Beaches · North Shore
Northstar Bay Beach
Northstar Bay is known on St. Croix less as a beach to lounge on than as a dive and snorkel site, home to the North Star wall — widely rated one of the island's best shore-accessible dives. The site drops nearly vertically from around 40 feet to roughly 90 to 100 feet before sloping sand takes over, with divers and snorkelers alike describing the reef edge as close enough to shore for a manageable swim out, though the entry itself, over rocky coral rubble, is frequently called tricky and best attempted with care. Free divers and snorkelers who stay along the shallower reef report healthy coral and reliable sightings of turtles and reef fish, while certified divers head for the wall itself, an experience several local dive operators single out for its dramatic topography and abundant black coral and sea fans. Northstar sits along the same North Shore stretch as Cane Bay, a short drive further west, and like Cane Bay it's effectively a drive-up shore dive rather than a swimming beach — there's an unmarked grassy roadside pull-off for parking and no facilities of any kind.
Northstar Bay, North Shore, St. Croix
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What Island Hype can confirm
- Access
- road
- Access effort
- easy
- Snorkeling
- excellent
- Family friendly
- Not marked family-friendly
- Facilities
- Drive-up, access to dive site
- What to know
- 200 yards off-shore drop-off wall
Good fit if you want
- a road-access beach with an easy approach
- snorkeling as part of your beach day
- facilities for the day
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- a beach marked family-friendly
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Cane Bay
Better if you need a beach marked family-friendly
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