Overall impressions from first visit to St. Croix

[They call me Tater]

My understanding is that they recently changed the regulations so that you need a flag at the pier only. Cane Bay and Davis Bay do not need one.

 

[scubadada]

My understanding is that they recently changed the regulations so that you need a flag at the pier only. Cane Bay and Davis Bay do not need one.

No boat traffic to worry about off Cane Bay or Davis Bay?

 

[They call me Tater]

I've not had the privilege of shore diving there yet but on my visits to Cane Bay beach I didn't see any boats. The wall drops off pretty steep so outside of an emergency one would not likely surface far from shore. The marinas and piers are located on opposite ends of the island so boats have no real reason to go into the north shore bays. But that's just my perception. Certainly you could take a flag.

 

[jonhall]

Just a clarification: I wouldn't dive the wrecks as a shore dive (that's just me.) There is only one wreck, as I recall, that allows for penetration, which is just dropping down into a hold. These would be the shallow wrecks at Butler Bay at a depth of about 60 ft. Would use dive op, N2the Blue located near the pier, for the 10 minute boat ride.

Regarding dive flags, when diving the pier, there is no need. The second most popular shore dive, which I haven't done in all the years I been there, is the wall off of Cane Bay Beach. But having been there to snorkel and enjoy the beach, I can't say I've ever noticed them. There is basically no boat traffic there, nor motorized sports craft; Cane Bay Dive Op has a dive boat. It is a short swim to depth and then divers drop (from my observations.) If the water is clear enough, you can see the divers at ~30-40 ft. deep from the surface.

Have a friend who has a cruise stop in St. Croix in April. One excursion is a 4 hr. catamaran tour from the pier. It goes south of the pier a short ways and then north a short ways before letting people out on a beach within view of the pier. Another is a taxi ride to the other side of the island for a short 2 minute ferry ride to Protestant Cay beach. There just isn't a lot of boat activity around the island.

 

[They call me Tater]

Jon, According to Tim at Sweet Bottom you do now need a flag at the pier. There is some traffic there.

 

[Rhone Man]

Regarding the crime/feeling unsafe, I had exactly the same observation.

A lot of the bad rep that St Croix has on crime can be traced back to the Fountain Valley Massacre (Fountain Valley massacre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). Admittedly, it was pretty bad, but it is increasingly ancient history. A little bit of it (I suspect) is also just lazy assumptions about places with large black populations.

That said, the USVI as a whole is not as safe as mainland USA - it varies year to year, but on average murder rates per capita are normally around 7 times the US average. Although the bad stuff is usually pretty confined to well defined pockets, caution is definitely good advice. Every time you read about a tourist being mugged or raped (or less commonly, murdered) it is usually easy to see how it could have been avoided with a bit of care and common sense.

Just my 2 PSI.

 

[jonhall]

Jon, According to Tim at Sweet Bottom you do now need a flag at the pier. There is some traffic there.

Yes, found that the Port Authority issued a notice requiring the use of a flag or float when diving the pier, with the main concern being the sea wall area where boats come in and dock.

 

[KathyV]

We were last in St. Croix in Oct 2009 - so it has been awhile - and we never felt any sense of personal danger while we were there. The people we met were nice and friendly, but we had been warned about violence and crimes against tourists so we never strayed very far off the beaten path.

We spent a week on a liveaboard and a week staying on the island. When the liveaboard was tied up at the Fredricksted Pier the Captain warned the guests very specifically "not to venture more than 3 streets in from the harbor!" He also said that the cruise ships had stopped visiting St. Croix because of all the crimes directed at tourists.

We saw lots of closed shops and restaurants around town and a bartender told us that the losing the cruise ship business had really hurt the economy.

But now the cruise ships are visiting St. Croix again and I hope that the criminal problem has been addressed. As I said, we never felt any cause for alarm while we were there but the Captain's warnings were always in the back of our minds so we were pretty cautious.

We loved St. Croix and the Fredricksted Pier remains a highlight among our diving experiences.

 

[PeterNBiddle]

I often wonder how many of the people who rant about the crime in St. Croix have gotten lost in Coxen Hole Roatan. That was unnerving!

We had been warned but decided to walk across the edge of it to get somewhere. Nothing happened but it was unnerving. Won't be doing that again.

 

[Rhone Man]

Warning, this is a graphic detailing of events. In between dives at Cane Bay we grabbed lunch at a beach bar nearby. A group of young locals were exiting their fishing boat with their catch of the day. One of the creatures was a very large, old green moray eel. The eel was squirming around and trying to get out of the guy’s hands. He threw it down in the sand and proceeded to club it multiple times. A crowd started to gather around this debacle, with many squealing, young women who got out their cell phones to record this creature being clubbed to death. My husband and I were mortified. We were getting up to beg that these guys to show some mercy and offer a quick humane death when a group of divers approached them and what proceeded with what appeared to be a heated discussion. There was a lot of back and forth arguing without any physical contact. The eel was then beheaded, filleted and put into a cooler. A lot of the workers at the dive shop were upset by this as well. However, the sad fact is that these fishermen were not engaging in any illegal activity. I had heard from multiple people that that the same group of men did the same with a nurse shark earlier in the day.

I was thinking a bit more about your story of the moray eel yesterday. I think the unfortunate reality is that in the Caribbean there is generally a fairly low regard for animals and animal suffering. Late last year there was a story in the local media in my home islands (the BVI) about a couple of dogs which had gotten into a neighbour's yard and killed his chickens. When the neighbour came home he was obviously upset and he got some rope, caught the dogs and tied them up. So far, so reasonable. He then took the dogs on their makeshift leashes back to the owner's home, threw the ends of the ropes over the branch of a tree, and lynched the dogs in front of the owner's house.

That in itself was a pretty distressing story (especially as the dogs' owner had kids). But what really, really drove it home for me was that under the news stories there is a place where people can post comments, and at least 50% of the comments were supportive of the guy who had lynched the dogs. It is all pretty distressing to people who were brought up in North America or Europe, but it is pretty ingrained in the culture down here.

I'll see if I can find and post a link.

EDIT: Found it - Two dogs hanged