Trip Report and Pics, St. Croix 10/3-10/10

[jet126]

Thanks for the report, Chuck. Looking forward to the pics. Get well soon!

[mitsuguy]

Originally Posted by chinacat46

Thats not bad but does that include RT air from San Juan to St. Croix and food? Plus if I hadn't got sick I would have done 27 dives and considering $8 a dive for Nitrox that is another ~$200 so it appears the Nekton is a better deal when you add in food and transportation too!

round trip is only about $50 extra typically, and we charge $8 extra for nitrox per dive, which over 27 dives is only $16 difference more...

the only addendum would be food, which, as you reported, was plentiful, but not great...

I don't know.. just not a huge fan of liveaboards, especially when there is lots of culture that you missed that is just awesome (a single friday night at Carambola, and you would have gotten local food, the Mocko Jumbies, and a lot of locals dancing), not to mention the local expertise at the diving.....

just ask Cruzan when they (Kelly and Scott) when they get back and report - they have dove with us all week long... I have a feeling they will have a wholly better trip report of St. Croix... I just wish I could have dove with them (more, possibly, I'll dive with them tomorrow) - but I've been a little busy tending to the broken legged wife

[chinacat46]

Originally Posted by mitsuguy

round trip is only about $50 extra typically, and we charge $8 extra for nitrox per dive, which over 27 dives is only $16 difference more...

the only addendum would be food, which, as you reported, was plentiful, but not great...

I don't know.. just not a huge fan of liveaboards, especially when there is lots of culture that you missed that is just awesome (a single friday night at Carambola, and you would have gotten local food, the Mocko Jumbies, and a lot of locals dancing), not to mention the local expertise at the diving.....

just ask Cruzan when they (Kelly and Scott) when they get back and report - they have dove with us all week long... I have a feeling they will have a wholly better trip report of St. Croix... I just wish I could have dove with them (more, possibly, I'll dive with them tomorrow) - but I've been a little busy tending to the broken legged wife

This also assumes I do 17 dives from shore right? If I'm gonna do that it will be in Bonaire.

I'm sure others will have different experience this was just my opinion. The marine life is not what it used to be in the caribbean. I did think the reefs were in good condition though and enjoyed seeing them. I wish I did like the caribbean more it's closer and cheaper but it really doesn't compare to the Indo-Pacific. Where have you dived besides St. Croix and Utila?

[mitsuguy]

Originally Posted by chinacat46

This also assumes I do 17 dives from shore right? If I'm gonna do that it will be in Bonaire.

I'm sure others will have different experience this was just my opinion. The marine life is not what it used to be in the caribbean. I did think the reefs were in good condition though and enjoyed seeing them. I wish I did like the caribbean more it's closer and cheaper but it really doesn't compare to the Indo-Pacific. Where have you dived besides St. Croix and Utila?

Cozumel, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, California, Texas Clipper...

nothing really in the Pacific yet...

and I'm not saying this is the best diving in the world, but you are acting like its not good at all... St. Croix is one of the best shore diving places in the Caribbean, probably second only to Bonaire...

[chinacat46]

Originally Posted by mitsuguy

Cozumel, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, California, Texas Clipper...

nothing really in the Pacific yet...

and I'm not saying this is the best diving in the world, but you are acting like its not good at all... St. Croix is one of the best shore diving places in the Caribbean, probably second only to Bonaire...

First off I didn't say it was no good at all but it's not very high on my list nor on Scuba Diving magazine list for that matter. I don't really go by what they say but as a dive destination they ranked it 14th in the caribbean and 4th in shore diving in the caribbean. There rankings not mine. I said I prefer Bonaire, Little Cayman and Grenada & SVG as my top 3 in the Caribbean. Those 3 were in the top 5 of caribbean dive destinations.

I realize this is where you make your living so I know you are more emotionally tied to it and thus can't look at it objectively as others. I'm happy you like the place so much and if it makes you happy that is what matters for you. It's not my cup of tea though and I won't pretend it is. Everyone is entitled to their opinion I respect yours and I think the reefs there are nice and I enjoyed the walls as well but I was very disappointed with the marine life. BTW Scuba Diving mag didn't have it listed in the top 15(they only listed 15) for marine life in the caribbean. It didn't make the top 10(again only 10 listed) for macro life in the caribbean. These ratings are from the Jan/Feb issue entitled "Top 100". So it appears I'm not alone in my opinion.

[mitsuguy]

Originally Posted by chinacat46

First off I didn't say it was no good at all but it's not very high on my list nor on Scuba Diving magazine list for that matter. I don't really go by what they say but as a dive destination they ranked it 14th in the caribbean and 4th in shore diving in the caribbean. There rankings not mine. I said I prefer Bonaire, Little Cayman and Grenada & SVG as my top 3 in the Caribbean. Those 3 were in the top 5 of caribbean dive destinations.

I realize this is where you make your living so I know you are more emotionally tied to it and thus can't look at it objectively as others. I'm happy you like the place so much and if it makes you happy that is what matters for you. It's not my cup of tea though and I won't pretend it is. Everyone is entitled to their opinion I respect yours and I think the reefs there are nice and I enjoyed the walls as well but I was very disappointed with the marine life. BTW Scuba Diving mag didn't have it listed in the top 15(they only listed 15) for marine life in the caribbean. It didn't make the top 10(again only 10 listed) for macro life in the caribbean. These ratings are from the Jan/Feb issue entitled "Top 100". So it appears I'm not alone in my opinion.

No, I really don't care about here more than anywhere else, in 6 months or so, we're moving to another little island somewhere...

It's just funny how much more stuff some are able to find here versus others... Some guys we knew were doing a study for REEF under the pier... they documented 98 different species of fish alone...

[chinacat46]

Originally Posted by mitsuguy

No, I really don't care about here more than anywhere else, in 6 months or so, we're moving to another little island somewhere...

It's just funny how much more stuff some are able to find here versus others... Some guys we knew were doing a study for REEF under the pier... they documented 98 different species of fish alone...

Can't say I counted but the pier was fun to find stuff. Probably enjoyed those dives the most of any I did on St. Croix but even the pier didn't compare to some of the muck dive sites on SVG. If you like that kinda of diving I highly recommend SVG.

[chinacat46]

sorry this took so long but I'm still feeling the secondary effects of the swine flu. My lungs are slowly clearing up but this thing knocked the crap out of me.

[chinacat46]

round 2

[chinacat46]

round 3