Snorkeling Butler Bay (STX)

I snorkeled West End last week. Very rough. May be smoother now. Visibility around the pier was very limited.

Wreck diving West End is usually quite good. I would dive rather than snorkel. I did the PADI Wreck Diver Specialty with SCUBA. All 4 dives were West End. My 4th wreck dive was a head-first vertical penetration. Really great experience.

Visibility last Friday at Salt River was about 100 feet. Japanese Garden about 75 feet.

Check with SCUBA for wreck dives. http://www.stcroixscuba.com/

Thanks Edward,

I really should try SCUBA. But, I've been quite content with snorkeling. The simplicity of it is wonderful. My wife wants to try SCUBA which is surprising to me given the trouble she had initially feeling comfortable snorkeling. But, she's full of contradictions that tickle me. On rollerblades she putts along like a frightened, arthritic 80 yo. Put her on skis and she goes straight downhill and says "I'll figure out how to stop when I get to the bottom". Who knows... she could end up wrestling Barracuda.

Were you able to handle a 50ft dive after the initial training? Or, do you need to be "certified" for this kind of dive?

If you can't get down you can't get certified.
It's a mind game that gives way to an amazing experience.

"The Wrecks" at Butler Bay were sunk there to become dive sites. Interesting stuff.
Never fail to see a sea turtle and some rays there, unless the visibility is awful.
While I know some people snorkel out to them, diving them is less strenuous and more relaxing than getting to them from shore, not to mention you see more.

The visibility and currents coming around there from Ham's Bluff can be a problem at times, and I'm not sure you'd know that simply by standing on the shore thinking about snorkeling out to them. Kinda gotta get out there to find out. There are some shallow reef islands (surrounded by sand) in a bit closer, in about 25 feet of water. Lots and lots of small fry on them.

I was at "Chubb Hole" just south of there this morning and the viz was good.

I snorkeled the wreck with scuba. There was good visability but it's really just too far down to see anything worth seeing. You'll be able to tell their are boats down there but it's not really interesting at all from a snorkelers perspective. Sure it would be different if you dived it. Really don't think it's worth the swim out there. You'll see more snorkeling wise down at the old pier or the beaches south of f'sted around sandcastle and cottages, at least fish, turtle, dolphins. Not any coral really or most of it is dead there.

Neil is right. Diving is far less strenuous than snorkeling, especially in rough surface water.

Talk to Ed or Molly Buckley, or any of the staff at SCUBA, for the Discover program. http://www.stcroixscuba.com/trainingmain.htm.
(Red awning at Queen's Cross Street, near the Boardwalk.) Great way to start.

The limit for recreational diving is 130'. 50' is no problem. Even at 40-50', you and your wife will be introduced to an amazing new world.

Go for it! 🙂

I snorkeled the wreck with scuba. There was good visability but it's really just too far down to see anything worth seeing. You'll be able to tell their are boats down there but it's not really interesting at all from a snorkelers perspective. Sure it would be different if you dived it. Really don't think it's worth the swim out there. You'll see more snorkeling wise down at the old pier or the beaches south of f'sted around sandcastle and cottages, at least fish, turtle, dolphins. Not any coral really or most of it is dead there.

Most of the coral is dead out front of sandcastles?

Perhaps "battered and broken" instead ??

The reefs are flourishing off the west-end beaches there in about 30 feet of water and further out. Tons of colorful coral and sponges and fishies.

About 30 feet out it starts to get very deep and cloudy, making it hard for a snorkeler to see it. Most of it looks dead to me, but happy if I am wrong. Talk to the owners of cottages, they been there forever, they can tell you what it used to look like.

Great info folks... thanks.

I went to the SCUBA website ([www.stcroixscuba.com]). Seems like a really reasonable rate for a great deal of instruction and water time. I think we will have to try this out on our next trip.

On the issue of water currents: isn't this a matter of swell and tides? If I were willing to look at tide times and swell direction could I get a feel for the water currents (I've never tried this)? Any buoys on the west end that report currents? Also, I'm guessing that the water current determines the visibility... do you agree?

Strong currents are generally rare around the places I've been diving around St. Croix.

Speaking of currents, I did a dive a few months ago off West End Tortola, Little Thatch. The current was so strong that it took us some 300 meters from the boat. The divemaster didn't tell us it would be a drift dive!

Great info folks... thanks.

I went to the SCUBA website ([www.stcroixscuba.com]). Seems like a really reasonable rate for a great deal of instruction and water time. I think we will have to try this out on our next trip.

On the issue of water currents: isn't this a matter of swell and tides? If I were willing to look at tide times and swell direction could I get a feel for the water currents (I've never tried this)? Any buoys on the west end that report currents? Also, I'm guessing that the water current determines the visibility... do you agree?

I've been in currents which didn't have poor viz. Depends on the area you're and what the currents are moving over. If you're near a sandy point and the swells are right, the sand can hook around the point, but not be too bad a little further out or up from the point. I've also seen the surface water moving south on the west end up by Butler Bay, but 30 feet below the current was moving north creating horrible viz ("torqued" they call it). But if you go a few miles south on the west end the waters can be quite different. (I both ocean kayak and dive, so have gotten a good sense of the variability). The dive boats have a good sense of all this.

We do not have big tides here, 1.5 feet at the most.

Wind out of the South/SE makes for good water on the northshore and westend which is where most of the best boating, kayaking, diving and swimming beaches are.

Thanks Neil, this will be a great hobby topic to start to study...

I've been studying ocean waves for the past 9 months for a science project at work. It has amazed me to find out how much we don't know about something as seemingly simple as waves. I'm sure I'll run into the same amount of mysteries about water currents and visibility.