Be mindful Hawaii has cooler waters than, say, Bonaire; buddy of mine shore dove there & said so, and I hear it from forum members, too. And front what I'm told the underwater topography is different from what I'm used to in the Caribbean. I'm not knocking it, just saying read up on it and see if it sounds like something you like.
I suggested Curacao because it's bigger and more populous than Bonaire, and much though I love Bonaire, I think 2 years stuck on it could instill some cabin fever. And Curacao is cheaper to fly to. It's close to Aruba, in case you wanted to visit there from time to time.
I only visited St. Croix one day, on a cruise ship stop, and did 2 boat dives;
here's my mini-trip report. Poster Reghunnicutt said:
The best shore dives are:
The Pier - Easy structured dive and lots to see. Great night dive. Air fills nearby.
Butler Bay - long swim to wrecks. Some current.
North Star - just dived this Friday from a boat but it is only a five minute swim out. A big wall and lots of very alive coral.
Cane bay - a wall dive with big sand chutes. I have see many reef sharks here. This is a very popular shore dive to the wall. Air fills nearby.
Carambola - another wall north shore dive. More to look at than Can Bay. Air fills nearby.
Here's another thread, where JonHall posted:
In early April the water is 79-80; by late June it can be as high as 84, so I would say expect about 81-82 degrees. Last dove in December 2012, water was 84.
Water on west side (Frederiksted) is calmer than water on north and east side. Walls: on north side, Cane Bay, which is a shore dive and has beach, snorkeling, and good place to eat; also on north side, Salt River Bay also has submarine canyons.
Best shore and night dive is Frederiksted Pier. Seahorses, frogfish, and many other critters come out at night.
The dive shop to go with in Frederiksted is N2theBlue. They are about a football field walk from the pier. Pick up a tank from them (they let us use their cart) and do pier as shore dive. Of course they will guide you also. We always jump off the pier on one side to enter and come up at a little wooden dock on the other side.
N2theBlue's boat dives leave from the pier also. Short rides to dive sites and great people. They also do other night dives. There is a small parking lot by the shop.
and Magellan said:
My wife and I went to St Croix about two years ago, and the shore diving was amazing. We stayed at the Waves which is just down the street from Cane Bay. St Croix is perfect for shore diving, when we booked our trip I made a reservation for several days of boat dives, but after arriving found out that we could do so much shore diving that boat diving wasn't really necessary except as an occasional adventure. So, I tried to cancel the reservations with Cane Bay Scuba, and switch to a tank rental deal, but they were very unfriendly about the whole situation. I remained friendly, used them for rentals and even went on a couple of boat dives near the Salt River area - the staff was great. At the end of the trip, when the time came to settle up, they were going to force us to pay for all the days we had reserved (keep in mind, we never "missed" the boat, I told them as soon as I arrived we would not be going out as planned, but would do shore diving instead, and I got a reluctant OK at the time). Well, thankfully a local friend called the owner and let them know that screwing us was not good business, when we had tried to be as accommodating as possible, paying for services amounting to over half as much as we had initially reserved. That tension, really left a bad feeling with me for that trip, but otherwise it was fantastic.
We did shore dives from the Waves, Cane bay, North Star (a favorite) all the way to Carambola Beach resort, and Fredricksted Pier. I brought a sling with me and killed lionfish for awhile, but the black tip sharks would show up so fast, and several at a time that my wife starting getting nervous!! This was one of the best shore diving destinations I have been to, with the obvious exception of Bonaire. The wall is so close to shore and the clarity of the water is really great, I used Google earth to map out several dives just by eye-balling the reefs from satellite images. I would really love to go back, but I think it would be a little more fun as a group; generally my wife and I were alone. A car is really all you need, if you can get one that isn't too low to the ground that might help, but you really don't have to go off the road that much to access the dive sites.
and
If you like shore diving as much as I do, you need to try St. Croix, I was pleasantly surprised and will probably go back eventually. The swim is not long at all, basically you have about a mile's worth of reef/wall centered at Cane Bay - that could easily be 5-6 dives without covering the same territory, but honestly, if you slow down and take your time you could probably spend almost all week just in this stretch alone. Also you have the Fredricksted Pier - easily 2-4 dives there (also great for a night dive), and Carambola (they have a dive shop on site), probably 2-3 dives there, just spend the day and eat at the resort, it's nice. I think if you wanted to be adventurous, you could probably scout out a few more places, so long as you respect people's property. Check out: Shorediving.com, I have yet to contribute to the website, but I should, some things are a little out of date, but it's a good start. Of course, you would probably still want to get in a couple of boat dives as well, the Salt River sites were a must for me. I really liked that trip because it didn't feel touristy at all, in fact the place felt a little deserted (we were there in May, end of the winter season), which is why I'd like to go with some other divers next time.
I posted the above quotes because there aren't many Caribbean destinations lauded as good shore diving sites, and St. Croix is a name that comes up.
Now,
here's a thread on Dominica, which it seems like I'm hearing more and more about on the forum, with some posters talking about good shore diving there. And a lot of natural topside beauty.
Richard.
---------- Post added August 1st, 2014 at 07:23 PM ----------
A few lifestyle questions that could impact your choice of island:
1.) How important are 'big stores' to you? I'm talking a big grocery store, a Home Depot, Walmart or Kmart, that sort of thing? What about movie theaters and shopping malls?
2.) Regarding the 'active topside life,' mainly for you (guests can probably enjoy touring the island), what things do you guys like to do? Dance, casino, wide variety of restaurants, shopping, gardening, zoos or botanical gardens, fishing, hunting, attending sporting events, hiking, bar hopping, what do you need the island to have?
Back before my wife & I had our little pre-toddler daughter, I casually thought about moving to Bonaire someday. I love to visit, but I don't think I'd want to live there. Full on bright sunny hot summer time, all year, on an arid island with cacti, drive in any direction and in under an hour you'd hit the ocean, can't get stuff from Amazon via Prime in 2 business days, no O'Charley's, smearing on sunscreen every day...
Richard.