morecowbells
Contributor
Since I do not see many posts about diving in St. Croix, I thought I would share my experience.
Diving from the North Shore/Cane Bay:
We rented tanks from Cane Bay Dive Shop for some shore diving. They were very friendly and helpful. Everyone at the dive shop was generous in offering information on the dive sites. The swim out to buoy was loooong! We saw some turtles, barracuda, snapper, chubs, porkeypine fish and the usual (mostly juvenile) Caribbean suspects. Reefs were in healthy condition with vibrant corals. Visibility was average. Every dive off the north shore produced shark sightings. If you looked out to the blue there was almost a reef shark gliding by in the distance. We did a two tank boat dive through Cane Bay Dive Shop. We met up at the Salt River harbor and did one dive at Rust Op Twist and one east of the Salt River. On our last dive at the Salt River we had three sharks and a barracuda hang out with us. Very cool experience. Nick, Joe and Dani were wonderful and attentive. I highly recommend diving with these guys.
We did one dive at Davis Bay. I cannot say enough positive things about Sweet Bottom Divers at the Carambola Resort! Everything about this dive operation is first class. They drove a golf cart to our parked car, loaded up our gear and brought gear to dive shop. After we assembled our gear, they loaded gear onto a golf cart and dropped it off at a platform on the beach where we can gear up and walk a very short distance to dive entry. Weather conditions created some rough seas and strong swells. Swim distance to buoy was significantly shorter than swim out at Cane Bay. Visibility was mucked up due to sand getting stirred up. We were surrounded by impressive coral structures and canyons with fingers of sand in between. We spotted two sharks who observed us at a distance. I am not a fan of surge/movement while diving. Dive was only 45 minutes due to queasiness. Exiting was a bear with seas becoming rougher. The people at Sweet Bottom Divers were super kind and understanding about my need to bail out of doing a second dive. I hear great things about the diving at Davis Bay. I think we hit it at the wrong time.
Diving in Frederikstead:
My husband typically finds macro dives dull and likes the bigger stuff. We did 3 dives under the Frederikstead Pier and one south of pier at a site called ‘The Dolphins’. The pilings are adorned with soft coral formations and marine life. We found three frog fish, numerous sea horses, a pipe fish, goldentail eels, jawfish, and even a bat fish. Turns out my husband has a wonderful ability in finding the little guys and was scouring every surface. This is a very relaxing, leisure dive with shallow depths. We never exceeded 35 feet. Entrance is a breeze. The exit is somewhat challenging which involved negotiating and stepping around several mossy rocks. I would love to see a ladder built onto the pier. We rented tanks through N2theblue. They gave us detailed instructions on diving the pier and where to look for frog fish. We used one of their carts to lug gear from dive shop to the pier. It was not a long distance, but the carts sure made it easy. In between dives, we had lunch at Polly’s. It was somewhat pricey for salads, sandwiches etc., but wonderful, fresh food with lovely staff. We loved eating in the idyllic courtyard.
St. Croix in general:
We rented a condo at Coakley Bay. It was very peaceful, safe and located close to some of the wonderful restaurants on the island. The only downside to the location was that it involved a lot of driving. We figured that no matter where we stayed, there would be a great deal of driving between Cane Bay and Frederikstead, so it worked out for us to be close to spots where we would hang out and dine out in the evenings. Nearby we immensely enjoyed dining at The Pickled Greek, Bluewater Terrace, Maria’s Cantina and Cheeseburgers in Paradise (food was decent, but our highlight here was listening to Llewelyn perform). Our only disappointing meal was at Fort Christian Brew Pub. My husband is a big fan of craft beers. Oddly, they had no drought beer and the food was mediocre.
There is a tremendous amount of discussion on various boards addressing the safety/crime issues of the island. We never felt unsafe or compromised. We did not leave anything of value in the cars and left the car doors unlocked, never encountered a problem. We walked along the touristy areas in Christiansted and Frederikstead without being hassled or feeling remotely threatened. The people we encountered (both locals and mainlander ex-pats) were perhaps the friendliest of all the Caribbean. Everyone was helpful, polite and welcoming. Even with our crazy driving and getting lost, nobody every honked a horn or gave us a one finger salute. The people were kind, gentle and patient. Nobody was trying to sell us a time share, and there was a distinct absence of obnoxious store hawkers. I have been to several Caribbean islands, and found St. Croix to have far less litter along the roads and fewer stray dogs than most other destinations. The beaches we visited were free from rubbish.
