My wife found a deal on tickets to St. Croix and booked them for the end of March. We have never been and looking for some advise. We have yet to book a room, looking more at condo/home rentals than hotels. It will be me, my wife, 13 yo daughter and her friend. They would like a beach, I would like to be able to shore dive. Can you shore dive most anywhere? Is a surface float needed? Do most shops rent tanks and lead? Any shops you would recommend or more importantly, any you would avoid? Would like to do a few days of boat diving in the mornings and shore diving in the afternoon. Any advise/recommendations are greatly appreciated.
St. Croix - Tickets booked, now who, what, where?
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drrich2
Contributor
Hi:
I've got a few thread links in my collection about St. Croix that might help you:
Overall impressions from first visit to St. Croix - http://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/overall-impressions-from-first-visit-to-st-croix.522475
Discussion about St. Croix as a dive destination - http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/greater-caribbean-and-bermuda/504123-st-croix.html
St. Croix, USVI (STX) - Trip Report 5/24/16 - 6/4/16 - St. Croix, USVI (STX) - Trip Report 5/24/16 - 6/4/16
St. Croix - St. Croix
I got to do 2 dives on a cruise ship stop once, but I'd like to go back and 'do it for real,' so I've been researching St. Croix and e-mailing back and forth with some op.s. I've compiled a rough draft of my acquired info., and while it's not in a state ready for posting publicly, if you shoot me a PM with your e-mail address I'd be happy to send you a copy of the current draft.
Shore diving is not most anywhere. The west coast is the leeward side, and the Frederiksted Pier is famous as a shore site, but the north coast, Cane Bay and Davis Bay for example, are where you find the deep wall shore diving and more sites. It's not leeward, but late March you will probably be past the 'Christmas winds' I read about. Expect to rent a car to get around, and drive on the left-hand side of the road.
Richard.
I've got a few thread links in my collection about St. Croix that might help you:
Overall impressions from first visit to St. Croix - http://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/overall-impressions-from-first-visit-to-st-croix.522475
Discussion about St. Croix as a dive destination - http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/greater-caribbean-and-bermuda/504123-st-croix.html
St. Croix, USVI (STX) - Trip Report 5/24/16 - 6/4/16 - St. Croix, USVI (STX) - Trip Report 5/24/16 - 6/4/16
St. Croix - St. Croix
I got to do 2 dives on a cruise ship stop once, but I'd like to go back and 'do it for real,' so I've been researching St. Croix and e-mailing back and forth with some op.s. I've compiled a rough draft of my acquired info., and while it's not in a state ready for posting publicly, if you shoot me a PM with your e-mail address I'd be happy to send you a copy of the current draft.
Shore diving is not most anywhere. The west coast is the leeward side, and the Frederiksted Pier is famous as a shore site, but the north coast, Cane Bay and Davis Bay for example, are where you find the deep wall shore diving and more sites. It's not leeward, but late March you will probably be past the 'Christmas winds' I read about. Expect to rent a car to get around, and drive on the left-hand side of the road.
Richard.
The best beaches are on the west end. IMHO. Shore diving at the pier (outstanding dive) and Davis Bay and Cane Bay. I recomend boat diving with N2theBlue and shore dives with Sweet Bottom. Both will rent you gear.
PM me if you'd like more info and tell them 'Tater' sent you!! ( I will be there Mid March)
PM me if you'd like more info and tell them 'Tater' sent you!! ( I will be there Mid March)
drrich2
Contributor
Tater:
If I understand correctly:
N2TheBlue's main site is near Frederiksted Pier, where they've got a boat and also support shore diving, plus they've got a boat at Salt River marina off the north shore and do boat diving there Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays but they don't support shore diving there (unless of course you got tanks & weights at the Frederiksted shop & drove up there? It's not a huge island). @N2theBlue StCroix STX
and
Sweet Bottom Dive Center is located at the Renaissance Carambola Resort by Davis Bay on the north shore, a bit secluded but not far from Cane Bay, and only does shore diving directly but has an arrangement for boat diving out of Christiansted with St. Croix Ultimate Blue Water Adventure but offers to send a Sweet Bottom dive master with you on S.C.U.B.A. boat trips to maintain the feel/service Sweet Bottom offers.
