Surface swim in St. Croix

[ScubaSmurf55]

Hey everyone,

My husband and I will be in St. Croix at the beginning of June. We are looking to dive 1 or 2 days. We have almost exclusively done boat dives, with only 1 shore dive in Bonaire when we did a Discover dive. I read that Cane Bay has quite a long surface swim, but I haven't found much about Frederiksted Pier. We are not in great shape, so we do not want to do much of a surface swim if we don't have to (we are probably capable of doing it but still don't really want to do it). Also, is it "easy" to do on our own, or should we get a guide? We have about 60 dives over 3 years, if that makes a difference. I wouldn't say we are fantastic divers, but guides never seem to worry about us and have told us they don't see any major issues with our diving (we often ask what we can improve on after each dive).

If you were to dive for 1-2 days, what dives would be your preference in order? I have read that boat dives aren't particularly great here.

Thanks!

 

[Scoooter961]

Hey everyone,

My husband and I will be in St. Croix at the beginning of June. We are looking to dive 1 or 2 days. We have almost exclusively done boat dives, with only 1 shore dive in Bonaire when we did a Discover dive. I read that Cane Bay has quite a long surface swim, but I haven't found much about Frederiksted Pier. We are not in great shape, so we do not want to do much of a surface swim if we don't have to (we are probably capable of doing it but still don't really want to do it). Also, is it "easy" to do on our own, or should we get a guide? We have about 60 dives over 3 years, if that makes a difference. I wouldn't say we are fantastic divers, but guides never seem to worry about us and have told us they don't see any major issues with our diving (we often ask what we can improve on after each dive).

If you were to dive for 1-2 days, what dives would be your preference in order? I have read that boat dives aren't particularly great here.

Thanks!

We have been to St Croix 4 times and always stay in Frederiksted and dive the pier. There is a short surface swim that is in calm water and no current. We dive with Nep2une scuba which is right there, they use smaller boats and only take out a max of 6 divers per boat. They will also set up your tanks and change your gear over in between dives on the boat. You can also just get tank and weights/gear as well. Diving the pier is very easy and relaxing. You don't really need a guide unless you just want one to point things out you might miss. You can jump in at the blue circle (if the gate is closed, you would need to walk your gear around the end of the fence by the blue arrow) or do the stairs and wade in to the water at the red arrow and line. The area that you would do the surface swim or drop underwater and explore is the green lines. After the green lines it's basically out one side and back the other or how ever you want to do it. You max depth would only be 35 feet so if you feel uncomfortable or lost at any point you can ascend and take a peek. Getting out is really the worst part and isn't bad just like 10 steps up cinderblocks. I personally think the swim out at Cane Bay is long. I also wouldn't do it without a guide.

Have you rented a car yet? If not, I suggest Judi of St croix.

If you have any questions about anything in Frederiksted please feel free to ask or message me.

 

[ScubaSmurf55]

We have been to St Croix 4 times and always stay in Frederiksted and dive the pier. There is a short surface swim that is in calm water and no current. We dive with Nep2une scuba which is right there, they use smaller boats and only take out a max of 6 divers per boat. They will also set up your tanks and change your gear over in between dives on the boat. You can also just get tank and weights/gear as well. Diving the pier is very easy and relaxing. You don't really need a guide unless you just want one to point things out you might miss. You can jump in at the blue circle (if the gate is closed, you would need to walk your gear around the end of the fence by the blue arrow) or do the stairs and wade in to the water at the red arrow and line. The area that you would do the surface swim or drop underwater and explore is the green lines. After the green lines it's basically out one side and back the other or how ever you want to do it. You max depth would only be 35 feet so if you feel uncomfortable or lost at any point you can ascend and take a peek. Getting out is really the worst part and isn't bad just like 10 steps up cinderblocks. I personally think the swim out at Cane Bay is long. I also wouldn't do it without a guide.

Have you rented a car yet? If not, I suggest Judi of St croix.

If you have any questions about anything in Frederiksted please feel free to ask or message me.




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Thank you so much for the information. It is very helpful! I feel much better about diving the pier now.

Yes, we already have a rental car reserved. If we go back, I will check your recommendation.

If we decide to dive a second day (which I know my husband will 100% want to do), do you have any suggestions? I would prefer a boat dive, but since we may not be back anytime soon, I would prefer to do a dive with more marine life and not be disappointed just because I preferred a boat dive. Even if that means a shore dive.

 

[Scoooter961]

Thank you so much for the information. It is very helpful! I feel much better about diving the pier now.

Yes, we already have a rental car reserved. If we go back, I will check your recommendation.

If we decide to dive a second day (which I know my husband will 100% want to do), do you have any suggestions? I would prefer a boat dive, but since we may not be back anytime soon, I would prefer to do a dive with more marine life and not be disappointed just because I preferred a boat dive. Even if that means a shore dive.

There isn't really that much shore diving other than the pier and Cane Bay. If you like sharks Armageddon usually has 3 or 4 hanging around. My wife likes King's Corner. Both of those are boat dives.

We usually dive the pier everyday, it's never the same. We dive the 2 morning boat dives then go to Polly's for lunch and then dive the pier and are out of the water by 3:30.

Driving on the left is more a guide lol Drive where there are less pot holes

Make sure you go to the "Landing beach bar" and "Nacho and Louie's." The Chicken Shack is really good too, omg their Johnny cakes are delicious!!!

