Diving St. Croix

Wondering how the diving compares to the other islands in the caribbean.
I know it's not Bonaire or Cozumel, but is it better than say - St.
Maarten or St. Thomas? Suggestions for where to stay, non-cattle boat
dive shops, or shore dives?

greatviz wrote:
> Wondering how the diving compares to the other islands in the
caribbean.
> I know it's not Bonaire or Cozumel, but is it better than say - St.
> Maarten or St. Thomas? Suggestions for where to stay, non-cattle
boat
> dive shops, or shore dives?


We used Cane Bay Dive Shop and did a combination of both shore and boat
diving. We did 12 dives over 5 days including a couple of night dives.
They were great. They use small Zodiacs so a max of 6 divers. At the
time they had a couple of cottages that you could rent, but they are
currently doing a bunch of updating to them so they are not available
(we just looked at going back next month). Instead they are working
with a some others close by. The part we like about Cane Bay is that
there is a nice beach there and a few resturants close by. Most of the
time we just cooked in our cottage which was 100 meters from the water.

The only negative is that their sites are on the north side ofthe
island as such if the winds are still blowing from the north the vis is
okay. It is typically is better once the winds are from the south. But
that is also whenthe huricanes start blowing up.

And if you go, make sure you take time out to visit the (non alcoholic)
beer drinking pigs.

Allen

unita@my-deja.com wrote:

> We used Cane Bay Dive Shop and did a combination of both shore and boat
> diving. We did 12 dives over 5 days including a couple of night dives.
> They were great. They use small Zodiacs so a max of 6 divers.

The dive boats look unique, entering and exiting through the hull of a
boat that is still afloat ;) We had it narrowed down to Cane Bay Dive
Shop or Anchor Dive as of this morning. Both are on the North Shore and
since that is where "the wall" is located, they seem to be good choices.
Anchor offers DPV rentals as well.

> At the
> time they had a couple of cottages that you could rent, but they are
> currently doing a bunch of updating to them so they are not available
> (we just looked at going back next month). Instead they are working
> with a some others close by.

We are looking for 3 months from now and we have a price for one of the
oceanfront "suites" with a kitchen at Cane Bay Reef Club - it's about
a quarter mile from the shop they say and quite small with only 9 units.
We also checked on Carambola Resort - they had a gardenview room with a
mini frig and no kitchen for $200 more.
It seems no one has dive lockers for gear storage, and the shops will
either pick you up or drop you off - but not both if you are not staying
on their property - so we'll need to drive to the docks and the gear
will have to live in the bathroom.

The part we like about Cane Bay is that
> there is a nice beach there and a few resturants close by. Most of the
> time we just cooked in our cottage which was 100 meters from the water.

Really, we don't require a lot on a dive vacation - we didn't even turn
on the TV once during our week in Cozumel and the dive gear used the
jacuzzi more than we did.

> The only negative is that their sites are on the north side ofthe
> island as such if the winds are still blowing from the north the vis is
> okay. It is typically is better once the winds are from the south. But
> that is also whenthe huricanes start blowing up.

Hurricanes, well it wouldn't be the first time one of those has put a
dent into my dive schedule. I'm hoping July is too early, but I often
don't have the best of luck with weather.

> And if you go, make sure you take time out to visit the (non alcoholic)
> beer drinking pigs.

Well, I did visit the Donkey Sanctuary on Bonaire on my day off of
diving - so beer drinking pigs...sure, I'll give it a go.

Appreciate the reply, google didn't provide much recent info.

>
> Allen
>

Getting in and out of Cane Bay's boats was really really easy. You just
popped up through the deck put your arms on either side, kicked up, and
sat down. Then slipped your bcd and fins off. This works quite well
even in swells and best of all no heavy lifting.

At Cane Bay they had a gear room which we used along with some shelves.
They were not lockable but we felt pretty comfortable with their
operation and used it for our bcds and regs. Most everything else took
back to our cottage to dry.

A car is no big deal you will want to have one for shore diving. By
the time turned ours back in the trunk smelled like dead sushi.

And if you visit the pigs, make sure you try their rum, orange, honey,
and cinniomin drink.

We were there in late June of 2003 and the winds had not turned north
which was unusal so you should have good vis by July.

Allen

Ten years ago, Anchor was very good. Their location allows them to dive the
trench which is very cool.

"greatviz" <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:QJo5e.51903$Fz.2526@tornado.tampabay.rr.com.. .
>
>
> unita@my-deja.com wrote:
>
>> We used Cane Bay Dive Shop and did a combination of both shore and boat
>> diving. We did 12 dives over 5 days including a couple of night dives.
>> They were great. They use small Zodiacs so a max of 6 divers.
>
> The dive boats look unique, entering and exiting through the hull of a
> boat that is still afloat ;) We had it narrowed down to Cane Bay Dive
> Shop or Anchor Dive as of this morning. Both are on the North Shore and
> since that is where "the wall" is located, they seem to be good choices.
> Anchor offers DPV rentals as well.
>
>> At the
>> time they had a couple of cottages that you could rent, but they are
>> currently doing a bunch of updating to them so they are not available
>> (we just looked at going back next month). Instead they are working
>> with a some others close by.
>
> We are looking for 3 months from now and we have a price for one of the
> oceanfront "suites" with a kitchen at Cane Bay Reef Club - it's about a
> quarter mile from the shop they say and quite small with only 9 units. We
> also checked on Carambola Resort - they had a gardenview room with a mini
> frig and no kitchen for $200 more.
> It seems no one has dive lockers for gear storage, and the shops will
> either pick you up or drop you off - but not both if you are not staying
> on their property - so we'll need to drive to the docks and the gear will
> have to live in the bathroom.
>
> The part we like about Cane Bay is that
>> there is a nice beach there and a few resturants close by. Most of the
>> time we just cooked in our cottage which was 100 meters from the water.
>
> Really, we don't require a lot on a dive vacation - we didn't even turn on
> the TV once during our week in Cozumel and the dive gear used the jacuzzi
> more than we did.
>
>> The only negative is that their sites are on the north side ofthe
>> island as such if the winds are still blowing from the north the vis is
>> okay. It is typically is better once the winds are from the south. But
>> that is also whenthe huricanes start blowing up.
>
> Hurricanes, well it wouldn't be the first time one of those has put a dent
> into my dive schedule. I'm hoping July is too early, but I often don't
> have the best of luck with weather.
>
>> And if you go, make sure you take time out to visit the (non alcoholic)
>> beer drinking pigs.
>
> Well, I did visit the Donkey Sanctuary on Bonaire on my day off of
> diving - so beer drinking pigs...sure, I'll give it a go.
>
> Appreciate the reply, google didn't provide much recent info.
>
>>
>> Allen
>>
>