Dive trip report St Thomas

[gypsyjim]

This will be short, as I am returning to work today, and haven't much time.

Colleen and I spent last week on St Thomas, US VI, staying on the east end near Red Hook. For the first time I braved a rental car on an island with left hand driving, and THAT was a trip, in itself! None of the problems that I expected on the roads, but get into a parking lot or driveway situation, and the right hand driving instinct kept rearing it's head. Tormented a few other drivers, making that adjustment! Saw a few drivers have much worse problems than I did, so I don't feel so bad.

We dived with Red Hook Divers, which was formed by and is owned by the original staff of the old Chris Sawyer dive shop, who I dived with in '95. All great people, and fun to dive with. All instructors, no DM's on any dives. Watching captain Perry snake the boat backward into a difficult berth at the end of the dive is fun; tight spot! If, or when I return to St Thomas I will definitely dive with these people again!

Water was in the 82-83d range on all dives. Dives were all fairly shallow, in the 45 to 60 ft max range, and we had some really fun, long dives, except for my losing my DC500 off my arm on the first dive of the week, at the "calf" dive site.:shocked2: Week got lots better, when we were able to return to calf on Wed and one of the guys diving with me spotted my SeaLife camera hung up by it's lanyard on a coral head. I usually snap it to a D ring, but had slip the lanyard past my elbow, and cinched it. Wont make the mistake again!

Wednesday night, one other diver and I got to do an hour long dive on "cow", with one of the owners, and we did some fun swim threw's, and encountered 2 LARGE turtles, one bawks bill, and one green. Night dives with just one or two other divers are my favorite dives of all, and this one ranked up there. Tremendous number of lobsters, many true giants, basket stars, slipper lobsters, and eels, and tons of small life.

During the week Colleen and I did 1 one tank, 3 two tank dives, and I did the one tank night dive with the Red Hook team, and on one day we took the ferry over to St John, and went to one of the less well known bays for a great day of snorkeling. Really great snorkeling: huge fans, turtles, eels, schools of squid, lots of small critters, etc, and few other people.

Photos posted threwout the week here:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/lesser-antilles/324015-st-thomas-st-john-dive-snorkel-pics.html

 

[parzdiver]

Sounds like a great trip! Where did you go in St. John?

This will be short, as I am returning to work today, and haven't much time.

Colleen and I spent last week on St Thomas, US VI, staying on the east end near Red Hook. For the first time I braved a rental car on an island with left hand driving, and THAT was a trip, in itself! None of the problems that I expected on the roads, but get into a parking lot or driveway situation, and the right hand driving instinct kept rearing it's head. Tormented a few other drivers, making that adjustment! Saw a few drivers have much worse problems than I did, so I don't feel so bad.

We dived with Red Hook Divers, which was formed by and is owned by the original staff of the old Chris Sawyer dive shop, who I dived with in '95. All great people, and fun to dive with. All instructors, no DM's on any dives. Watching captain Perry snake the boat backward into a difficult berth at the end of the dive is fun; tight spot! If, or when I return to St Thomas I will definitely dive with these people again!

Water was in the 82-83d range on all dives. Dives were all fairly shallow, in the 45 to 60 ft max range, and we had some really fun, long dives, except for my losing my DC500 off my arm on the first dive of the week, at the "calf" dive site.:shocked2: Week got lots better, when we were able to return to calf on Wed and one of the guys diving with me spotted my SeaLife camera hung up by it's lanyard on a coral head. I usually snap it to a D ring, but had slip the lanyard past my elbow, and cinched it. Wont make the mistake again!

Wednesday night, one other diver and I got to do an hour long dive on "cow", with one of the owners, and we did some fun swim threw's, and encountered 2 LARGE turtles, one bawks bill, and one green. Night dives with just one or two other divers are my favorite dives of all, and this one ranked up there. Tremendous number of lobsters, many true giants, basket stars, slipper lobsters, and eels, and tons of small life.

During the week Colleen and I did 1 one tank, 3 two tank dives, and I did the one tank night dive with the Red Hook team, and on one day we took the ferry over to St John, and went to one of the less well known bays for a great day of snorkeling. Really great snorkeling: huge fans, turtles, eels, schools of squid, lots of small critters, etc, and few other people.

Photos posted threwout the week here:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/lesser-antilles/324015-st-thomas-st-john-dive-snorkel-pics.html

 

[gypsyjim]

Sounds like a great trip! Where did you go in St. John?

