Help! Overwhelmed for upcoming visit.

Hi all,

We will be stopping at St Thomas on an upcoming cruise vacation - Can't wait! I've been looking at options for things to do on the island, and have gotten overwhelmed with the number of beaches and places to go. I really can't make up my mind!

We're looking for some beach time with good food options, but also the ability to 'adventure' a bit too.. I'm traveling with my wife and 3 year old son.

Any recommendations? Was thinking about going to St Johns (checking off the 'adventure' part), or going to one of the beaches on the island.

Help me make up my mind!

We visited the beach at Coki Point Beach last summer and had a great time. It isn't that big of a beach but we didn't find it very crowded. There were multiple food places - nothing fancy, but good for lunch. You can rent snorkeling equipment from the Coki Dive Center - we saw some beautiful fish just by swimming out from shore - or take a beginning scuba diving class with them for more fun (I saw an octopus!). There is also Coral World Ocean Park here which has a lot of aquariums and marine animals to interact with and watch - check out their website, your 3 year old might love it.

Try a $10 R/T pp (kids free) ferry ride from Twinkles restaurant over to Water Island. Hike up and over the hill to Honeymoon Beach. Beautiful beach, Heidi's Grill is right there, great lunch...eve better drinks....nice beach....reliable ferry- max 20 people.

Depending on your budget I would suggest renting a Jeep. There are rental companies that are close to or will meet you at the port. You can hit any beach in St Thomas or take the car barge ($50 rd trip) to St John. Just driving on the wrong side of the road up the steep hills is an adventure. The trip to St John almost feels like an excursion with all of the fish, scenery, and coral you can see just looking over the side.

If you have have a Jeep you can pretty much travel any road/trail on the map and visit some uncrowded spots.

Depending on your budget I would suggest renting a Jeep. There are rental companies that are close to or will meet you at the port. You can hit any beach in St Thomas or take the car barge ($50 rd trip) to St John. Just driving on the wrong side of the road up the steep hills is an adventure. The trip to St John almost feels like an excursion with all of the fish, scenery, and coral you can see just looking over the side.

 

If you have have a Jeep you can pretty much travel any road/trail on the map and visit some uncrowded spots.

We have rented from Budget and Discount Car Rental. They are both great. The great thing about having your own transportation is that you can check out a beach and if you don't like the vibe you can move on. We have a Garmin that we take down there and it works great, they will also rent those to you. Since St Thomas and St John are islands you really can't get lost even without the GPS.

Try a $10 R/T pp (kids free) ferry ride from Twinkles restaurant over to Water Island. Hike up and over the hill to Honeymoon Beach. Beautiful beach, Heidi's Grill is right there, great lunch...eve better drinks....nice beach....reliable ferry- max 20 people.

That would be Tickles Dockside Pub in Crown Bay. Would not suggest Water Island, Honeymoon Beach is very crowded now and the return ferry fills up and you may have to wait for it to return.

The beaches on STT are beautiful, and our choice would be a nice beach with the amenities we want like Sapphire. But if you want something more, going to STJ on your own is a very nice day. Just taxi 25 - 35 minutes, depending on your port, to Red Hook and take the 15 minute ferry to Cruz Bay where taxis are waiting to transport you to Trunk or Cinnamon Bay. You can add a short island tour and then get dropped at the beach. The total cost is about $48pp + the entry fee if going to Trunk, or ~$66pp with the tour, not sure if you'd pay full taxi fare for the 3 year old.

But a very easy self-excursion, and the taxi and ferry rides add to the experience.

That would be Tickles Dockside Pub in Crown Bay. Would not suggest Water Island, Honeymoon Beach is very crowded now and the return ferry fills up and you may have to wait for it to return.

I should add the little ferry and a day on WI is a nice idea, it's just such a crowded spot today with excursions dropping their people off at Dinghy's and when there is a ship in Crown Bay. So just be aware of the potential for that, and for delays in getting back because of the ferry size...

We hit Water Island 2 weeks ago, with no ship in Crown Bay (which I knew ahead of time). Only one lighted crowded excursion showed up all day, and they were gone in an hour. Mostly just a few people all. Nearly heaven! It was a weekday if that mattered. Ferry was about 1/2 full, but we did have a hours' grace period in case it was full. Turned out fine. Heidi's makes a burger at least a half pound - yummy. Bushwackers were $5.50.

We hit Water Island 2 weeks ago, with no ship in Crown Bay (which I knew ahead of time). Only one lighted crowded excursion showed up all day, and they were gone in an hour. Mostly just a few people all. Nearly heaven! It was a weekday if that mattered. Ferry was about 1/2 full, but we did have a hours' grace period in case it was full. Turned out fine. Heidi's makes a burger at least a half pound - yummy. Bushwackers were $5.50.

WOW - you were very lucky! :)

Our last visit to Honeymoon there was 1 smaller ship at Crown and none at Havensight and it was crowded. There were also 2 or 3 powerboat and 1 cat excursion fighting for a spot in front of Dinghy's and making a mess of the swimming area. We headed to Heidi's but that was packed as well.

It is a nice spot when not busy and very convenient to cruisers docked at CB and I'm sure some days are better than others...