St Croix Trip Specifics, Aug. 2017

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drrich2

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I already posted my St. Croix destination research notes, supplemented with direct observations from our family trip there Sat. 8-5-17 to Sun. 8-13-17. I'm posting this thread with trip-specific details that could've burdened that with excessive detail, but here may help someone see the logistics in cost, travel, why I chose where to stay & who to dive with, and how the dives went. I'll post a bit 'out of order,' since I figure some subjects like dive specifics interest more people. I'm not using a lot of photos to start with; this thread is more 'nitty gritty.'

The Diving

This trip all north shore (except Frederiksted Pier). A mix of sloping wall, flat bottom with sand channels and some vertical wall. Viz. tended to run ~ 30-50 feet; a dive. pro. told me that’s ‘meh’ for St. Croix, and 60-80’ is more typical. Overall the reefs struck me as not quite on par with Bonaire, though there were exceptions…particularly Cane Bay Wall. Swim out to Davis Bay Wall was long and Cane Bay Wall very long; both have nice beach for non-diving family to enjoy. Frederiksted Pier is huge, much more than can be covered in one dive; there’s beach fairly close by. My 3 days of guided 2 2-tank boat trip diving with S.C.U.B.A., I dove air and stayed within NDLs with little trouble (but watch it on dive #4). We weren’t hurried out of the water or forced to ‘buddy up.' Tended to have ~ an hour or more for lunch at the hotel between trips. They kept & rinsed my BCD, reg. & wetsuit; my other stuff I was to take back. All dives this trip were AL80 except the AL100 I used at Cane Bay. Most info. via Cobalt 2, but temp.s via Oceanic VT3 (Cobalt’s reputed to give high readings; I think my VT3 might read a degree or so low, so take with a grain of salt).

8-6-17. 4 Boat Dives with S.C.U.B.A.
——Salt River Outer West Wall.
—————Duration (minutes:seconds): 41:00., Max. Depth: 77:45 (feet), Average Depth: 45.23, Min. Temp.: 82.
——Love Shack.
—————Duration: 52:30, Max. Depth: 52:30, Average Depth: 54.34, Min. Temp.: 82.
——Sugar Beach.
—————Duration: 53:00, Max. Depth: 61.23, Average Depth: 31.34, Min. Temp.: 82.
——Love Shack.
—————Duration: 58:30, Max. Depth: 51.31, Average Depth: 31.40, Min. Temp.: 82.
8-7-17. 4 Boat Dives with S.C.U.B.A.
——Salt River Outer East Wall.
—————Duration: 47:30, Max. Depth: 76.28, Average Depth: 43.94, Min. Temp.: 82.
——Cruzan Princess.
—————Duration: 51:00, Max. Depth: 62.18, Average Depth: 37.10, Min. Temp.: 82.
——Twin Anchors (we saw them).
—————Duration: 48:30, Max. Depth: 69.72, Average Depth: 42.11, Min. Temp.: 82.
——Sleeping Shark Hole (we saw a nurse shark).
—————Duration: 59:00, Max. Depth: 52.65, Average Depth: 32,39, Min. Temp.: 82.
—————That evening, a tropical storm out of the north dumped > 5 inches rain on us, through the night & into next morning.
8-8-17. 4 Boat Dives with S.C.U.B.A.
——Sugar Beach.
—————Duration: 46:30, Max. Depth: 57.97, Average Depth: 35.80, Min. Temp.: 78.
——Eagle Ray Pass.
—————Duration: 51:30, Max. Depth: 56.99, Average Depth: 34.41, Min. Temp.: 79.
——Ken’s Cabana.
—————Duration: 46:00, Max. Depth: 72.88, Average Depth: 46.74, Min. Temp.: 81.
——WAPA.
—————Duration: 47:00, Max. Depth: 56.96, Average Depth: 34.61, Min. Temp.: 81.
8-10-17.
——Shore dove at Davis Bay (Sweet Bottom Dive Center).
—————Duration: 61:00, Max. Depth: 62.05, Average Depth: 31.81, Min. Temp.: 82.
——Shore dove at Cane Bay (Cane Bay Scuba).
—————Duration: 67:00, Max. Depth: 78.14, Average Depth: 35.75, Min. Temp.: 81.
8-11-17.
——Shore dove at Frederiksted Pier (N2TheBlue).
—————Duration: 65:00, Max. Depth: 28.76, Average Depth: 18.17, Min. Temp.: 82.

I saw a good variety of Caribbean wildlife, plus lots of reef sharks. We tried to intercept a pod of dolphins one dive; after rapidly jumping in, I was floating waiting to descend when a couple passed within a dozen feet of me at the surface.

