Dive Review of Cane Bay Dive Shop in
Virgin Islands/St Croix

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Cane Bay Dive Shop: "St Croix USVI dive trip, good but disease likely getting worse!", Aug, 2021, by Rudolf Sarma, NC, US ( 1 report with 1 Helpful vote). Report 11649 has 1 Helpful vote.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food	N/A
Service and Attitude	N/A	Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This was my first time diving St Croix, USVI. Chose this island because it is less touristy, frequented by fewer cruise ships. Overall, wasnt disappointed. Went with Cane Bay Dive Shop because they are one of the few outfits that are active on the north side of the island with daily trips from Salt River marina. First couple of days were choppy with a small boat / craft advisory for the north side. Used Molly's Divers for one day and dove the west side close to Frederiksted... sites "Alien Nation" (named for the hurricane broken barrel sponges) and "Aquarium". Pleasant lot on the boat. Sites were OK, nothing out of the ordinary, healthy reef by and large. Some turtles and good fish life. Also did a Frederiksted pier dive during the day and night... highly recommend this easy dive. Lots of little life to see, turtles, octopus, etc. And some fabulous bioluminescence at night. Would help to go with a local / dive master who is familiar with the pier. Next 4 days were on the north side with Cane Bay. Again, friendly outfit. Multiple sites along the wall / drop off on the north side, starting at 30-45 feet sandy bottom leading to drop off. I was impressed by the multitude of fish (in contrast to Belize and Turks that looked more like an underwater desert / graveyard). At first look, fairly healthy and colorful looking coral- brains, fans, barrel sponges, etc. But on closer look, the damn Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) has truly begun ravaging the reef. Awful to see. Spots that look bleached followed by areas where the whole texture of the coral vanishes. Really sad. And what is worse is how little we know about it. Anyway, was glad to see a good number of healthy reef sharks. Green and hawksbill turtles were frequent. Barracuda, groupers, wrasse, etc. Got some lovely pics. But my eyes kept getting drawn to the disease areas. Shout out to Bill Hein, one of the dive masters for Cane Bay Dive Shop, who also takes pics underwater and on the boat for fun. Gets some really good pics and posts them on his website daily. Some of my best diving pics to date are courtesy of Bill. One aspect that did not please me was some of the off-duty dive masters who were on the boat for the sole purpose of lobster hunting. Always hate seeing those lovely creatures being captured. Sigh... humans... Could have done shore dives at Cane Bay, but didnt have the time. Final word, would want to go back to understand the disease more and see the otherwise still thriving marine ecosystem of St Croix.
Websites	Cane Bay Dive Shop
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	51-100 dives
Where else diving	Caribbean, Red Sea, Maldives, Komodo, Socorro, etc.
Closest Airport	STX, St Croix	Getting There	Fly in to STX from any major US airport. I flew Delta from ATL to STX.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy	Seas	calm, no currents
Water Temp	27-28°C / 81-82°F	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	40-50 Ft/ 12-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Cane Bay Dive Shop in Virgin Islands/St Croix

Cane Bay Dive Shop: "St Croix USVI dive trip, good but disease likely getting worse!", Aug, 2021,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Cane Bay Dive Shop in
Virgin Islands/St Croix