Fredricksted Pier is a Must on St Croix

[Brodydog]

In in my opinion anyway. Such diversity. Here are a few of my favorite photos from 3-24-15.

 

[Brodydog]

Highhat, pair of Jack Knife fish, Yellow Headed Jawfish, Porcupine fish, Spotted Moray

 

[They call me Tater]

Absolutely!

 

[KathyV]

Nice photos! We did a liveaboard trip to St. Croix on the Nekton Rorqual several years ago, shortly before Nekton went out of business. We had good trip with nice dives but the dives on the Fredricksted Pier (while we were tied up in port) were the best part of the trip. It's a surreal and outstanding dive site IMO; and it is a nice snorkeling site, too.

 

[Brodydog]

Nice photos! We did a liveaboard trip to St. Croix on the Nekton Pilot several years ago, shortly before Nekton went out of business. We had good trip with nice dives but the dives on the Fredricksted Pier (while we were tied up in port) were the best part of the trip. It's a surreal and outstanding dive site IMO; and it is a nice snorkeling site, too.

We did that Nekton trip also shortly before they closed down. That's why we came back. We wanted to see what the Salt River area diving was like and to re-visit the pier. Salt River Outer West is a beautiful site. And we are making our second trip to the pier today.

On the Nekton boat we begged the Capt to take us back to the pier. We did either 5 or 6 dives from the pier that week. Every dive was a different dive.

 

[KathyV]

We did that Nekton trip also shortly before they closed down. That's why we came back. We wanted to see what the Salt River area diving was like and to re-visit the pier. Salt River Outer West is a beautiful site. And we are making our second trip to the pier today. On the Nekton boat we begged the Capt to take us back to the pier. We did either 5 or 6 dives from the pier that week. Every dive was a different dive.

We were on the Nekton for the last week of Oct 2009 and they went out of business in May 2010. I checked my log book and we did 3 dives on the pier but I remember that my husband had a head cold and ear problems on that trip so we didn't get to do as many total dives as we had wanted from the boat. It was ironic that the shore-based Fredricksted Pier dive was our favorite site on that liveaboard trip - but we didn't get to do them all.

We had a week on shore after the Nekton but then I got sick and developed bronchitis just as he was getting better (bad timing!) We both wound up at the clinic and we didn't do any land-based diving at all. We did get to do some snorkeling on the pier before we went home and I remember that we bumped into crew from the Nekton there.

I've always felt that we didn't have the chance to fully enjoy St. Croix's diving and I would love to dive the pier again. Where are you staying in St. Croix and who are you diving with? I think that we had to spend a night in Puerto Rico before getting to St. Croix, is that still true?

I was sorry when the Nekton went out of business, we did 4 trips with them (Belize, St. Croix, and 2 Bahamas) and they were a decent and reasonably priced-liveaboard option IMO. I read somewhere on this forum that the N. Pilot and N. Rorqual boats were just left to rot in a harbor, what a shame.

The live streaming webcam of the Christiansted harbor at the link below is one of my favorite sites for dreaming about warm, tropic isles, and it looks like you are having great weather! Official Page for Live St. Croix Web Cam in Christiansted ¦ GoToStCroix.com

Keep sharing pics and have fun in St. Croix but remember to drive on the left side even though you are still in the US!

 

[Brodydog]

Just checked my log book and we were on the Nekton boat 9/28 - 10/2/09. We are diving with SCUBA (St Croix Ultimate Bluewater Adventure). Their main shop is in Christiansted and they have a satellite in Fredricksted so you can dive the west end with them. They are fantastic to dive with. Their slogan is the friendliest dive shop in the world and they live up to that quite well. They really know how to take care of customers. If diving multi days they will keep your BC, reg, and wetsuit and have it on the boat and set up for you on your next day along with your weight already in it. They tag everything with your name and put your amt of weight on the tag. They also switch your gear over between dives and hand you a cup of water as soon as you come up from the first dive and then give you pineapple. They even offered to rinse our gear for us tonight and let it dry there before we pack it up tomorrow. We will definietly use them again when we are back.

We are staying at the Holger Danske which is just around the corner on the boardwalk from them. It takes 2-3 minutes to walk from our room (ground floor requested) to the boat and all we have to carry is our fins, mask, and snorkle. The hotel is not 5 star but looks to be as good as it gets in the boardwalk area and we are here to dive so we don't need all the frills of all inclusive. We prefer convenience and it is clean. We didn't rent a car but there are plenty of places within walking distance to eat at.

Delta now offers a non stop flight from Atlanta. Lucky for us, that's where we start from.

 

[KathyV]

Thanks for all the great information, hope you have a good trip home.

 

[LNTCamper]

Did great 2 tank dives with N2theBlue in Fredrickstad 15/03/15 while in port on a cruise. Reefs and wrecks. Would have loved to do the pier but Homeland Security rules close the pier when a ship is in port. I guess an extended stay is in order. Thanks for the photos.


"There are some who call me... Tim?"