St Croix dive shops on north side with boats?

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Phil H.

Registered
Messages
22
Reaction score
24
Location
Northwest Arkansas
# of dives
500 - 999
Heading down to St. Croix late next week for eight diving days and will be my first time to dive there. The closest shop to the resort (Marriott Carambola) doesn't have a boat and informed me of the surface entry/150+ yard kicks getting to the wall. My preference is to hook up with a shop catering to small groups, has a boat and mixes up the dives, e.g. wreck, wall, etc., so appreciate any shop recommendations with a boat for the north side.
 
Good morning Phil H.

As we say here on the island - soon come. You must be getting excited!

Although Sweet Bottom Dive shop does not have a boat they do have an agreement with St. Croix Ultimate Bluewater Adventures (aka SCUBA). SCUBA has 2 boats and 2 locations, one in C'sted (north shore and long reef) and one in F'sted (wrecks, armageddon and west end) so they can mix it up. If you are staying at Carambola, Cane Bay Dive shop is up the road in Salt River. Their boat goes out of there and does the North Shore. Weather permitting (and guests needs/wants) they will also take their boat around to the West end and do the wrecks...etc. They also have a shop in F'sted but the boat is not based there.

We don't have boats that take out HUGE numbers like in some other areas. Right now both Reliance (SCUBA's boat) and Scuba Dos (SCUBA's west end boat) and Ibis (Cane Bay's boat) have capped the numbers due to COVID. Reliance and Ibis are only taking 12 and Scuba Dos (which does the wrecks) 9. If you want a boat smaller than that, there's Dive Experience (in C'sted), but they don't have a boat that does the wrecks.

Hope that helps. Let me know if I can assist in any way.
 
Nep2une's boats are 6 people max. They run a friendly, clean, safe operation.

I don't know why Symbiosis pushes SCUBA but I guess I have a problem with a dive shop that promoted the proposed world record deep bounce dive (900 ft on air) by DR. DEEP (death) that was obviously ill conceived and resulted in the death of the diver - then quickly scrubbed all mention of it from their web site after the accident (when it had been the top item for months).

Michelle at Dive Experience in Christiansted runs a nice operation although pre-covid, she occasionally put more on the boat than was comfortable.
 
Thanks all for the replies. Nep2une's web site makes no mention running boats out of Salt River, which appears to be a bit closer to the resort than Frederiksted.
 
They were earlier this winter. I would give them a call.

This year all my diving has been at the Pier in Frederiksted - either shore dives or 1 tank dives to the end of the Pier. With the winds being up until just a week ago, I avoided North Shore diving = too hard for these old legs to get up the ladder in rough water.
 
Nep2une's web site makes no mention running boats out of Salt River, which appears to be a bit closer to the resort than Frederiksted.

Have researched 25 different dive op's websites, FaceBook pages, TripAdvisor pages, and SB reviews for where I'm going later in the year. During these covid times, I would suggest calling or emailing Nep2une, since it doesn't cost anything to see what they really are offering at this time - I'd do the same for S.C.U.B.A. Nep2une (as N2theBlue) used to go out of Salt River Bay but may have stopped after Hurricane Irma - maybe because of damage to the visitor area. Either op should be able to give you an idea of their dive schedule.

**The other thing to note is that if the S.C.U.B.A. boat (or any op that dives north) actually boards and leaves from the Christiansted boardwalk, then Nep2une in Frederiksted may be slightly closer - but S.C.U.B.A. has a shop there also. From the boardwalk, dive sites are a longer ride than sites are from the Frederiksted pier.

My preference is to hook up with a shop catering to small groups, has a boat and mixes up the dives, e.g. wreck, wall, etc.,

If Nep2une becomes an option, they offer most of what you want: 6 diver max and mixing up the dives - wrecks, reefs, the pier, and again, they used to guide wall dives at Cane Bay.

With as much diving as you're planning, you might dive a couple of ops. From Christiansted to get to Salt River canyon and from Frederiksted for everything else. The pier should be done both day and night.
 
...so appreciate any shop recommendations with a boat for the north side.

I second TN traveler Phil, Nep2une runs a great operation (with small dive groups), but sadly they don't go out of Salt River. That's why I didn't mention them.
 
This picture was taken in January - it is their Salt River Boat. I will ask them on Wednesday if they have stopped going out of Salt River
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Cane Bay Dive shop. Has a boat at Salt River. Also a brick and mortar across from the pier in Fredericksted. Schedule through shop in town . Great bunch to dive with.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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