I believe I can have it delivered by the pier, but I'm wondering if I would feel comfortable driving on the left side.

good point - it isn't hard but it takes some getting used to (it's a whole lot easier if someone is riding shotgun when you are trying to make a right hand turn, though!). I would be more worried about finding the right roads to get from F'sted over to Cane Bay - it isn't really really bad, but there is a mid-island neighborhood that is confusing, and not all of the roads are well-marked, shall we say. Once you get on The Beast (the road across the mountain that connects to the North Shore road) you are fine, but I would really think about the comfort factor of having someone else doing the driving (plus you would get a nice tour thrown in).

I think I'm renting a taxi. Maybe I'll get a tour thrown in!

hey lusty - I'm in St Croix for Thanksgiving week, so I can give you an update regarding Cane Bay. If your ship is docked on Sunday, you should have a great time. If you are one of the Tuesday ships, you should know that "Eat @ Cane Bay" (the beach bar with the great burgers) is closed on Tuesdays. It might not make a difference to you, but I thought you should know. You should also know that November has not been kind to the island - the most rain in history (22 inches in one 3 day period earlier in the month, and way too much every other day, too) has really taken a toll on the North Shore (on the entire island, actually), and the winds have been up and from the north every day. Weve been here almost a week and haven't been diving or snorkeling yet, but we did notice that yesterday it had finally calmed down enough for some snorkelers at Cane Bay, and today was the first day I saw anyone diving on the north side of the island at all. There is some pretty significant road and beach damage. If it turns out the North Shore is too windy the day you are in, definitely make a trip on the West side (the Fredricksted side) up to Rhythms's Beach Bar - we were there on Tuesday and it was great. They have a good kitchen and they are on a really nice beach on the calm side of the island. Not much in the way of snorkeling, but a very nice day.

and I feel really bad because I think cd's ship was docked here on Tuesday. I have no idea if the Buck Island boats even went out, but if they did, it was probably rough. Visibility on the North side was beyond awful on Monday, following a really really REALLY bad rain on Sunday night.

tejana, we just returned last night from our cruise and yes, we were in St Croix Tueday the 23rd. We did go to Bucks Island but it was rough, very rough. The boat ride reminded me of an amusement park ride The boat even lost her steering halfway there and we were at the mercy of the tossing sea until the crew got it fixed, thank heaven they did! There were about 20 on board and I saw five get really sea sick. Once we got to Bucks Island, my husband snorkeled, I did not, it was just too rough and he said he could not see much because of the conditions. It was still an adventure and I am not sorry we went.

cd - I really feel for you. We were in Croix for two weeks, and it was only last Friday that it finally calmed down enough to feel "normal" in terms of North Shore diving. We go Thanksgiving week every year, and I've never seen it like this. The air temp was in the low 80s during the day, and sometimes got into the high 60s at night. It was actually too cold to swim in the pool, and for about 10 days the north shore surf was so rough that it was bordering on dangerous. They apparently have had a very bad hurricane season - not any real winds or storms to speak of, but there was enough activity around them that they got a helluva lot of rain from several passing fronts. There is significant road damage, but a lot of the beach damage, particularly on the west end, has apparently corrected itself (the sand came back).

We will be docking on Sunday, so we may try out the burgers. After reviewing the weather reports and this post we won't go to Buck Island. We will take our chances at either Cane Bay or the West Side. This site has been fabulous in planning our trip.

lusty - Sundays at Cane Bay are great. "Eat @ Cane Bay" (the bar/restaurant with the great burgers) opens at 11, and on Sundays they have both the regular menu and a great brunch menu (they will be packed, btw). Both "Eat" and Spratnet (the bar right on the beach) will have bands starting about 3. But if it is just too cold or windy to get in the water on the Cane Bay side, you will love Rhythms beach bar over on the west end -- calm water, a really nice beach, and a great beach bar.

