Instant Reader Report
on St. Thomas Diving Club / Bolongo Bay Beach Club in
Virgin Islands / St. Thomas on
2003/08
by
Kenneth Marks , VA, USA
Report Number 030814120207569

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Send an email to the author of this report

 Grand Cayman, St. Croix, Tahiti, Martinique, Tortola (BVI), New York, Rhode
Island, North Carolina 

Dive Conditions

Gave max depth and max time guidelines with different times for those
with/without dive computers.  

[None]  

Overall Rating

St. Thomas has come out of its slump! I first dove St. Thomas in 1980.
Then, there were urchins everywhere and the coral was healthy and fish
plentiful. Then the urchins started to disappear and the coral declined.
On this trip we saw the return of the urchins and the return to health of
the reefs. Fish are plentiful again. The addition of dive site moorings is
a big plus I’m sure. 

During this trip I was treated to first class service with the St. Thomas
diving club in every way you can imagine. First, in my three days of
diving, I visited some really choice sites. Second, the boat was not
crowded and the crew tried hard to please everyone. Third, when one of my
fin straps broke, they were there with a replacement set of fins. Fourth,
something that I especially enjoyed, after determining my set up
preferences, the crew set up my equipment and changed tanks between dives.
Finally, the crew was a really nice group of people that you’d want to
spend some time with.  

On my last day of diving I awoke to a glorious morning and “bathtub” calm
seas. Some of the locals skipped work to dive that morning. We set off for
French Cap, an offshore pinnacle offering potential for large pelagic fish.
I dove a mini-wall with lots of ledges. Fish were plentiful and larger than
those closer to the island. There was spectacular stag horn coral growth.
The second dive of the day was to an equally choice dive site – Dog Rock.
Again, beautiful ledges, plentiful fish and nice coral growth.

As I look back on the six dives made on the island in three days of
diving, I realize that I saw many large lobsters on almost all of my dives
(14 on one dive alone). I also saw several large rays and at least 2 small
black tip sharks. I was very surprised and happy to see that St. Thomas
diving is returning to its legendary status.

Combining a visit to St. Thomas with a trip to St. Croix for some wall
diving would be a stellar combination. There is a high speed boat between
the islands, that operates only in high season, that makes diving both
islands in one trip very easy to do. In St. Croix, I dove with Dive
Experience (which I recommend). 

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