It’s no surprise, ok maybe to some, we have world-class scuba diving on St Croix right here in the United States Virgin Islands. You’ll find reefs, wrecks, walls, and piers right off our shores. Whether you’re an experienced PADI-certified diver or you are interested in trying it out for the first time, St Croix will get you hooked. It did for me! Read about my very first night dive.
Dive Walls, Reefs, Wrecks & the Pier
St Croix is surrounded by the longest continuous living reef in all of the Caribbean. The island offers 72 moored dive sites.
Most diving on St Croix is done off of the North Shore, outside Christiansted Harbor, at Salt River, and out West (Frederiksted). The island sits on the edge of the continental shelf, most notably at Cane Bay. There you can shore dive, kick out about 300 yards, drop to 40 feet and swim out a little. Shortly, you look over the edge that drops to approximately 3200 feet. Not too shabby!
St Croix Rated 1 of the 10 Best Shore Dive Locations in the World
~ Scuba Diving Magazine Aug, 2011
The Cane Bay Wall offers a great array of sponges, sea fans, fishes and the occasional pod of dolphins or reef sharks. (on a rare occasion in the winter Humpback whales can be seen or heard just offshore as well).
On the West End, there are 5 wrecks just offshore that are teeming with life and can be easily explored. And then there’s the Frederiksted Pier – my favorite dive site! Again, an easy shore dive that brings you immediately to a spectacular macro dive, especially at night, where you will see frogfish, lobster, seahorses and much more.
Not a Scuba diver but think you may want to try it out?
All of our local dive operators offer resort dives, aka “Discover Scuba” classes. You will be diving in up to 40-feet of water in just a few hours. If you like it, this dive will count as your first “open water” scuba dive in your quest for certification! Because of the crystal blue waters and reefs that rival “Finding Nemo” its no wonder that the Virgin Islands has many Scuba diving schools.
