Traveling to USVI mid June 2012 and in need of information, lots of it. :)

[fearlessdiver]

I will be traveling to USVI along with five other divers around mid June 2012 and have a lot of questions.
1) Which island should we stay at?
2) Is it feasible to have day trips to other islands for diving?
3) What are the must-dive spots in any of the islands?
4) What are the top side activities?
5) Reliable dive ops?
6) What to expect and what not to expect?


I do appreciate any info or links that help me with planning of our trip to US Virgin Islands.


thx

 

[Rhone Man]

You are gonna get a spread of opinions, but as a resident of the nearby BVI, and occasional diving visitor to the USVI, here are my views:

I will be traveling to USVI along with five other divers around mid June 2012 and have a lot of questions.
1) Which island should we stay at?
My favourite island to stay on is St John, but to be honest, if you are all about the diving, it is probably your least good option. You may want to head for either St Thomas or St Croix.

2) Is it feasible to have day trips to other islands for diving?
You can flip between St Thomas and St John easily, but St Croix is a long way from the other two.

3) What are the must-dive spots in any of the islands?
Depends what you like. I think the signature dive of the USVI is the MV Wit Shoal. But if you are not into wrecks, it has limited appeal. There are only a few operators on St Thomas who go that far out though.

4) What are the top side activities?
Typical Caribbean - beaches, water sports etc. St Thomas is also famous for its shopping. St Thomas and St Croix have much livlier night life than St John.

5) Reliable dive ops?
I like Admiralty on St Thomas. I couldn't say for the other islands.

6) What to expect and what not to expect?
The USVI to me is a lot more like America than the Caribbean. You still get Burger King, KFC, Hooters and K-Mart. The only weird thing is people drive on the left.

I get flamed for it periodically, but I tend to regard St Thomas and St Croix as a little bit crime ridden (not like Jamaica or Trinidad crime ridden, but 'take care and be aware' sort of crime ridden). That's why I prefer St John.

I do appreciate any info or links that help me with planning of our trip to US Virgin Islands.

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thx

 

[fearlessdiver]

thx Rhone Man for all the information. I really appreciate it.

 

[1erCRU]

If the USVI is your limit for a dive trip, St Croix is my single-island pick followed by St Thomas. However St John is close enough to St. Thomas and the BVI for you dive some of their best dives everyday. Finding St John Ops to take you there may not be a easy task. Sugguest you buy a dive guide for the area, both BVI and USVI. (it's a very compact area with the islands overlapping each other's political borders). I much prefer the BVI (nearly 20 trips to both VIs) to the USVI for diving. ST Thomas and ST Croix both have more on-shore attractions, but nearly every island is a place you can have fun, especially when traveling with friends.

 

[Skodises]

Just did the WIT Shoal (among a lot of other sites) with Aqua Marine out of Bluebeard's Beach Resort during a week's stay in December. Wolfgang and Ana and their staff are great people and run a very good op. We look forward to getting back down there and diving with them again.

 

[DebbyDiver]

I will be traveling to USVI along with five other divers around mid June 2012 and have a lot of questions.
1) Which island should we stay at?

Depends on what you want to do. Busy busy busy? Rural and relaxed? Something in between? You may as well stay where you want to dive, there's not a huge reason to island hop in my opinion.

2) Is it feasible to have day trips to other islands for diving?

St. Thomas and St. John are within eyesight of one another. St. Croix, which is the only USVI with great diving, is 40 miles away but if you're diving here, why would you want to hop back to one of them? We have the best diving and there's lots of other things to do here.

3) What are the must-dive spots in any of the islands?

St. Croix has the awesome WALL and also wrecks and the Frederiksted Pier. We have fabulous beach diving, or you can dive from a charter boat.

4) What are the top side activities?

Too much to type. What do you like to do? We don't have mega-malls or amusement parks but we have so many other fun things to offer...rum factory tour, kayaking, hiking, 4wd island tours, beautiful scenic vistas, rainforest, great restaurants, nice beaches, incredible live music every night all over the island, well what's missing from the list that you want to do?

