Question What to expect for diving in Saint Thomas in early May

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Jimchris

Support your local dive center
ScubaBoard Supporter
Messages
348
Reaction score
164
Location
Washington State
# of dives
1000 - 2499
We have a short business trip to Saint Thomas this spring and are bringing along our warm water gear along because why not dive if given the opportunity. We've never been to USVI and would like an idea of what to expect diving-wise.
 
Worth a dive or two if you can squeeze it in. I was there last week and hit up a few sites: The US Navy Barges, Cartanza Senora, Coki Beach and French Cap. French Cap was the best, but also the furthest out. Reasonable coral cover and fish life - plenty of sharks. I plan to return to visit some of the other sites I've heard a lot about, such as Cow & Calf and Arches & Tunnels. Often hear more about Saint Croix as a dive destination because of their wall, but Saint Thomas was decent and is well worth exploring!
 
Depending on time constraints (your business stuff), Coki Beach is a fun little shore dive. You can dive it in both directions and see some stuff. We had fun on these easy shallow dives. We weren't there on a "dive trip" either, but got a few in.
 
Where on island are you staying? Red Hook Diving is a good solid op over on East side. I worked on island for almost a year, dove exclusively with them (they were 1/2 mile down road). Most of my diving was East side. Coki is meh, I would not do it without a guide > you can get caught in a current and be tossed around the point. Calf and Cow are popular and OK. Dog is the base of the private island owned by the late Jeffrey Epstein, we called it 'Pedophile Point'. French Cap is by far the best diving I did there, but because its deep and far, it was done only when the guests had been out with the op before. What to expect - warm temps > I often wore rash guard and neoprene shorts, mostly shallow hard bottom, shoals, swim throughs, not a lot of coral, usual Caribbean fish, sharks almost every dive. Sleepy nurse, edgy reef, curious blacktip. Turtles. Found my first and only pipefish there. Like you, I was there for business, traveling alone, and diving was a bonus.
 
Thanks everyone for their suggestions. We have a Red-eye this Saturday night with dives scheduled thru Aquamarine Monday & Tuesday (highly recommended by a friend of ours). Overall we're just looking forward to some warm water and weather.
 
Did 2 open water course referral dives there, and later a cruise ship stop pair of dives (Armando's Paradise and Navy Barges), so my experience in St. Thomas diving is very limited. The impression I have so far...

1.) Relatively shallow diving over bottom maybe 40 feet or less?

2.) Viz. maybe 50 feet or so?

3.) Some fish, but not as fishy as the 20 dives out of Key Largo impressed me with.

All my dives were with Admiralty Dive; very happy with them.
 
Did 2 open water course referral dives there, and later a cruise ship stop pair of dives (Armando's Paradise and Navy Barges), so my experience in St. Thomas diving is very limited. The impression I have so far...

1.) Relatively shallow diving over bottom maybe 40 feet or less?

2.) Viz. maybe 50 feet or so?

3.) Some fish, but not as fishy as the 20 dives out of Key Largo impressed me with.

All my dives were with Admiralty Dive; very happy with them.

Looking forward to hearing a report from @Jimchris.

Sums up my experience. Little deeper than 40. Looking at logs only a couples 38-42, most fall into the 50 - 65. I know there are deeper sites, French Cap was awesome, hard and soft coral, all kinds of fish. Viz most of the time better than 50 foot, say 80 foot or more. Not as lush or fishy as I like, GC and Bonaire for reference. But did routinely see turtles, lobsters, sharks and common reef fish. Just not schools. And because of all the little cays, you could usually find some site sheltered regardless of conditions. I've heard only good things about Admiralty.

As it was work, my weekend was morning 2 tank, rinse back at the shop, rinse gear at shop, pop on dry clothes and head into work for a couple hours in the afternoon. Usually worked 7 days a week. Regret not taking a day off and heading over to BVI's to dive.

Heading back down end of July with my mom, stepfather and my nephew (who is certified). We plan to dive 3 or 4 mornings, probably with Red Hook as we are staying on that side.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

Back
Top Bottom