Where to Go in December?

[Travelnsj]

If you want heads up on St Croix in December....ask someone who lives there...Mitsuguy.

[mitsuguy]

Originally Posted by Travelnsj

If you want heads up on St Croix in December....ask someone who lives there...Mitsuguy.

ooh ooh, me me...

shore diving is great around here... there are very few sites that actually require a boat to get to... unfortunately, the shore diving in front of the resorts isn't so great... Divi Carina is on the south side and are in a protected reef, so, the beach is great, but the diving from shore not so great... Then, on the north shore, Carambola is a beautiful resort, and the shore diving is OK there, but, a mile and a half down the road is our dive shop (www.canebayscuba.com), which sits on shore, less than 1000 feet from the wall, which is a 3200 foot drop... So, you can gear up on our deck, walk 150 feet to the beach, and do the best dive on the island... Then, do it again and again, until you've seen a big portion of it... There are three other dive sites accessible from shore between Cane Bay and Carambola, North Star, Twin Palms, and the Jungle... All beautiful sites, and all easily accessible from land... If you go the other way, you can also shore dive all along the North Shore - there is La Vallee, Rust Op Twist, Pavilions and more... As mentioned, the pier is a great "shore" dive - you just jump off the pier, then exit at the beach... (I usually spend at least an hour and a half on guided dives, and have spent 2 hours on my own at the pier) Then, there are some wrecks at Butler Bay... you can shore dive them, but I would recommend a boat for them - the currents can get a little crazy even when diving from a boat. Salt River, as well as a few other North Shore dive sites such as Captain Morgans, Vertigo and Hamm's Bluff, you would also need a boat to get to...

If you don't necessarily want a resort, we also have some cottages with some killer shore and boat diving packages, something no other dive shop around here offers...

December is our busy season here though, so no buy one get one kind of offers unfortunately...

[lucidblue]

Thanks Mitsuguy, this info is really helpful. I went to your site, the cottages look like the way we'd probably want to go. I'll have to do some more research. If we can't do St. Croix this trip, I definitely want to come another time.

[TJDiver]

Originally Posted by mitsuguy

ooh ooh, me me...

shore diving is great around here... there are very few sites that actually require a boat to get to... unfortunately, the shore diving in front of the resorts isn't so great... Divi Carina is on the south side and are in a protected reef, so, the beach is great, but the diving from shore not so great... Then, on the north shore, Carambola is a beautiful resort, and the shore diving is OK there, but, a mile and a half down the road is our dive shop (www.canebayscuba.com), which sits on shore, less than 1000 feet from the wall, which is a 3200 foot drop... So, you can gear up on our deck, walk 150 feet to the beach, and do the best dive on the island... Then, do it again and again, until you've seen a big portion of it... There are three other dive sites accessible from shore between Cane Bay and Carambola, North Star, Twin Palms, and the Jungle... All beautiful sites, and all easily accessible from land... If you go the other way, you can also shore dive all along the North Shore - there is La Vallee, Rust Op Twist, Pavilions and more... As mentioned, the pier is a great "shore" dive - you just jump off the pier, then exit at the beach... (I usually spend at least an hour and a half on guided dives, and have spent 2 hours on my own at the pier) Then, there are some wrecks at Butler Bay... you can shore dive them, but I would recommend a boat for them - the currents can get a little crazy even when diving from a boat. Salt River, as well as a few other North Shore dive sites such as Captain Morgans, Vertigo and Hamm's Bluff, you would also need a boat to get to...

If you don't necessarily want a resort, we also have some cottages with some killer shore and boat diving packages, something no other dive shop around here offers...

December is our busy season here though, so no buy one get one kind of offers unfortunately...

Well, I don't know about lucidblue...but, I think you just sold me! So much so...I was just on orbitz, looking up airfare.

[boates]

Just a note re:Curacao,
We had a trip (our 9th,) there in Dec./05?, (1st 2 wks), and it rained everyday, hard, 2-3 x's/day, for about 10 min each time. And most every night. Diving was still great, however a tad chilly for surface intervals. The flora was in full bloom, very pretty.
Also mosquitoes were bountiful...... and hungry!

Happy travels!

