Going to St. Croix

[Pettifogger]

Allright, we are going to St. Croix at the end of May, renting a house and staying right off of Cane Bay. We (6 of us) will be there for 8 days, and I plan (weather and ears permitting) on logging at least 25-30 dives.

So, I have five questions:

1. What are the shore dives that I MUST do?

2. What are the boat dives that I MUST do?

3. Which operation has good rates for shore diving tank fills? I read that Cane Bay Scuba has a ticket/voucher for X number of fills, which seems acceptable...

4. Which operation has good to great diving and/or boat operations?

5. Any one have any general pieces of advice concerning the island and/or diving in general?

I am hoping Scubavixen and 5615Mike can chime in here...

Thanks in advance.

P-Effer

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

Well, my experience there in July 2002 says must do's include Cane Bay, and particularly Northstar, and a night dive at the Fredricksted pier. I was very favorably impressed with the Cane Bay Dive Shop, we had zero negative experiences with them. Oil-free (Grade J) air was standard, and Nitrox readily available. Staff was very professional and accomodating. I was using doubles to get more used to them while doing recreational diving profiles, they wouldn't charge me extra for the second tank if diving air. Their inflatable boats with the zipper hole in the bow made for unique (in my experience) boat entry & exits. The only shore dives we did were Cane Bay and the Fredricksted pier; all others we did as boat dives. We stayed at the private villa for The Waves - the shore entry point at The Waves was too rough for us to try but we understand US West Coast divers consider it to be no problem. Tried a few dives with other operators and we stopped in and chatted at several more , but none could compare to what we had available right down the beach there. PM me if you would like more details or some photos.

 

[_Bella_]

I dive there every year and just got back last week. In fact, I spend my winters there and dive Cane Bay almost exclusively from January till March.

1. The Cane Bay wall, Twin Palms, Pavillions and Northstar can all be done from shore. Of the three, Pavillions is my favorite. Twin Palms and Northstar are a few blocks drive from Cane Bay dive shop and you take the risk if you drive down there and leave your car out that it could be broken in to. Pavillions has an easy entry from Off the Wall beach bar where you can park safely. I've also walked the block from Cane Bay dive shop to Off the Wall to dive Pavillions because I was too lazy to load gear in the car and drive. The pier at Frederiksted is a very nice night dive, easy entry/exit and calm waters. Two things to beware of are fishermen and parking your car at night. Make sure you have your knife for the line, and leave NOTHING in your car. I don't even lock my doors when I dive there to save the hassle of repairing a window.

2. If you do boat dives with Cane Bay some nice dives away from shore are Pinnacle/Sea Mount, Jungle, (if it's very calm) Bobs Bluff, and Hams Bluff are also beautiful cave like dives. The Christiansted and Frederiksted operators don't usually dive any sites on the north shore (where Cane Bay is) other than Northstar, Sea Mount, and Salt River. However, they dive on other sites which can be interesting such as Eagle Ray and the reefs around Frederiksted which Cane Bay DS doesn't take their boat to.

3. I prefer the rates at Cane Bay to all the rest. I also prefer the personnel and location.

4. I've been on dives with every operation on the island. I don't care for the Christiansted operators because they are exclusively boat operators, and expensive at that. They are however, very friendly. The folks in the shop of SCUBA are young and enthousiastic which counts for a lot. However, I'm an experienced diver and don't need cute kids to make my dive experience any better

5. H2O is a great new"er" restaurant at Hibiscus beach. It's a little expensive, but it's always been worth it to me.

6. I don't like to plug other operators because of my loyalty to Cane Bay, however with 6 of you N2 the Blue may be a nice boat to use for some of your diving. Derek and his wife are very friendly and accomodating.


P.S. When you go, please say hello to Kim and Craig at Cane Bay. I will miss them till next year.

 

[5615mike]

Allright, we are going to St. Croix at the end of May, renting a house and staying right off of Cane Bay. We (6 of us) will be there for 8 days, and I plan (weather and ears permitting) on logging at least 25-30 dives.

So, I have five questions:

1. What are the shore dives that I MUST do?

2. What are the boat dives that I MUST do?

3. Which operation has good rates for shore diving tank fills? I read that Cane Bay Scuba has a ticket/voucher for X number of fills, which seems acceptable...

4. Which operation has good to great diving and/or boat operations?

5. Any one have any general pieces of advice concerning the island and/or diving in general?

I am hoping Scubavixen and 5615Mike can chime in here...

Thanks in advance.

