Deep Sea Dives in the U.S. Virgin Islands

Written by Julie Greiner

There are some 58 dive sites accessible by beach or boat in the U.S. Virgin Islands. These are accessible during daytime and night dives and vary from full flora coral reefs to ship wrecks for the adventurous. There are countless hours of dives awaiting the novice as well as the experienced divers to explore. Many dive packages are available through the resorts and dive centers. Some of the dives are described here, but by no means represents all that there is.

St. Croix Island in the U.S. Virgin Islands Dive Sites

Buck Island Reef National Monument is an underwater park that literally has markers which describe the marine life you are seeing. The Frederiksted Pier is a 250-yard concrete pier which has some fairly shallow wrecks located northwest of Frederiksted. The pier is surrounded with lots of colorful fish, sponges and sea horses. The dives increase to the wreck Rosamaria which is a 70 foot container ship which sits upright in up to 100 feet of water. The Salt River Canyon has a 1,000 foot drop-off and contains a submarine ravine. The west and east sites are the most requested dives on the island.

St. John Island's Favorite Dive Sites

An advanced dive because of strong currents is the Carval Rock, which extends to a depth of some 80 feet. On St. John's southeast coast there is the Eagle Shoals site off Coral Bay. This area is in a remote location and offers exciting swim-throughs.

St. Thomas Island's Favorite Dive Sites

Cow and Calf Rocks offers many swim-throughs and tunnels in 20 to 40 foot of water. A very good night dive is at Coki Beach.On the south side of the island there is Frenchcap. Florescent fish can be experienced at Grassco Junction which extends down to about 55 feet. Hans Lollik Island has many pinnacles and ledges. Off Renaissance Grand Beach Resort i the wreck of Coast Guard buy tender. The ship is fully intact. Near Capella Island there is an advanced dive on the south of St. Thomas referred to as Submarine Alley. To experience ray, eel and lobster locales in the black volcanic lock tunnels of Thatch - the dive is at 40 feet.

The hotels and resorts throughout the U.S. Virgin Islands cater to divers. They offer arrangements with dive centers that offer a variety of dive instructions, equipment rental and accompanied dive outings. Whether you are new at this sport or an accomplished experienced diver - the Virgin Islands are the mecca of the deep see dive world.