Diving!!!

I don't dive but the dive shop in Cane Bay is well respected and is always busy.

On the west end, there is a shop next to Changes in Latitude that does pier dives. All the dive places advertise in the paper. When you get here you can contact them. Since this is the slow season, you shouldn't have any trouble.

Be sure to stop into Off the Wall on Saturday night and say hi. Annie, the bartender, can point us out.

There is lots of great diving here on STX. The north shore wall is great and you can easily dive from the beach, with just a 150-200 yard swim out to the wall, where it drops from 45 feet to 15,000 feet. It runs for miles along the northwest coast of the island. The easiest access from the beach is at Cane Bay, simply by walking down the boat ramp, through the cut in the reef, and out to the buoys that mark about 20 foot in depth. That's a good place to drop and then have an awesome dive. The area closest to the Cane Bay Dive Shop and Beach Bar is a little more beat up than areas of the reef to the east and west, as it gets the heaviest concentration of divers, including Discover Divers and those in their Open Water classes.

There is also great diving to be found in the Salt River area. This is best accessed by boat. There are several dive shops that run boats to these sites daily, including Dive Experience and SCUBA, both from Christiansted.

For diving on the west end of the island, one very good operator is N2TheBlue. The tours are personal and you get to dive your air and computer. There are wreck dives and a variety of reefs. Also, don't forget to do a night dive at the cruise ship pier. This is one of the most dramatic dives on the island, even though it's only 20-35 feet deep. Every piling has a different ecosystem on it and the colors and life are fabulous at night. It's a good day dive, too, but at night it's awesome.

I am a real estate agent on St. Croix, but I am also a PADI Instructor and often take my clients diving off the beach at Cane Bay or sometimes at the pier. Boy, do I love what I do!

Come and visit St. Croix. You'll be back.

We went with Cane Bay Dive Shop week before last. We dived (is dived correct?) "The Wall" at North Star, Pavillions, Rust op Twist & Lobster reef. IMHO actually in our (3 people) humble opinion. It was absolutely the BEST diving we've ever done!!

We used to own a boat in th BVI so we've been diving there since 1990. Also, a little in the Bahamas. One of us 3 has dove many other places.

I think you'll LOVE it! I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Jim W

Very exciting!... I think I just wet myself thinking about it all again.

Yep, I've checked out those operators... just like to hear it from those who know. N2TheBlue is already on my list for the pier dive and their rates are awesome, too. I also found a page with a little map of how to navigate the reef out to the wall in Cane Bay, so that little number has already been printed out and tucked safely in my diving folder. I suppose I'll have to book a dive with Cane Bay for that, as I'll be lacking a buddy, unless I hook up with someone here. Wanna go? C'mon... you know you want to.

Hell, I'm there already! Looked like a kid at Christmas when the e-ticket was spitting out of the printer, and the FIRST thing I'm going to do after I drop my bags is grab my mask, snorkel, and fins, and run to the beach!!! If you see a man with a mesh bag running full sprint through the streets of C-sted on June 1st, chances are it's me.

another good way to access folks from st. croix is to go on the padi website and under buddies you can type in st. croix and access emails of other divers in that area.
P. S. I'll be there in june for the summer if your looking for a diving buddy.
sidnie