Dive Review of Dive Experience/The Buccaneer in
Virgin Islands/St. Croix

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Dive Experience/The Buccaneer: "St. Croix has some of the best Carribean diving", Dec, 2015, by Harvey S. Cohen, NJ, US ( Sr. Contributor 25 reports with 18 Helpful votes). Report 8799.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	The dive operator I used on previous trips no longer seemed like a good idea ([undercurrent.org link]). Fortunately, a buddy here in NJ recently made friends with Michelle Pugh on an Antarctic (!) dive trip. Michelle is in the Women Divers Hall of Fame and runs Dive Experience in St. Croix. It is a great operation-- well-organized, well-staffed, and with a dive boat that is large, fast, and stable. If there's room on the boat, Skeeter the dog will come along and entertain during the surface interval by fetching his toy from the water. Many good dive sites are a short ride from the dock, so the morning 2-tank dive typically left between 8:30 and 9:00 and returned between 12:00 and 12:30. They do a Wednesday afternoon 1-tank lionfish hunt, and night dives at the wonderful Frederiksted pier on request.It's very easy diving. For the Caribbean, the diving is quite good. There are lots of big fish and critters, and reefs are reasonably fishy and healthy. I saw several octopuses, including a really big one that just sat out in daylight and calmly let us get within arms length and take pictures. Many different seahorses, lots of turtles, several big green morays out hunting in daylight, eagle rays, dolphins, stingrays, etc. One of the dive masters, Sam Halvorson, does expert video every morning, edits it in the afternoon, and posts it on the shop's Web site. It's a treat to get on the Web each evening and see some highlights of your day's dive. I also posted a few of my pics and video clips at [flickr.com link] . We normally stay at the Buccaneer and use a rental car to drive the 2 miles to the dock in downtown Christensted, but there are also several very nice hotels within walking distance of the dock.
Websites	Dive Experience The Buccaneer
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Bali, Komodo, Raja Ampat, Banda Sea, Fiji, Coral Sea, Galapagos, many Caribbean locations, New Jersey, Florida, Gulf of Eilat, National Aquarium, Dutch Springs
Closest Airport	STX	Getting There	From the U.S., via Miami, San Juan, or St. Thomas. St. Thomas is just 40 miles from St. Croix; you can take a regular connecting flight or try the excellent seaplane service.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy	Seas	calm, choppy, surge, no currents
Water Temp	80-81°F / 27-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	40-80 Ft/ 12-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Most divers stay with one of the DMs, because they point out interesting stuff. But they don't seem to mind if buddy pairs of qualified divers go off on their own. I wandered off with two friends on one dive, and nobody said we shouldn't. If you're not sure, ask.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	Schools	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		Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Dedicated camera bucket on boat. Dive masters do a lot of UWP and like to help guests do their UWP.

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Dive Review of Dive Experience/The Buccaneer in Virgin Islands/St. Croix

Dive Experience/The Buccaneer: "St. Croix has some of the best Carribean diving", Dec, 2015,

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 Dive Experience/The Buccaneer in
Virgin Islands/St. Croix