Looking for an alternative to GC and Coz wall dives

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+1 for St. Croix


I've only dived the walls in Salt River Canyon in St. Croix, which I recall having some different topography. Have only snorkeled in Cane Bay which has, probably, the more popular wall on the island.





The pier is a great dive day or night. Not a bad diving locale for shore, wall, reef, and wrecks.




Cane Bay has one of the nicer beaches to relax, snorkel, shore dive, and enjoy their restaurant. The nicest beach (has been on some of those top 10 lists) is Turtle Beach on Buck Island. Accessible by boat, the beach has soft white sand and you can tie the boat trip in with snorkeling in the protected National Marine Park.

Pretty good restaurant choices are in Christiansted and Frederiksted (opposite sides of the island about 30-35 minutes apart)



Tours (ATV tour is fun), hiking, historical sites, botanical garden, and shopping are topside.

Have been to GC, Coz, and St. Croix several times and love the diving at all. St. Croix is not as commercialized as the other islands but probably has as much to do topside for a week as Coz (if you don't consider going to the mainland) but not as much as GC.

AS KathyV alluded to, St. Croix was hit by the hurricanes, and the 2nd one was bad. Haven't heard updates lately, but getting electricity to all parts of island was an issue. My aunt-in-law is still in the U.S. as cleanup/repairs are taking place. N2theBlue dive op is operating though. If you are interested in going, I would contact them for the current conditions on the island.
I have read about a little trouble on the island with crime on trip adviser. Is it anything to worry about? I live in Arkansas and we have thieves here like everywhere else. I had kind of stayed away because of it, sounds like it isn't a factor though.
 
I have read about a little trouble on the island with crime on trip adviser.

No doubt they have some as most places do (I'm going to Cabo in about a week which has set a record with 400+ homicides in 2017 - my own town, Indy, set a record with 152.) After the hurricanes, my aunt-in-laws place was broken into and looted.

I've been 6 times and have never had or saw any issues. We just stay where people are like anyplace else and walk any more isolated places during the day.
 
I have read about a little trouble on the island with crime on trip adviser. Is it anything to worry about? I live in Arkansas and we have thieves here like everywhere else. I had kind of stayed away because of it, sounds like it isn't a factor though.

No doubt they have some as most places do (I'm going to Cabo in about a week which has set a record with 400+ homicides in 2017 - my own town, Indy, set a record with 152.) After the hurricanes, my aunt-in-laws place was broken into and looted. I've been 6 times and have never had or saw any issues. We just stay where people are like anyplace else and walk any more isolated places during the day.

We were in STX several years ago and we never felt threatened or in danger, and we found the people friendly and welcoming. But we were seriously warned about violence and crime against tourists and told to take precautions and not stray very far so we didn't. In Fredricksted we were told "not to venture more than 3 streets inland from the harbor!"

We had to accept that the threat was real (even though we saw no evidence of it) because at that time the cruise ships had stopped coming to St. Croix due to the serious crime problem - and that really hurt the island's economy, a lot of businesses were shut down. We drove all over the island but we didn't wander too far off the beaten path and we didn't have any problems.

Since then some of the cruise ships have started to return so that may mean that the crime situation has improved, but they were recently hit by hurricanes so I don't know the current situation. It's beautiful island with lovely diving and the Fredericksted Pier is outstanding for both diving and snorkeling! I'd go back!
 
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Our 8 days on St. Croix in 2017, it didn't seem seedy or threatening. We went about without any unusual precautions.

Do some digging and you can turn up scary anecdotes at a number of Caribbean region locations, and I'm talking places like St. Thomas and Belize (not talking about Belize City specifically), not Jamaica or mainland Honduras.

Richard.
 
I am surprised Dominica isn’t at the top of the list. Great Wall diving, rain forests and Sperm Whales. A great destination. I do not know what impact the hurricanes have had on the diving or hotel infrastructure.
 
I am surprised Dominica isn’t at the top of the list. Great Wall diving, rain forests and Sperm Whales. A great destination. I do not know what impact the hurricanes have had on the diving or hotel infrastructure.
Buddy Dive Dominica has posted that they will not reopen in 2018. Not sure how Fort Young Hotel is doing. Dominica may not be the best destination for a while. Maybe others have better/more information
 
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For those who have been to Bohio and Grand Turk, what is the impact on your stay, peace, tranquility etc with the cruise ship crowd? I thought I read somewhere that the cruisers are bused to Bohio and take over the restaurant and part of the beach. That would be deal breaker. Otherwise I thought Bohio looked like an ideal place to stay and dive.
 
I will give my vote to St Croix and in being fully transparent, we now own a place on the island.

Very good dive variety is available, from the wall that runs along the North side to the Pier on the West end (it is a great, easy shore dive but) if you take a boat out to the end (too far to swim), you can find lots of sea horses, bat fish etc. that are not usually seen. In February, I have seen the whole ocean floor covered in cushion star fish.

Crime - there was an incident 20 years ago when a local gang attacked and killed several cruise ship tourists. Other than that, most crime is resident on resident in the two “projects” - one just west of Christiansted and the other east of Frederiksted. Stay to the main areas and you are fine. Just so you know, there is little night life on the island, pretty much roll up the streets by 10 pm. .

One thing to consider, this is a “foodie” island. Small unique restaurants with excellent, eclectic menus. But not inexpensive.

Actually, I ought to keep my mouth shut, don’t want this quiet slice of paradise overrun with tourists.
 

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