Just curious, I'm going to St Thomas next week for 5 nights and I'm finally going to complete my last 2 OW dives and get my certification. We are staying at a place called Secret Harbour. Supposively have a PADI dive center on site, and they said we would just walk out into the ocean from the hotel and complete the 2 dives. The guy said it was beautiful diving right out of the front door. Anyone been there? Or have any other suggestions, dive wise or even just were to go and what to do in St Thomas? Thanks!!!
David
PS. Also I just realized what a pain diving and traveling is!!! Trying to pack 2 wetsuits, 2 BCD's, regulators, fins, masks and everything takes up ALOT of room!!
ABQdiver
May 10th, 2005, 04:42 PM
Just curious, I'm going to St Thomas next week for 5 nights and I'm finally going to complete my last 2 OW dives and get my certification. We are staying at a place called Secret Harbour. Supposively have a PADI dive center on site, and they said we would just walk out into the ocean from the hotel and complete the 2 dives. The guy said it was beautiful diving right out of the front door. Anyone been there? Or have any other suggestions, dive wise or even just were to go and what to do in St Thomas? Thanks!!!
David
PS. Also I just realized what a pain diving and traveling is!!! Trying to pack 2 wetsuits, 2 BCD's, regulators, fins, masks and everything takes up ALOT of room!!
Traveling and scuba are harder with all the equipment, especially when the airlines are restricting luggage to 50#. Heck, one of our dive bags weights 23# by itself!
I've been to St. Thomas twice now, but only on cruises for a couple of dives each and then off we go. Still had some good dives. Reef life is pretty good in most locations, and if you can get over to the Rhone, you are in for a real treat!! We used Blue Island Divers (http://www.blueislanddivers.com/) and were treated well and had as much time as we could get from our AL80's.
mike_s
May 10th, 2005, 04:43 PM
I haven't been to Secret harbor, but the diving in St. Thomas in general was pretty decent while I was there. The resort I stayed at had great snorkling from the shore and we did a shore dive at Coki Beach, (which was sorta ok).
Pick up a case of Cruzan rum while you're there to bring back to your friends.
humanFish
May 10th, 2005, 04:51 PM
Just curious, I'm going to St Thomas next week for 5 nights...
...realized what a pain diving and traveling is!!!!!
We are ALL crying for you here on SB ;)
Seriously though, I've been to USVI, but not the resort you are referring to. The reefs are quite nice. Check out the one of the latest issues of Scuba Diving magazine..can't remember what month, but there is a whole section on USVI diving...
have fun!!!
CSD1129
May 10th, 2005, 07:48 PM
I'm jealous! Wish I was heading off to St.Thomas. Never stayed at Secret Harbor (But I keep hearing about it...so maybe the next trip). I was down in ST.Thomas for the first time for my birthday in November. I used Chris Sawyer's dive shop. Nice op, big boat, GREAT night dive! He's located in Red Hook.
I really enjoyed diving in St.Thomas and still think it's just as good as Curacao. I was back in ST.THomas for spring break (on a cruise) and I dove with underwater safaris. They're right at thr cruise ship pier. Nice group. I would probably dive with them again, but Chris Sawyer is great.
St.Thomas has some great dive sites, out by buck island, the wreck of the general rogers (AWESOME NIGHT DIVE), and others. I really enjoyed diving there.
ST.THomas is a beautiful island, the people are friendly, and I can only hope to move there someday :). I wouldn't go to Magen's bay though. It's pretty, but that's where all the cruiseships go..and it's really touristy. My favorite beach is Coki Beach (Where Coral World is located).
Good Luck!
