deeper thoughts
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Very detailed thnx for posting
Trip Report St. Croix Research Report Aug. 2017
- Thread starter drrich2
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Very thorough write up Richard. I tend to agree with TN though with respect to the pier. Some dives can be harder to find treasures than others but there are nearly always seahorses. octopii and frog fish. To anyone else thinking of it I recommend several dives on the pier with a camera.
OP
drrich2
Contributor
Thanks, guys. A few other observations came to mind, after talking with my wife.
The people of St. Croix were friendly. They tended to dress modestly, considering there's so much beach front area (one exception; wife saw one woman in a thong, I think it was, but that's not usual). We didn't see many fat people (food's pricey). I didn't encounter any 'seedy' areas; twice I was asked for money by a beggar, once my wife was. Never experienced any of that pushy tourist merchandise 'hard sell' of some cruise ship ports (look'in at you, Cozumel...).
I agree and don't think St. Croix will be the next Cozumel or Grand Cayman. It welcomed tourists, but wasn't bent on turning into a 'cruise ship port' atmosphere. The 'vibe' of St. Croix wasn't wealthy, but wasn't desperate, either.
One of my favorite topics on Scuba Board is that of comparative dive destinations; most of us have limited time and money, so why this instead of that? What is the natural progression of the mainstream diver? I get the subjective impression* the major 1st tier dive destinations in this region are Cozumel, Bonaire and Roatan, followed closely by the Caymans and Belize, followedly closely by the Florida Keys, and then we get into the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, etc... Maybe once divers get through 5 or so of those they repeat their favorite & do some distance trips (e.g.: the Socorros, Indonesia) instead of following through on more new Caribbean destinations?
Wonder if that's why we don't see more trip reports on St. Croix, Grand Turk, Dominican Republic, Dominica, etc...
Richard.
* I didn't do any research into who's more popular than who; just the 'feel' I get from forum discussion volume, local scuba group trip offerings, magazine offerings, etc... Maybe Key Largo is higher in the rankings. I don't know...
The people of St. Croix were friendly. They tended to dress modestly, considering there's so much beach front area (one exception; wife saw one woman in a thong, I think it was, but that's not usual). We didn't see many fat people (food's pricey). I didn't encounter any 'seedy' areas; twice I was asked for money by a beggar, once my wife was. Never experienced any of that pushy tourist merchandise 'hard sell' of some cruise ship ports (look'in at you, Cozumel...).
I agree and don't think St. Croix will be the next Cozumel or Grand Cayman. It welcomed tourists, but wasn't bent on turning into a 'cruise ship port' atmosphere. The 'vibe' of St. Croix wasn't wealthy, but wasn't desperate, either.
One of my favorite topics on Scuba Board is that of comparative dive destinations; most of us have limited time and money, so why this instead of that? What is the natural progression of the mainstream diver? I get the subjective impression* the major 1st tier dive destinations in this region are Cozumel, Bonaire and Roatan, followed closely by the Caymans and Belize, followedly closely by the Florida Keys, and then we get into the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, etc... Maybe once divers get through 5 or so of those they repeat their favorite & do some distance trips (e.g.: the Socorros, Indonesia) instead of following through on more new Caribbean destinations?
Wonder if that's why we don't see more trip reports on St. Croix, Grand Turk, Dominican Republic, Dominica, etc...
Richard.
* I didn't do any research into who's more popular than who; just the 'feel' I get from forum discussion volume, local scuba group trip offerings, magazine offerings, etc... Maybe Key Largo is higher in the rankings. I don't know...
jonhall
Contributor
I was reminded by a photo of Richards of N2theBlue's shop and this comment that there used to be a small restaurant right behind their dive shop that was run by one of the DM's (in the same area as Gecko's Island Adventure.) They had a specialty every night at a cheaper price than some of the other restaurants. Can't remember the name of it though. We saw that they had meatloaf earlier in the week, which we missed, but they let us request it as their specialty for the next night. Pretty nice deal and very good food!
morecowbells
Contributor
Thanks Rich for such an excellent, well written trip report! You have a true talent in underwater photography and writing. I look forward to more of your trip reports down the road. I agree that it is challenging finding trip reports to St. Croix. As you mentioned above, the friendly people and the lack of aggressive store hawkers is a strong positive. I am willing to bet cold, hard cash that the shark photo is already one of your screen savers.......
jimw
Contributor
Rich and others, What are the entry and exit like at the pier? The dive sounds wonderful. I am thinkin' that on our next cruise that stops at St Thomas, a hop over to St Croix might work well......What are your thoughts?
Best way to enter at the pier is to jump in from the pier. 
Exit is to walk out near the base.
Don't think you can hop to St. Croix on a day stop though.
Exit is to walk out near the base.Don't think you can hop to St. Croix on a day stop though.
OP
drrich2
Contributor
When you walk out of the pier on the right side (as you face the ocean), you walk past concrete benches where you can gear up, and you see some stairs leading up to a higher level. Here's my pic of that, from back in 2014 when we stopped on a cruise:
See that little rusty metal cylinder sticking up at the edge just right of the stairs? That's about where I giant strode in.
Initially I circled columns, but there are many rows of 3, each a huge column and it's easy to fin kick the adjacent one (they're fairly close together), so I soon just swam out along the outside, turned my dive at ~ 30 minutes by swimming across to the other side, and headed back.
On the way back, you encounter a wall of boulders, and can follow it off to your right and around. Its' a fairly long swim around following that wall of boulders before it's time to exit.
There's stuff up under the pier, too, including this:
Richard.
