Dive Sites
Our underwater playground.
Treasures abound.
Diving The Virgin Islands.
Ever seen a pirate in scuba gear? Famous for its treasured true pirate stories, The Virgin Islands is also home to some of the best Caribbean diving and our revolving backyard boasts access to some of the very best scuba diving sites that the Virgin Islands has to offer. Climb onboard at our home base of St Thomas, US Virgin Islands and sail off to explore all the US and British Virgin Islands has to offer with our Liveaboard Charters or dive for the day aboard our full day private yacht dive or half-day 2 Tank Dive.
There are so many fantastic sites to explore, we couldn’t cap it at 10. Continue reading to explore some of our favorite dive sites.
St John.
Over 60% of the island of St John is protected National Park. This is great news for divers as the waters are also protected, welcoming marine life aplenty including some of our favorite pals, the Green, Hawksbill and Leatherback turtles. With a variety of sites including the magnificent ‘Cathedral’ of Eagle Shoals, Booby Rock and Tektite where aquanauts once lived under the sea. Conducted via a cooperative government, industry, university effort in 1969 and 1970, Tektite was the the first nationally sponsored scientists-in-the-sea program including partial funding from NASA who was interested in the psychology of teams working in the closed environment, a similar habitat to that of spacecraft.
St Thomas (and nearby islands).
Craving a dive and pizza? Just before you sail over to Pizza Pi, a floating pizza joint just off Great St James in Christmas Cove, you will pass two rocks named appropriately Cow & Calf. This must dive for all skill levels leads you on a colorful adventure through canyons and pass-through arches featuring the perfect hiding spots for giant lobsters, Octopus and Nurse sharks as well as soft and hard corals, schools of jacks, spade-fish and our pals the Hawksbill turtle. After your grab that NY pizza don’t forget the visit Stragglers Rocks where you can explore a labyrinth of colors and sea life.
Buck Island Wildlife Refuge is the perfect spot to explore a colorful coral reef and ship wreck, rich with marine life and oh so many turtles. This site offers some fantastic variety to please both snorkelers and divers alike.
Don’t miss a visit to the hospital ship. Sunk in 1985, the 390ft (188.9m) Naval Hospital Ship Miss Opportunity, sits on her side at just over 90ft (27.4m). Offering easy entry into a full tour of her interior, this is the perfect site for those looking to penetrate a truly fascinating wreck.
St Croix.
Almost completely surrounded by a barrier reef, St Croix diving is some of the best the USVI has to offer. St Croix has so many dive sites, if you prefer to sail less and dive more, you are sure to find everything you desire just cruising its coastlines.
Cane Bay Wall.
Created by the Puerto Rico Trench, ‘The Wall’ drops to an epic 3200ft (975m) just off of St Croix’s North shore and is a must for the bucket list. Boasting expansive views of black coral and elk horn coral, the marine life here does not disappoint. Find yourself surrounded in schools of black durgon, tangs and damsels. Spot reef sharks, stingrays, sea turtles, barracuda, schools of triggerfish, parrot fish, angelfish and trumpetfish. If you are one of the lucky ones, you might even spot a rare manta ray, hammerhead shark, whale shark, or playful pod of dolphins. Oh and don’t miss the rodeo with a ride on ‘The Wall’s’ very own carousel horse.
Butler Bay.
Wreck junkies can get their fix in Butler Bay with three spectacular sites boasting six wrecks and one post apocalyptic playground. Encrusted in live coral, surrounded in fish and voted one of the Best Caribbean Dive Sites by USA Today, The Deep Wrecks is often home to our favorite Goliath Grouper friend and features two wrecks in one dive. The Rosa Maria, a 177ft (54m) steel freighter in 70-110ft (21-33.5m) and The Coakley Bay, an oil refinery tug boat in 55-70ft (16.8-21.3m). The Shallow Wrecks is a fascinating wreck dive for all skill levels and features: a NorthSea Trawler (Suffolk Maid); a tugboat (Northwind); a massive oil barge (Virgin Islander); NOAA’s HydroLab (Aegir), which was decommissioned in 1985; and the remains of several Hess Oil Trucks. With its wheelhouse starting at 20ft (6m), The Northwind Tugboat was used in the TV movie “Dreams of Gold — The Mel Fisher Story” and is a photographer’s favorite. For those hoping to visit our reef shark friends, a dive on Armageddon’s post apocalyptic playground, is a must. Here the remains of the original Frederiksted Pier, destroyed by Hurrican Hugo in 1989, were gathered and dropped in 60-100ft (18.3-30.5m) of water creating a surreal surround and perfect artificial reef for shark encounters.
Frederiksted.
In the laid back town of Frederiksted, you will find one of the best macro dive sites in the world. Another favorite among photographers, the 1,526ft (465m) Frederiksted Pier offers a vast variety of marine life and is one of the best night dives in the VI. With an average depth of 25ft (7.6m) you can weave between it’s colorful posts encrusted in sponges and coral to a maximum depth of 90ft (27.4m). Within this colorful surround you will meet seahorses, frogfish, octopus, eels, Hawksbill and Green Turtles. Keep a sharp eye out and you just might catch a Spotted Eagle Ray and hidden treasures such as Scorpion Fish in the sand that surrounds the pier. Whether you prefer to dive or snorkel, this site offers something for everyone in the group.
South of the Frederiksted Pier is a stretch of white sand beaches which are home to the Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge, a critical nesting habitat for the endangered Leatherback Sea Turtle. Cruising these waters you just might get to meet one of these amazing turtles and the clear waters that surround this area boast some memorable dive sites with options for every skill level. Dive into all the colors of Aquarium and meet our Nurse shark pal, explore the sloping reef of Tide Bottle to party with the moray eels and lobsters, or take the plunge into an Alien Nation on a reef that takes you on a colorful journey down to 110ft (33.5m). Buddy up with Hawksbill Turtles, spotted drums, trumpetfish, trunkfish, cowfish and angelfish, you might even see the majestic Spotted Eagle Ray.
Just North of the Frederiksted Pier lies the Submarine Barge. Be one of the few to own bragging rights on this unique site as it is not often visited by other dive groups. Here you will dive in at 40ft (12m) to follow a colorful sloping reef down to 80ft (24.4m) where massive chains lead us to the unveiling of this extraordinary wreck which sits at 111ft (33.8m) and is best suited for advanced divers. Built to raise and lower submarines out of the water, the Submarine Barge is complete with a submarine cradle and boasts a wealth of ballast tanks, pipes, giant fenders, massive cables and some of the perfect hiding spots for Nurse sharks and the occasional Goliath Grouper.
British Virgin Islands.
For those desiring the best of both worlds, sail into the British Virgin Islands for famous wrecks and reefs including the Wreck of the RMS Rhone and the surreal underwater playground, Alice’s Wonderland.
Off Season Locations
August – October
Every year we sail out of the hurricane box for the months of August – October to explore different underwater realms. During these months we offer custom dive experiences. Contact us at info@cruisenautic.com if you’d like to learn more about our off season dive locations.