-Christine
KidK9
May 10th, 2005, 08:24 PM
I just got back form there 5 weeks ago. I think that place will surprise you. I dont think it gets the attention it should...but then again I like it that way. I also dive the General Rodgers at night with DiveIn! and had an amazing dive. Not to mention I got engaged on the deck of the boat after the dive. So it was a great night for me. I also dove with Blue Island divers for 3 days and enjoyed them as well. I'll back up that they let you run your tank down. Both of these operations are real nice to dive with. If you can get a dive on the wreck of The Witshoal, do not turn it down! It is an AWESOME wreck.
zboss
May 10th, 2005, 08:35 PM
Just curious, I'm going to St Thomas next week for 5 nights and I'm finally going to complete my last 2 OW dives and get my certification. We are staying at a place called Secret Harbour. Supposively have a PADI dive center on site, and they said we would just walk out into the ocean from the hotel and complete the 2 dives. The guy said it was beautiful diving right out of the front door. Anyone been there? Or have any other suggestions, dive wise or even just were to go and what to do in St Thomas? Thanks!!!
David
PS. Also I just realized what a pain diving and traveling is!!! Trying to pack 2 wetsuits, 2 BCD's, regulators, fins, masks and everything takes up ALOT of room!!
The virgin islands are a highly under rated dive area, you will like it a lot.
doctormike
May 11th, 2005, 12:14 AM
St.Thomas has some great dive sites, out by buck island, the wreck of the general rogers (AWESOME NIGHT DIVE), and others. I really enjoyed diving there.
Good Luck!
-Christine
Buck Island is very nice, but it is off St. Croix (just got back from there last week)...You can get to St. Croix from St. Thomas by seaplane, or by the fast ferry (which just stopped running for the season).
Haven't been to St. Thomas, but St. Croix was amazing... less developed from what I understand...if you go, definitely check out the dives off the Western shore. MUCH less populated, especially now that the cruise ship pier is under construction. Vis was far better than the stuff in the populated East...
The pier is an incredible beginner dive.. took my newly certified 15 year old son and his 11 year old brother (who did the "discover diving" thing with an instructor). Awesome. Easy.
Mike
RICHinNC
May 11th, 2005, 01:35 AM
St T is pretty good.....try an ops called Chris Sawyer...he has a website...google it.
Get over to St John and rent a car and drive around...nice/
OH....the cheapest booze deals going is at KMart right there on St. T.......Cruzan rum....only $3.99 a bottle !!!!!!
colo_diver
May 11th, 2005, 12:07 PM
another vote for chris sawwyer..... secert harbor isnt that far away from his shop, but the shop is hard to find as it is hidden from the road.... when you see duffys up in the parking lot pull into the lot across the street the shop is to the left down the drive way......... the USVI is a great destination and good diving. I guess the fact that it is us dollars and english help keep them our little secert.......
Aquatic Eagle
May 12th, 2005, 12:36 AM
I used to live there actually. I lived near Secret Harbour. It does have a dive operation located there and it is a beautiful place. You aren't a great distance from Red Hook on the East End of the island and there are lots of little neat shops there as well as the marina and the ferry to St. John. Coki Beach is nice as well. One thing I would do definitely. The day and time may have changed but when I was there, on Tuesday night after I think it was 7PM, the cable car ride located near Yacht Haven Marina downtown was free to get to the top of the mountain. There's a restaurant up there and it's a great view of Charlotte Amalie Harbour. I would definitely recommend taking a trip over to St. John for a day. It is definitely a gorgeous place to go. It's about 75% national park and has the most beautiful beaches. Also a great place to go on St. Thomas is Magens Bay. It is on the north side of the island. It's a beautiful beach and if you look up to your left from the beach you can see where I used to live. :-) If you drive onto the peninsula on the right side of Magens Bay Beach to a place called Peterborg and drive to the end of the peninsula, you will find a huge area of boulders and in the middle of some of those boulders is a nature-made small swimming hole. It was made from the waves crashing over the rocks and dripping down to fill the hole. It's about 10 feet deep but watch the sides for sea urchins...I learned that the hard way. Let me know if there's anything else you wanna know and I'll try to help. I'm very jealous...I absolutely loved living there and look forward to going back. Take care!!