Now for the negative…. I was hesitant to post this insight but it needed to be addressed. Warning, this is a graphic detailing of events. In between dives at Cane Bay we grabbed lunch at a beach bar nearby. A group of young locals were exiting their fishing boat with their catch of the day. One of the creatures was a very large, old green moray eel. The eel was squirming around and trying to get out of the guy’s hands. He threw it down in the sand and proceeded to club it multiple times. A crowd started to gather around this debacle, with many squealing, young women who got out their cell phones to record this creature being clubbed to death. My husband and I were mortified. We were getting up to beg that these guys to show some mercy and offer a quick humane death when a group of divers approached them and what proceeded with what appeared to be a heated discussion. There was a lot of back and forth arguing without any physical contact. The eel was then beheaded, filleted and put into a cooler. A lot of the workers at the dive shop were upset by this as well. However, the sad fact is that these fishermen were not engaging in any illegal activity. I had heard from multiple people that that the same group of men did the same with a nurse shark earlier in the day.
I know that I need to step back and realize that I have never gone hungry or had to worry about if or when I will get my next meal. These fishermen probably come from many generations of fishermen; it is their sustenance and culture. However, I wish there were more sustainable and humane ways of satisfying both the fishermen and the scuba enthusiast. Cozumel and Bonaire come to mind when it comes to balancing the two. They have well established and patrolled marine parks (funded by divers) which protect the marine life in the popular diving areas and reef systems. Both destinations are highly sought after and visited by divers from all corners of the earth. I think St. Croix has a lot to offer divers. It is a unique destination that it is rich in both macro dives on the West side, while the North side offers amazing wall dives which showcase the larger critters. Possessing both types of diving venues is seldom the case with many other destinations. From a diving perspective, I feel that if St. Croix wants to galvanize itself as a premier scuba destination, it needs to sustain and protect mature, diverse marine life in order to generate interest of scuba divers, especially since diving, lodging and food are more costly than other Caribbean locations.
My husband and I do not talk about if we will return but when we will return to the island. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there. It was an exhilarating experience to dive along a wall and have close and curious encounters by the reef sharks. Hopefully some marine park rules and action will come to fruition. The island is easily accessible (no customs-yeah!), friendly and we ate like king’s. I would rank St. Croix as better diving than Grand Cayman, but not as abundant in marine life as Cozumel or Bonaire/Curacao.
On my very basic camera, I shot some video of our underwater experience. I had the wrond setting for the turtle shot, but he was too cute to delete.
Diving from the North Shore/Cane Bay:
We rented tanks from Cane Bay Dive Shop for some shore diving. They were very friendly and helpful. Everyone at the dive shop was generous in offering information on the dive sites. The swim out to buoy was loooong! We saw some turtles, barracuda, snapper, chubs, porkeypine fish and the usual (mostly juvenile) Caribbean suspects. Reefs were in healthy condition with vibrant corals. Visibility was average. Every dive off the north shore produced shark sightings. If you looked out to the blue there was almost a reef shark gliding by in the distance. We did a two tank boat dive through Cane Bay Dive Shop. We met up at the Salt River harbor and did one dive at Rust Op Twist and one east of the Salt River. On our last dive at the Salt River we had three sharks and a barracuda hang out with us. Very cool experience. Nick, Joe and Dani were wonderful and attentive. I highly recommend diving with these guys.
We did one dive at Davis Bay. I cannot say enough positive things about Sweet Bottom Divers at the Carambola Resort! Everything about this dive operation is first class. They drove a golf cart to our parked car, loaded up our gear and brought gear to dive shop. After we assembled our gear, they loaded gear onto a golf cart and dropped it off at a platform on the beach where we can gear up and walk a very short distance to dive entry. Weather conditions created some rough seas and strong swells. Swim distance to buoy was significantly shorter than swim out at Cane Bay. Visibility was mucked up due to sand getting stirred up. We were surrounded by impressive coral structures and canyons with fingers of sand in between. We spotted two sharks who observed us at a distance. I am not a fan of surge/movement while diving. Dive was only 45 minutes due to queasiness. Exiting was a bear with seas becoming rougher. The people at Sweet Bottom Divers were super kind and understanding about my need to bail out of doing a second dive. I hear great things about the diving at Davis Bay. I think we hit it at the wrong time.
