St. Croix USVI, new to the board

[mobster75]

Mobster I look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks. I will be one of your dive leaders for Dive Experience. My name is Kevin.

Pleasure to meet you Kevin! I've signed up for the 8:30a 2-tank boat dive and would also like to do an afternoon dive if possible.

I'm getting really excited since its getting close to trip time! Until then, I'll be happy to wrap up my AOW (night) and Nav specialty this weekend up here.

What are the likely profiles going to be for the dives? Just curious. Doesn't really matter to me as its all better than diving up here

 

[CobaltDiver]

Mobster, they very depending on the conditions. Typically a deep dive of 70' +/- for 40 minutes or so and a shallow dive of 40-50' for 40 minutes or so. You are free to dip a little deeper if you are using a computer and follow it's profile.

Stcroix2. If it was only so simple as that....I have heard several stories about the dredging from one of the divers monitoring the silting. The most amazing is that they are pulling out with less then half the work completed. They are not even going to work on the North side. It was a stupid idea to start with.

And yes, when ships are bunkering they are very serious about keeping divers out of the water. I have been run off before.

We have not had a night dive in a couple of weeks, but we schedule them on an as needed basis. They ussually fill up pretty quick. I am always game. It is one of my favorite dives. Who am I kidding I love all diving. Well maybe not Ice diving.

 

[diverdiane]

Welcome

 

[Anne_76]

Stcroix2, can you tell anne that her picture is in the July issue of Duiken. We're bringing a copy with us in January when we come, but her friends and family still in the netherlands might like to read the article and see the pic.

Hi Cor & Julie!
Thanks for the update! I've send my family to the store to check it out! Can't wait to read the article. The more exposure about St. Croix's Diving, the better! We've been having some great diving luck the last couple of months, manta's in may & june, uncountable green and hawksbill turtles, and a couple of weeks ago I was in the water for 30 minutes with 11 dolphins.. Life's good!
Hope everything is well in A'dam!

Anne

 

[ScubaDivaDivemaster]

Welcome to the scubaboard, nice to see you here! What a terrible place to live... Need anyone to do yardwork for you? Scrape the bottom of the boat?

C U underwater,
scubadivadivemaster
I love www.CrazyScuba.com, they saved me LOTS of scuba money! :sappy:

 

[mobster75]

On my way! Waiting to board my flight to Charlotte.. One step closer to island time!

The TSA folks were confused with my regs in my carry-on. Took forever to get the "ok"... Fun fun.

 

[stcroix2]

Welcome to our little chunk of p a r a d i s e! (Ignore the weather, it'll change in a few days...it is "that" time of year) The west end was like glass this morning.

Keith & Diane

 

[scubarealtor]

lucky dog. welcome to SB.

 

[mobster75]

I've been home for a bit over a day now from my recent quick trip to St. Croix for some fun diving and just wanted to report back.

I had a really fabulous time (aside from some pretty crappy things happening on my last day... sigh..... thank god for travel insurance....) and look forward to heading back there next July!

I managed to get in 9 dives over 3 days on the trip with 3 of the islands operators and wouldn't hesitate to dive with any of them in the future.

I did boat 3 dives w/ Dive Experience, 2 to wrap up my boat spec. Michelle runs a great shop and thanks Kevin for your easy going personality, your patience and your fish identification skills!

The next day I had a 2-tank boat dive w/ Derrick and Anna from N2 The Blue out of the F'sted pier and I have nothing but the highest regard for them and their operation! They definitely have a unique boat, definitely very comfortable to exit/enter even though I had never dove off a boat that way before. Their dedication to their customers really shows (but same with Dive Exp).

Headed over to Cane Bay in the afternoon for a 1-tank boat dive with Cane Bay Dive Shop after getting lost in the hills of St. Croix w/ my Jeep.. Heh. That was fun, off-roading and being able to see the shop from on top of a huge hill but I couldnt find the road down....) Cane Bay's inflatable was a first time for me and was rather different, but still pretty easy to manage. After that I stuck around a few hours and went on a night shore dive from the shop with Dan (I was surprised to see they'd go out with just one diver, but I guess a shore dive isnt a big deal, even at night) and that was a lot of fun too. Loved the bioluminescence!

Last day of diving I got in a couple 1-tank boat dives w/ Cane Bay again then that was it for 24 hours until I flew home.... (24 hrs with no diving is rough.. heh)

I saw so many different creatures, it really was awesome: bunches of sea turtles that swam right next to me, gigantic lobsters (compared to NE lobster), wrecks, trunk fish, parrot fish, french angels, moray eels, etc. etc. Ran into my friend fire coral briefly on a mooring line, but it didn't take long to wear off.

Noticed my SAC drop from the start of the trip to the end.. Came down with 18 dives and SAC of .7 and left with 27 dives and SAC of .33!

See everyone again next year!!! (hopefully I won't need to file a police report then)

 

[_Bella_]

Now you've got my curiosity peeked, what happened on the last day?