Is this consistent with your experience? Hopefully N2theBlue will let us know, since they participate on ScubaBoard.
Richard.
If I understand correctly:
N2TheBlue's main site is near Frederiksted Pier, where they've got a boat and also support shore diving, plus they've got a boat at Salt River marina off the north shore and do boat diving there Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays but they don't support shore diving there (unless of course you got tanks & weights at the Frederiksted shop & drove up there? It's not a huge island). @N2theBlue StCroix STX
and
Sweet Bottom Dive Center is located at the Renaissance Carambola Resort by Davis Bay on the north shore, a bit secluded but not far from Cane Bay, and only does shore diving directly but has an arrangement for boat diving out of Christiansted with St. Croix Ultimate Blue Water Adventure but offers to send a Sweet Bottom dive master with you on S.C.U.B.A. boat trips to maintain the feel/service Sweet Bottom offers.
Is this consistent with your experience? Hopefully N2theBlue will let us know, since they participate on ScubaBoard.
Richard.
morecowbells
Contributor
When we visited St. Croix last Feb. We used N2TheBlue for shore diving at the pier, Cane Bay Scuba for the Cane Bay sites plus two boat dives and Bottom Time Divers for shore diving in front of the Carambola. All three dive ops were great to work with. We looked into booking a boat dive with N2TheBlue for north shore dives, but the schedule was quite limited and restricted due to the choppy water during Feb. We ended up booking with Cane Bay Scuba, meeting up at the Salt River marina. Although it was a larger boat, we only had 5 divers. They were wonderful to dive with.
I do not believe there was any shore diving at the Salt River sites. Cane Bay had some wonderful diving but keep in mind that it is a long swim out to the wall. While the boat dives do make it much easier, they are somewhat pricey. For shore dives, I am a big fan of this website: Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: USVI, St. Croix, Caribbean
jonhall
Contributor
One option: Google "pink condos st. croix." You will get some links to condos on the west side, which is the calm side, of the island. You will have a beach to yourself with some great snorkeling. There are not usually a lot of the owners/guests staying there. You can see the Frederiksted Pier from there and watch the sunset every night.
The Frederiksted Pier is a must, both during the day and at night. N2theBlue's dive shop is pretty much at the end of the pier. They rent tanks/weights and have guides if you want them. Good people to work with. It's been a few years since I've been, but I understand you need a float around the pier. Cane Bay has a wall, but as morecowbells said, it is a pretty good swim out. You could take the family if you shore dive there. You can rent a tank at the Cane Bay shop and there is a nice beach/snorkeling/restaurant.
Also recommend N2the Blue for boat dives. Did I mention above, the west side is the calm side? The west side has a couple of small wrecks. The north side, at least the Salt River Bay area, has generally had more choppy water when I've been there.
This link brought back memories. Dave's pool is still shown as being located at the Scuba Shack (first dove there in 2005 and again in 2007) and even has a picture of the place. By my next trip in 2008, N2the Blue took it over and moved to Frederiksted sometime afterwards. The structure became rundown. Not sure there is even a path to the water at that location now.
If you're looking for other things to do, there is quite a bit of info here on SB. If you can't find it, ask here for what you're looking to find. Someone can probably help you out.
kind of sad to see that "posters" do not make a "search" on the forum for St Croix. I am not going to repeat what I said @ several occasions. Sorry.
Thanks to everybody who has replied, definitely has given me a good amount of info and has helped to narrow down where we would like to stay. From the sounds of everything it's hard to go wrong with the shops mentioned.
The pink condos would be perfect, but every thing I can find on them seem to be one bedroom, which won't work.
You are probably right, I should have spent more time searching. My mistake was searching St Croix and not checking off the Thread Title Only box. Not checking it seems to just throw random posts that are tough to wade through.
The pink condos would be perfect, but every thing I can find on them seem to be one bedroom, which won't work.
You are probably right, I should have spent more time searching. My mistake was searching St Croix and not checking off the Thread Title Only box. Not checking it seems to just throw random posts that are tough to wade through.
AdivingBel
Diver
Try googling "scubaboard St. Croix". I've found Google to be a bit more user friendly than the board search. Good luck. 
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