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Many of us have been to St. Thomas. I have been there three times.
IMHO the diving is just so so. Not bad, better then some places, but not world class.
You can try to do the Rhone from there, although, it's easier from the BVI's. I dove it from Tortola.
A far as the reef, and fish life ...better and more untouched on St. John.. if your looking for US islands.
For me the #1 reason to go there is the shopping.
I agree, the diving is average at best and definitely not the main draw for the island. If your focus is diving try Cozumel, Cayman or Turks & Caicos. If you are on St. Thomas on other business then do by all means try the diving! Its worth the price of a two tank.
I did some work a few months in 1996 after the hurricane, they got hit pretty hard.
We were working about a mile from the tourst area between a gas plant and a steam plant.
The visibility was fantastic, even in the port areas. They have some little shops with various items divers have recovered (they often dive just after the docking of a cruise ship as it stirs up the bottom and will often bring items to the surface)
Great food, jerked and smoked chicken and pork...
They have a local rum (the spiced was good...) for about $2.00 a liter...
Lot's of liveaboards, the protected waters were so congested you could jump from one boat to the next.
The residents told us it was not uncommon for people to live on the boats for a few months a year and leave them mored out there the rest of the time. As a big storm aproaches some owners would pen all ports and hatches to collect insurance on the vessels instead of selling them at a loss. I would shop around down there if looking for a boat because they were so common and you would have to sail t back to the states...) that the prices were much cheaper.
Many wrecks in the area between the islands...
We did go out one day and do some recreational diving on the back side of the island. It was great over 100 foot of vis. and we same a huge moray during a swim through in the rocks. (I was disapointed we did not find any treasure
But thats the way it goes...
I thought it was totally worth checking out the whole island! But as listed above the diving was not the best, the bulk of the bottom is rock and makes for some great formations though...
You didnt say where you were staying....on St. T i have stayed that the Rennaisance Resort and gotten rooms for only $99 a night., They have a dive shop within walking distance...Chris Sawyer....and they run dives. Pretty responsible and easy to get along with crew.
It is very hard to drive around St. T....you will find St John much easier to drive around in....lots of not crowded beaches ....and the diving is the same.
Let us know how it went....oh...one last thing....i wouldnt use a pelican case to take your stuff there. the airports are getting real picky lately.... i now use a duffle bag with my bc in a plastic tupper ware like container and the duf has absolutely nothiing on it to indicate dive gear.
We were up at the top of the mountain at the abandoned (automated) radar tower in an attempt to keep the overall cost of the operation down. We were working for the US Virgin Island government and had a pretty large crew...
The view was great!! I had a couple close calls on returning pulling out of parking lots and getting on the wrong side of the road... On St Thomas you drive on the left side of the road...
Weather is the biggest issue. If you get glass calm conditions operators will take you to unique spots they can't normally dive. For their own benefit (to mix it up and not get bored) as well as for yours. Anyway since you can't plan for weather, you are tossing the dice. Now as far as the dive sites you can do when weather is not so good, we're still talking carribean diving. Clearly awesome. The problem is when you dive other places, especially, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel you realize what you were missing.
Same anywhere. Here in So Cal if someone just showed up at any random time of the year, they might experience the crappiest dive of their life, go back home and tell everyone it sucks. Then on just the right day - you'll dive with Grey Whales, Orcas in visibility that exceeds 100 feet! There are some spots in the carribean where the vis is good 99% of the time, which is why they are automatically favored by traveling divers. Clearly for the rest of the places you must research thoroughly, when is the right time to go, and even then roll the dice. It's always best if you really want to truely sample the location to stay for at least 2 weeks (or more if possible). Then you can travel all over the island mix it up shore diving and boat diving. You'll outlive the weather and get a chance to see that island on some of it's best days!
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