5) Reliable dive ops?

Pretty much all of the St. Croix dive shops are really good. I happen to work for Cane Bay Dive Shop and I was a happy customer before I started there. One of our competitors is active on SB and I know he'll chime in soon and his dive op is great too. Just pick St. Croix, we are the best of the three islands for diving. Hands down. Call a few and see who you like best. You're going to have a great time diving here.

6) What to expect and what not to expect?

Expect great diving and a casual atmosphere on St. Croix. GREAT restaurants, live music and other entertainment every night, and most of the island is rural. We also have the only USVI casino. Bring your camera and a lot of empty SD cards!

Edited to add: saw the "crime ridden" note above and LMAO. I used to live in South Florida and if you want crime ridden, visit Miami-Dade, Broward, or Palm Beach Counties. Sure, we have crime on St. Croix....just drive into the hood and buy drugs and well d'oh!!! You'll get what you deserve. Just like every other city on the planet. And, JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER TOURIST DESTINATION ON PLANET EARTH, don't leave your wallet, phone, or purse in the car. After 30 years in the Fort Lauderdale area, living here I feel incredibly safe. The local gangstahs...well, they need to watch their backs.

 

[Rhone Man]

Edited to add: saw the "crime ridden" note above and LMAO. I used to live in South Florida and if you want crime ridden, visit Miami-Dade, Broward, or Palm Beach Counties. Sure, we have crime on St. Croix....just drive into the hood and buy drugs and well d'oh!!! You'll get what you deserve. Just like every other city on the planet. And, JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER TOURIST DESTINATION ON PLANET EARTH, don't leave your wallet, phone, or purse in the car. After 30 years in the Fort Lauderdale area, living here I feel incredibly safe. The local gangstahs...well, they need to watch their backs.

You might be LYAO about crime - personally I don't find the statistics especially funny:

Forget having the highest murder rate in the country; if the U.S. Virgin Islands were an independent nation, it would have one of the highest murder rates in the world.

The record 66 homicides committed across the territory in 2010 is 10 more than in 2009, and makes the Virgin Islands is the most violent place in the United States, on a per-capita basis.

The territory has about 110,000 residents, according to the latest projections, which means the Virgin Islands' per-capita homicide rate is 60 homicides per 100,000 people.

The United States has a nationwide rate of 5.2 homicides per 100,000.

Compared with the most recent statistics available, which are from 2008, that number would rank the territory second in the world, behind only Honduras, for the number of homicides per 100,000 residents.

Homicides in V.I. - News - Virgin Islands Daily News

 

[DebbyDiver]

The homicides are hoody on hoody. Unless our original poster is a hoody or visits them, he's got little to worry about. We feel that they are taking care of the USVI crime problem on their own by killing one another. We read about them killing one another in the projects all the time, yes, lots and lots of murders. Keep on shooting, we say. At some point there won't be any of them left! Violent crimes on innocent victims are rare (with the tragic exception of domestic violence, which doesn't affect tourists). You know what they say, lies, damn lies and statistics. The number doesn't tell the real story.

My partner moved here in 1978 from NYC and he concurs.

Talk about trying a cheap marketing ploy to try to lure our OP away, geez!

Edited to add that I actually don't know much about who the crime victims are on STT or STJ, I'm speaking about STX, a very friendly place to visit and to live. Hopefully folks from those two islands will chime in.

 

[Rhone Man]

Talk about trying a cheap marketing ploy to try to lure our OP away, geez!

Not trying to lure anyone anywhere - I vacation in St John myself regularly, and regularly come across to St Thomas to shop - I confess that I haven't visited St Croix since the early 1990s. I thought I gave the OP plenty of helpful suggestions about visiting the USVI.

I just took umbrage at your "LMAO" post in response to my comment about the crime.

 

[DebbyDiver]

And I took extreme umbrage at your claims that St. Croix, my home by choice, is a dangerous place to visit. Because it sure as hell is NOT.