diving

When David started diving with Oceanic Ventures, he talked a lot about the Virgin Islands and his desire to introduce us his home town, Christiansted, St. Croix. It seems that he has a lot of his Grandmother in his blood and he wants to introduce everyone to the uniqueness that is St. Croix. (David’s Grandmother, Janet Foster, was the Commissioner of Tourism for St. Croix and along with Vogue Magazine, coined the term The Island of Superlatives).

While he has taken several people to the island during the past few years, on February 1 he got one of his wishes; we took ten of our close warm personal friends to the island to discover what David already knew — there is good diving in St. Croix and a lot more.

We were fortunate to hook up with Ed and Molly Buckley from SCUBA in St Croix and Elsie from the Caravelle Hotel. They helped us coordinate everything from transfers, to Nitrox, Trimix, Sorb and rebreather bottles.

The diving in St Croix varies from steep deep walls to shallow flats with coral bommies and then spur and groove formations. Their are a lot of sharks in the area as well as other marine life from turtles to eels, snappers to butterfly fish. While it appears the large groupers have been fished out, other reef fish have survived and thrived.

The water temperature in this area is a little colder than the western Caribbean with temperatures ranging from 79 to 80 degrees. The waters off the island are not as protected as in some locations so there is a little more surface activity (i.e. waves) which may deter some divers from venturing out too far.

Because of the waves, winds and the relative health of our diving group, we dove mostly around the Salt River area and the channel area on the North side of St Croix. There are some other spectacular pillars and deep walls in the Cane Bay Area (I’ve seen photographs and heard stories) but the boat ride to these sites is long compared to the Salt River sites.

Despite diving solely in these areas we found the sites to be beautiful with some fun steep walls and cut-throughs in the coral formations. Because the water temperature is a little colder, there are fewer species of corals than in more temperate waters. However, the corals are healthy and plentiful.

After the dives, it seems that the national pastime in St Croix is drinking. The boardwalk is lined with bars and there are bars all around town. That is not to say that there are not restaurants serving nice meals but they tend to close early while the bars stay open until all hours of the night. Thursdays and Fridays are the big nights on the island with Saturdays being rather tame because everyone goes to the beach on Sundays (this was according to Alexandra “Alex” Morris, David’s Sister, who lives in St. Croix).

Food ranges from fresh sea food to burgers and steaks. There is a distinct West Indian flair to much of the cooking which adds a unique flavour to the dishes. Hints of Coriander, Cumin and Tamarind can be found in many of the dishes. And, there are the lobsters. Prepared in a variety of ways, all sweet and buttery.

On the last night, David arranged for a special treat for the group — a dinner in one of the St. Croix great houses with dinner prepared by none other than Alexandra Morris, a young, up and coming chef on the island. The house was built as a town house in the late 1700’s by a pair of sugar plantation owners whose plantations were several days ride from Christiansted.

This Town House is decorated with period antiques showing that the owners are well traveled. The feel is of a traditional west indian home but with antiques from the orient and Europe. This would have showcased the wealth of the land owners who built the home.

Our meal, served out in the Gazebo featured more of the local lobster, this time marinated in Cruzan Coconut Rum with toasted coconut sprinkled on top, as well as jerked chicken with a cream sauce, traditional peas and rice, local okra with mushrooms, sweet potatoes (made with spices and mashed white potatoes), a fruit salad and beans. All of this was followed by a traditional Cruzan Rum Cake (yes, it is better than the Cayman Rum Cakes) and Alexandra’s now famous passion fruit cheese cake (amazingly, there was a vine still producing passion fruit this far out of season). Fun food and fellowship, this is a way to end a trip.

Of course, David’s other goal for this trip was to finish his Principles of Technical Diving Course. Hence the reason we needed all of the logistical help from Ed and Molly. They are a tech friendly facility with Nitrox, Trimix and rebreather support available. They have granular sorb, cartridges, rebreather cylinders, twins or double cylinders, 40 cubic foot pony cylinders and other cylinders available, with or without rigging. They have a good group of gas blenders available as well as some technically trained Dive Masters to help lead the dives.

Getting to St. Croix from Houston is not as easy as the western Caribbean because this is primarily an American destination out of Miami. We went through San Juan and took an American Eagle flight over to the island. There are some other smaller carriers as well but luggage may be more of an issue with them.

One other thing to be aware of when heading to St. Croix is the island is expensive. Food, diving, technical diving supplies, etc are all expensive. Most things are imported from the states and the operating cost (water, power, fuel, etc) are expensive. This means that the prices are higher than you might expect so be prepared.

So what can I say other than traveling with David to St Croix is special and fun. He made sure everyone had a good time and for Dive Mom, he helped everyone have an exceptional shopping experience. Almost everyone came back with a St. Croix hook bracelet! Most of them purchased multiple ones — you know, it is hard to make a decision.

David loves to show off the finest points of St Croix because he is proud of the island and what it has to offer. He is truly a off-island minister of tourism. I am sure his Grandmother is smiling down on him.