Soon, the best villa on St. Croix will be even better!

2dive4 is adding a miniature putting green as part of our continuing landscape improvements. Pictured here is the same putting green that will be installed at the villa in September. This is an exciting new amenity being added to our Complete Amenities List . You can be swimming and swinging your way to fun this upcoming fall and winter as our guest. In addition to great diving in our backyard and putting in our front yard, there are two 18 hole golf courses and one miniature golf course on St. Croix. Carambola Golf (designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr.) is just 5 minutes from the villa. Check our Availability Calendar to select your date in paradise!

I am here for the Fourth of July week and am loving every minute. The air is warm but tempered by the sweet sea breezes. This is a great time to dive . The water is pleasant, there is little current and the visibility is good.

Dive # 424 Date: 7/3/07 Location: Jimmy's Surprise, & Lobster Ledges / Type of Dive: Solo, DPV / Time: 50 minutes / Maximum depth 127 ft/ Average depth: 47 ft / Water temperature: 82 degrees.

       Nurse Ratchet

I head out into the back yard from our shore entrance just 100 feet from the villa. I drop down over the spur and groove formations and follow a sand chute till I am at the steep slope that leads to depths unknown. I make a left and stay at 100 feet watching the topography below looking for navigational clues. Suddenly I see a thick rope that doesn't belong here. I am soon able to spy a recently set fish trap below me. The only prisoners thus far are small tropicals. I continue on to the small cave behind Jimmy's Surprise (AKA Sea Mount) and find a large frying pan size red fin snapper along with other game fish that hope to someday grow as big. From here it is up to Jimmy's where I spot a departing turtle who seems to be uninterested in my company.

I dally here for several minutes taking in the magnificent beauty of this breathtaking pallet of many coral shapes and sizes. I then point my compass South with Lobster Ledges as my destination. Little do I know I will soon witness something I have never seen in over 400 dives on St. Croix. (I found Lobster Ledges when I first started diving this area. It is a veritable nursery for dozens of common species. Located in just 22 to 26 feet of water the deep undercut ledges also provide housing for turtles, morays, lobsters, and my personal favorite, nurse sharks.) It is not uncommon for me to see a nurse here so as I approached I was not that surprised to see a seven footer departing the area. As I got closer to the West ledges I was happy to see that the departing nurse Ratchet had not been alone. I stayed low & slowly approached the deepest part of the ledges. As I neared I realized this was no ordinary sighting. I could see large tails crisscrossing each other. Some were running parallel to the entrance of the undercut, while still others were pointing out toward me. When I dared to, I turned on my flashlight and illuminated a small portion of the area. Much to my surprise two previously unseen huge nurse faces where staring back at me.( I am sure their perceived size was in direct proportion to my shock.) Their bodies were completely enveloped under the ledge.

I tried to stay still and just watch these beautiful creatures rest as they pumped water over their gills and swayed slightly as the gentle ebb of the water moved them side to side. I have seen many nurse sharks large and small. But, I have never seen anything like this. By counting heads and tails I am positive there were at least 7 very good sized sharks taking their siesta at Lobster Ledges in preparation for their nocturnal Fourth of July celebration. With any luck they will be back at Lobster Ledges when you or I visit to enjoy the sight.

Contact Dave now to make your reservation. Plan now and reserve your spot in the sun.

Greg "Dishes It Out" on St. Croix

Greg "the dish keeper" and my son Nelson discuss the cosmos, scuba diving, and how to walk on a wet dish without slipping.

But can you take it? Recently my son Nelson and I visited St. Croix's giant radio astronomy antenna. If you have seen past "What's New " articles you know that I believed that the giant dish on the East End of our island was part of the SETI program that listens for ET phoning home. However, I recently found out that this 240 ton behemoth is part of a very long array of dishes that includes 9 others from here to Hawaii. The array collects electrical emissions from such things as black holes and stars all over our galaxy and stores it on magnetic tape that is sent via overnight mail to headquarters where it is combined with other data and analyzed so as to keep us abreast of what is going on in our planetary neighborhood. My grossly over simplified explanation was eloquently explained by our tour guide Greg in easy to understand terms. Of course he had at his disposal lots of audio and visual aids which makes the guided tour extremely fascinating and educational. Greg is an avid diver as well and would love to discuss his trip to the Galapagos Islands with you. Most importantly he will educate you about the

National Radio Astronomy Observatory and the amazing technological marvel he mans here on our humble island. So after you make your reservations to stay at 2DIVE4 be sure to contact Greg at 340 773 4448 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and make a reservation for Greg to dish it out to you. Be sure to take along the kids as I did. Nelson is an English major in College and he kindly wrote a detailed story about our tour to share with you.

