St. Croix, staying at Divi

[jnorris]

In a few weeks my wife and I will be going to St. Croix. We're staying at Divi Carina Bay Resort. I want to dive! Anybody know anything about who offers diving out of Divi Carina Bay? Any suggestions on "must dive" locations or best operators? We've never been to St. Croix so any info or suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks!!

 

[DebbyDiver]

Nobody dives out of Divi. There is a dive shop out there and I used to work for them, but nobody actually dives out of there as there is very little to see. When you're at Divi, walk into the shop (by the pool and the bar, open 7 days) and arrange diving with Cane Bay Dive Shop. Or call them in advance, 1-800-338-3843.

They offer beach diving or boat diving, just not actually AT Divi.

BTW if you are at DIVI you are WAY out in the boondocks. As in WAY OUT THERE. You need to rent a car for your stay (Centerline Car Rentals is pretty cheap, pick one up at the airport) or pay for taxis.

What week are you going to be here?

 

[jnorris]

Nobody dives out of Divi. There is a dive shop out there and I used to work for them, but nobody actually dives out of there as there is very little to see. When you're at Divi, walk into the shop (by the pool and the bar, open 7 days) and arrange diving with Cane Bay Dive Shop. Or call them in advance, 1-800-338-3843.

Thanks Debby! I appreciate the input. I'll make sure to contact Cane Bay and set something up.

BTW if you are at DIVI you are WAY out in the boondocks. As in WAY OUT THERE. You need to rent a car for your stay (Centerline Car Rentals is pretty cheap, pick one up at the airport) or pay for taxis.

Yeah, I noticed that. I checked it out on Google Earth, so I sort of have the lay of the land, at least from the satellite viewpoint!! I'll figure out whether we want to get a car or if we just want to use the taxis.

What week are you going to be here?

We arrive on 25 Feb.

Thanks again for the input. I really appreciate it!

 

[DebbyDiver]

Ah, that's my partner's birthday! A good day to visit. Perhaps we'll see you at Cane Bay for some diving! How long are you staying? They have the Mocko Jumbie Caribbean buffet and show there on Thursday nights.

The taxis are very expensive. Centerline Car Rentals are not expensive. But some people get really creeped out driving on the left side of the road. I guess you need to determine how much time you'll just want to chill at the resort vs. going around and enjoying the island as to which one is in your budget.

The dive shop at Divi can put you in touch with a taxi driver who will take you from Divi to Cane Bay and back for $40 cash per person. That's gonna add up quick if you do a lot of diving. I'm pretty sure that Centerline rents for not a lot more than $30 a day for an economy car. We had friends here for a couple of weeks over Christmas, and they were delighted with their Centerline rental.

Oddly enough, it is illegal for USVI businesses to transport their own customers. People always want to know why the dive shops won't pick them up. That's why.

St. Croix Taxi Rates

Centerline doesn't have their rates on the web, but whenever friends have inquired with them, they get a better deal than with the nationally known car rental companies.

Not pushing you into renting vs. taxis, just that the taxis are spendy. OTOH the driving around here is pretty sporty, so you might want to leave it to the pros.

 

[jnorris]

Debby,

Thanks again for the info. Really appreciated!

How long are you staying?

We'll be at Divi for the full week, Saturday to Saturday.

The taxis are very expensive. Centerline Car Rentals are not expensive. But some people get really creeped out driving on the left side of the road.

Thanks for that info. We'll give it some thought and make our decision. As for driving on the left, been there done that. It doesn't bother me at all, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Oddly enough, it is illegal for USVI businesses to transport their own customers.

Interesting! Wonder why that is.

Thanks again for all the info. We're looking forward to our visit. I'm sure we'll have a blast!

 

[DebbyDiver]

Interesting! Wonder why that is.

I heard the taxi driver's association lobbied the VI gooberment for the law so that local businesses couldn't cut into their income.

Thanks again for all the info. We're looking forward to our visit. I'm sure we'll have a blast!

 

[stcroixscuba]

I heard the taxi driver's association lobbied the VI gooberment for the law so that local businesses couldn't cut into their income.

Debby, whether that typo was intentional or a true typo it's AWESOME. There are definitely a lot more taxi drivers than dive shops on the island and between them and their families it makes up a pretty large voting block, thus the law. It's especially stupid when you consider that the dive shops weren't charging for that service so we weren't trying to compete with the taxis.

That all said, now the OP's questions about Divi. We're actually the nearest actual dive shop TO the resort. Our shop is in Christiansted and our main dive boat departs right off of the Boardwalk. Christiansted is about 15-20 minutes from the Divi. We also have another boat located in Frederiksted so we dive ALL of the moored dive sites around the island. (Of course due to the same reasons as above you still have to get to Frederiksted to meet that boat).

In addition to Centerline Car Rental, whom Debby recommends and who is good, you might also want to check out Judi of Croix car rental and Olympic Rent a car. Both are local companies and both can meet you at the airport or the dive shop. Of course several of the major rental car companies are at the airport too.

My final bit of advice is about restaurants. I'm assuming that one of the things that attracted you to the Divi is their all-inclusive plan. I fully understand why people are attracted to all inclusives but I'm begging you to get out and try at least one or two other restaurants on St. Croix. Despite the small island that we are we have some truly fantastic restaurants here including several Wine Spectator Award winning ones. We also have McDonalds (not that I'm recommending it) and everything in between. If you only dined at the Divi while you were here you'd really be cheating yourself of another great St. Croix experience.

Whomever you choose to dive with you'll have a great time diving here on St. Croix.

 

[swim deep]

The Cane Bay Wall is a shore dive. It's superb! Don't pay a boat to take you there. The swim out is easy. We once spent 5 days diving the wall and the Frederiksted Pier and had a great time without ever stepping on a boat. I could never get bored with that wall! Last time we also did Salt River, Shark Alley, North Star, and Vertigo from a boat with Cane Bay Dive Shop. They were great, and even did a minor repair on my reg without charge. We <3 Cane Bay Dive Shop. After you dive, next to the dive shop, Eat @ Cane Bay is delicious, and Off the Wall Beach Bar has good food and drinks too.

 

[DebbyDiver]

My final bit of advice is about restaurants. I'm assuming that one of the things that attracted you to the Divi is their all-inclusive plan. I fully understand why people are attracted to all inclusives but I'm begging you to get out and try at least one or two other restaurants on St. Croix. Despite the small island that we are we have some truly fantastic restaurants here including several Wine Spectator Award winning ones. We also have McDonalds (not that I'm recommending it) and everything in between. If you only dined at the Divi while you were here you'd really be cheating yourself of another great St. Croix experience.

Absolutely. You would also miss some of our outstanding local entertainment, as many of our fine restaurants feature live music several nights a week.

Whomever you choose to dive with you'll have a great time diving here on St. Croix.

 

[jnorris]

Thanks for all the replies and info. Really appreciate all the good stuff!

Just to be clear, we didn't actually choose Divi because of the all-inclusive stuff. We are Divi timeshare owners on St. Maarten, but we traded our week there for a week in St. Croix this year just to try something new. We definitely will be sampling the local fare while on St. Croix. We always do no matter where we go.

Thanks again! Won't be long now and we'll be there!!