Diving

Several wreck and reef dive sites are accessible by boat from St. Thomas [1]. Only Coki Beach [2] has good diving from the beach.

Offshore, divers can explore a number of wrecks along the island’s southern coast. Miss Opportunity, an old Navy hospital barge, lies in about 55 feet of water south of the airport. One of the most popular wreck dives is the Witshoal II, an old tank landing ship that spent 32 post–World War II years hauling wood pulp on the Great Lakes but sank during Tropical Storm Klaus in 1984. Today, it lies in water between 90 and 30 feet deep west of Saba Island off St. Thomas and is home to a thriving artificial reef. Three other wrecks, the Witconcrete II, Grainton, and Witservice IV, lie around Saba Island.

There is another cluster of snorkel and dive sites around Buck and Capella Islands, off the southeast coast of St. Thomas. Not to be confused with St. Croix’s Buck Island, St. Thomas’s Buck is small, rocky, and home to a lighthouse. The west end of the island offers year-round protected reef diving and snorkeling. The Cartanza Senora (sometimes called the Cartenser Senior) was sunk here as an artificial reef in 1979. Submarine sightseeing tours bring visitors to this area, especially the north shore of Buck Island.

The Cow and Calf, another popular dive site, is named for its resemblance to an adult and baby whale. Below water, this dive site is a maze of arches, ledges, and tunnels.

In addition to sites mentioned here, many St. Thomas [1] operators sail to sites around St. John [3] and even to the British Virgin Islands.