The Cane Bay Wall

The north shore of St Croix has an unusual piece of geography: the island shelf ends a couple of hundred metres from the beach and drops into the Virgin Islands Trough, the deep basin between St Croix and the islands to the north, so the reef simply stops and a wall falls away into blue water that goes down thousands of metres. At Cane Bay you can swim out from the sand, cross a shallow reef, and reach the drop-off without a boat, which makes this one of the most accessible wall dives anywhere. Divers hang over the edge watching turtles, rays and pelagics move along it. The beach itself is a pleasant strip of sand with a few bars and dive shops behind.

What you actually see

• The wall - the drop-off reached by swimming out from the beach.
• The shallow reef - crossed on the way out, good for snorkelling alone.
• Turtles and rays - regular along the edge.
• The dive shops - on the beach, running shore dives all day.

When to go

December to April is the dry season with the calmest water, though winter ground swell can shut the north shore down for days. Mornings are generally flattest. Visibility is usually excellent when the sea is calm.

Honest expectations

This is a genuine wall with no bottom in sight and it kills divers who exceed their training or get task-fixated; depth discipline matters more here than almost anywhere. Ground swell makes the shore entry dangerous and dive shops call it off, correctly. Snorkellers should stay over the shallow reef. There is no lifeguard.

Nearby

Christiansted is twenty minutes east; the rainforest road is west.