Aquatic Eagle
May 12th, 2005, 12:40 AM
Just to clarify something in that last post, I lived on the East End of the island when I first moved there and later moved to the north side. I didn't write that before and it seemed confusing to me after reading it again. :-)
wjbrandt
May 12th, 2005, 07:49 AM
I think everything has been covered for you. I work for Chris Sawyer www.sawyerdive.vi and would love to have you stop by for a visit and maybe a dive. Col Diver was recently here and I believe we had a nice time. Secret Harbor is a very nice location and a lovely place to stay while visiting ST Thomas. You are about 1 mile from Red Hook, where we are located.
I would suggest renting a car if you will be here for a week. The Taxi's eat you alive. If there are at least two of you will will save in the long run and have the freedom to look around at your convienence. Get the cheepest rental and pick it up at the airport.
Remember we drive on the left (I still haven't figured why) but it is no big deal.
Good Luck!!
colo_diver
May 12th, 2005, 11:10 AM
. Col Diver was recently here and I believe we had a nice time.
so nice we are planning a return trip....... this time might even buy that condo
Aquatic Eagle
May 12th, 2005, 01:49 PM
Remember we drive on the left (I still haven't figured why) but it is no big deal.
Good Luck!!
If I remember correctly from when I lived there, weren't the USVI owned by the British or the French before the US? If owned by the British it would explain the left side of the road. :-)
Aquatic Eagle
May 12th, 2005, 02:08 PM
I think everything has been covered for you. I work for Chris Sawyer www.sawyerdive.vi and would love to have you stop by for a visit and maybe a dive. Col Diver was recently here and I believe we had a nice time. Secret Harbor is a very nice location and a lovely place to stay while visiting ST Thomas. You are about 1 mile from Red Hook, where we are located.
I would suggest renting a car if you will be here for a week. The Taxi's eat you alive. If there are at least two of you will will save in the long run and have the freedom to look around at your convienence. Get the cheepest rental and pick it up at the airport.
Remember we drive on the left (I still haven't figured why) but it is no big deal.
Good Luck!!
Was I correct about the ride in the cable car? Is that the correct time and day?
CSD1129
May 12th, 2005, 03:13 PM
USVIs was owned by Denmark. We read somewhere that it had to do with livestock in earlier times.
What was it like to live in St.Thomas? I'd really like to live there after I finish school.
Aquatic Eagle
May 12th, 2005, 03:31 PM
USVIs was owned by Denmark. We read somewhere that it had to do with livestock in earlier times.
What was it like to live in St.Thomas? I'd really like to live there after I finish school.
That's right...Denmark. It was wonderful to live there. I left because I did not agree with the dive operation I was working with at the time. Unsafe and didn't follow regulations. I also needed to come home before I started traveling more. I cannot wait for the opportunity to live there again. It was one of the best times of my life. Some of the nicest people from all over the world live there. It is like a melting pot of people who just wanted to get out of a boring life. There are a lot of seagoing operations you can try to get hooked up with for work. Not to mention all of the shops downtown to work with. It is a gorgeous place once you get away from downtown. I would most definitely suggest getting a place either on the north or east end. The north side was my favorite place of all. I had a small cottage on the hill above Magens Bay. I had a gorgeous view. Remember though to take into consideration your transportation arrangements before getting a place. If you get a place on the east or southern end then most likely you will have no problem catching a "safari" to work. They are little cabs that charge $1 to go anywhere on it's route. If you live on the west or northern end you will most likely be a good distance off of the safari routes and will need a friend, a car, or a taxi to get into the main areas of the island. Just make sure if you go there to take a trip over to St. John, Tortola, Virgin Gorda...gorgeous places. Good luck if you move there and send us some pics!
CSD1129
May 12th, 2005, 04:14 PM
thanks!
It's great to actually hear a postive reply from someone about living on "island time". I was in St.Thomas twice in the last year, (Once on a cruise ship..the other for my birthday). I've always wanted to live somewhere in the caribbean and St.Thomas felt like it would be home. I've even considered going to college there...but I'll probably end up in FL.
Hope there's still work in the diving industry when it becomes my turn. I'd love to become an instructor and eventually be able to open up my own shop.