We went to Leinster Bay, toward the east end, rather than one of the more touristy snorkel sites, and even then we picked an area not at the sandy beach portion of the bay where the majority of the tourists head. Had that area mostly to ourselves, except for an occasional 2 to 4 person private snorkel pack boat that use that area.

The poeple at Red Hook Divers that we were diving with on St Thomas had suggested this site as one of the better, less disturbed sites, that they prefer. The cargo ferry at $30 each way was a lot more than the $6 per person, each way on the passenger ferry, but this way we had our own wheels and could break away from the crowd, and go further off the tourist track.

I figured even at $60, vs. the $24 total (2 p/rt) on the passenger ferry, by the time you pay for a "taxi" or tour shuttle we were way ahead of crowd, and got to explore better, less damaged areas of the reef.

We caught the first ferry in the AM, beat the crowds over, had the place to ourselves, mostly, were back in the port of Cruz Bay for lunch in one of the quaint places in the old "city", and caught the ferry out well before the late afternoon rush of tourists heading back from their package snorkels.

 

[parzdiver]

Leinster is great. A bit of a walk from the parking lot, especially if you are trying to get to the beach.

We were on a charter sail boat (with scuba gear) and dived at Water Lemon Cay while the non divers took a zodiac to the beach. The max depth on the dive was 25 feet, so we had really good bottom time.

It is one of my favorite spots on the Island.

We went to Leinster Bay, toward the east end, rather than one of the more touristy snorkel sites, and even then we picked an area not at the sandy beach portion of the bay where the majority of the tourists head. Had that area mostly to ourselves, except for an occasional 2 to 4 person private snorkel pack boat that use that area.

The poeple at Red Hook Divers that we were diving with on St Thomas had suggested this site as one of the better, less disturbed sites, that they prefer. The cargo ferry at $30 each way was a lot more than the $6 per person, each way on the passenger ferry, but this way we had our own wheels and could break away from the crowd, and go further off the tourist track.

I figured even at $60, vs. the $24 total (2 p/rt) on the passenger ferry, by the time you pay for a "taxi" or tour shuttle we were way ahead of crowd, and got to explore better, less damaged areas of the reef.

We caught the first ferry in the AM, beat the crowds over, had the place to ourselves, mostly, were back in the port of Cruz Bay for lunch in one of the quaint places in the old "city", and caught the ferry out well before the late afternoon rush of tourists heading back from their package snorkels.

 

[Ron Parker]

Next time in St. Thomas, if you are wreck certified, can I recommend you guys dive "The Miss Opportunity". It is an upsided down wreck in 102 ft of water. The Keel is at 53ft. The wreck is diver friendly offering large swim throughs, big schools of fish, and camera ops.

 

[gypsyjim]

Leinster is great. A bit of a walk from the parking lot, especially if you are trying to get to the beach.

We were on a charter sail boat (with scuba gear) and dived at Water Lemon Cay while the non divers took a zodiac to the beach. The max depth on the dive was 25 feet, so we had really good bottom time.

It is one of my favorite spots on the Island.

Leinster was beautiful, and it was a pretty long walk in, but we worked off a rubble beach rather than go to the sand beach everyone heads for. Less crowded, and less damaged. When we were heading back the hoards of tourists were just making the long walk to the beach area. We did meet up with an older local couple who invited us to join them and swim out past the island in the bay, where they said the fans were absolutely undamaged, and really huge, but after 4 hrs snorkeling we were done for the day.

The other bay we were told is great for snorkeling, and not crowded by tourists is one called Haulover, further east. I would have enjoyed exploring it too, but not willing to make two ferry trips, or give up two days when I could be diving.

Next time in St. Thomas, if you are wreck certified, can I recommend you guys dive "The Miss Opportunity". It is an upsided down wreck in 102 ft of water. The Keel is at 53ft. The wreck is diver friendly offering large swim throughs, big schools of fish, and camera ops.

Thanks Ron. I had read there are several good wreck dives in the area, but that is for another trip. While I am wreck certified, my gf is only OW. Luckily for me she is happy as long as I first do dives with her, till she is ready for beach time, and then I am free to do more aggressive dives with more advanced buddies. Not sure when we will get back to St Thomas, as it took me 15 yrs to get back this time. We are really hooked on Bonaire shore diving, returning at least once a year, and trying other sites like St Thomas, etc, more occasionally.