Shore Diving in Sugar Bay St Thomas?

[mcfarland]

We are thinking about visiting the Dreams Resort in Sugar Bay on St Thomas. I am an avid diver and am trying to find info on the area. It looks like there are a few boat options, but is there shore diving and a place to rent tanks right in sugar bay? Or very close? Are there nice dive sites in Sugar Bay or will I have to travel to another part of the island? Any info would be helpful! Thanks!

 

[diversteve]

Coki Beach is north around the next bay. I never thought about it but there is reef out in front of Sugar Bay. We stayed in the white condos seen in the center left of this shot. The way the roads run there you have to go back inland a couple blocks to get to Coki Beach though so drive. In case you were considering walking, the "beach" directly below where it says Water Bay is all rocks between it and the beach seen in the center.

Coki Dive is about where the W in Coral World is. The white thing sticking out into the water is Coral World - they do Snuba there for the cruise tourists. We went past the outfall pipes towards Coki Point and the current picked up enough in the afternoon that we had to get out there. No way to fight it to get back. The dive shack guy was just getting ready to go get us with the jetski when we walked up. There's a huge Elkhorn coral just a few feet off the rocks there - maybe the biggest I've ever seen - all by itself. Coki Dive Center | St Thomas U.S. Virgin Islands | Scuba and Snorkel



There's also a shore dive farther north at Hull Bay. St. Thomas Scuba and Snorkel adventures is up there. Must be at least a couple miles though.

Red Hook Diving in Red Hook is a good option for boat dives. Just a few minutes south of Sugar Bay on the main road. There really isn't a lot of shore diving on St. Thomas that we could find though. But we were only there a couple days before moving on to the BVI's.

You can also drive (car ferry) over to St. John from Red Hook. Takes about 1/2 hr. and there's some shore diving there. Cruz Bay Watersports is in town. From either island Carval Rock is the must do boat dive if conditions are right. If not they may default to Congo Cay which is another good dive.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Double yes for Coki Beach. Did a lot of diving there this winter. Even when they said the weather was bad, I still had 25-30ft vis..