[jaybob217]

My wife and I stayed at Carambola a few years ago in December and finished our OW with Cane Bay. Amazing! We've been to Curacao, Playa, and Kauai since and always compare everything to Carambola. It's a little secluded out in the middle of no where (as far as shopping goes) but with a rental vehicle you can get everything you need. The onsite (Carambola) restaurant is nice but really pricey. We ate up the road at "The Wall" I think it was called a lot and the bar/cafe right there at Cane Bay Dive shop. There was a place just up the road also that had these incredible BBQ'd lobster... Man, now I want to go back.

Out of all the places we've been, we loved Carambola, soooo relaxing and secluded, really beautiful. Then you can just drive up the road and do the awesome shore diving at Cane Bay. We got an unbelievable deal through Funjet with them right around December (like $740 per/per including air from Kansas City) crazy cheap. I've seen some specials around for them lately again (funjet.com, cheapcarribean.com)

We're looking at Cozumel, never been there before.. want a quick affordable dive vacation... But we really like shore diving on our own - take it slow and relax. Which was nice about Curacao but we didn't care much for the island. Too flat and dry. And we know Bonaire is the shore dive of all shore dives, but not much top side there we've heard. We like to shop and relax as much as dive. OK, now I'm really realizing what a great shore dive Cane Bay was. We did our first certified dive at Night off of Frederiksted Pier! Doing a giant stride off the pier at dusk. So cool! Wow, I think I'm talking myself into going back there again... it's amazing how much I realize that was really good diving now that we've been a lot of other places.

[mitsuguy]

Originally Posted by jaybob217

My wife and I stayed at Carambola a few years ago in December and finished our OW with Cane Bay. Amazing! We've been to Curacao, Playa, and Kauai since and always compare everything to Carambola. It's a little secluded out in the middle of no where (as far as shopping goes) but with a rental vehicle you can get everything you need. The onsite (Carambola) restaurant is nice but really pricey. We ate up the road at "The Wall" I think it was called a lot and the bar/cafe right there at Cane Bay Dive shop. There was a place just up the road also that had these incredible BBQ'd lobster... Man, now I want to go back.

Out of all the places we've been, we loved Carambola, soooo relaxing and secluded, really beautiful. Then you can just drive up the road and do the awesome shore diving at Cane Bay. We got an unbelievable deal through Funjet with them right around December (like $740 per/per including air from Kansas City) crazy cheap. I've seen some specials around for them lately again (funjet.com, cheapcarribean.com)

We're looking at Cozumel, never been there before.. want a quick affordable dive vacation... But we really like shore diving on our own - take it slow and relax. Which was nice about Curacao but we didn't care much for the island. Too flat and dry. And we know Bonaire is the shore dive of all shore dives, but not much top side there we've heard. We like to shop and relax as much as dive. OK, now I'm really realizing what a great shore dive Cane Bay was. We did our first certified dive at Night off of Frederiksted Pier! Doing a giant stride off the pier at dusk. So cool! Wow, I think I'm talking myself into going back there again... it's amazing how much I realize that was really good diving now that we've been a lot of other places.

glad you enjoyed it here... that's about how I feel about it here - great diving, neat little island, beautiful scenery...

oh, here, I took this pic just the other day of Carambola's beach (on the left) that stretches out towards the northwesternmost point (hamm's bluff)

[lucidblue]

Originally Posted by mselizann

Cayman diving is good in Dec- we'll be there Dec 11-18

I think I've narrowed it down to Grand Cayman. I think I want to stay at Cobalt Coast, they have a decent Fall special. Would also consider something on the east end.

Water are the water temps like in December? Low 80s /high 70s? I usually just dive in a 3mm, but I've been getting colder lately, so I'm considering a 5/4/3.

There's tons of Cayman info up here for me to sift through.

[TJDiver]

Originally Posted by lucidblue

I think I've narrowed it down to Grand Cayman. I think I want to stay at Cobalt Coast, they have a decent Fall special. Would also consider something on the east end.

Water are the water temps like in December? Low 80s /high 70s? I usually just dive in a 3mm, but I've been getting colder lately, so I'm considering a 5/4/3.

There's tons of Cayman info up here for me to sift through.

I've not been to Grand Cayman, but my LDS swears by this place on the east end. Their packages also include a rental car for your stay. My LDS also says because of their isolated location, they dive sites that aren't as busy as others. Keep in mind, this is all second hand info, but he's not given me bad advice yet.
Bust Into Summer Dive Package

[jess86]

south america you should take a brasil, ecuador or peru vacations it should be cheap and hot, you can go either to the jungle or to the coast I'm sure you'll enjoy whatever you choose...