Help with St. Croix Lodging

[sdladydiver]

I'm going to do an RCI timeshare exchange in St. Croix in June, 2004. I can reserve the Divi Carina now or put in a request for Carambola, Chenay Bay Resort, Hotel on the Cay or Club St. Croix. All of these places have mixed reviews on the Web -- it seems people either love or hate them. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

My husband and I are new divers and we plan to dive about 3-4 days on our trip. We will probably rent a car, since we'll be travelling with non-divers.

Also, I've heard about a crime problem there . . .

 

[ihh]

We like Carambola as there is a good beach dive right there. North Shore is laid back with a number of good lunch and dinner spots close. Diving at Cain Bay is very close as well. You will need a car. Have not stayed at any of the others but do have friends who liked the Hotel on the Cay. See the other thread on St Croix for more info.

Hugh

 

[5615mike]

sdladydiver once bubbled...
I'm going to do an RCI timeshare exchange in St. Croix in June, 2004. I can reserve the Divi Carina now or put in a request for Carambola, Chenay Bay Resort, Hotel on the Cay or Club St. Croix. All of these places have mixed reviews on the Web -- it seems people either love or hate them. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

My husband and I are new divers and we plan to dive about 3-4 days on our trip. We will probably rent a car, since we'll be travelling with non-divers.

Also, I've heard about a crime problem there . . .

sdladydiver

Staying at Hotel on the Cay next month. I will post a report on the hotel as well as our DO

 

[Scuba_Vixen]

The love or hate reviews is probobly a reflection of whether the individual's needs matched the resorts offerings. Each of the choices have varied pros and cons. Divi is very nice, it's on the affluent east end south shore. It has a nice casino across the street for nightlife, a nice beach, large nice pool and excellent snorkling and some windsurfing and kayak rental. On the other hand, it's a bit isolated, if you don't rent a car. I think it has the best view and setting of the choices. Go into town (Christiansted), and hook up with one of the DO's for your diving. Get a multi dive package and that way, you'll get to do a variety of different sites and dive types. Carambola's on the north shore, towards the west end, again a classy place, the beach is nice, but a bit of a walk if carrying gear, although it is a more diveable area there off the beach than Divi. Cane Bay dive shop is just down the street and so are several nice places to eat. It's also isolated from town, but at least it has a cluster of restaurants, and bars and social gathering close by. Hotel on the Cay is on a tiny island (Protestant Cay) maybe a couple/three hundred yards diameter. It's right in Christiansted harbor, as centrally located as you could get. it's about a 75 yard ferry ride from shore, excellent view, and secure. The ferry can drop you at the boardwalk where the DO's boats leave from. Chenay bay is nice if laying on a lounge chair in the sun is what you have in mind. It has a view of Green Cay and a sandy beach. There is nothing to see in the water though, it's just tall grassand sand for a hundred yards out, and less than 6 feet deep or so. It's on the north shore, towards the east end, and again, somewhat isolated without transportation. I'd personally choose from the first 3. If you'd like, I could post a pic of Divi and Hotel o t Cay.
If you want more info , let me know

btw crime isn't much different here than any other caribbean island, we got a lot of bad press when the cruise ships stopped comming to St Croix (they cited crime as a reason)... The real reason was more along the lines of trying to leverage the Gov't. in some negotiations in St Thomas. (more crime there, and as many ships as ever)

Anyway, look forward to next year,

Darlene

 

[sdladydiver]

Scuba_Vixen --

Thanks for the tips! Based on your comments, I'm leaning toward the Divi or Hotel on the Cay.

I've heard that Hotel on the Cay has become run-down in recent years. Do you know whether this is true?

I can reserve the Divi today or put in a request for Hotel on the Cay and wait for something to come up, if and when it does.

Also, which DO would be the best for newbies like us?

 

[Scuba_Vixen]

But I don't know if it may be ready for some inside renovations. I'd wait to see what Mike says after his visit next month. Hotc is where I'd recommend if you like being in the heart of what's there to be in the heart of, and I'd recommend Divi if you're the come to unwind and enjoy the laid back tropical atmosphere type. The other nice thing about Divi is the casino, it's almost the only option for nitelife here, nice bands most every nite.

As far as a DO for newer divers, I'd suggest either St Croix Ultimate Blue Water Adventures (SCUBA) or Dive Experience (DE).
Both are excellent. You'll get lotsa variety of sites and super service.Again, see what Mike reports next month.

You'll like it here.

Darlene

 

[Geez]

I noticed that there were no comments about the possibility of Chenay Bay as an RCI exchange.
They are a great little property only 3 miles East of Town. You never feel isolated like at Divi.
However, they have received mixed reviews. They have just changed owners and so great things are to be expected.
I would not hesitate to try it there. Know people who love it.
A word of caution with limiting yourself to one dive operator. They are all good, but they tend to lead you to believe that the section of the island they go to is the ONLY good place.
Mix it up with shore dives as well as a night dive at F'sted.
Hope that helped rather than confused.

 

[buttermanr]

No advise on lodging , but I do recommend you dive at Cane Bay. It has a nice beach area that is great for snorkeling and you can swim out to a very very nice wall.

Also great for night diving.

RB

 

[Scuba_Vixen]

There are about 16 mored sites (+ or - a couple), along the north shore. They run west from C'sted harbor. Both C'sted DO's do all the sites. They try to do a deeper wall dive site first tank, and a shallower reef dive for the second tank. The choice is determined by vis and who on the boat has already been where. There are another 6 major and maybe 6 lesser sites on the west end of the island. The west end is too far for the DO's from C'sted to get to (in a practicle amount of time), so for west end diving, there are some DO's there that are worth using. The main attraction of the west end is the cruise ship pier, but that's a shore dive, or giant stride off the end of the pier, so you don't need a DO for that, unless you have a desire to shell out $$$$$ for a guided dive you could do yourself for free. The thing to dive on the west end that needs a boat, is the wrecks: a pair at about 100', and 3 from 60 to 40, and the rubble pile from the old pier, called Armageddon Plain here locally, there are some decent reef dives here too. N2The Blue and ScubaShack would be the folks to get hold of for complete west end diving services. The Cane Bay diveshop is there at Cane Bay, if you don't have a local to show you around the wall and reef there, a guided dive is a great idea, then you can do all the shore dives you like after that initial intro.
The beach is one of the more popular ones here, and the snorkeling's great as well, and the food isn't bad at all at the CB Beach Bar. (shares the building with the diveshop)

I wasn't advocating that you should use only 1 DO, just that if you only have a week to dive, then either one of the C'sted DO's could have you on a different site every dive and Cane Bay is one of the mored sites they frequent.

Hope the info helps, if you want more details about something, just ask.


Darlene

 

[steinbruegge]

Planning to go to St. Croix in early November with wife (non-diver) and young child ... considering Carambola based on posts from this group ... I've been reading that it's a little windy on the North Shore .... does it get cold on the beach, and does the surf get too intense for swimming/snorkeling/shore diving?

BTW, looking for buddy for shore diving if any other stranded divers out there ...

Thanks in advance ..


Charles Steinbruegge, MD