Make sure to check expiration dates on food at the stores.

 

[ScubaSmurf55]

There isn't really that much shore diving other than the pier and Cane Bay. If you like sharks Armageddon usually has 3 or 4 hanging around. My wife likes King's Corner. Both of those are boat dives.

We usually dive the pier everyday, it's never the same. We dive the 2 morning boat dives then go to Polly's for lunch and then dive the pier and are out of the water by 3:30.

Driving on the left is more a guide lol Drive where there are less pot holes

Make sure you go to the "Landing beach bar" and "Nacho and Louie's." The Chicken Shack is really good too, omg their Johnny cakes are delicious!!!

Make sure to check expiration dates on food at the stores.

Perfect, I will check those dives out!

Thanks for the dining recommendations. We will be there for 6 days, then head to St. Thomas for a couple of days, then back to St. Croix for 2 days. We are going to be utilizing the stores, so thanks for the heads up.

 

[Rob9876]

The pier is very easy to dive, just follow the columns out, under and back. There can also be things to see at the "dolphins" -- rubble piles on either side of the pier. We did not feel the need for a guide for the pier, and saw a lot of things.

For other shore dives we were guided by Jeff Dykstra (from the excellent Triton's Realm YouTube Channel) – last I heard he is now with Adventures in Diving STX (very nice shop we rented tanks from to dive the Pier). Jeff was great to dive with. We dove Cane Bay (day and night) and Northstar (entry a bit rough for me, but best north side dive we had - might wear rock boots to dive there next time). Our shore dives in St. Croix were all better than our boat dives.

Cane Bay was a bit of a swim out, but we just lazily leaned back and chatted while we slowly made our way -- no need to hurry, and not a rough swim Really only need to do it on the way out, as we did a swimming safety stop underwater on the way back. I believe Davis Bay may have less of a surface swim, but weather prevented us from diving on the day we were to dive Davis Bay.

 

[ScubaSmurf55]

The pier is very easy to dive, just follow the columns out, under and back. There can also be things to see at the "dolphins" -- rubble piles on either side of the pier. We did not feel the need for a guide for the pier, and saw a lot of things.

For other shore dives we were guided by Jeff Dykstra (from the excellent Triton's Realm YouTube Channel) – last I heard he is now with Adventures in Diving STX (very nice shop we rented tanks from to dive the Pier). Jeff was great to dive with. We dove Cane Bay (day and night) and Northstar (entry a bit rough for me, but best north side dive we had - might wear rock boots to dive there next time). Our shore dives in St. Croix were all better than our boat dives.

Cane Bay was a bit of a swim out, but we just lazily leaned back and chatted while we slowly made our way -- no need to hurry, and not a rough swim Really only need to do it on the way out, as we did a swimming safety stop underwater on the way back. I believe Davis Bay may have less of a surface swim, but weather prevented us from diving on the day we were to dive Davis Bay.

Thanks for the information! I think we will do the pier on our own. We are considering doing a day and night dive there. Have you done a night dive at the pier or only at Cane Bay? If both, do you prefer one over the other?

Good point about taking your time on the swim out. If we do that, it probably won't be too bad. Maybe we will do Cane Bay after all.

 

[Rob9876]

Thanks for the information! I think we will do the pier on our own. We are considering doing a day and night dive there. Have you done a night dive at the pier or only at Cane Bay? If both, do you prefer one over the other?

Yes, we did a couple of night dives at the pier and they were really good. I think the night dive at Cane Bay was pretty good, but I was feeling bad (should not have dove) so that dominates my memories of the experience -- but my son liked it.

One thing to note for night dives -- things in St. Croix, especially F'sted, close pretty early -- so there was only 1 or 2 restaurants in F'sted open for after our night dive. We ended up getting burgers at Yam Yam, which were decent, and they had some other food too, like fried fish I believe.

Also be sure to check the cruise ship schedule when planning your dive days, since you can't dive the pier when a ship is docked there. There are a few web sites that list schedules, here's one: St. Croix Cruise Ship Schedule / Calendar - Cruise Ship Arrivals

 

[ScubaSmurf55]

Yes, we did a couple of night dives at the pier and they were really good. I think the night dive at Cane Bay was pretty good, but I was feeling bad (should not have dove) so that dominates my memories of the experience -- but my son liked it.

One thing to note for night dives -- things in St. Croix, especially F'sted, close pretty early -- so there was only 1 or 2 restaurants in F'sted open for after our night dive. We ended up getting burgers at Yam Yam, which were decent, and they had some other food too, like fried fish I believe.

Also be sure to check the cruise ship schedule when planning your dive days, since you can't dive the pier when a ship is docked there. There are a few web sites that list schedules, here's one: St. Croix Cruise Ship Schedule / Calendar - Cruise Ship Arrivals

Thanks for letting me know that things tend to close early there. I knew about the cruise ships, so I already have that worked out. Thank you again for all the information!

 

[living4experiences]

Cane Bay is a LONG swim out and back. You burn a lot of energy that would be better used for the actual dive. I preferred doing boat diving with Cane Bay dive shop in Christiansted. I stayed in Fredericksted and was so disappointed with the condition of the reef that I cancelled the remaining boat dives, hired a guide, and dived the pier day and night multiple times. It was great!