Frederiksted Pier, St. Croix, USVI, Trip Report

[mitsuguy]

well, we made it into a trip at least... our shop is on the North shore of St. Croix, so, for us, it was a 30 minute drive

It was myself, two other instructors, one boat captain (who is working towards DM), and a friend... Got all of our gear ready at the shop, piled into the shop van and headed out, we left at 7, which is closing time for the shop, and it was already dark...

Got to the pier, unloaded our stuff, parked the van... Got our gear on and walked to the end of the pier... depending on how you measure it, the pier is about 2200 feet long, but part is not roadway, and you can pull onto it partially, so, we had about 1/4 of a mile to walk... Once we got to the end, myself and the two girls bailed off the side, giant stride like, the other two tossed their gear in and bailed in after it... It was about a 9 foot drop, but it wasn't bad at all... I would probably go as high as 15 feet for a giant stride, but that would be about it...

We submerged at around 8 pm... It was the first time I took a camera with me to the pier, so I got some pretty good shots... They are following... This was an amazing dive, 1 hour, 38 minutes, and everyone was somewhere around 400-600 psi remaining... Not my best, but it'll do Max depth was 40 feet... I tell people all the time that the pier is one of the best macro dives in the world, not only in my opinion, but certain publications have said the same thing... It is amazing all the little stuff you see when you truly look - things that I am definitely not good enough to truly capture with just a basic point and shoot camera... Frogfish, Batfish, Lizardfish, Scorpionfish, seahorses, eels of all sorts, crabs, octopus... Recently they surveyed it and found 98 species of fish alone...

After getting out, we loaded all our gear into the van, drove around the corner to a nice little bar/restaurant called the Lost Dog... Had some amazing pizza and finally got home around midnight... not a bad night dive at all...

Here's some of the better pics... (and I don't have any of my ID books with me right this second, so, if ya like, feel free to chime in any descriptions I missed)

crab of some sorts...


really small crab...


red striped cleaner shrimp


octopus #1


decorator crab


seahorse


red lipped batfish #1


red lipped batfish #2


decorator crab


bearded fire worms (and look at that color on the pylon)

[mitsuguy]

huge green moray eel #1


octopus #2


can you make out the subject of this photo??? it's a tiny arrow crab


Octopus #3


some sort of snail...


based on behavior and overall shape/size, I thought this was a scorpionfish, but it is not nearly camouflaged as well as it should be..


two tiny little crabs...


the wildest decorator crab I've ever seen...

[mitsuguy]

Octopus #4


Octopus #4 again (we say like 5 or 6 total I believe)


ah-hem! Frogfish!


nice sized southern stingray


1 of dozens of spotted morays


jackknife


huge green moray #2... I really wanted a better picture of this guy - he seemed to be at least 8' long, but he would never come out of his hiding hole... he was definitely bigger than the first one we found...


Hope everyone enjoyed...

[scubagirlj]

outstanding photos! you may be the best ambassador yet for st croix!

[chinacat46]

Nice the pier was definitely my fav spot on St. Croix. I think I saw everything you had pics of but the batfish. I've found batfish before but I looked for them at the pier but came up empty.

[ccoceangirl]

That was awesome... Oh how I wish I could get into the water!!!!

[Cheddarchick]

How mean......Come on Mitsu..give the girl a break.......How could you post a great dive like that with your girl in a cast.....

[ccoceangirl]

Awe, Its ok. I just pretend I'm not in the cast and that I just live in a place where you cant go diving. (use of imagination can sometimes work for you). I live through him right now. Just because I cant have fun doesnt mean I dont wanna hear about it.

[Travelnsj]

Saw most of that....Do not remember if I saw the Decorator Crab (seen them at other places) and I know I did not see the Batfish.

[mitsuguy]

Originally Posted by Travelnsj

Saw most of that....Do not remember if I saw the Decorator Crab (seen them at other places) and I know I did not see the Batfish.

I counted at least 20 decorator crabs... many are very well camouflaged though...

it took a few dives there to realize everything I was really truly seeing...