Info about St. Croix

[pdelannoy]

If these questions have been asked before I apologize in advance. I am planing a trip to St. Croix.

1. What is Christiansted like? Can you get around on foot? To the dive shops on foot?

2. can anyone suggest a B and B or small hotel with rates under $100 per day?

3. Is the town anything like cozumel?

4. Any advice on the traveling like what connections work best?

5. Has anyone dove with Dive experience-what was your experience with them?

Thanks for your patience.

PD

 

[keithdiver]

If these questions have been asked before I apologize in advance. I am planing a trip to St. Croix.

1. What is Christiansted like? Can you get around on foot? To the dive shops on foot?

2. can anyone suggest a B and B or small hotel with rates under $100 per day?

3. Is the town anything like cozumel?

4. Any advice on the traveling like what connections work best?

5. Has anyone dove with Dive experience-what was your experience with them?

Thanks for your patience.

PD

Look into st croix scuba Captain ed. he is a really nice guy and runs a great shophe has good pkg. deals flight, stay, dive

 

[Doc]

Absolutely nothing on St Croix looks, smells, or feels like anything like Cozumel.

Thank gods for that.

 

[marine9]

If these questions have been asked before I apologize in advance. I am planing a trip to St. Croix.

1. What is Christiansted like? Can you get around on foot? To the dive shops on foot?

2. can anyone suggest a B and B or small hotel with rates under $100 per day?

3. Is the town anything like cozumel?

4. Any advice on the traveling like what connections work best?

5. Has anyone dove with Dive experience-what was your experience with them?


Christianstead is nothing like Cozumel. It has it's bars, etc. but is a bit more small town with shops, stores, and of course hotels.
Yes, over all you can get around town fine on foot. Several dive shops are in the town and you can even pick-up a ride with them out to the dive boat.
I've always had a rental to get about.
Have not dove with "Dive Experience", but have met several of their people and they seem very knowledgeable and helpful.
I have dove with "Cane Bay" and "N2 The Blue", and found them very, very good.
Best of luck, and enjoy your trip. The V.I. are great!

 

[pdelannoy]

Thanks marine9, I appreciate your response. I asked about Cozumel because you can get around there on foot quite fine using the occasional taxi. This is exactly what I needed to know.

PD

 

[Indian Valley Scuba]

Dive Experience is one of the best operators to be found. It is owned by Michelle Pugh, a Womens Diving Hall of Fame original member, and one of the leading environmental activists for the island and area. You won't go wrong with Dive Experience..tell them I sent you!

 

[mitsuguy]

If I was to come to St. Croix on vacation, or I was recommending some things to a good friend, this is what I would tell them:

1) rent a car - even if you are staying close to the dive shop, there are so many more things to do on the island that require transportation
2) stay somewhere off the beaten path - there are many villas, vacation houses and condos for rent, many for cheap
3) stay on the North shore - with the best views, and close to the best diving, this is the place to be
4) shore dive the Frederiksted pier and Cane Bay as much as you can possibly stand to be in the water
5) do some boat dives with Cane Bay Dive Shop - seriously, we have one thing over every other shop - location location location... Our longest boat ride is 15-20 minutes, which is to Salt River, most of our others are 5 minutes or less...

There are three basic areas for diving around STX. West End - a few nice reef dives, a grouping of 5 shipwrecks, and the fabulous Frederiksted Pier. North Shore - Amazing wall that drops to over 3000 feet deep within a half mile of shore - this area runs from Hams Bluff to the point just East of Cane Bay, and the deep stuff is a little farther away from shore farther East, as far as Salt River. There are some dive sites in front of Christiansted, but I have not been impressed by them at all. Lots of sand, dead coral, and just no color. SCUBA (captain Ed) actually calls the Cane Bay mooring "The Ultimate Wall" but we hardly ever see them out there because the boat ride is so long from their shop in Christiansted...

Dive Experience is obviously one of our competitors and I don't know much about them other than their boat is relatively small. We have two smaller boats (4-6 passengers max), and a 36' Newton, we definitely have the best boat fleet on the island...

 

[mitsuguy]

oh, one more thing, try to avoid the latest connections from PR into St. Croix... Every once in a while, they get derailed and you end up staying overnight in San Juan...

 

[pdelannoy]

Hey Mitsuguy,

I just emailed Cane Bay Scuba with our tentative dates. I'd like to hear more about your part of the island. Also, I was looking at the air portion going through PR. So if we don't use the PR connection, what do you recommend? I'm looking forward to hearing soon from Cane Bay.

Pd

 

[mitsuguy]

Actually, nothing terribly wrong with PR, its just that last flight of the night that doesn't seem too terribly reliable... that being said, in two weeks, we are vacationing back home and will be returning on that last flight... but we don't care if we are a day behind...

What to know about the North shore... well, we are the biggest concentration of "continentals" and there are some really good restaurants in the area...

In the graphic below, I circled the three regions I was talking about... I also put a red X where our dive shop is... if you'd like, I can post some pictures of the area as well... its really beautiful here...