St. Croix-any suggestions would help

I've got a business trip in January to St. Croix (Kingshill) and would appreciate any suggestions from those that know. Need info on dive operators, hotels, restaurants, etc.

I tried to do a search, but St. Croix is only 2 words and the search requires 3!!

Thanks in advance,

Jack

Isn't that search word thing a pain. It is the same if you put St. Thomas it says that 'ST' is too short and aborts the search. You can just put 'croix' in your case and you will probably find some more info and probably a couple of recommendations.

KN or LD? Can that quirk of the search engine be fixed or is there a way around it. Using qoutes around it doesn't work nor does putting the * as a wildcard between St*thomas so it would substitute the space?

Syruss,

Thanks for the suggestion, but it didn't result in anything but my own post. I didn't think even that would work, but I'll remember this "next time"...

What exactly are you looking for? A luxury hotel, everyday restaurants, dive shops and dive sites? If so, and you can wait until tonight or tomorrow, I can help. But I have to leave home soon and will be offline for at least the next 9 hours...

Joewr...travel agent to the rich and famous...or was that the poor and infamous...gotta check that again...

Thanks Joewr,

I'm not going until late January, so I guess I can wait 9 hours!

Looking for good dive operators, good restaurants, and a nice (read: not necessarily luxury) hotel. If there's a luxury hotel that I can find with decent pricing, then I may go that way. My business is in Kingshill (wherever that is).

Thanks for anything you can dig up.

Jack

DD,

I can make few suggestions. I have not been on St. Croix in three years, but on these islands, things do not change too fast.

Kings Hill is halfway between the two major cities on SC: Frederiksted and Christiansted; about six miles from each, I think. Of the two, I am really only familiar with Christiansted.

The "hotels" are not of the usual chain variety and the two that I can suggest are Kings Alley Hotel(800-843-3574) and Hotel Caravelle (800-524-0410). The former is more luxurious and pricey. I suggest you call them for a brochure...

For a small island, restaurants abound on SC. Three to consider:

Harvey's--pricey, local specialties, including goat stew...
Tivoli Gardens--medium pricey--lobster a specialty
Paradise Cafe--good lunches, burgers, fries, etc., nice place to eat on a good weather day

Diving--Anchor Dive Center

http://www.anchordivestcroix.com/

A good outfit that takes you to the best sites on the island. Be sure to ask to go to Salt River Canyon East Wall: wall dives are a specialty on SC and Salt River abounds with fish!

Another outfit that I have heard good things about is Cane Bay Dive Shop

http://www.canebayscuba.com/index.html

I did not dive with them, but heard from other divers that they were great.

A very short word on the diving in the VI: it is decent diving, but not "adventure" diving. You will see lots of hard and soft coral, a fairly large variety of nice fish, but not too many pelagics, large sharks (Although, the biggest nurse shark I have ever seen was in the VI: probably 13-15 ft long!), or rays. But you will very likely see beautiful drums (adult and juvenile), lots of squirrelfish, eels, lizardfish and sandivers everywhere, trumpetfish, all sorts of damsels, and others. Probably, though, what is most memorable is the soft coral and sea fans...just spectacular. I especially enjoy the pillar coral and the orange cup coral.

The water temp in January three years ago was 80 deg F. We used dive fleeces, but a hardy ice diver like you will only need a loin cloth!

Finally, if the bank account is in good shape and you want to have a fun ride, try the sea plane that goes over to St. Thomas. You can ride over in the AM, do a little shopping with all the tourists at Charlotte Amalie, and pop home in the PM. But mainly it is the fun of doing a seaplane takeoff and landing...

I hope this helps...

Joewr...almost makes me want to slip away...

DD,

I think this book is out of print, but if you can find a copy it is worth reading:

"Diving in the Virgin Islands" by W. Lynn Seldon, Jr., Hunter Publishing, 1996.

Alibris has a copy for $20.00. Mine, purchased 6 years ago, cost $13.95. Since it has gone up in cost, others must like it as much as I. It is dated, though, and some of the sites on St. Thomas we dove last summer were no longer as described in the book...

The Alibris site is:

http://www.alibris.com/search/search.cfm


Joewr...

Thank you!! And I didn' even have to wait 9 hours!

I acutally saw your post over an hour ago and have been going to your links and doing research. Although my business is in Kingshill, I think we'll stay in the Cane Bay area. It's closer to the diving.

So many sites to dive, so little time. As for the "decent diving vs. adventure diving", any diving is better than no diving... And when it's on business you can write it off!

I think I'll pass on the goat stew, thank you. But I am going to try some of the other suggestions.

By the way, we're going to jellyfish pond tonite. You can still make it up here if you catch a quick flight <G>.

Thanks again for the great effort. You DA MAN!

Jack

Originally posted by detroit diver
By the way, we're going to jellyfish pond tonite. You can still make it up here if you catch a quick flight.

Thanks again for the great effort.

Jack

Click to expand...

About the jellyfish dive...My wet suit is out being dry cleaned. And Barbara wants to go to the movies. And I need to recycle the newspapers. And I need to get cat food at the grocery store. Guess I'll have to pass. Darn, I will miss another opportunity to dive in frigid water!

Most of what I wrote came from memory...so it really was an effort...the memory being what it is today...I am lucky to remember where the car keys are...imagine how hard it is to find the shift key...

Glad I was able to help...but you know the price: one excellent trip report...but from you, DD, that is a given!


Joewr...goat stew is not so bad...if you are not the goat...

My first trip report (which you'll be waiting on the edge of your seat for) will be tonite! Stay tuned....