St. Croix

[afox428671]

Hello all: I'm going to St. Croix in November and am looking for dive shop recommendations! I'll be staying on North Shore Drive, close to the Salt River Marina. Is Anchor the way to go due to proximity, or is Cane Bay Dive Shop a better choice? Thanks!

 

[Pettifogger]

Hello all: I'm going to St. Croix in November and am looking for dive shop recommendations! I'll be staying on North Shore Drive, close to the Salt River Marina. Is Anchor the way to go due to proximity, or is Cane Bay Dive Shop a better choice? Thanks!

When we were there a little while ago, I have to admit that Anchor Dive people were WAY WAY nicer. Staying on North Shore drive should be pretty good, as you won't be too far from the grocery store and only 5 minutes from Cane Bay beach and wall...

We did one day of diving with Anchor dive, and then just picked up tanks at CBDS and drove around the island. As I hinted to above, I was not too pleased with the service at CBDS, but they do have a good operation going. I think that it really comes down to cost as CBDS is, and still is, cheaper on a per tank rental basis.

Cane bay wall is nice (but nothing really cool, no big fish, etc...) and both sites we went to with AD were pretty good. You can also kayak with AD.

I also recommend diving the Pier in Frederiksted lots of fish, octopi, etc - You can either swim from the beach (loooong swim) or jump off the pier itself (but the exit from the pier is a little tricky with all the construction). As per anywhere, just take care that you don't leave anything in your car that you don't mind losing.

However, not to imply anything negative, we did not experience any crime at all... Just stolen blood from all the mosquitos.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

I was happy with Anchor. I would definitely recommend them. Do a search on this board for opinions. This thread has been done at least twice in the last two years.

 

[RESCUEDIVER]

Lived "On Island" for two years during a construction project. You might need to try a couple of shops to get the full experience of St, Croix. The Christianstead shops like to do the North Shore reefs/wall, Cane Bay will do beach diving, the reefs and Butler Bay. The Fredrickstead shops like to do the wrecks at Butler Bay and the pier.

I recommend:

The pier at day (you can find historically signifigant artifacts if you look hard enough), the pier at night (great dive), the reefs and wall off of Cane Bay and Salt River, and the wrecks of Butler Bay. For a challange, you need to try Vertigo

This means different shops. Call around and find out who is catering to smaller groups with more experienced divers (if you fit into this catagory) and where they are going

See this link

http://www.diversevirgin.com/

 

[squee!]

Another vote for the anchor inn folks. Very nice peoples.

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

I liked Cane Bay Dive Shop best two years ago when I went, but admit I didn't dive with Anchor that visit. Maybe their staff at Cane Bay has changed with time - a shame if this is what's happened. They were very open and were happy to show me their compressor and blending operation when I asked about it, and didn't charge me for extra air tanks to practice diving with double cylinders doing recreational profiles as practice for my tech diving course back on the mainland.