P-Effer

P

First of all have a great time. We did since it was our first trip to STX.
1. Can't comment - did no shore diving
2. Ditto the others comments
3. If you're staying in Cane Bay then I think your choice is obvious. I have not heard anything bad about that op.
4. We dove with SCUBA. Fine boat. BIG, SLOW, long day. Very nice operation but a bit more of a baby sitter than I would choose next time. Next time being many years from now if ever.

5. ScubaVixon is a great source of info. Surprised she has not piped in here yet. You might try PM'ing her.

As I said, we had a good time on the island but quite frankly I was disappointed with the diving. Fish life is not abundant. Talked to many who said that the overfishing is rampant which is caused from many shore dive locations. I saw many divers in small boats spear fishing. Surprised at the unemployment rate there. We were told that it is the highest in the US. Many complained about the handling of STX by gov't in that St. Thomas gets all the funds since so many boats go there and very few if any still go to STX. Are there any still going to STX? Not sure.

The N2 The Blue might be a nice choice. Underwaternet, do the owners of the dive shop also own the restaurant near cliff? We ate there twice. Great food. Nothing fancy but very very good. I believe they are Canadian.

 

[_Bella_]

The N2 The Blue might be a nice choice. Underwaternet, do the owners of the dive shop also own the restaurant near cliff? We ate there twice. Great food. Nothing fancy but very very good. I believe they are Canadian.

The dive shop and the Cane Bay Beach bar or Off the Wall beach bar are not affiliated with each other. Do you mean the restaurant at the Waves? They are all owned by different people and the Waves is the one I know the least about. In fact I haven't been there in a few years.

Pettifogger, where are you staying? Villa Dawn?

The dive operators are doing a lot amongst themselves to bring St. Croix into the public eye and give it's diving more publicity. There is deffinate overfishing and lobstering. In fact I don't usually tell anyone if I've spotted a large lobster. However, I've noticed quite a change in the fish population over the last 15 years that I've been going there. Where there used to be larger populations and more varieties of fish around Cane Bay there are now fewer. Where there used to be very few schools and varieties around Frederiksted pier, it can now be swarming at times. This is particularly ironic because of the fishermen fishing right off the pier. Hurricanes and heavy rains also bring about changes in the fish population and behavior. That said, every year I see something I've never seen before. This was the first year I'd ever seen spotted eagle rays (among other things). There was a week or so in January where we'd see them on every dive from Cane Bay. So, St Croix diving is much like any other place; dynamic and ever changing

 

[Pettifogger]

The dive shop and the Cane Bay Beach bar or Off the Wall beach bar are not affiliated with each other. Do you mean the restaurant at the Waves? They are all owned by different people and the Waves is the one I know the least about. In fact I haven't been there in a few years.

Pettifogger, where are you staying? Villa Dawn?

To all who have replied (so far) I want to say "Thanks" Every bit of info is appreciated... Please keep it going, even the bad stuff.

FYI, there are 6-8 of us going, and although we looked at Villa Dawn, we didn't think that it was quite big enough for us (some are married and bringing S.O.'s others are single and want their own room - "Just in case" ), so we are staying at "Dragonfly?"

One of the people in the group set it up (she is awesome, by the way), so I am not 100% sure of the name, but I think Dragonfly is it...

Regards,

P-Fogger

P.S.

Any one know of any private oceanview/oceanfront villas for sale? We are going to set up some viewings through some of the real estate companies, but sometimes private sales are best (save that commission).

 

[_Bella_]

To all who have replied (so far) I want to say "Thanks" Every bit of info is appreciated... Please keep it going, even the bad stuff.

FYI, there are 6-8 of us going, and although we looked at Villa Dawn, we didn't think that it was quite big enough for us (some are married and bringing S.O.'s others are single and want their own room - "Just in case" ), so we are staying at "Dragonfly?"

One of the people in the group set it up (she is awesome, by the way), so I am not 100% sure of the name, but I think Dragonfly is it...

Regards,

P-Fogger

P.S.

Any one know of any private oceanview/oceanfront villas for sale? We are going to set up some viewings through some of the real estate companies, but sometimes private sales are best (save that commission).

I know where Dragonfly is. It's very close to Villa Dawn but not as walkable. You're right though in that it may not be as big for your needs. Dragonfly is huge! Stephen and Deanna are the concierge's for Vacation St. Croix and very nice people, and divers too. She also tries to manage all the diving for anyone staying in Vacation St. Croix villas though I would honestly recommend you go on your own. My honest opinion being friends with them is that they are too expensive for what you get.

Speaking to real estate, it all depends where you want to be and how much you want to spend. Take a look at all the published listings on St. Croix at Chris Hanley's web page. However, now is not the time to buy on St. Croix, imho. Since this isn't scuba related, if you want more info, PM me and I'll tell you all I know.