Travel Logistics (from Nashville Airport in TN) and Costs.

8-5-17: Flew Nashville - Charlotte, NC 1:25 (hour/minute). flight, then layover, then a 3:39 flight to St. Croix Airport (southwestern part of island). All flights to & from on American Airlines.

8-13-17: Flew St. Croix to Miami 3:11, then layover, then 2:28 flight to Nashville.

Stayed at Hotel Caravelle in Christiansted Saturday 8-5-17 to Sunday 8-13-17 (8-days).

Rented a white Ford Escape ‘standard’ class SUV from Budget (slow line to get it; sign tried to get us to buy the gas in the tank at a price much higher than what I saw on the island; we got one tank, last day of trip, and unleaded gas was < $3/gallon.

It's not a huge island but driving around entailed quite few turns, and driving in the left lane was new to us. My iPhone's Apple Maps function 'GPS'd' us around fine. Streets weren't always well-marked with signs in Christiansted; Frederiksted's were better that way & wider, but in more disrepair.

Trip Costs

Orbitz total for 3 adult, 1 4-year old for round trip airfare, hotel, rental SUV, travel protection car rental insurance & vacation waiver: $4,825.54 (with taxes & fees).

Forgot I’d paid Orbitz for car insurance & paid for it from Budget (it was a long, miserable day getting there). $231.92.
Round trip baggage costs on American: $340.
Airport parking at Nashville for our SUV: $81.
Boat Diving Package with S.C.U.B.A. (buy 5 2-tank trips, get 1 free): $625.
Shore diving tanks & weights with Sweet Bottom Dive Center ($15), Cane Bay Scuba ($17), and N2TheBlue ($17), total $49.

So far, roughly $6,150.

4-Hour Rainforest Jeep Tour for 4 people with Tan Tan Tours: $420.

Throw in a tank of gas, and call it ~ $6,600 + food, tips, etc… I imagine the total for 4 people to enjoy 8 days on St. Croix with one jeep excursion for all and 15 dives for 1 was ~ $7,500.

Eating out (or in) is expensive in St. Croix. We only needed one tank of gas all week. Tips for boat crew and airport & hotel personnel add cost. The ferry from the Christiansted boardwalk roundtrip to Hotel on the Cay to enjoy the sandy beach was $5/adult, free kids under 12 - some of us went 3 times.
 
Decision Process for Where We Stayed, Who I dove with, etc…

1.) Why St. Croix? A regional warm-water option with a rep. for good Caribbean reef diving with the usual animals, plus frequent reef shark sightings off the north wall, and optional shore diving (mainly a Davis & Cane Bay and the Frederiksted Per). Hadn’t been there and wanted to explore a new destination, one a little less widely hit (compared to, say, Roatan). Curiosity why St. Croix doesn’t command as much ‘mind share’ (e.g.: trip reports) on Scuba Board.

2.) Why Christiansted? More bustling than Frederiksted, figured it’d have convenient access to a broader range of topside non-diver activities and places to eat, hadn’t been there before, wanted to focus on boat diving the north wall (did 2 west coast dives in 2014). Renaissance Carambola Resort at Davis Bay and even the cottages at Cane Bay sounded too isolated for our crew, plus the R.C.R. would’ve been more expensive. Staying at either of those would’ve meant a drive to catch the morning dive boat; staying at Christiansted, it was a short walk to it. If you've got a little kid who can't be unsupervised at the beach, but wants to be on it often, do you want a beachfront hotel? We've got a 4-year old...

3.) Why St. Croix Ultimate Bluewater Adventure? Good prior experience in 2014, they’re one of the main known ‘brands’ on the St. Croix scuba scene from what I can tell, they have a boat at Christiansted (& one at Frederiksted), and they’re reputable (though so are their competitors I researched). I put a premium on making this trip easy. Staying at Hotel Caravelle & diving with S.C.U.B.A. worked.

4.) Why Hotel Caravelle? It’s in Christiansted, S.C.U.B.A.’s boat is across the boardwalk from it (& the dive shop maybe 3 shops or so up, in the same stretch of building). It’s a reputable value hotel option; I didn’t want to pay for the Buccaneer or similar.

5.) Why Shore Dive Cane Bay & Davis Bay? They’re accessible, well-known, and despite long swim-outs along with Frederiksted Pier offer shore diving, which is much loved by many (e.g.: ‘diving freedom’ under your own power without boat schedules) yet hard to find regionally (mainly Bonaire, Curacao, Grand Cayman, CocoView Resort in Roatan and a few other places). Wanted to see what it’s like, how bad those Davis & Cane Bay swim-outs are (bad & worse, but enjoyed the dives) and whether St. Croix would likely be a good mainly shore diving destination (personal opinion: no, but a nice add-on to boat diving).

