St. Croix or Saba?

[pm3009]

Hi

It's that time of year again. Time to book our next dive trip.

Which would you rate better for diving....St. Croix or Saba? Which would you rate better for overall non-diving experience? What we don't want is a huge tourist trap like Aruba or St. Thomas.

Who would you recommend for a dive operator? We like SMALL operators that take no more than 6 or 8 people.

What Inn/hotel would you recommend? We stayed at the Osprey in Grand Turk recently and loved it. Someplace small, quaint and clean like that, located on the ocean, is what we are looking for.

If you've been to one or both, would you recommend somewhere else in the Caribbean or Central America over these two choices? I've been diving at the following Islands, and would like to go somewhere new.

Roatan
Grand Turk
Bonaire
Cozumel (3 times)
Grand Cayman
Aruba


Thanks. Happy Holidays!!!
Pam

 

[pleasan7]

After much thought and discussions with my husband, I am looking forward to our trip at the end of Feb. My husband liked diving the wall when we stopped by there a coupla years ago on a cruise. We enjoyed working with Cane Bay Dive Shop and look forward to the great service again on this trip. We are staying at the Carambola Beach Resort because it is close to where we want to dive. If you are still thinking look for my review in early March.
Carol
[Time sure moves slow when there is a dive trip on the horizon]

 

[Pamdiv]

There is absolutely NOTHING dry to do on Saba. It is a quaint, beautiful little island, but unless you dive (or decide to hike up a gazillion steps, {puff puff}, to the top of Mt. Scenery) there is not much else to offer. The diving is some of the best in the Caribbean. We stayed at Julianne's (wonderful place) and dove with Sea Saba. I would recommend diving with Saba Deep, though. Wherever you decide...Have a great trip and stay wet!
Pam
P.S. One option - Stay at St. Martin and take a ferry trip over to Saba for a couple of days of diving.

 

[scubajcf]

I have never been to Saba, but hear some wonderful things.
I just returned from a week's worth of diving from St. Croix - in November.

I really liked Cane Bay Scuba Shop (right off the wall). Great group of guys. You can shore dive the wall with a little bit of a surface swim. Or, you can go out and do some of the further out spots on their 6 person Zodiac. Lunch at the restaurant and drinks afterwards is a ton of fun. We hung out with Dan with the Scuba shop afterwards, had a great time.

http://www.canebayscuba.com/

Also dove with S.C.U.B.A. They are in downtown Christianstedt. They have the biggest dive boat on the Island. Nice dive shop too. I would recommend them too. But stay away from the weekend as it is busier on the boat. Although, if they don't have enough people mid-week they may cancel the boat.

http://www.stcroixscuba.com/

My other recommendation is Fredericksted. Several small shops up there. I would spend a day diving that side of the Island. And, I would certainly recommend Fredericksted Pier at night. Look for the Sea Horses.

Have fun!

jcf

 

[WicketsMom]

We went to St. Maarten in 2004 and took the flight over to Saba for what was supposed to be one night, but Tropical Storm Jeanne turned into two nights. We only got to make two dives there due to the storm but they were great! We used Sea Saba and I would recommend them (and Seneca the dog is very friendly too!) and stayed at Cottage Club. I would prefer somewhere with air-conditioning though. The tropical-storm strength winds kept it cool enough with the power out (they shut off the generator for the entire island when the waves started getting too high) but it could easily have been too warm for me without the wind. The island is beautiful, although we didn't get to do any hiking since it was raining. We hope to get back there one day and do more diving.

 

[Jersey]

Done Saba, dove w/ Saba Deep, loved it. Definitly a small op. Understand it is ALL BOAT diving, there are no beaches on the island. As mentioned, little to do topside. Hike, eat, sleep, sip Saba Spice (local liquore, very yummy). No place is right on the ocean. Diving is great - macro to micro - sharks to shrimp. Not too bad to get to, either, especialyl when compared to Bonaire. I can get a direct flight Philly - St. Marteen (USAir), then either take the Edge ferry or WinAir over. We've done the split between Saba & St. Marteen to experience some top-side life. Good luck!

 

[Ber Rabbit]

We dove with Saba Deep and loved them, both Mike's are a lot of fun. A couple of days the three of us were the only ones on the boat. The rides to the dive sites are short but the drive to the dock is interestingly steep Like the others said, if you aren't diving or hiking there is nothing to do on Saba except for exploring a few and I do mean a few shops. We stayed at the Gate House and loved it. The hotel is on the far side of the island from the dock but the drive is magnificent and the view looking over the water and the airport is fantastic. We rented the villa, it has it's own pool--the villa is the building on the far right in the picture (in the link). You have your own taxi driver booked through the dive shop so getting wherever you want to go is not an issue. Big Mike stopped by on the last day we were there after they had dried our gear and he brought the bill for the diving and taxi so we could settle up. That was a nice touch!
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[gonediven]

I just came back from St. Croix, the diving was good, dove with St Croix Scuba, good shop to dive with. I stayed in Christiansted, it was okay town nothing exotic at all, I much prefer the BVI side to the US side.

 

[pm3009]

Thank you all for your input!
Pam

 

[Deus]

We are going to Carambola Beach resort next week. We will let you know how it turns out Gotta love these last minute trips lol