Diving in Frederikstead:
My husband typically finds macro dives dull and likes the bigger stuff. We did 3 dives under the Frederikstead Pier and one south of pier at a site called ‘The Dolphins’. The pilings are adorned with soft coral formations and marine life. We found three frog fish, numerous sea horses, a pipe fish, goldentail eels, jawfish, and even a bat fish. Turns out my husband has a wonderful ability in finding the little guys and was scouring every surface. This is a very relaxing, leisure dive with shallow depths. We never exceeded 35 feet. Entrance is a breeze. The exit is somewhat challenging which involved negotiating and stepping around several mossy rocks. I would love to see a ladder built onto the pier. We rented tanks through N2theblue. They gave us detailed instructions on diving the pier and where to look for frog fish. We used one of their carts to lug gear from dive shop to the pier. It was not a long distance, but the carts sure made it easy. In between dives, we had lunch at Polly’s. It was somewhat pricey for salads, sandwiches etc., but wonderful, fresh food with lovely staff. We loved eating in the idyllic courtyard.
St. Croix in general:
We rented a condo at Coakley Bay. It was very peaceful, safe and located close to some of the wonderful restaurants on the island. The only downside to the location was that it involved a lot of driving. We figured that no matter where we stayed, there would be a great deal of driving between Cane Bay and Frederikstead, so it worked out for us to be close to spots where we would hang out and dine out in the evenings. Nearby we immensely enjoyed dining at The Pickled Greek, Bluewater Terrace, Maria’s Cantina and Cheeseburgers in Paradise (food was decent, but our highlight here was listening to Llewelyn perform). Our only disappointing meal was at Fort Christian Brew Pub. My husband is a big fan of craft beers. Oddly, they had no drought beer and the food was mediocre.
There is a tremendous amount of discussion on various boards addressing the safety/crime issues of the island. We never felt unsafe or compromised. We did not leave anything of value in the cars and left the car doors unlocked, never encountered a problem. We walked along the touristy areas in Christiansted and Frederikstead without being hassled or feeling remotely threatened. The people we encountered (both locals and mainlander ex-pats) were perhaps the friendliest of all the Caribbean. Everyone was helpful, polite and welcoming. Even with our crazy driving and getting lost, nobody every honked a horn or gave us a one finger salute. The people were kind, gentle and patient. Nobody was trying to sell us a time share, and there was a distinct absence of obnoxious store hawkers. I have been to several Caribbean islands, and found St. Croix to have far less litter along the roads and fewer stray dogs than most other destinations. The beaches we visited were free from rubbish.
Now for the negative…. I was hesitant to post this insight but it needed to be addressed. Warning, this is a graphic detailing of events. In between dives at Cane Bay we grabbed lunch at a beach bar nearby. A group of young locals were exiting their fishing boat with their catch of the day. One of the creatures was a very large, old green moray eel. The eel was squirming around and trying to get out of the guy’s hands. He threw it down in the sand and proceeded to club it multiple times. A crowd started to gather around this debacle, with many squealing, young women who got out their cell phones to record this creature being clubbed to death. My husband and I were mortified. We were getting up to beg that these guys to show some mercy and offer a quick humane death when a group of divers approached them and what proceeded with what appeared to be a heated discussion. There was a lot of back and forth arguing without any physical contact. The eel was then beheaded, filleted and put into a cooler. A lot of the workers at the dive shop were upset by this as well. However, the sad fact is that these fishermen were not engaging in any illegal activity. I had heard from multiple people that that the same group of men did the same with a nurse shark earlier in the day.
I know that I need to step back and realize that I have never gone hungry or had to worry about if or when I will get my next meal. These fishermen probably come from many generations of fishermen; it is their sustenance and culture. However, I wish there were more sustainable and humane ways of satisfying both the fishermen and the scuba enthusiast. Cozumel and Bonaire come to mind when it comes to balancing the two. They have well established and patrolled marine parks (funded by divers) which protect the marine life in the popular diving areas and reef systems. Both destinations are highly sought after and visited by divers from all corners of the earth. I think St. Croix has a lot to offer divers. It is a unique destination that it is rich in both macro dives on the West side, while the North side offers amazing wall dives which showcase the larger critters. Possessing both types of diving venues is seldom the case with many other destinations. From a diving perspective, I feel that if St. Croix wants to galvanize itself as a premier scuba destination, it needs to sustain and protect mature, diverse marine life in order to generate interest of scuba divers, especially since diving, lodging and food are more costly than other Caribbean locations.
My husband and I do not talk about if we will return but when we will return to the island. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there. It was an exhilarating experience to dive along a wall and have close and curious encounters by the reef sharks. Hopefully some marine park rules and action will come to fruition. The island is easily accessible (no customs-yeah!), friendly and we ate like king’s. I would rank St. Croix as better diving than Grand Cayman, but not as abundant in marine life as Cozumel or Bonaire/Curacao.
On my very basic camera, I shot some video of our underwater experience. I had the wrond setting for the turtle shot, but he was too cute to delete.