Get a taste of island entertainment and good food at the Harbormaster Beach Club

On Tuesday nights the place to be for good food is on the cay located in Christiansted. Start by calling 773-2035 to make your reservation. Park your car along the street in town. Walk toward the sea until you hit the boardwalk. Next turn right and follow the boardwalk till just before the fort. From here you will hop on the ferry over to the cay. The walkway will take you to the Harbormaster Beach Club (the cay is also a great place to come during the day for some easy snorkeling and for jet skiing). Make your way to the cash register and purchase your tickets. The buffet feast will start promptly at 7:00. Even a vegetarian like me can get his money's worth from a menu including:

All the meat is grilled in front of you. The food is kept warm and desert is included. Marina will keep you plied with your favorite beverage.

Once your belly is full it is time for the fun to start. First, the steel band uses traditional island instruments to play mainland favorites. Next, a Mocko Jumbie struts his stuff and has a good time with the crowd. Broken bottle dancing gets everyone in the mood for the limbo dancing climax.

Tip: Try to get a table near the stage but just off the patio so you will be close to the Mocko Jumbie performance while having a great view of the sea and the lights of Christiansted. For more information go to www.kronegadeinn.com.

Just another dive on St. Croix

The US Virgin Islands holds a wealth of diversity when it comes to recreation. I happen to enjoy the underwater part of Virgin Islands the most. In fact I enjoyed it so much that it is now my backyard.

Following is a page out of my actual dive log as written during my recent stay at 2dive4.

"Dive # 336 Date: 9/21/05 Location: Jimmy's Surprise, The Trench & Lobster Ledges / Type of Dive: Solo, DPV / Time: 1 hour 11 minutes / Maximum depth 130 ft/ Average depth: 49 ft / Water temperature: 86 degrees

While on my usual route to the sea mount (AKA Jimmy's Surprise) I am 5 minutes into the dive. I am heading West along the slope that leads to a series of overhangs near Jimmy's when a big turtle crosses my path as if he wants to interact with me. I am 20 feet from the bottom in water about 110 feet deep, and he goes out his way to cross my path! I had to change course to keep from hitting him. I looked into his eyes and waved as I veered away from him suspended in mid water. In hindsight, I should have stopped to mingle, but I had my appointed rounds to keep, excuses, excuses....

About the same time I see a school of silvery fish (maybe 100 of them) moving West above the slope as if they are one. However, what I find unusual is that this school has a large barracuda directly in the middle of it. Very strange. Something tells me he wasn't there to swap recipes.

Next I arrive at the first overhang at 110 feet. Off to my right and 20 feet deeper I see a 6 to 7 foot black tip reef shark. Wow! He was going very slowly and was easy to watch.

I continue toward Jimmy's and find a 5 foot nurse shark resting under another overhang. Swimming up to the sea mound I peer into the undercut and find a good size red snapper chasing a black margate out of his home turf.

As I circle the Sea Mound, I rouse 2 other turtles that may have heard about my bad manners and want nothing to do with me.

I press on to the Trench for a meeting with a green moray's tail (I had to look for a while to find his head ). I say good-bye to a large white spotted file fish as I head toward my safety stop, Lobster Ledges.

Located in just 22 feet of water, Lobster Ledges is often home to sleeping nurse sharks, turtles and juvenile game fish. Today I find another green moray. This one is out and about, but he quickly hides when he sees me coming. And, as the ledges are so named, I find several lobster deep under the safety of their rock ceilings.

Now it is back to the entrance / exit at 2dive4 with 500 PSI still in my tank. Thank heaven for DPVs!"