stx diving suggestions

Cane Bay was excellent! We dove (dived?) with Cane Bay Dive Shop and it was so easy. We literally walked across the street and into the water. The diving was great as well.

Cane Bay , Carambola, and Fredericksted Pier are all good dives. The pier use to be better it lost a bit in the dredging.

The pier, and if you are a strong swimmer Sprat Hall. From there you can kick out to the shallow wrecks.

I did not know that I snorkel there all the time. I will try that some time. Need scuba to get to it?

Thanks for the good suggestions. I have dove Cane bay. Thats a nice convenient dive for sure; beautiful. I dove the pier also. Very nice. I like the pylons, they give ya a good point of reference. The dredging did diminish the experience though.

Now Sprat Hall. That sounds interesting. I haven't done that yet. Where is Sprat Hall? Does anyone have any more details about that? I'm planning on diving this Sunday.

Spratt Hall is on the Wset end north of Fsted. Just watch out to make sure the current isn't running.

Yes, it is a SCUBA dive. It's about 50 ft depth. I guess you could snorkle as well.

I snorkel there ever time I am on island. I always stay with my good friend Bruce at Mount Victory. It is very close to them. But 20 feet is as deep as I realistically can go and enjoy it. Fifty that is for the pros. I do wonder were you go down to the water at. Where I go,scuba would be a lot of work to get to and in the water. A wreak dive from shore might be worth it.

Yes indeed. I mean scuba. Sorry so not saying so. So west side north of F'sted. I know of a few landingings there with good access to the water. Any particular landmarks for finding the wrecks? I need to be spoon feed.
Thanks again.

Checkm with Scuba Shack next to Coconuts, They may have changed the name to N2Blue. They can tell you the landmarks. The bouys are marking the wrecks.

another good dive is down the beach from Cane Bay (west). Also go to the twin palms west of Cane bay and swim Scuba) back to Cane Bay. It's better if you have two cars so you don't have to walk.

Can you see the bouys for monks bath?

I never heard of that one.

You never heard of monks bath. It is right by Sprat hall. The monks carved it out of the coral. The snorkeling might be second to Buck island. The Bath is cool to, in the heat of the day it gets hot like a spa. With every wave it gets about 20 gallons of new water so it stays clean. Its the only place on STX I have seen a large French Angle. When you drive past sprat hall go slow look to you left there is a trail in the thick bush. Pull over right there, no lot just the side of the road, The Trail is rough but only 30 feet at most. Say hi to my Angle for me, he is always there. The monks even made stairs to get in the water its cool you will love it.

Regarding Monks Baths. I may be wrong, but I believe these are natural formations, not man (or Monk) made.

Ya your wrong There is history on them at visitstcroix.com. You can also tell by looking at them.

It might be gotostcroix.com I will try to find it.

Sorry my wife showed it to me just now in the travel guide book we bought for the first time we went there. It was made by monks when the knights of something owned ST Croix. Nature does have a lot to do with it though. They even filled the bath with sand because the coral rock is not very comfy. You must were Tevas or something like that. Thats where getting the flippers on and using the steps to get in the sea part gets tricky.

Ok about these monk's baths.

I went and walked for half a mile across from sprat hall. The only bath like structures were natural made. I suspect urban legend here or something you may tell a child. I also found many online references to them being created naturally by wave action. I may have missed the one actual bath that may exist, but the unique pools I saw within the coral are natural. Ill keep looking. Its fun to explore anyway.

The snorkeling is great there. While scuba diving there is a nice line of reef is heavily populated around 20 to 30ft deep. It was a very nice dive. The entry points are few. That coral is a bugger on the feet. aqua shoes are a must.

I didn't make it to any wrecks. I spotted a few buoys out there and it was a long kick to get to them.

I appreciate all the advise I'm getting from everyone. Please keep it coming. Help me find the truth about the Monks Baths.

From "homeandabroad.com"

According to local legend, the Knights of Malta built this site during their occupation of the island from 1653-1665. However, it seems more plausible that this beautiful snorkel site was created by natural forces. Its rocky bottom makes it great for snorkeling, and the beach is usually free from crowds.

From "villasoleil.com"

Monk's Bath
Across from "Northside" and down the steps, the coral formation here have been hollowed out by years of continuous wave action. The snorkeling is excellent.

That"s what I've found out and about, hope it's a help!

The First pool of water is a bit of both. That one just fills the bath. There is no force in nature that made the second. It is Far from the water were the ocean could carve a Deep square box with steps. Well both have steps. The way I get in to snorkel is to swim under the bridge were they tapped into the ocean after they made it. They tapped in to the main hole to get the water in the bath. Mango you must not have seen it the walk is ten seconds for the road. Thats enough about that I like nobody being there.

I have done shore dives at the Frederiksted Pier, Cane Bay, Carambola, Willie's Wish (Cane Bay area) and between Off the Wall and the Waves hotel. Other than the pier, which has lots of small critters and fish to look at, the other dives are primarily scenic coral dives with not much else. It would be nice to dive somewhere where there is a healthy fish population that is seldom frequented by a dive boat. How about the south shore? I know a lot of areas are grassy and not prime dive spots but there must be somewhere that is interesting and divable on a calm day. Has anyone ever dove the Jack's Bay area on the east end? It is normally pretty rough but there are calm days during the summer. How about the Cramer's Park area? Salt River? Sprat Hall sounds interesting, although I do not know where the best spot to go is. I am also a little concerned about car security in some places. The advice I was given at one dive shop regarding shore dives was to leave the car windows down and the doors unlocked while diving to avoid broken windows. I have not had any problems yet but some of these sites, other than the pier and Cane Bay, are somewhat isolated and it could really put a damper on the post-dive experience if my cooler of ice cold beer was missing when I got back to the car....

The south shore has a big reef all along East End past the rum factory on to Udall. In some places it is not that far from shore. For the most part a kayak or paddle board would be nice or needed. There is fish,even lobster, no scuba if you take lobster.

With the light winds of summer pretty much here, I thought I would revive this thread to see if there were any new suggestions for shore dive spots not normally accessible or maybe just not well known. It has been a while since I dove, primarily due to lack of interest in diving the same old spots, so some new inspiration would be greatly appreciated!

North Star