Shore diving St. Croix

[Antietam]

We are planning a long weekend in November and have been reading a lot about Cane Bay wall. Was wondering if there are any hotels with dive operations located at the wall. Hopefully they would be within walking distance of diving. Was looking to do mostly shore diving. Thanks!!

 

[_Bella_]

Cane bay dive shop rents a couple of rustic cabins, you could also stay at the Waves, or the Cane Bay Reef club which are both about two blocks down the road from the shop. You could also try one of the villa rentals in the area, but they usually rent on a weekly basis. If you want more upscale, you can stay at Carambola resort which is about 2 miles up the road but also has a Cane Bay dive shop boutique on the property and they can drive you down the road to the Wall.

Waves:
http://www.canebaystcroix.com/

Reef Club:
http://www.canebay.com/

The dive shop for the cabins:
http://www.canebayscuba.com/

Carambola:
http://www.carambolabeach.com/

 

[jefsan]

We were in St. Croix in late August. Stayed at Villa Margarita in Salt River. Very nice B and B. Dove with Dive Experience in Christenstead. They also go the Cane Bay. Despite what they say shore diving is not for the faint hearted in Cane Bay as it is a long swim out to the reef. You are better off diving it by boat.

We enjoyed both the island and diving and would go back

 

[Antietam]

Thanks for the info. What constitutes a long swim? A lot of people have also said that it is a long swim from shore to the Hilma Hooker in Bonaire, but we did not think it was long at all. How big are the waves at Cane bay? Some pictures I see it looks like there are almost no waves, and others the waves look big enough to make diving difficult.

 

[_Bella_]

You don't have to swim the whole way to the buoy. We normally swim out for around 2-5 minutes and drop down and dive around the inner shallows while making our way out to the wall.
The swim all the way to the buoy is about 200 yards. The wave action in November should be pretty mild. July is flat calm with the big rolling waves at their worst from January to March. The most difficult shore diving around Cane Bay is Pavillions or Northstar. Pavillions is a long kick out to the buoy, but again we never do because the shallows are interesting. Northstar is a rocky entry where you need sturdy booties regardless of the wave action, but the swim itself is less than the Wall at Cane Bay.

 

[mobster75]

Northstar is a rocky entry where you need sturdy booties regardless of the wave action, but the swim itself is less than the Wall at Cane Bay.

People swim out to Northstar from the shore? Eeeek... I dove there a couple years ago from a boat and it was a great dive, but no thanks for the shore swim!