I was on Magen's bay, but it's a little bit too toursity. Beautiful beach though, loved Coki Beach!
Allison Finch
May 13th, 2005, 12:34 AM
I lived on St T MANY years ago, at Saphire Bay (between Tutu and Red Hook). Diving was OK. I really liked diving in Hull Bay, which is only nice during the summer. The big waves in the winter make it a surfers delight, but is too hard to dive then. I thought that I would like living there a long time. However, island mentality can wear on you after a while. It is a wonderful place to visit, but.......
I worked as a bartender at the St T yacht club. The booze sure is cheaper than any of the mixers!!
Good luck if you really do live there. Stateside gets farther and farther away every year that you are there.
CSD1129
May 13th, 2005, 10:39 AM
Thanks!
I've still got a lot of time before I can. I still have to finish school and then on to college.
I'm really looking forward to living there though.
zboss
May 13th, 2005, 12:01 PM
Thanks!
I've still got a lot of time before I can. I still have to finish school and then on to college.
I'm really looking forward to living there though.
While it might seem very romantic to move to the caribbean - if you talk to anyone that has actually lived there for more than five years and [isn't a hippie or dive instructor] they will tell you to stay in the states and make your money elsewhere.
I've had a house in the BVI for 25 years but don't live there, it's a nice place to visit but after about 3-4 weeks island fever starts to hit. When you get to around 30 years old the bar scene starts to wear on you, and then what? The St. Johnies I know don't have the business discipline to move back to the states and slide into a high-paying job... and all the jobs that are available in the islands are hospitality jobs, so they end up being a depressed drug-using skin-cancer-candidate beach bums. They are so far removed from reality that when you ask them what they want for dinner their response is "I don't know - that's too much stress, man".
In some cases - maybe 1% - you can build up a business and make a good run of it, but those guys/gals are few and far between. For every 18 to 20 year old I see move to the islands in the last 25 years, all but maybe 1 or 2 has got fed up and left within two-three years.
KidK9
May 13th, 2005, 12:12 PM
I completely agree with this statement. My best friend has been going to vet school at Ross University on St. Kitts and has been there for4 years. He gets so aggravated with island sickness and is constantly counting the days till he comes back to boring Ohio. My buddy is a complete beach bum/fisherman/scuba diver and he is constantly telling me never to live on an island. Think this one thru man, it might only be a case of "the grass is greener on the other side".
While it might seem very romantic to move to the caribbean - if you talk to anyone that has actually lived there for more than five years and [isn't a hippie or dive instructor] they will tell you to stay in the states and make your money elsewhere.
I've had a house in the BVI for 25 years but don't live there, it's a nice place to visit but after about 3-4 weeks island fever starts to hit. When you get to around 30 years old the bar scene starts to wear on you, and then what? The St. Johnies I know don't have the business discipline to move back to the states and slide into a high-paying job... and all the jobs that are available in the islands are hospitality jobs, so they end up being a depressed drug-using skin-cancer-candidate beach bums. They are so far removed from reality that when you ask them what they want for dinner their response is "I don't know - that's too much stress, man".
In some cases - maybe 1% - you can build up a business and make a good run of it, but those guys/gals are few and far between. For every 18 to 20 year old I see move to the islands in the last 25 years, all but maybe 1 or 2 has got fed up and left within two-three years.
CSD1129
May 14th, 2005, 11:10 AM
I agree with both of the above posters, but I also disagree. I think it's important to have a "real job" before moving to the caribbean, and not to move there the day you turn 18. I plan on going to college and getting a job in the states before/ if I plan on moving to the USVIs. I've also heard pleanty of horror stories about people moving to the Caribbean, but I've also heard a lot of good things. I chose the USVIs because in a sense it IS America, yes it's different than where I live now (The northeast), but I would like to live somewhere else instead of New Jersey.
Well I've got time to decide, lots of it; i really won't know until then. I realize life on "island time" is not for everyone, maybe not even for myself. Although, I won't be sure until I get to try.
I really appreciate all the feedback that I got here. I enjoyed seeing both sides of island life.