If you take a cab over to Cane Bay, ask your cab driver if he will take the Crique Dam road instead of Mahogany Road (and meet up with Mahogany Road at the Domino Club). There has been so much rain that the waterfalls are running nicely, so the Crique Dam road is a really pretty drive (and for some reason it is in better shape than the first half of Mahogany Road right now), and you still get the whole rainforest thing that you would get by taking Mahogany Raod all the way. It meets up with Mahogany Road just before you get to Norma's (the Domino Club), so you can still stop there if you want to (I personally don't care about visiting the pigs anymore, but Norma is still a hoot and it is a good place to pick up a rum-and-whatever for the road, with or without visiting the beer drinking pig).

I did notice on this last trip that more of the "hire a cab for the day" people are spending time at Cane Bay, which made it a nice mix of locals and some day trippers. There were also quite a few people on the beach at the Carambola that were obviously on an excursion from the ship, but I think you will have more fun at either Cane Bay or Rainbow Beach (where Rhythms is on the F'sted side).

You can't control the weather, so just go with the flow. As long as it isn't raining too much, you will have a good time anywhere. If it is raining (and it looks like it will be more than a passing shower), I would probably recommend Rhythms because the beach bar there has a much larger sheltered area than the others, so you can still enjoy hanging out.

Well, we have returned from our lovely cruise. I'd like to tell you we were well rested but then we wouldn't have had as much fun. Cane Bay was an excellant choice. The weather provided many snorkeling opportunities. I can't recommend Eat's though. The burgers were raw and the service (not just ours)was very poor. The bar on the beach was fine though. We highly recommend taking a taxi as the roads aren't great and you do get a better tour that way. The nice thing about the taxi service in Antiqua($16- Long Bay) and St. Croix ($18- Cane Bay) is that the cost is per person, so you don't have to worry about finding someone with whom you can split a cab. If you find yourself in Antiqua, I highly recommend going to Long Bay. Great snorkeling and beach. It's about 1/2 hour away from the cruise port but that works out well when there are 3 cruise ships in port. It has a resort there for those who want to shop but we hardly got out of the water it was so lovely.

Welcome back lusty! Sorry about Eat (must have been a really bad day - I've never had a bad burger there!), but it sounds like Calvin took care of you on the beach. Did you get to snorkel over the Wall?

We will be docking in St. Thomas Feb. 14 with Princess. I'm not sure the docking point. I was interested in a tour they offered "Pirate Schooner to Turtle Cove" This tour does not mention the underwater trail as some other tours do. Is it a different area of Buck Island? It states just over an hour of snorkeling for a total of 3.5 hours for the tour. The cost is not high, I think we are looking at $100 for two. The only thing that interests me is the chance to swim with turtles. It sounds from the comments here that this is rare, not as commonplace as the tours make it sound?
There is another tour (same price) that goes to "shipwreck cove" at Buck. I haven't found much info on this being a good snorkel or not.
Other snorkel options include 1-honeymoon bay (as a full day tour when combined with Turtle Cove, and 2-Trunk Bay. Cas Cay is offered as a kayak/snorkel trip.
Cane Bay sound nice. Are our chances of seeing turtles just as good as "Turtle Cove"? We'd have to grab a cab becasue this isn't offered from the ship (which would probably mean less crowded)
Thanks for the help!

The Buck Island off of St Thomas is the National Wildlife Refuge - a completely different place from the Buck Island off of St Croix that is the Reef National Monument(they don't try to make it too confusing, do they?). Two different Buck Islands, about 40 miles apart. Sorry, I don't know enough about St Thomas to recommend day trips there, but you are right that it is rare to see turtles when you are snorkeling (pretty rare to see them even when diving).

I guess I didn't pay enough attention to that. Thanks!

It happens a lot, especially since they are both USVI and both protected park areas.

Yes,I did a little snorkeling over the wall, but it's a bit unnerving. We were fortunate as there had been a storm just 2 days prior to our visit which impacted the other vacationer's ability to snorkel.