St Croix dive resort recommendations?

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I don't think so. You can do 4 boat dives/day; I did that when I stayed in Christiansted and dove with St. Croix Ultimate Blue Water Adventure. If you want convenient 'house reef' shore diving, that's trickier. The Frederiksted Pier is a neat dive, and pretty convenient; I'm not sure how many dives over how many days you'd want to do there. Davis Bay is an option if you do Carambola Renaissance Resort (you can shore dive it without staying there) - it's a pretty long swim out. It's got a nice, sandy beach though...which from what I hear, CocoView Resort does not.

When I was there a few years back, Cane Bay Scuba had cottages for rent, and that area had a nice sandy beach and a nice reef for shore diving...if you could stand the long swim-out to reach it. So far that may be the only shore dive I've done that had me wishing I was trained in and using a DPV. IIRC, CBA's operations scaled back a bit? I don't know their current status.

CocoView Resort in Roatan is all inclusive with buffet meals, from what I understand, and offers a good overall budget cost package when you consider room, board, number of dives and house reef. I don't know of anything quite like that in St. Croix. Perhaps one of the regulars who's been there a lot more will.

St. Croix Research Report Aug. 2017 - Trip Report - St. Croix Research Report Aug. 2017
 
There is nothing in St Croix like CocoView.

The closest you can come is Carambola. Very good house reef and you can swim out to the wall. On site dive shop. Nice beach.

Short drive to Salt River to pick up a boat dives on the North Side and a slightly longer drive to Frederiksted for diving the Pier or boat dives on the West End (if the wind is up).
 
Good afternoon Baggins_69,

Unfortunately, we do not have any dive resorts on the island. Carambola is partially open for business and they have a great house reef but the dive shop on property is not open yet and they do not have a boat that goes out of the resort. The Cane bay cottages at Leatherback Landing have just been refurbished have great ocean views and a short walk to the water where you can do the Wall at Cane Bay and a bit farther but walkable is Pavillions. There is a dive shop on-premise but again, they don't have a boat. The Carambola/Cane Bay area has quite a few shore dives but you'll need a vehicle to get to them as the resorts/shops won't take you to them.

TN Traveler is right, you'd have to go to Salt River, Fredriksted or C'sted to catch a boat for some boat dives.

Let me know if you have any questions. I have a dive travel agency on island and am happy to help.
 
The Frederiksted Pier is a neat dive, and pretty convenient; I'm not sure how many dives over how many days you'd want to do there.

Drrich2, did the pier have negatives, other than tight pilings? I’m planning a St. Croix trip and have really enjoyed your thoughtful (excellent, per usual) trip report. I’m hoping the pier is teeming after a year with no cruise ships.
 
I enjoyed my one dive at the pier, using N2TheBlue dive shop (now under different ownership). My thoughts:

1.) It's a good site for divers with really good buoyancy control, able to comfortably hover. I'm not that good at it to begin with, and my weighting was off a bit on that dive.

2.) I was allowed to use a wheel barrow to get my gear and tank from the dive shop to the pier. Not a real long ways, but if I were doing 3 or 4 dives in a day there, it'd get a bit old.

3.) If alone, it's needful to leave the wheel barrow unattended. I haven't heard anyone complain of problems with this, and IIRC I was allowed to leave some personal items at the dive shop while off diving (e.g.: my street clothes and wallet).

I'd like to do more dives there. I wouldn't want to dive only the pier on a multi-day trip, but one can do boat dives in addition so that should be no problem.
 
Just returned from St Croix. There are no dive resorts on the island, The Juliet is the best option . Carambola just reopened and Sweet Bottom dive shop there is not open at this time. Sweet Bottom also has the shop at Cane Bay and is great to work with but do not have a boat. Their personel are so helpful on where to go ,and how to dive each spot. Our favorite shore dives on the North are Cane Bay wall,North Star, Pavillions,Rust stop Twist, Willies Wish all within 1 mile of Sweet Bottom. All are great dives but very long swim outs but worth it. Cane Bay dive shop runs a boat from the Salt River marina and we liked them. They did move the boat one day when it was too rough on the North to the west so they do their best to get your dives in. Lastly we dove the pier in Fredericksted 6 times 3 at night. Absolutely fantastic!! Recommendation, get on You Tube and check out Tritons Realm. Series of videos on St Croix diving that will hook you.
 
Just returned from St Croix. There are no dive resorts on the island, The Juliet is the best option . Carambola just reopened and Sweet Bottom dive shop there is not open at this time. Sweet Bottom also has the shop at Cane Bay and is great to work with but do not have a boat. Their personel are so helpful on where to go ,and how to dive each spot. Our favorite shore dives on the North are Cane Bay wall,North Star, Pavillions,Rust stop Twist, Willies Wish all within 1 mile of Sweet Bottom. All are great dives but very long swim outs but worth it. Cane Bay dive shop runs a boat from the Salt River marina and we liked them. They did move the boat one day when it was too rough on the North to the west so they do their best to get your dives in. Lastly we dove the pier in Fredericksted 6 times 3 at night. Absolutely fantastic!! Recommendation, get on You Tube and check out Tritons Realm. Series of videos on St Croix diving that will hook you.
Thanks. What is a very long swim out? It just seems to vary a lot for people what that is. Might you dare to estimate a distance or a swim time (geared up) ... at least for you?
 
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