Ok- heres my trip report from St. Croix. Bear in mind it was only a very short trip, and during summer (hurricane season).
In asnswer to the original question-st croix vs the keys-I would go for st. croix. Key Largo is great - I always love a trip there, but st. croix has more of a vacation atmosphere, and the reefs seemed to me to be in better condition.
The Hotel: Stayed at the Waves at Cane Bay- great location- walking distance to bars/restuarants. You could also walk to cane bay. The hotel is nice, with a kitchenette to save on food costs, but it is basic-don;t expect luxury. Has an great area to rinse gear, and storage lockers for gear storage. The maangement has changed hands, it is now run by a Russian lady and her daughter. She can provide weights and organize tanks and stuff for rental. We got our tanks through her, but ended up renting elsewehre as we wanted fills when she was not around. I gather it is unusual for people to want to shore dive as much as us!!! But overall, it was a nice place- great to sleep with the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks outside your window.
The Diving:
I only did shore diving-so all comments are for that. I considered taking a boat dive out to the wrecks, but decided to stay at cane bay.
The dive at the waves- also called the Pavillions was too rough for me- would be OK for people from the west coast I am sure, but wave action was a little rough when we were there.
Cane bay has a sloping sandy beach- then out to the wall drop off. The drop-off is supposed ot be 250 yards off shore- I'd say more like 300+ and the waves were quite hard to swim against (maybe due to summer weather patterns) there is also quite a strong longshore drift in the bay which pushes you to the left, so you need to watch you direction on entries and exits. If you get pushed off-side, you have to walk over patches with sea urchins and coral heads- not good or safe. If you are reasonably fit though, it is a great dive- I did it six times- all of which seemed different. Great soft and hard corals- lots of fish life- saw tutles on four dives- three on one dive
definately a great dive.
The pier needs an update- I am fond of pier dives- but recent construction has made this dive more difficult to access. There is no longer shore access and the local dive shop is not sure the dive will be there for much longer. You have to enter and exit off the pier- which is ok, but a little difficult for the exit. There are three stantions encrusted with coral and containing lots of fish for the small area, but the rest of the rubble and rocks around the peir seems to have been impacted by the constuction- lots of silt, vis was 20 ft at most and there was little life in the rocks. I didn;t catch any seahorses or octopus
There are anumber of other sites you can shore dive, which I examined, but some have a reputation for crime, and they looked very remote when I went to see them, and others had a lot of wave action. So as cane bay was so easy and well served, I stayed there.
dive shops- I used Cane Bay dive shop- they were excellent- really nice and helpful - even helped me with a reg. problem. I also went to scuba shack on the other side of the island- also really nice people and a great location for a 'tester' dive offshore.
hope this helps- if I have missed anything, post it up.
