Traveling to St. Croix

[ScubaDiverGirlTeppy]

We have decided to go to St. Croix at the end of May for 6 nights. Any suggestions on resorts, dive shops, dive boats, etc...? We found a great deal for flights now we have to narrow down the resort options and dial in the diving.

 

[mrfixitchapman]

We stayed at Christiansted. There are several hotels around the harbor there. SCUBA (the dive shop) has a boat right there at the harbor. There are several other operators in Christiansted. Myself, I would avoid Fredericksted, the diving there is pretty good, but it's a long drive to get there. I really liked Cane Bay dive shop, there is shore diving and a boat ride that you will not soon forget to get to sites farther away in Cane Bay. There are some condo/shore dive packages available on the web if you go looking. We also stayed one time at the Hotel On The Cay which is right out in the middle of the harbor at Christiansted. Price - not bad, better shore snorkelling than many other places we tried. Don't know which way you'll be getting there, but if you go through San Juan you might look into flying Seaborne, the seaplanes landed right into the harbor at Christiansted and you can walk to some of the hotels and dive shops. If you fly into the airport on St. Croix you'll have to take a taxi or van to get to C'sted. We took the kids to Buck Island on one of day trips, that was fun. One day,(last day, so we could wait out the no-fly time), we hired a driver to haul us all around the island, including a tour of the Cruzan Rum Works. Go. Have fun. Tell us about it.

DC

 

[fins]

I had a great time diving with Anchor Dive Center last May.
Anchor Dive Center: Salt River National Park, Wall Diving, Dive Locations St. Croix, St Croix Scuba,Caribbean Dive Packages,St. Croix Diving

If you're possibly interested in renting a condo I would recommend Gentle Winds, located very close to Anchor. Great beach, very nice condos, little beach bar.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

I dove with Anchor several years ago. Liked the location and the op.

 

[ryantanaka]

We went to St Croix in 2007 and stayed at Carambola - really liked it though it's a bit pricey. They have a nice beach with shore diving which is a plus. And we dove with Cane Bay who we really liked and it is close to Carambola.

Only downside to Carambola was that it is relatively remote. We liked it that way but it's not for everyone.

 

[freedc]

I'm tagging on to this thread to hear about dive conditions and operators on St. Croix. We're going in early July. This will be my first dive trip since getting my ow cert, so I'm more open to coddling than experienced divers. We're staying at the Palms at Pelican Cove.

freedc

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

We spent our third tip to St. Croix in the Cane Bay area in March 2009. We rented a beach house just a few doors east from the Cane Bay Reef Club. We had a great time there, and being in a more remote area is something we seek there.

We used Cane Bay Dive Shop both during our first trip to St. Croix in 2002 and our most recent trip a few months ago, and we've been very happy with their operation. You can have guided shore dives on a fairly flexible schedule (their motto is "We dive when YOU want to" and that's certainly been the case each trip we've used their services, or guided boat dives on a more rigid schedule, if that's what you're looking for. Their little yellow boats make an easy boat entry and exit with the zipper panel in the front of the boat bottom. We have not been on their newer 36' Newton since we mostly do buddy team shore diving these days.

Scuba St Croix, Cane Bay Dive Shop

 

[Mayor]

My wife really likeed St. Croix. Here is a thread that might help.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/lesser-antilles/166839-st-croix-usvi-4.html

 

[freedc]

Thanks, Mayor, I've been reading a lot of threads (for some reason, I had to search on christiansted instead of st. croix to get all my hits) and got some great info. Looks like SCUBA, N2 the Deep, or Cane Bay (or some combo) are the dive ops I will use. SCUBA has a relationship with my hotel, so I imagine I'll dive with them first. Maybe I'll convince my wife to do a discover class so we can dive together. After all, it is our anniversary...

 

[JenniferDumas]

I couldn't disagree more with those who avoid Fredricksted! So, it's a 30 minute drive from C'sted (not long by my standards) but the diving is FANTASTIC. We've gone to St Croix three times, and each time dived with Derek at N2theBlue. F'sted is the lee side of the island, which means calmer condition and great viz. Plus, I think most of the wrecks are on this side...this last trip we did 4 wrecks on one dive. F'sted Pier is absolutely NOT TO BE MISSED. It can be done as either a shore dive or boat dive (we did it boat, coming in from the wreck dive, and swam to shore, so no decomp stop nec). We spotted seven sea horses, a frogfish, and scorpionfish.

I really cannot say enough about Derek and N2theBlue. He broke away from some of the island's larger dive shops because he wanted to see fish while diving, not other divers. His max number at any one time is 6. During our trip last week, there was my husband and I and two teenagers doing a discovery course. Derek was also training another DiveMaster (all of his DiveMasters swear that the Padi course is nothing compared to Derek's requirements) which means that on our dive, my husband and I basically had personal divemasters for the first three wrecks, and then we caught up with the kids and the third DiveMaster on the fourth wreck. On the second dive (the pier), it was my husband and I and three DiveMasters! Everytime we dive on the weekend, most of the rest of the party is comprised of locals, so we've had a great chance to learn a lot about local culture, customs and get recommendations. My general principle when traveling is to follow the locals, and they go to N2theBlue.

More in F'sted landwise: after a morning diving there is nothing better than a Turtle's sandwich! Made fresh and are HUGE. My husband and I frequently split one. Sunday morning, head to Polly's for freshmade blueberry pancakes by Meg (we met her on Saturday's dive; she's a former pilot retired to F'sted). And Friday night is jazz at Blue Moon...great food and music combined!

Enjoy!