Just returned from dive trip to St. Croix.
Seas were rough because of tropical storm Gamma.
Did get some good diving in though.
Visibility was O.K., usually got down to less than 30 feet in the afternoon (then again the seas were rough). Mornings were better.
I dove with S.C.U.B.A. - Very nice boat, very competent staff. They have the biggest boat I could find on the Island. The best dive I did with them was Blue Chute. There is an overturned wreck starting at 70 feet. Saw some nice Morays and a few spotted drum fish. It was a fun intermediate dive (it was our second of the morning).
They have a really nice shop located right in the heart of Christiansted. Do your souvenir shopping here.
http://www.stcroixscuba.com/ - If you're diving with Leslie as the Divemaster, tell her John from Arizona says hi.
I also dove with Cane Bay. Their shop is right across from one of the nicest public beaches on the Island. The wall is a long surface swim from the shore, but doable for anyone in average shape. You can see the mooring buoys from the shore and the wall is about 20 yards from the buoys. It is certainly worth doing a couple of dives from the shore (SAVE SOME MONEY). We also dove with the Cane Bay shop. They have a comfortable zodiac that holds six people. The best dive of the week was done from the Zodiac. The spot was North Star (about a six minute boat ride). We also did a nice drift dive from two palms back to Cane Bay West.
Cane Bay is attached to a nice restaurant. A pleasant place to do a surface interval lunch and an apres diving beer. Cane Bay is a full day trip (four dives)
Cane Bay also serves up Nitrox (32%) for an extra 8 bucks. And since there is so much to see, bottom time becomes an issue.
http://www.canebayscuba.com/ - Ask for Dan as your instructor.
Some other great dives include; Fredericksted Pier (Seahorses) and the 4 wrecks on the West side of the Island. I would probably talk to SCUBA first. If they won't do it, I found Cane Bay to be very accommodating.
Another piece of advice ... own the Caribbean Book from
www.fishid.com
Study it before you go. The variance in reef fish is amazing. You will see a hundred different species on one dive. I spent the long flight to St Croix studying up and glad I did.
Biggest issue is the reefs in St Croix. It was a hot summer in the Caribbean. Many of the hurricanes did not make it north. Thus the water never had a chance to cool down. Even last week the water temp was 84 degrees. When the water gets that warm, the algae lifts off the reef and 'bleaches' the reef. This causes many of the fish to seek alternate food sources away from the reef. While the bleaching caused little permanent damage, it did do some harm. You could see it was starting to come back, so hopefully by the time you head down it will be in full recovery.
All in all - it was a great trip. Have dinner at Off the Wall; Skip Cheeseburgers in America's Paradise and be careful of a drunken pig bar in the rainforest - her drinks contain some sort of voodoo -- still fuzzy on the details -- that's a different post entirely.
