kona74
Registered
My dive buddy and I finished up a wonderful trip to St Croix to celebrate our 30th anniversary. We were on the island July 8th through July 15th,2010.
Travel was uneventful. We flew Dallas to Miami to St Croix all on AA and reverse order on the way home. The only surprise is having to go through immigrations and customs when leaving St Croix. You should plan for a little extra time because of this - not quite domestic.
We stayed at the Harbour Beach Condos just on the south side of Frederiksted. It was a spacious beachside 1 bedroom with a wall of windows open to the Caribbean. The beach at this location was spectacular. The specific unit we rented was C101 or Sunset Suite and we rented through Kim Lucas. We opted to stay on the west side because of diving with N2 the Blue.
We ate at many different places and all of the food was good. Breakfast was always at the condo to allow a relaxed pace before diving. Dinner locations were Coconuts on the Beach (twice), Rum Runners (in Christiansted), Lost Dog (a funky bar), Rhythms at Rainbow Beach, Beachside Café at Sandcastle on the Beach, and Blue Moon. Lunch varied, sometimes leftovers and sometime we ate out.
The Sunday Texas BBQ at Coconuts should not be missed. For entertainment, the St Croix Blues Society host a jam session and the drinks are strong. The Lost Dog has great pizza and an appetizer of brie and roasted garlic with homemade bread that is perfect after an enjoyable day diving. Rhythms has great burgers and outstanding drinks! Blue Moon had live jazz on Wednesday night. You should not miss the sandwiches at Turtles Deli.
We were lucky on our entertainment timing. Christiansted hosts a street festival 4 times per year and we went on Friday night. The special treat was the Moko Jumbies. We also managed several other tourist type activities. Drove on the left, fed beer to the pigs at Montpellier Domino Club, visited the Whim Plantation Museum (sugar was king), and of course the Cruzan Rum tour.
Now on to diving ----
Our dive timing was not so good. It seems there was some kind of crazy late season algae bloom for the entire duration of the trip. The diving was still good but the visibility was miserable maybe 30 feet at the best.
We dived with N2 the Blue. Derrick and Anna have a great shop with a great staff. If you like diving with a small group then I would highly recommend Derrick. He is located on the west side very close to Frederiksted Pier. We used nitrox 32 for all our boat dives and they allow you to dive your entire tank, please make a safety stop at 500 PSI. Our divemasters were Tim for 3 days and Derrick for 2 days.
We made 13 dives through his shop 10 boat dives and 3 pier dives. The sites we hit were Shallow Wrecks, Chubs Hole, Armageddon, Small Mill Point, Deep Wrecks, Frederiksted Pier, Alien Nation, Swirling Reef of Death, Sandy Point, and Sprats Hole. All our diving was on the west side. By the time we were ready to venture over to the Salt River and Cane Bay, there was a constant 20 to 25 knot wind out of the north northeast which had the shops from the north shore coming to dive the pier. Oh well, there is always next time.
Again the only bad thing was the visibility which is out of anyones control. We did manage to see a few creatures two lionfish, 3 seahorses (thanks Derrick and Jenny), a red lipped batfish, a diamond(?) pipefish, several high hats including juveniles, tarpon, big curious turtles, a few eels, and then the other normal cast of Caribbean characters.
The reefs seemed to be in relatively good shape. The Wrecks and Armageddon were fun to dive. Lots of holes for things to hide in, unfortunately this is where we found the lionfish one on Armageddon and one on Deep Wrecks.
All in all, a great trip, good weather, and fantastic people. Thanks St Croix!
Travel was uneventful. We flew Dallas to Miami to St Croix all on AA and reverse order on the way home. The only surprise is having to go through immigrations and customs when leaving St Croix. You should plan for a little extra time because of this - not quite domestic.
We stayed at the Harbour Beach Condos just on the south side of Frederiksted. It was a spacious beachside 1 bedroom with a wall of windows open to the Caribbean. The beach at this location was spectacular. The specific unit we rented was C101 or Sunset Suite and we rented through Kim Lucas. We opted to stay on the west side because of diving with N2 the Blue.
We ate at many different places and all of the food was good. Breakfast was always at the condo to allow a relaxed pace before diving. Dinner locations were Coconuts on the Beach (twice), Rum Runners (in Christiansted), Lost Dog (a funky bar), Rhythms at Rainbow Beach, Beachside Café at Sandcastle on the Beach, and Blue Moon. Lunch varied, sometimes leftovers and sometime we ate out.
The Sunday Texas BBQ at Coconuts should not be missed. For entertainment, the St Croix Blues Society host a jam session and the drinks are strong. The Lost Dog has great pizza and an appetizer of brie and roasted garlic with homemade bread that is perfect after an enjoyable day diving. Rhythms has great burgers and outstanding drinks! Blue Moon had live jazz on Wednesday night. You should not miss the sandwiches at Turtles Deli.
We were lucky on our entertainment timing. Christiansted hosts a street festival 4 times per year and we went on Friday night. The special treat was the Moko Jumbies. We also managed several other tourist type activities. Drove on the left, fed beer to the pigs at Montpellier Domino Club, visited the Whim Plantation Museum (sugar was king), and of course the Cruzan Rum tour.
Now on to diving ----
Our dive timing was not so good. It seems there was some kind of crazy late season algae bloom for the entire duration of the trip. The diving was still good but the visibility was miserable maybe 30 feet at the best.
We dived with N2 the Blue. Derrick and Anna have a great shop with a great staff. If you like diving with a small group then I would highly recommend Derrick. He is located on the west side very close to Frederiksted Pier. We used nitrox 32 for all our boat dives and they allow you to dive your entire tank, please make a safety stop at 500 PSI. Our divemasters were Tim for 3 days and Derrick for 2 days.
We made 13 dives through his shop 10 boat dives and 3 pier dives. The sites we hit were Shallow Wrecks, Chubs Hole, Armageddon, Small Mill Point, Deep Wrecks, Frederiksted Pier, Alien Nation, Swirling Reef of Death, Sandy Point, and Sprats Hole. All our diving was on the west side. By the time we were ready to venture over to the Salt River and Cane Bay, there was a constant 20 to 25 knot wind out of the north northeast which had the shops from the north shore coming to dive the pier. Oh well, there is always next time.
Again the only bad thing was the visibility which is out of anyones control. We did manage to see a few creatures two lionfish, 3 seahorses (thanks Derrick and Jenny), a red lipped batfish, a diamond(?) pipefish, several high hats including juveniles, tarpon, big curious turtles, a few eels, and then the other normal cast of Caribbean characters.
The reefs seemed to be in relatively good shape. The Wrecks and Armageddon were fun to dive. Lots of holes for things to hide in, unfortunately this is where we found the lionfish one on Armageddon and one on Deep Wrecks.
All in all, a great trip, good weather, and fantastic people. Thanks St Croix!