6.) Why August? Unlike the west coast, the north coast surface conditions are more seasonally dependent and I didn’t want issues with the ‘Christmas winds,’ plus St. Croix is far enough north for a water to be a little cooler in winter.

My Review of Hotel Caravelle (from Trip Advisor)

Fine overall value by the boardwalk

Nice, clean, good location for access to restaurants (e.g.: Rum Runners, Angry Nates, Shupes, You Are Here), gift shops & dive boats (e.g.: S.C.U.B.A.'s dive shop & boat Reliance), tours (e.g.: Big Beards), and a 5 minute walk from the ferry you can take to enjoy the beach over at Hotel on the Cay ($5/person, free kids under 12, round trip). Pool is decent-sized & 3-8 feet deep. Onsite ATM was handy; $3 charge on top of whatever your bank charges. Casino was separate so we had no issues with our little girl pushing to play.

Minor things can take awhile to fix; soda machine ran out of diet coke for at least 3 days. Tropical storm dumped over 5 inches of rain & threw off the pool chemistry, shutting the pool down 3 days, but the hotel spontaneously provided us $15 to use to take our little girl via ferry to the beach at Hotel on the Cay.

Due to renovation they had us park at an off-site parking lot a block or so away. That should be short term. Air conditioning worked fine. We had a safe and mini-fridge but no microwave. The bathroom had a sliding door, and anyone sitting on the toilet almost directly faced it (at least in room 211). Needs a bigger table or desk, but there was decent closet & a lot of drawer space. Soda machine accepted credit cards but snack machine didn't.

We stayed 8 days. The 2 queen beds were comfortable.

Richard.
 
Some Parting Thoughts

I noticed after booking with Orbitz something about my package being non-refundable. If you book with a hotel directly, you can often cancel without penalty until very late. Something to think about.

I know from a prior trip elsewhere that a rental car agency may rent your vehicle to someone else if you don't show up within a specified time frame (happened to me in North Carolina); if your flights get rescheduled (happened to us), call the rental people in advance if you're going to be late. I think we had a 2-hour window from the assigned time to pick up the SUV with Budget...

I should've kept in mind I'd paid for car insurance from Orbitz before I got it from Budget. I usually book trips way in advance, and travel is an ordeal (packing a sleep-deprived, angry, dysphoric 4-year old pleading to go home, sleep, etc...).

The 1st day getting there was hard on our little girl; if you're thinking about taking a kid on a trip like this, borrow a trick I learned from someone on the Cruise Critic forum (intended to get little kids through formal meals, but we used it to get through plane trips going). Drop in a dollar store and buy a bunch of little toy trinkets of various kinds, bag'em up, and make them 'surprise packs' for the flight when the kid gets restless. A pile of miscellaneous plastic 'junk' is a small price to pay for sanity enhancement.

Richard.
 
Another excellent report Richard, thank you!

I agree that eating out is very expensive. I can't remember where we stayed on St. Croix but we had a kitchen and I think that it was well worth the extra rental expense. There are good grocery stores on St. Croix and you can easily prepare simple breakfast and lunch meals and then go out for a restaurant meal once a day for either lunch or dinner, or order a pizza. And if you enjoy having some cocktails on vacation, it's nice to be able to easily prepare some yourself - and rum is cheap on St. Croix because both Cruzan and Captain Morgan's have distilleries there!
 
I really hope St. Croix develops and implements a marine park. I loved seeing the sharks off Cane Bay and finding all kinds of macro critters under the pier, but felt the sheer number of fish was minimal. In my trip report from 1 1/2 years ago I discussed my dismay when a couple of locals caught and killed a nurse shark and a huge green moray eel right on the beach in Cane Bay next to Sprat Net. It was such an upsetting experience. I still enjoyed the island and the diving and hope to return, although I would be more enthusiastic if there were some marine park rules in place. How did you feel about the number and variety of marine life?
 
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I really hope St. Croix develops and implements a marine park. I loved seeing the sharks and finding all kinds of macro critters under the pier, but felt the sheer number of fish was minimal. In my trip report from 1 1/2 years ago I discussed my dismay when a couple of locals caught and killed a nurse shark and a huge green moray eel right on the beach in Cane Bay next to Sprat Net. It was such an upsetting experience. I still enjoyed the island and the diving and hope to return, although I would be more enthusiastic if there were some marine park rules in place. How did you feel about the number and variety of marine life?

We visited St. Croix on a liveaboard but the boat spent one day and night in the Fredricksted Harbor to dive the pier. I remember fairly healthy fish populations but perhaps we were diving some of the more distant sites. We spent the second week on shore but we never got a chance to do any land-based diving because I was getting sick at the end of the LOB trip and it quickly developed into bronchitis. We did get back to the pier to snorkel a couple of times near the end of our trip.

