A number of dive shops serve St Thomas and provide a safe, comfortable scuba diving experience for beginners or experienced divers. Advanced certification courses are available here, as well as complete instruction for beginners.

Operators

Chris Sawyer Dive Centers
(Red Hook, Compass Point and Grand Palace Beach Resort, tel. 340-777-7804 or 877-929-3483 . ) Small group tours and instruction; trips to H.M.S. Rhone in the BVI.

Aqua Action Watersports. (Red Hook Plaza, tel. 340-775-6285). Also rents sea kayaks and windsurfers.

Blue Island Divers
Suite 505, Crown Bay Marina, Sub Base, St Thomas, USVI 00802
Tel: 1 (340) 774 2001
Fax: 1 (340) 777 9600
Email: diveusvi@islands.vi

Coki Beach Dive Club. (Coki Beach, tel. 340-775-4220/800-474-CO K I). Beach and night dive specialities.

Dean Johnson Dive Institute. (Buccaneer Mall, tel. 340-775-7610). Formerly Joe Vogel Diving Company, the oldest certified dive operation in the V.I.

Dive In. (Doubletree Sapphire Resort & Marina, tel. 340-775-6100 ext. 2144/800-524-2090 ext. 2144). Dive-hotel packages available; Kid's Klub for ages 4-12, great for diving parents.  

St. Thomas Diving Club. (Bolongo Bay Beach Club & Villas, tel. 340-776-2381). Specializes in open-water certification courses; weekly trips to the WWI cargo ship, Cartanza Sr..

Underwater Safaris. (Yacht Haven Marina, tel. 340-774-1350). Underwater videographer available for professional videos as souvenirs.

Dive Sites

Andreas Reef - Starting at 30', this multilevel reef reveals a wide variety of both soft and hard corals, invertebrates and many tropical fish, down to a maximum depth of 70'.

Cartanza Sr. - This World War I tramp steamer lies 35' down in a sheltered cove off Buck Island, south of Charlotte Amalie harbor. It's beautifully encrusted and full of fish.

Coki Beach - A good dive by day, great by night.

Cow and Calf Rocks - Oodles of swim-throughs, tunnels and undercuts are in 20' to 40' of water. Go when conditions are calm since storm surge can make this a tricky dive.

Frenchcap - On the south side of St. Thomas, this attractive pinnacle stands in 80' to 100' of water.

Grassco Junction - These isolated coral mounds are each 10- to 30-yards across and sit on a sandy bottom in 55' of water. Five or six mounds reach up to within 35' of the surface and are covered with colorful corals and florescent fish.

Hans Lollik Island - Plenty of pinnacles and ledges to see here.

Major General Rogers - Off the Renaissance Grand Beach Resort is the wreck of a 150' Coast Guard buoy tender. The vessel is fully intact and safe for entering at a maximum depth of 64'.

Submarine Alley - Near Capella island, this advanced dive on the south side of St. Thomas boasts large coral islands, rising from a sandy bottom 80' deep.

Thatch, Grass and Congo Cays - Start in the Caribbean sea, dive along the black volcanic rock tunnels of Thatch at 40' and end up on the other side in the Atlantic at a depth of 15'. There are mini-walls off Congo and all three cays are good eel, ray and lobster locales.