first time going to St Thomas/St John

I will be heading to St Thomas and St John this coming week for a family member's wedding. I'm deliberately going for the entire week to try to do some dives. Does anyone have advice regarding dive operators, locations, shore diving, etc? Any help would be greatly appreciated, and I'll be sure to share my shots when I get back.

Thanks.

I will be heading to St Thomas and St John this coming week for a family member's wedding. I'm deliberately going for the entire week to try to do some dives. Does anyone have advice regarding dive operators, locations, shore diving, etc? Any help would be greatly appreciated, and I'll be sure to share my shots when I get back.

Thanks.

IMO, diving in the USVI has gone downhill in the last decade. I feel like the BVI has a lot more coral left alive. If you have a chance to make it to Virgin Gorda, go with DiveBVI - they're great. Wreck Alley is fun, and they're closer to the Rhone and you're already in British waters vs. going to the Rhone with a US company. I did a night dive with them on the Rhone a couple months ago, since they're close enough to get out there for the night. Also, if you can convince them to take you to the Chikuzen, it's an amazing dive at over 100' with a massive school of resident barracuda.

Ok, but you asked about the VI. In St. Thomas, I used to dive with Chris Sawyer out of Red Hook, but they recently transitioned to new ownership, so I don't know how they are anymore. Also I have dived out of Hull Bay on the north side with Homer, but last I checked, he wasn't doing dives either. He had a cool night kayak and dive package that was unique, and he also would boat people out to less traveled sites along the North side. I know a professional underwater photographer that hangs out at Secret Harbor and gets amazing macro shots. That is one of the safest beaches/reefs to shore dive or snorkel at night. Safe in terms of low crime... Unrelated to diving, you HAVE to go to Lindquist Bay, now called Smith Bay Park. It is an absolutely gorgeous beach with decent snorkeling.

St. John is frankly a lot nicer than STT these days. I can't recommend a dive company there. I've been with Low Key on two occasions and really wasn't impressed. They aren't bad, they just seemed to be going through the motions a bit. You CAN rent equipment from them relatively cheaply. They recommended that I shore dive at Haulover Bay and Kiddel Bay. I ended up doing both of my dives that day at Haulover because of time constraints. It takes maybe 40 minutes to drive there from Cruz Bay, maybe 30 down to Kiddel and another 40 back to Cruz. The distances are short, but the roads windy! Haulover is in a beautiful location (well what isn't on St. John). It is a rocky beach, so I recommend fins with booties, because walking out in bare feet to put on slipper fins with gear, in breaking waves really hurts. Diving wise, it had some decent coral and was very easy to navigate at about 30' deep even if you had never been there before.

Other places on St. John... there are common places that the dive companies will take you. I've heard at various times of year there are massive starfish migrations around Waterlemon Key, which might be fun to check out. You CAN'T dive at Trunk Bay, which is silly, but there's not really anything there anyway other than beautiful beach, so it's not a big loss. I took a friend there with extra gear to "teach him diving" for a bit and was rudely turned away by the park officer. On St. John, you can also try out windsurfing at Cinnamon with rental gear. Try to just spend some time on the beautiful beaches. I have been approached by two wild dolphins just swimming in Francis Bay. Also, I'll give a plug for "The Fish Trap" restaurant in Cruz Bay. It has awesome seafood. Try the "whole fish" special. You'll get a whole fried fresh fish and sides, it's enough for two people and easily the only good restaurant on St. John you can eat for under $30 per person!

In general in the VI, tourist operators and locals are VERY jaded with tourists. You will get better dives if you insist that you are advanced and do NOT want to go on dives with first timers, etc. Give the dive operators your cell number and tell them to call you if they're running an advanced dive and want to put together a larger group. If you seem like fun, and they don't think you'll pay for average dives, they'll get back to you. When dealing with local people in the tourist industry, always say "Good Morning", "Good Evening", etc. as an introduction. You will get much better service than if you expect them to greet you. It sounds crazy, but I've got years of experience down there and a simple greeting with smile will set you apart from "annoying tourists."

Let me know if you have any other questions or ideas!

Although I haven't done a ton of dives in St. Thomas I have always had luck going with Admiralty Dive Center. Small boat only 6 divers. I have always been able to do the more "advanced sites" even if the rest of the group couldn't. I can't speak to the reefs as I have always requested doing the wrecks. There is one, the wit concrete that had when I was there and still I believe a couple of bull sharks hanging around. The female was huge. Along with the other typical fish and rays. The wit shoal is maybe there best wreck the current can get crazy out there at times. Anyway if you want any more info let me know.

-Chad

Thank you both for the input. Chad, I too find myself leaning more towards wrecks rather than reefs so I may have to follow your recommendation. I will be diving the last Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday of this month so I hope to bring back a report.

Thanks for the leads.