But I think that a marine park is a great idea, not only for conservation but also to help develop and support the tourism industry on the island. I don't know what it is like now, but the economy wasn't great when we were there. There were lots of closed shops and restaurants.
 
Overall, the fish life density seemed somewhat lower than Bonaire's to me, but not always...Cane Bay Wall was nice. Eagle Rays were sighted (by other divers) on more than one dive, & I saw 1 small southern stingray, so in terms of 'average rays/dive,' St. Croix had the edge over what I usually saw in Bonaire, plus I saw several reef sharks & 1 nurse shark in St. Croix vs. no shark, ever, in 8 trips & over 150 dives or so in Bonaire. I saw no large grouper of any kind, but plenty of coneys & what I think were graysbys; in Bonaire once in awhile I'd see skittish tiger grouper.

Lionfish were present but not high density. Saw black durgon (plenty!), white-spotted file fish, yellow snapper, yellow-striped goat fish, black bar soldier fish, french & small mouth grunts, trumpet fish, parrotfish, spotted & smooth trunkfish, honeycomb cowfish, spotted drum, a scorpionfish, lizardfish, blue tang...the usual Caribbean fare.

In Bonaire, I'd see cubera snapper; in St. Croix, I saw these similar fish, but I don't know the species.

IMG_3089_zpsxlpmhho1.jpg


IMG_3172_zpsrs9xl3nw.jpg


In Christiansted. You Are Here had good pizza; my wife complimented the crust. Shupes had good (pricy) burgers. For cheaper fare, the Little Caesar's 'Hot & Ready' cheese or pepperoni pizza that are $5 in Kentucky were $7 at Little Caesar's inside the Kmart in St. Croix. My wife commented you don't see many obese cruzians; they also tend to dress modestly by 'beachfront' standards (I imagine compared to coastal southern Florida).

Richard.
 
Something just dawned on me, and it's gonna bug me till I take care of it, so here it is. I still cannot get over how much value for money I got doing a shore dive renting tank & weights with Sweet Bottom Dive Center at Davis Bay. $15. That got me a description of the site, the lady filled my SpareAir3 at no extra charge, golf-carted me with gear to the gear-up area at the beach, after the dive I waited there and another golf cart person took me back to the shop (even loaded my stuff for me), rinsed my gear for me afterward and golf-carted me across the grounds to our rental SUV. She even wrote my name & a time on the chalk board, so I guess they'd notice if I didn't make it back.

$15. I wish I'd known they rent 100-cf tanks; I rented an AL80. I just couldn't let it go without saying something.

I was also impressed with the helpful info. I got corresponding with Tim Linse with Sweet Bottom Dive Center.

Incidentally, while via e-mail and in person I variously dealt with S.C.U.B.A., Sweet Bottom, Cane Bay Scuba & N2TheBlue, I never heard any staff at any of them speak ill of the other operations. Seemed like everybody was busy doing their own thing right.

Richard.

P.S.: With all 3 op.s I rented shore diving tanks & weights from, I could leave personal items at the shop to pick up after the dive. Handy, since I entered the store alone and had wallet, etc...
 
Richard

Nice write-up. Just so you know, there is much more fish life on the West End, if you dive the wrecks at Butler Bay and also at the deep end of the pier (this is a boat dive) - they congregate under the area that is 6 columns wide. There are BatFish, snappers, lots of Sea Horses and Octopus in the 50-70 ft deep section and some Tarpon and even some Dolphin (there are 3 known pods that play around the island).

If anyone is considering a St Croix trip, let me know - since we now spend 30+% of the year there, I would be more than willing to assist in any way possible. Fair to say the island is NOT for those that want to "go-go-go..." but for a relaxing time, with some interesting sights, great food and some very good diving, this is an undiscovered destination (plus, no passport required :wink: )
 
Thanks for the added info.; hope it helps others try St. Croix. It was a really nice 'all-around' trip. And I think a place that takes more than one trip to really 'do' (though I did try).

I would've booked a Gecko tours ATV tour but our 4-year old daughter would've had to ride behind an adult (instead of in front of one). I figured bad view and how long could we trust her to hang on?

Thought about a Sweeney open bus tour, but they didn't run on Saturdays and we'd seen some of the sights on the Tan Tan keep tour.

Some people hike and do more 'active' activities, but aside from our daughter that's just not us. My wife and mother-in-law are both badly prone to motion sickness, or they might've taken a tour boat to Buck Island.

My point is, there's a lot more to St. Croix than what we packed into 8-days.

Richard.
 
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