St Croix lies just 37nm South of St Thomas. The island is the largest island of the Virgin islands of United States, and a little off from the beaten island hopping path.
A well known port on the island is Christiansted in the North which is also a famous diving area with its reef structure surrounding it, and having easier access to the Buck islands National Reserve area that lies North East of Christiansted. This is also the busier side of the island where a few day charter boats operate from.
Due various technical aka boat issues we found it better to approach the islands West side without needing to tackle and navigate around the reef structure. In the end we were happy that the engine, anchor windlass and VHF failed and brought us to approach the town of Frederiksted instead!
Sleepy as this historical town might be, It was the perfect anchorage with an easy approach and large sandy area to drop the anchor. And on top of it we had one of the best night dives I have ever had! From the boat we noticed clear visibility of the water. Knowing the richness of the wildlife around the area and seeing the pier spotlights lightning up the pier area made us gear up in the middle of the night, crabbing our dive torches and hopping to the dinghy to explore the macro dive heaven of Frederiksted.
Note; from the anchorage you will have access to plenty of other dive sites as the island has reef wall dropping around it. And the best part is, there are well maintained dive moorings marking all the sites!
We did these next mentioned dive next to the Pier in Frederiksted from 40ft monohull, in late April. Water temperature was around 28 C°, visibility around 15 meters.
The Pier, Frederiksted
17°71.442’N 69°88.44’W
Anchor:
Closest over night stay spot is North of the pier, right in front of the Fort Frederik and Frederiksted beach.
You’ll also find mooring balls that you can use on the area, 15$ a night will be collected by the port authorities. Dropping anchor advisable with good visibility. The Sandy area, as large as it is has a couple of rocky and coral patches where you want to avoid dropping the anchor.
Good holding. The anchorage is very open but gives you a good shelter from E and SE winds and swell.
Dinghy:
Quick and easy dinghy ride! You can tie up the dinghy to the Pier itself! There is a small dinghy landing area at the beginning / entrance of the pier. This, is also, your main entrance and dinghy landing and tying spot when going on shore or for a stroll in town.
Dive:
We did this dive as a night dive and I would HIGHLY recommend it as one!
Start the dive from the beginning of the pier, descend and dive along the pier. Depth will slowly and gradually deeper from 3 meters to 11 meters. You’ll have a sandy bottom area surrounding the pier on both sides, and piles of the pier to swim around underneath the pier itself. Take this dive slowly and observe every detail.
We saw so much! An spotted eagle ray swam by, we spotted a few seahorses, different nudibranches, sea slugs, shrimps, lobsters, batfish, eels, different octopus and many many more.
Easy and an entry level dive!
Sailing Divers 