-Kristian

Once the wedding is over, I would suggest going to St John and staying there the rest of the time. The north side beaches are magnificent! You either take a taxi-bus or rental car to get there as they are in a national park. This page has 3 photos of St John coastal views. Not many places you can see fabulous beaches with NO development or hotels to damage the view and still be on US soil.

St John views

If you like wrecks, you can dive the Rhone from St John with Low Key Watersports. The Rhone is a great wreck dive. You can read its history by googling it. They have MASSIVE lobsters living inside the wreck and its wide open for penetration. The wreck has divers all the time so fish are used to divers and close approach is possible. Here is one example. He was hiding under a steel plate from the hull and he let me slide under with him and get the photo.

Barracuda under Rhone

I dove with Low Key Watersports on St John last Feb and they were the only one's doing the Rhone every week. Others would take reservations but did not fillup to go out. Make a reservation for the Rhone if you want to do it!! Low Key was the only dive boat going out daily when we were at St John.

Low Key has a good boat and equipment. Liked the dive guides and people working the shop. Its located close to the ferry dock. The front glass on the boat window was a bit leaky and the trip to/from Rhone had rough weather so nothing stayed dry on the trip to/from the Rhone but I never expect anything dry on the boat anyway. Its an all day trip but a great one. The Rhone is at BVI and they motor over.

Since diving is not great enough to make St John a fabulous dive destination, most divers were limited in experience, most rent their gear. Many were families with the kids getting their first diving experience. It was all pleasant and fun but no highly experienced divers except the crew. Most divers went too fast, ran out of air too soon.

I had the only camera on baord except for the Rhone dive when there was one other.

There was not a rinse tank on the boat for camera gear. I brought a waterproof bag with water in it for rinsing the camera.

My favorite dive was located southeast of the island, I believe it was eagle shoals. It was a longer boat ride than most but well worth it. It beat all other dives at St John but a huge margin.

Most diving is done between St Thomas and St John and its only fair. There is a dive shop in the at Coral Bay in St John but he was not going out when we were there...not certain if they are still in business. Here is a link to seeing St John dive shops.

St John Dive shops

We stayed at Coconut Coast Villas and really liked it. Sent friends there for their honeymoon and they loved it. Easy walk to town and the dive shop. Ocean front view from your deck but not a sand beach there.

PM me if you want more info on St John or to see more photo's of the Rhone.

Dave-

Thanks for the tips. Yea, when I was looking at conditions it seemed St John looked more appealing than St Thomas. I plan on spending Friday on St John and therefore will be looking to do at least one boat dive.

While doing a Google search, i read several posts regarding the shore diving off of St John. While it seemed most was regarding snorkelers, i believe a few mentioned scuba gear. Do you have any input for shore diving?

thanks in advance.

-Kristian

Hi Kristian

On St Thomas there is a dive shop called Coki Beach Dive Club. They do shore dives from Coki Beach. I haven't been there in 5 or 6 years so I can't attest to what it's like now, but back then, it was a nice dive.

Mike

If you take an early ferry Fri morning, you can make the boat dive with no trouble. Its a very short walk from the ferry to the dive boat, if you use Low Key. I suggested they change the name to Lee Key (leaky) to match a Peter Sellers Pink Panther comedy but they passed on it.

I did no shore diving and am not familiar with a good place for it there. There is some OK snorkeling on the north side by the beaches. I got to watch a barracuda getting cleaned there. I would not call it great snorkeling as there is too much sand for coral growth of significance. But the beaches are wonderful, which makes up for it a bit.

Some people like the snorkeling on the S.E. end of the island but its a significant hike after a long drive and I never made it that far.

They were doing the Rhone on Thursdays when I was there. You might call and check the current schedule. Its not expensive to call there and there was no special charges for using our cell phone there either but I cannot speak for your provider. It was just like another area code in the US.

Grocery and related prices were right at double compared with here so pack your aspirin and hair stuff in advance.

I would call Low Key and ask about shore diving. I would try to talk to one of the dive guides that has been there a while. Ask when the boat is back and call then. There was a tall, dark haired guide that was most helpful. I do not recall his name but he was by far the tallest dive guide. The dive shop will know who you are asking for and can tell you when to call. If I recall correctly, he left his engineering or teaching job in the US to be a dive guide there.

Its hard to beat local knowledge.

In my investigation I noticed that a few dive operators from St Thomas ran divers to sites off of St John. I assume the two islands must be pretty close then. Either way, I will look into operators who can take me over to St John.

Now i just need to wait until my emails are answered!

Yes, the islands are close. Its something like a 20 min ferry ride. Dive shops from both sides can reach all locations between St Thomas and St John. The diving is shallow there, usually 50 ft bttm. Its a good spot for beginning divers as there is usually little current and that area is protected from north winds and big waves due to other smaller islands.

Here is a teaser photo of a cooperative fish from last Feb. that was taken between those islands.

queen angel

Hope you have a great time. Wish I could be there to dive with you all.

You can also make phone calls as it was just regular long distance when did it before.

A great shot Dave! I will post a few when I get back. Thanks again for all the tips.