P.S.: My pics don't show where I actually exited. It wasn't that set of steps way down the wall in that pic showing wall's length; to the left, outside my frame, was a small place where I could step up atop the wall nearer the pier.
TN Traveler
Contributor
I guess I will jump in and add my 2 cents to @drrich2's great report.
St Croix is not what I would call a "tourist" destination. It was never a cruise ship destination and does not have all the entertainment activities typical of a "cruise port." It was the industrial/agricultural center of the USVI - it had a big Hess Refinery and Alcoa aluminum plant. When these closed it hurt the local economy - hence a large number of closed shops, especially in Fredriksted on the West End. Cost of living is not cheap - very much on a par with most of the islands in the Lesser Antillies. (Just as a side note - the local Mangos and Avacados are the best I have ever had). And I will repeat from my earlier post - it has some of the best, eclectic restaurants you can find.
My wife and I traveled to dive around the Caribbean for the past 15 years and what we found in St Croix is a laid back lifestyle among some of the friendliest people you will ever meet and some world class diving (much of it not even on the maps). The West End (including the Pier) is calmer and very typical diving found all over the Caribbean. The best diving on the Pier requires a boat (normally done in the afternoon) to the end of the dock area, in about 50-60 ft of water. The North Side has a wall that can be spectacular - in some spots (like where Salt River intersects the wall) you can find large numbers of pelagics - including whales during the winter. The diving diversity is one of the things that attracted us to the island to begin with.
But the best part of the island is the people. They are open and welcoming - as long as you greet them with "Good Morning", "Good Afternoon", or "Good Day" - if you don't speak first, they do ignore you. In our short time on the island we have found that people remember you, if you establish any sort of relationship. One of our favorite shops is both a jewelry store (my wife buys a new "hook" bracelet every trip) and a little gift shop that handles a lot of local wood carvings. My wife and I mentioned that we liked Coconut Rum Cream from Jamaica and the next time we were in the shop the owner had gone to the Cruzan Rum Factory and found that they made a similar product (limited supply) and had bought 6 bottles just before we returned to the island and opened one for us to try (he does have a small shelf with Cruzan Rum for sale). This is just one example of what makes this a special place (for us) and I could easily add 20 more stories. Our biggest problem is we still run a business in Knoxville and can only spend 12-15 weeks per year on island.
There are a couple of new places to stay opening up on the West End that should provide nice accommodations on that end of the island. Carambola is a a little remote, Buccaneer a little pricey and I would not recommend DIVI unless you really like to gamble. We chose a place on the Eastern End - it is more arid - but it seems to withstand weather events better than the West End (where a bird can knock phone/internet out for a day) - and make the 45 min drive to the Pier and 20 min drive to Christiansted willingly.
If you want to visit - there are direct flights from Charlotte, Atlanta, Newark, Dallas and Miami - except during peak hurricane season. I hope I did not sound like a tourist commercial for the island - but for us to put away the travel bags, it has to be special.
Dive Safely All - and "Good Day"
St Croix is not what I would call a "tourist" destination. It was never a cruise ship destination and does not have all the entertainment activities typical of a "cruise port." It was the industrial/agricultural center of the USVI - it had a big Hess Refinery and Alcoa aluminum plant. When these closed it hurt the local economy - hence a large number of closed shops, especially in Fredriksted on the West End. Cost of living is not cheap - very much on a par with most of the islands in the Lesser Antillies. (Just as a side note - the local Mangos and Avacados are the best I have ever had). And I will repeat from my earlier post - it has some of the best, eclectic restaurants you can find.
My wife and I traveled to dive around the Caribbean for the past 15 years and what we found in St Croix is a laid back lifestyle among some of the friendliest people you will ever meet and some world class diving (much of it not even on the maps). The West End (including the Pier) is calmer and very typical diving found all over the Caribbean. The best diving on the Pier requires a boat (normally done in the afternoon) to the end of the dock area, in about 50-60 ft of water. The North Side has a wall that can be spectacular - in some spots (like where Salt River intersects the wall) you can find large numbers of pelagics - including whales during the winter. The diving diversity is one of the things that attracted us to the island to begin with.
But the best part of the island is the people. They are open and welcoming - as long as you greet them with "Good Morning", "Good Afternoon", or "Good Day" - if you don't speak first, they do ignore you. In our short time on the island we have found that people remember you, if you establish any sort of relationship. One of our favorite shops is both a jewelry store (my wife buys a new "hook" bracelet every trip) and a little gift shop that handles a lot of local wood carvings. My wife and I mentioned that we liked Coconut Rum Cream from Jamaica and the next time we were in the shop the owner had gone to the Cruzan Rum Factory and found that they made a similar product (limited supply) and had bought 6 bottles just before we returned to the island and opened one for us to try (he does have a small shelf with Cruzan Rum for sale). This is just one example of what makes this a special place (for us) and I could easily add 20 more stories. Our biggest problem is we still run a business in Knoxville and can only spend 12-15 weeks per year on island.
There are a couple of new places to stay opening up on the West End that should provide nice accommodations on that end of the island. Carambola is a a little remote, Buccaneer a little pricey and I would not recommend DIVI unless you really like to gamble. We chose a place on the Eastern End - it is more arid - but it seems to withstand weather events better than the West End (where a bird can knock phone/internet out for a day) - and make the 45 min drive to the Pier and 20 min drive to Christiansted willingly.
If you want to visit - there are direct flights from Charlotte, Atlanta, Newark, Dallas and Miami - except during peak hurricane season. I hope I did not sound like a tourist commercial for the island - but for us to put away the travel bags, it has to be special.
Dive Safely All - and "Good Day"
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