North Star

North Star is a wall dive at Cane Bay on the north shore of St Croix, US Virgin Islands. It can be dived from a boat or from shore. Depths run from about 40 to 120 feet (12 to 37 m), and it suits intermediate to advanced divers.

The dive usually begins along a sloping reef before reaching the wall, where a vertical drop starts at about 25 feet (8 m) and plunges into deep blue water. Near the mooring, the wall takes a 40-foot (12 m) vertical drop to a small sandy ledge, and in 80 feet (24 m) on that ledge lies an old anchor from the 1600s. The reef has hard corals, sea fans and sponges.

Current is stronger here than at nearby Cane Bay, and it brings larger marine life. Expect schools of jacks, snapper and barracuda, plus groupers, hawksbill turtles, large schools of horse-eye jacks and the occasional reef shark. Blue tangs school on top. Visibility is good on most days. Divers need to be comfortable with drift-style diving and changing conditions.