choiahoy
Contributor
Thanks to everyone here on scubaboard for all the great advice we received leading up to the trip.
We were on St. Croix in May for 9 nights and fell in love with the island—the pace, food, people, and access to great shore diving.
My wife and I live in a city, so we always choose quiet destinations for vacation. St. Croix is a very sleepy island, largely undeveloped, and very slow paced and relaxed. It’s recovering from Maria, and there’s still rebuilding to be done—there were still stop lights being replaced and blue tarps on some buildings while other wrecked properties look to remain that way until someone buys and develops them.
We loved the people and befriended several locals. We found Crucians to be extremely friendly, kind, and eager to share their stories. Over a few days and several chats, polite ‘hellos’ turned into invitations for drinks or dinner.
Our condo was a few minutes south of Frederiksted, and it worked out great for us. We really loved the sleepy feel to Frederiksted and never felt unsafe. It definitely needs more people, tourists, and shops, but one could see the charm of the seaside town. There are some great dining options—Taps Deck had a creative menu and a good beer selection. Polly’s had tasty food, and the Lost Dog Pub had a great backyard space. Turtle Deli had yummy, huge sandwiches. There’s a cake shop we didn’t get to try, and even a fine dining option, Cibone, which had great food. Outside of town, Eats at Cane Bay was also fantastic with good cocktails, and the view and food at Rhythms at Rainbow Beach were great. On the drive out to Point Udall, we ate good roti at Ziggy’s Island Market.
We both cooked at our place and dined out. There were several good options for groceries—Plaza West is the larger store but Stop and Shop is closer to Frederiksted. There’s a fantastic farmer’s market on Saturday near La Reine’s chicken shack where we bought some fresh produce and fish. Our favorite restaurant was Villa Morales, but they’re only open from Thur-Sat. Everything we had there was excellent—the butter conch, the chowder, and the fried pork chops stand out as particularly delicious.
We visited Christensted a few times, and my wife bought one of the traditional Crucian hook bracelets at Sonya’s Ltd. I like old things and had fun exploring the old forts and plantation ruins.
We rented a car from Centerline. I’m a pretty inexperienced driver and was a bit nervous, but driving on the left wasn’t a problem as the streets were pretty empty and relaxed. By comparison, I was in a constant state of panic when driving on Grand Cayman. Our phones worked and GPS was very helpful. On a side note, I used AMEX’s premium car rental protection, and was in a fender bender on my last day. The process was simple and all damages were paid in full last week. I’d recommend using it, just note that is doesn’t include liability so make sure you’re covered through the rental (Centerline does include it).
THE DIVING
We’re a bit different than most divers in that my wife gets very sea sick. She’s managed it enough to where we could even do a live aboard in Komodo, but in general, most of our diving trips are to places with a lot of great shore diving—Bonaire, Bali, Hawaii, Curacao, Cayman, and caverns in Mexico. It's a rotation that we're happy with, but 'wanting something different' is what drew us to St Croix.
Davis Bay still wasn’t accessible in May, which left us with two main shore diving options—Cane Bay and the Frederiksted Pier. We had originally planned to do a few boat dives to break up the week of shore diving, but we enjoyed the pier so much, we just dove it again and again. Overall, we did 13 dives on the pier, 3 at Cane Bay, and a ‘treasure hunting’ dive in front of the fort with a local friend we’d met to search for gold and ‘chaney’ - Chaney: Unique Crucian Treasure Blog, St. Croix, USVI
Some diving highlights were the sharks and a manta at Cane Bay, along with a baby batfish and four seahorses at the pier. We also saw loads of shrimp and crab, turtles, octopus, angelfish, juvie drums, and eels. No frogfish sightings on this trip.
We read 81-83 degrees on our dives. Visibility was great when we arrived and horrible by the time we left. For the pier dives, we rented tanks from N2theBlue; they were helpful, relaxed, and provide carts to lug gear and tanks to the entry of the pier. You then lock the cart by where you’ll exit. Nothing could be easier.
My wife is excellent on air and I’m just OK, but most dives at the pier lasted 80-90 minutes with a max depth of 30 feet. We never got tired of the site because there are several dives you can do there aside from the ‘traditional’ one. We sometimes kicked out for 5 minutes before descending, so we could explore the middle of the pier. We took a boat to the very end which allowed 60+ minutes of exploring at 50’. We were told that the batfish are often seen here at this depth, but we didn’t find any that day. Night dives here are also simple to do.
I wish we had tried some boat dives on the west side. I heard there are a cluster of wrecks too. And I imagine boat dives on the north would be worth it too.
Overall, we were quite happy and refreshed when we left. Will we be back? Definitely. Some places just get in your blood, and St. Croix did. We already miss the island and talk about “when” and not “if” we’ll return.
