Info First trip to St Croix. Looking for opinions and trip reports

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Arriving St Croix Celebrity Equinox Jan dive shop suggestions or shore dives? Dive guides for hire?
There are several dives shops located as soon as you walk off the cruise ship pier - Cane Bay Dive Shop and St. Croix Ultimate Bluewater Adventures (SCUBA). Nep2une Scuba Diving is located just around the corner from the other 2.

St. Croix Ultimate Bluewater Adventures (SCUBA) and Nep2une Scuba Diving both have boats located in Frederiksted while Cane Bay has their boat located at Salt River. If you're looking for ease and convenance, I'd suggest the two shops with boats in Frederiksted as your cruise ship, the shops, and boats are all within short walking distance.

However, the diving close to Salt River where Cane Bay's boat is kept is some of the best and most dramatic on the island as it has the best wall dives available here.

Finally, if you prefer to shore dive, Sweetbottom Dive Center located on Cane Bay is the place to go when cruise ships are in and you can't dive the pier. They specialize in shore dives. Both Sweetbottom and Cane Bay Dive Shop's boat would be a short taxi ride. If you have non-divers, Cane Bay is a beautiful beach with a great restaurant/bar across the street and good snorkeling too.

I personally normally dive with St. Croix Ultimate Bluewater Adventures (SCUBA) as they have shops and boats on both ends of the island and are very well run. However, ALL the dive shops on the island have great reputations and other than weather/mechanical related issues, I've never heard a negative comment about any of them.

I try to keep up with this forum for St. Croix related questions, so if you have any more, just ask and I'll probably be able to answer within a day or so.
 
Hello All,

Wife and I are recreational divers with about 300 dives each. Most of our diving has been in the Caribbean - Cozumel, Roatan, Belize, Caymans, etc.

We can't risk getting Covid while out of the country and not being able to return home. A little research revealed that Covid tests to return stateside from US territories is a non-thing. Travel is just like domestic as far as Covid is concerned.

So now we're thinking of the USVI and hear that St Croix has some great diving (especially walls for the wife). From reading this forum, it sounds like there are no dive resorts, just shops and hotels that apparently don't package anything together.

I'd love to hear opinions on hotel/dive shop combinations, dive sites, etc. We're not much on wrecks, but love walls, critters, BIG critters. Hotel - nice yes, but not looking for luxury.

Thanks!

Chuck in Houston

My sister and bro in law just got back from St Croix and they loved it - and no testing. But if you cant risk getting covid, my suggestion is to stay home. lol

Have you considered an Aggressor? You could go straight from the airport to the boat, and I feel that would minimize your risk some as you;d be exposed to less people.

I just went through all the motions for the Bahamas trip - vax cards, covid tests, travel health visas, we;;e all set. But it has been a real pain in the arse
 
The hard corals have been in decline for years, but St. Croix is now significantly affected by SCTLD

I was there in October, and the coral life looked fantastic. Tons of new growth. Saw very little bleaching.

To the OP, I wholeheartedly recommend going. Stay near Christiansted and dive the north side. Do the pier about an hour before the sun goes down. My dive buddy and daughter did it while I stayed on shore with my non-diving wife. They LOVED it. We then did the night dive, and we were all disappointed. The guide found some cool things, but it was mostly "meh". We stayed at a spectacular AirBnB about ten to fifteen minutes west of Christiansted. We dove with Blue Water Adventures and mostly liked it. I recommend AGAINST doing the Little Cozumel dive because it's a whole lot of finning against a current.

Let me know if you want info on the AirBnB.
 

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