St. Croix trip coming up

[7MMWarm]

Hi divers,

Heading to STX in late June/early July. Trying to get my itinary laid out.

Planning to try to do a combo of shore dives (Pier, Cane Bay, maybe Davis?) and boat dives. I think we'll need to be flexible if the sargassum is bad for the shore dives from Cane.

Only 1 cruise ship in port during our stay, so question whether they stir up the pier and make conditions bad for some time afterward? This would mean I would want to do the pier earlier in my trip.

Anything you recommend?

I welcome all tips/advice.

Thanks

 

[Ironjock]

Hi divers,

Heading to STX in late June/early July. Trying to get my itinary laid out.

Planning to try to do a combo of shore dives (Pier, Cane Bay, maybe Davis?) and boat dives. I think we'll need to be flexible if the sargassum is bad for the shore dives from Cane.

Only 1 cruise ship in port during our stay, so question whether they stir up the pier and make conditions bad for some time afterward? This would mean I would want to do the pier earlier in my trip.

Anything you recommend?

I welcome all tips/advice.

Thanks

In STX now winding up 3 months of fun and diving. First question is where on the island are you staying? Answer the Pier question first. We have dove the pier the following day after the ship leaves, you might need to float out 6 or 7 sections but it should be decent unless the Northwinds are high ,which should be good in June.. Schedule a night dive ,you won't regret it.4 shops right at the pier. North shore. We use Cane Bay Dive shop for boat dives because they keep their boat mostly at Salt River Marina,handy for us. They hit all the spots from Carembola to Salt River Canyon. Fun bunch to dive with.. Scuba and Neptune do most of the west side dives although CBDS do come west at times. Try to dive Armageddon. My wife and I do a lot of shore dives and generally get tanks from Sweet Bottom dive shop located at Cane Bay and if you want to dive Davis Bay at Carumbola they have a shop there also. Dive Davis in the morning before the waves pick up. There are 4 dives in Cane Bay we like. Pavilions just east of Off The Wall restaurant. Northstar about 1 mile west of the Landing, Cane Bay itself, and our fav is going in at Twin Palms about 1/2 mile west of the Landing and drifting down to Cane Bay to exit. You get Twin Palms, Emerald gardens, and Cane Bay walls on 1 dive. Usually several black tips will accompany you. Anyone at Sweet Bottom can direct you. Hope this helps.

 

[Snoweman]

I did a night dive at the pier, while my dive buddy and his daughter did a twilight dive. I didn't want to completely abandon my wife, so I stayed on land.

They RAVED about their early dive. The night dive? Not so much. I will give the DM kudos for knowing where some obscure, tiny crab lived, but the rest of the diver was crap. 100% crap, and my buddy and his daughter agreed.

 

[Ironjock]

I did a night dive at the pier, while my dive buddy and his daughter did a twilight dive. I didn't want to completely abandon my wife, so I stayed on land.

They RAVED about their early dive. The night dive? Not so much. I will give the DM kudos for knowing where some obscure, tiny crab lived, but the rest of the diver was crap. 100% crap, and my buddy and his daughter agreed.

That's disappointing for sure. My wife and I probably have done a dozen or so night dives and something always shows up to make it a great dive. Sometimes you need to venture away from under the pier and check out those areas. We very seldom decend until we float out 10 sections or so then cut over to the Dolphins on the southside on our return.Almost always find an wanting to play.Hopefully they can do it again.

 

[7MMWarm]

Thanks for all the great info!

In STX now winding up 3 months of fun and diving. First question is where on the island are you staying? Answer the Pier question first. We have dove the pier the following day after the ship leaves, you might need to float out 6 or 7 sections but it should be decent unless the Northwinds are high ,which should be good in June.. Schedule a night dive ,you won't regret it.4 shops right at the pier. North shore. We use Cane Bay Dive shop for boat dives because they keep their boat mostly at Salt River Marina,handy for us. They hit all the spots from Carembola to Salt River Canyon. Fun bunch to dive with.. Scuba and Neptune do most of the west side dives although CBDS do come west at times. Try to dive Armageddon. My wife and I do a lot of shore dives and generally get tanks from Sweet Bottom dive shop located at Cane Bay and if you want to dive Davis Bay at Carumbola they have a shop there also. Dive Davis in the morning before the waves pick up. There are 4 dives in Cane Bay we like. Pavilions just east of Off The Wall restaurant. Northstar about 1 mile west of the Landing, Cane Bay itself, and our fav is going in at Twin Palms about 1/2 mile west of the Landing and drifting down to Cane Bay to exit. You get Twin Palms, Emerald gardens, and Cane Bay walls on 1 dive. Usually several black tips will accompany you. Anyone at Sweet Bottom can direct you. Hope this helps.

Thanks for all the great info. I wouldn't have thought about starting at twin palms and drifting back to Cane bay. Are the currents consistently favorable for that kind of dive?
We'll be staying in the Gentle Winds area so getting the boat dives from Salt River will be very convienent for us as well.

All great info! Appreciate the insights

 

[<*)))><]

In STX now winding up 3 months of fun and diving. First question is where on the island are you staying? Answer the Pier question first. We have dove the pier the following day after the ship leaves, you might need to float out 6 or 7 sections but it should be decent unless the Northwinds are high ,which should be good in June.. Schedule a night dive ,you won't regret it.4 shops right at the pier. North shore. We use Cane Bay Dive shop for boat dives because they keep their boat mostly at Salt River Marina,handy for us. They hit all the spots from Carembola to Salt River Canyon. Fun bunch to dive with.. Scuba and Neptune do most of the west side dives although CBDS do come west at times. Try to dive Armageddon. My wife and I do a lot of shore dives and generally get tanks from Sweet Bottom dive shop located at Cane Bay and if you want to dive Davis Bay at Carumbola they have a shop there also. Dive Davis in the morning before the waves pick up. There are 4 dives in Cane Bay we like. Pavilions just east of Off The Wall restaurant. Northstar about 1 mile west of the Landing, Cane Bay itself, and our fav is going in at Twin Palms about 1/2 mile west of the Landing and drifting down to Cane Bay to exit. You get Twin Palms, Emerald gardens, and Cane Bay walls on 1 dive. Usually several black tips will accompany you. Anyone at Sweet Bottom can direct you. Hope this helps.

Apologies to OP.

Going to be in St Croix next Feburary. Hoping to stay in Cane Bay by the water. Any recommendations on where to stay and places to eat? Mostly going to snorkel (2 non divers), dive (cane bay and the pier), relax . I will be renting a Jeep. Also, whats the crime situation like? Any other tips or advice?

Thank you

 

[Ironjock]

Thanks for all the great info!

Thanks for all the great info. I wouldn't have thought about starting at twin palms and drifting back to Cane bay. Are the currents consistently favorable for that kind of dive?
We'll be staying in the Gentle Winds area so getting the boat dives from Salt River will be very convienent for us as well.

All great info! Appreciate the insights

We stayed right beside Gentle winds 2 minutes to the boat. As far as the drift we never have had any current not let us do that. The entry at Twin Palms just as Northstar is a little rocky so take care getting in. We use walking sticks there and it helps us not so young divers, thanks Kevin and Liz! Another angle on Pavillions is to drift out from shore going a little northwest and drop down when you are over coral and the head towards the mooring. Lots to see and lots of critters. We go slightly east of the ball and move back to the entry. You need to hit where you go in as the shore line is not good until you get to the east side of Cane beach. We like doing this as the swim out to the ball in choppy water is a decent swim.