
OPERATORS:
The major dive operations in St. Croix (VI Divers, Dive Experience, Mile Marker and Dive St. Croix ) are located in Christiansted near the hotels which makes them easily accessible to where divers stay and far removed from the really good dive sites. For the most part these operators concentrate on the sites off Christiansted which are not great diving.
Though this is undoubtedly motivated in part by the economics of sending the boats far off, there is another reason: St. Croix is a place where vacationers dive, rather than divers vacation....
So, St. Croix has great diving but it is largely inaccessible to the divers who go there...
GETTING THERE AND FOOD
One of the reasons to go to St. Croix is that it is about the best dive destination available with Delta Airlines frequent flier points. Delta flies directly to St. Croix from Atlanta with a stop in St. Thomas.
There are plenty of cheap places to eat in St. Croix. The old standbys, McDonalds, Subway and KFC are just west of town and Pizza Hut has a restaurant right in Christiansted. Local restaurants for the budget-minded include Chocolate Barbeque (=BD chicken with rice and beans for $7), Kims, Camiles, and Cheeseburger in Paradise. Among the expensive but good places to eat are Duggan's, Patagena, No Name Bar, and Picnic in Paradise.
And These Letters:
Glenn (shep1mass2@aol.com)
St. Croix.. has some of the greatest diving in the Caribbean. From the wrecks in Butler Bay to the easy shore dives of Cane Bay, the incredible night dives in Fredricksted and the east and west walls of the Salt River. The north side of the island has a wall which becomes vertical at about 75'in most areas and 90-95' in others. The real prize dive spots are known only to a few local dive shops and are difficult to obtain." (And known to me!!--jeb)
And this from: julie@out.ter.net (Julia Edwards) (julie@xs2.greenpeace.org)
Organization: Greenpeace International
To: jeblair@facstaff.wisc.edu
Subject: St. Croix trip
Jim,
I've read your trip reports on the VI, ALL TRUE TRUE and TRUE again!!! I lived there for 3 years with my mother before going to college and now I conveniently have free accomodations when I'm there. Too bad this wasn't true when I travelled to other hot diving spots.
Anyway, I was just writing to say that whenever you are going I'd r eally like to get together with your group for a dive or two. My boyfriend who became a warm water wimp by taking the plunge off Cane Bay loves diving, as do I. But, I think we really like diving with some other people, especially if they are a bit more experienced. He's an OW certified and I'm a rescue certified diver, but it's still more fun when you can share stories with people who have been there.
Please let me know your trip plans, perhaps it would be possible to be around at the same time.
Cheers,
Subject: Re: St. Thomas or St. Croix?
Date: 1 Nov 1996 01:07:53 -0500
From: tsigb@aol.com (TSIGB)
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
Newsgroups: rec.scuba.locations
2 years my son and I had the absolute pleasure of diving St. Croix. If indeed you enjoy shore dives The Waves At Cane Bay is the only place to go. Within 1/4 mile of the hotel there are 6-10 dive sites accessible from shore. While on the island we also tied in and did 2 boat dives but nothing could come close to what was right in front of our hotel. The hotel is made up of appx. 12 units all w/ patios w/in 30' of the h20. The sounds of the sea so close to the room and the unbelievable diving made this one of my favorite locations ever.
The natural grotto pool was unique and as it turned out my son did as much snorkeling there as we did diving. There is not much night life in the immediate area but who needs it. One morning I will never forget took place on our second flr patio. While eating breakfast we watched a pod of dolphin swim by and as luck would have it the first dive we had planned for the day was where they were swimming. Yes they were still in the area as we donned our gear and walked into the dive site 20' from the hotel.
Good Luck & Diving;
Scott
For a contrary view
jbellows@my-dejanews.com wrote:
> > Planning a family dive trip to St. X for the Xmas holidays. Can youone
> suggest a hotel/dive operator combo.
> > Thanks
> Jeff, .... with a serious urge to submerge!
Hi,
Well if you want MY advice....
First look very carefully at:
http://www.wsg.net/~sandon/StCroix.htm
as an example of someone who did not enjoy St. Croix very much, mostly because they did everything wrong. They stayed on the wrong side of the
island, and tried to dive when the conditions were not good. They did not note that there is excellent snorkeling very close to Colony Cove;
I usually do it, but only when the weather is right for it.
Then read my web page. Note that I first check the schedule of the cruise ships, and dive the F'sted pier when they are not in. They
typically average about 2 ships a week, but it is sometimes more.
And I dive the west side (Monks Bath, etc) if the weather is rough on the north coast. But as soon as the winds are light on the north coast,
it is off to Salt River, Cane Bay and Northstar.
Also see
Tamarind Reef Hotel
Remember, to return to my web page go BACK. Or Return
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