We were on St. Croix in May for 9 nights and fell in love with the island—the pace, food, people, and access to great shore diving.
My wife and I live in a city, so we always choose quiet destinations for vacation. St. Croix is a very sleepy island, largely undeveloped, and very slow paced and relaxed. It’s recovering from Maria, and there’s still rebuilding to be done—there were still stop lights being replaced and blue tarps on some buildings while other wrecked properties look to remain that way until someone buys and develops them.
We loved the people and befriended several locals. We found Crucians to be extremely friendly, kind, and eager to share their stories. Over a few days and several chats, polite ‘hellos’ turned into invitations for drinks or dinner.
Our condo was a few minutes south of Frederiksted, and it worked out great for us. We really loved the sleepy feel to Frederiksted and never felt unsafe. It definitely needs more people, tourists, and shops, but one could see the charm of the seaside town. There are some great dining options—Taps Deck had a creative menu and a good beer selection. Polly’s had tasty food, and the Lost Dog Pub had a great backyard space. Turtle Deli had yummy, huge sandwiches. There’s a cake shop we didn’t get to try, and even a fine dining option, Cibone, which had great food. Outside of town, Eats at Cane Bay was also fantastic with good cocktails, and the view and food at Rhythms at Rainbow Beach were great. On the drive out to Point Udall, we ate good roti at Ziggy’s Island Market.
We both cooked at our place and dined out. There were several good options for groceries—Plaza West is the larger store but Stop and Shop is closer to Frederiksted. There’s a fantastic farmer’s market on Saturday near La Reine’s chicken shack where we bought some fresh produce and fish. Our favorite restaurant was Villa Morales, but they’re only open from Thur-Sat. Everything we had there was excellent—the butter conch, the chowder, and the fried pork chops stand out as particularly delicious.
We visited Christensted a few times, and my wife bought one of the traditional Crucian hook bracelets at Sonya’s Ltd. I like old things and had fun exploring the old forts and plantation ruins.
We rented a car from Centerline. I’m a pretty inexperienced driver and was a bit nervous, but driving on the left wasn’t a problem as the streets were pretty empty and relaxed. By comparison, I was in a constant state of panic when driving on Grand Cayman. Our phones worked and GPS was very helpful. On a side note, I used AMEX’s premium car rental protection, and was in a fender bender on my last day. The process was simple and all damages were paid in full last week. I’d recommend using it, just note that is doesn’t include liability so make sure you’re covered through the rental (Centerline does include it).
THE DIVING
We’re a bit different than most divers in that my wife gets very sea sick. She’s managed it enough to where we could even do a live aboard in Komodo, but in general, most of our diving trips are to places with a lot of great shore diving—Bonaire, Bali, Hawaii, Curacao, Cayman, and caverns in Mexico. It's a rotation that we're happy with, but 'wanting something different' is what drew us to St Croix.
Davis Bay still wasn’t accessible in May, which left us with two main shore diving options—Cane Bay and the Frederiksted Pier. We had originally planned to do a few boat dives to break up the week of shore diving, but we enjoyed the pier so much, we just dove it again and again. Overall, we did 13 dives on the pier, 3 at Cane Bay, and a ‘treasure hunting’ dive in front of the fort with a local friend we’d met to search for gold and ‘chaney’ - Chaney: Unique Crucian Treasure Blog, St. Croix, USVI
Some diving highlights were the sharks and a manta at Cane Bay, along with a baby batfish and four seahorses at the pier. We also saw loads of shrimp and crab, turtles, octopus, angelfish, juvie drums, and eels. No frogfish sightings on this trip.
We read 81-83 degrees on our dives. Visibility was great when we arrived and horrible by the time we left. For the pier dives, we rented tanks from N2theBlue; they were helpful, relaxed, and provide carts to lug gear and tanks to the entry of the pier. You then lock the cart by where you’ll exit. Nothing could be easier.
My wife is excellent on air and I’m just OK, but most dives at the pier lasted 80-90 minutes with a max depth of 30 feet. We never got tired of the site because there are several dives you can do there aside from the ‘traditional’ one. We sometimes kicked out for 5 minutes before descending, so we could explore the middle of the pier. We took a boat to the very end which allowed 60+ minutes of exploring at 50’. We were told that the batfish are often seen here at this depth, but we didn’t find any that day. Night dives here are also simple to do.
I wish we had tried some boat dives on the west side. I heard there are a cluster of wrecks too. And I imagine boat dives on the north would be worth it too.
Overall, we were quite happy and refreshed when we left. Will we be back? Definitely. Some places just get in your blood, and St. Croix did. We already miss the island and talk about “when” and not “if” we’ll return.
Last edited:
