Complete your SCUBA certification while vacationing on St. John

So you love Snorkeling around the beaches of St. John but have always wondered about SCUBA...

The beautiful water of the Virgin Islands is home to 500 species of fish, not to mention amazing beaches and coral reefs. While just about everyone who visits the USVI spends time snorkeling in search of a turtle, recreational diving St. John (and the surrounding USVI and BVI) is wonderful and not at all hard to do.

We've had hundreds of family and friends stay at Great Expectations for a week or two's vacation and every once and a while we get groups where one or more of the guests wants to get certified to SCUBA dive. While you may think it would take away from your vacation time, with a little planning, you can actually mix some great beach days, hikes and a few happy hours along with getting your PADI or SSI certification.

Don't sit in a classroom while on St. John

Regardless of where your home is, major SCUBA organizations now allow you to complete the coursework required for certification online or on your tablet. Make a plan to purchase the PADI eLearning package a few months before your trip. You learn online or on a tablet by reading, watching video lessons and testing.

Low Key Dive shop even has a special e-Learning PADI Open Water online package you can pre-buy (and schedule) so that when you arrive you are ready to complete your 6 instructional dives.

Pre-schedule your dives around other vacation activities

Consider when you arrive and depart St. John, dinner reservations and specific beach days, then pre-book your certification dives with the dive shop before coming. We recommend NOT diving on your last day on St. John and definitely not after pre-planned late nights.

Typically you will need to do 4 or 6 dives (2 confined water and 4 open water) following your coursework.If you didn't do your 2 confined water dives at your local dive shop, don't worry, you can do those 2 dives and your other 4 certification dives in the waters around St. John. Most dive companies do 2 tank dives in a 2-3 hour morning or afternoon. So 6 dives will take you 3 mornings or afternoons. For a Saturday arrival, consider Sunday, Tuesday and one other day to get out in the water and complete your diving lessons but still have plenty of time for the beach.

Opening up other shores around the Virgin Islands

Once you pass, the dive shop will take your photo and order your certification card and you are free to dive with them or other dive shops in the future. A standard 2-tank trip will take you to various unique reefs and islands around St. John and cost you $125 with all the gear included.

Plan your next trip

Once get a few dives under your weight belt, you could even return to St. John for a future vacation. We recommend checking out the 2-tank weekly scheduled dive of the  BVI's Wreck of the Rhone National Park off Salt Island.

WARNING:  One of the downsides to being able to stay underwater for dozens of minutes at depths reaching 100 feet is that snorkeling a St. John beach isn't as thrilling. Sure, there's always something fascinating about swimming near a turtle when they surface for air, but it can be pleasantly frustrating when you can't follow him down to the bottom and stay for a while.

Testing the waters: A One-time SCUBA Trial run

If you love snorkeling around St. John and have always wondered what it would be like to not have to hold your breath, you can sign up for a very affordable Discovery dive trip. Low Key Dive shop offers the SCUBA Discovery trip that lets you learn the basics about diving while actually doing it around the beautiful reefs of St. John. You will spend 15-20 minutes before the scheduled dive trip watching an instructional video and filling out a few forms, then proceed to the dive boat with certified instructors and other recreational divers.

St John Waters are full of Fabulous Fall Colors

This photo is courtesy of Steve Simonsen who captures the beauty of St John's sea life.  If you like to

scuba or snorkel

, there are plenty of operators to take you to their favorite spots. Even if you are not a 'water' person there have a

Glass Bottom boat

to show you the wonders of the sea on their reef tours.

Great deals and good deeds for Friends of the Virgin Islands National Park

Once again St John business owners and lovers of St John's fabulous National Park banded together to support the Friends of the Virgin Islands National Park (FVINP) annual on-line auction.  At the close of the auction this past weekend there were some spectacular deals. Here are just a few of my favorite 'deals':

Bookmark this event for next year and in the meantime, think about making a donation to the Friends of the VI National Park to support the great work they do to preserve our wonderful waters, beaches, and land for all to enjoy!

Here is a summary from the Friends of the VINP of how your donation will be put to work:

Where is the money going?

The Friends Board of Directors recently approved an ambitious program plan for 2012 valued at about $500,000.  Below are the details of our program plan.  
Cultural Resource Preservation Projects

•          Annaberg Cultural Demonstrations ($1,000 - funded):  Provides supplies for the Annaberg Living History program which consists of a baker baking bread in a “Dutch Oven”, and a gardener maintaining and interpreting a subsistence garden plot.
•         Archaeology Museum Exhibits ($29,500 - partially funded): Supports the costs of the development and installation of the new exhibits in the newly renovated Heritage Center and Archaeology Lab at Cinnamon Bay. 
•         Archaeology and Heritage Program ($90,100 - funded):  Contined ongoing support for the archaeology program, covering stipends and other costs for interns and international collaboration with the University of Copenhagen.
•         Cultural Evening at Cinnamon Bay: ($10,000 - funding needed): Replacing the cultural play, we will initiate a new program around cultural music, such as the history of the “African Drum” and its use as a communication tool.
•         Folk Life Festival ($12,000 - funding needed):  2012 markes the 21st anniversary of the festival. This year it will focus on Virgin Islands culture as it relates to farming and horticulture.  It will also feature traditional dance and music, storytelling, arts and crafts.
•         Hassel Island ($21,000 - funded): Conservation of artifacts uncovered at the Creque Marine Slipway and helping open this site to visitation. 
•         Documents for Hassel Island ($7,200 - funded) Publication of a document on Hassel Island which will include reproductions of maps and plans, photographs, rare books and manuscripts.
•         Historic Research Program Support ($16,000 - funding needed) Supports continuation of the research begun in the Spanish Archives and the beginning of research in the British Archives for documents and data related to VI National Park resources.
•         Post-Emancipation Interpretation Program ($15,000-funding needed) Development  and installation of wayside signage recounting the history cattle and their ecological impact on St. John and in VI National Park.

 Education Projects

•          Earth Day Fair and Reef Fest ($6,000 - funding needed): As part of a week of Earth Day activities, an Earth Day Environmental Fair will be organized for local school kids. Through hands-on teaching methods, story-telling, and environmental demonstrations, the youth of St. John will learn about ways to respect and preserve the world around them. In an aquatic component, called Reef Fest, youth will participate in a day of learning on the marine resources of St John.
•         Eco-camps ($51,000 - funding needed) Funds at least 120 school children to attend the Eco-camps, Science camp, and Ranger-in-Training camp at VIERS.  Kids experience 3-5 days in the park learning about marine and terrestrial eco-systems.
•         Marine & Terrestrial Natural Hazards Brochures & Web Pages ($7,300 - funding needed):  Produce brochures, posters and in-depth web pages for “Hazardous Marine Life”, “Other Marine Creatures,” and “Injurious & Poisonous Plants” found in the Virgin Islands National Park and St. John.
•         Scholarship Fund ($3,600 - funding needed):  Provides three $1000 scholarships to VI students studying natural sciences at the university level.
•         School Kids in the Park -- SKIP ($18,000 - funded):  The flagship of our environmental education program for children, the project funds small ($500 max) grants for teachers to use VINP as a teaching/learning resource, and provides transport for ranger-led field trips into the park.  
•         Tektite Interpretation ($18,000 - funding needed) Design and placement of interpretation and visitor experience materials consisting of a wayside interpretation devices and benched to be located at Cabrite Horn Trail overlooking the Tektite site and on a floating dock just offshore.
•         VINP Research Documentary Film ($12,000 - funding needed): Production of a video in collaboration with NOAA that will document the scientific work underway in VINP by NPS, NOAA and its partners. Production costs to be shared with NOAA.
•         Educational Wayside Exhibits and Signs ($36,000 - funding needed) Repair or replace damaged and faded interpretive signs throughout the park to improve visitor experience and understanding of park resources. It is estimated that about 20 signs need urgent attention.

 Natural Resource Protection Projects

•          Accessible Trails ($42,000 - partially funded): Complete the handicapped-accessible boardwalk at Francis Bay. The first half of this ADA compliant nature trail was completed in 2009, over 700 feet of boardwalk remain unfinished.
•         Accessibility Assessment ($9,600 - funding needed) Support for a comprehensive accessibility assessment throughout the park to identify areas of opportunity for improved access and target barrier removal.
•         Trail Rating System (5,000 - funding needed)  Develop a trail rating system for all trails, similar to those used on ski slopes, within VI National Park.  Once the rating is determined for all trails, a new brochure, signage, and web pages will be developed in subsequent phases.
•         Adopt a Trail/Beach ($18,000 - funded): Provides supplies and materials for the trail and beach clean-ups and the Volunteer Walkup Maintenance program and covers the stipend for the Volunteer Coordinator.
•         Lionfish Response ($2,200 - funded):  Support efforts to reduce lionfish populations in Virgin Islands National Park and VI Coral Reef National Monument. This project will primarily be used to put together lionfish capture kits that will be used by NPS, USGS, NOAA and other divers when working in Park and Monument waters. 
•         SCA Trail Crews ($42,000 - funding needed) A Summer Trail Crew program which will involve VI and mainland US kids in trail repair and maintenance.  This year’s crew will consist of four high school students from the VI, four students from the mainland US and 2 crew leaders.  They will repair/improve approximately 10 miles of park trails.
•         Blue Flag Signage at Trunk Bay ($3,000 - funded) Develop and install signage at Trunk Bay regarding it’s designation as a “Blue Flag” beach.

 If you are interested in learning more, or supporting a particular program, please contact Karen Vahling at kvahling@friendsvinp.org