Best Beach for Swimming/Snorkeling

[JustCruisin']

Are there lockers at either beach? I was wondering if I needed to find a waterproof wallet with me. How much does it cost to rent snorkel equipment? I, too, would like to know how far Coki is from Sapphire? Walking distance?

[dawne577]

Just Cruisin - I've read that there are lockers at Coral World which is adjacent to Coki Beach.

[baandbb]

Are rental lockers available at Coki Beach :confused: We plan on snorkeling there and do not want to leave our boarding pass, etc on the beach. I appreciate any information anyone can give me.

baandbb

[Inshape]

We were there 2 years ago, having a very pleasant time on Coki Beach. Decided to take one last swim before we went. Never took my eyes off of our stuff on the beach--one of us(and 3 kids) were always with belongings--except for 30 SECONDS to move the kids to the other side of a tree to get them out of the sun and into the shade. I forgot to take the stuff with me while I moved the 3 kids, the blanket and the towels... hence all of our stuff in the bag was gone! DH glasses, my sunglasses-Maui Jim, clothes, wallet with money and all of our ids to board the ship. Needless to say , I will NEVER go to that beach again. So, we are returning again(GULP) on Mariner of the Seas in Jan 06, and want to find anothr great beach location where there is good snorkeling. And to boot, Coki at that time was $7 pp, bringing it to 35 each way..... can rent a car for less. HAs anyone rented a car there and found the experience to be fine? Thanks!

[baandbb]

:) :) Thanks "Inshape" for you info on Coki Beach. Just gives me more food for thought. We are now thinking of a private 1/2 day snorkel/sail trip. Again thanks.

baandbb

[captainron]

As there is a dive shop at Coki, you should be able to rent a floatation device, goggies and fins for snorkelling. Lockers are available close by.

 

Ciao for now!!!

[DeRon]

Inshape, what happened? Tell us the rest of the story. How did you take a taxi back? etc.

[baandbb]

Has anyone booked a snorkel/sail with Interlinesail in St. Thomas. We are thinking about it and would like to hear from someone who has sailed with them.

baandbb

[Inshape]

How did we get back.... well not by cab--we had no money? The police were called to take a report and they were terrific taking us and our 3 kids to the ship. They got us to the front of the line--at this time it was close to the time that everyone was getting on to leave. We were wrapped in a towel with no id or anything. But with the police there they were able to help us out. We are returning this coming Jan 06, but we are not taking cabs-already reserved a car for the day. It comes to sooooo much less than that silly cab ride to Coki was!

[Leosmom]

Wow, Inshape, what a story! Thank goodness the police on St. Thomas were so helpful. I've got to show your postings to my DH. When we were on Coki beach in November and September, I was sooo leery of going into the water and watching our belongings at the same time.:( Thanks for the warning as this can happen just about anywhere. Unfortunately, at all the port beaches I'm always nervous about this and find i can't relax and enjoy the beach fully. The only thing one can do is use those plastic water wallets and put your $$$, ship cards and credit card in them and carry that into the water with you. We always do this, But of course, we have to leave camera, clothes, etc. on the beach.

 

Have a great time on your next stop at St. Thomas and i hope the car rental works out well!

[bkw67]

We did the Godfrey Tour, and had no problems.

 

You can have him hold all your valuables while you are in the water, and then he picks you up.

 

I'm sorry you had someone take your stuff:( That is always a terrible experience! Any location that can happen (unfrortunatly)

[jkloni]

We've been to Sapphire in 2003, and Coki in 2004 (with Godfrey.)

 

Sapphire was fine, but not as great as our friend who raved and raved about it said it was. Lots of coral/rocks to get into the water. Beach chair was a reasonable $5 , sand was pretty, view was pretty. We had just returned from St. Martaen where Caribe beer was .75 cents and it was $4 (!) at Sapphire. Dampened our drinking spirits!

 

Coki was small and did not feel as safe as Sapphire. We were warned to stay close and NOT walk to the left of where you are dropped off by too far.

The bar you walk right past to get to the beach had really good drinks. Made with fresh fruit. Excellent. I wish I could remember the name of it. Mr. Something, I think. The snorkeling was FANTASTIC!! Lots of fish to the right of where you walk in, by the rocks/coral.

 

If I had to pick from the 2, I'd pick Coki because of the snorkeling. Just be very careful of your stuff. Godfrey locked ours in his truck and we were a group so someone was always sitting by our chairs watching out for everyone else.

 

We're thinking of going to Trunk Bay on St. John when we return in October.

[sweetjem]

Hello all will be there may 21 have been to trunk bay 3 times but was looking for a nice one like trunk but not taking the ferry. DH likes to snorkel i like to just be able to swim in shallow water. do you have to swim out to get to nice sand or is it like trunk bay on any of these beaches please help.

Janet

[Rain Man]

We were in St. Thomas in April. First-time cruisers and snorkelers, 2 parents with a 12 y.o daughter. I found Coki Beach Dive Club on the Web and it turned out to be a gem of a find.

 

We were picked up by Laura at the dock on time and driven to the beach. She gave us some history to the island and answered all of our questions. At Coki Beach we were fitted with snorkeling gear and Peter took us out for a lesson. He was an excellent teacher.....not only with the techinical stuff but also very patient with us novices. It seemed he spent about an hour with us. By the time our lesson was done we were confident of our snorkeling abilities. During the whole day Stephanie was great behind the counter guarding our belongings and answering questions about where to eat lunch and where to purchase merchandise.

 

All these people were super nice and made our day very relaxing and fun.

 

Do go early to the beach. In the morning (we arrived at 9am) it seemed we had the beach to ourselves. By the time we were ready to leave by mid-afternoon the beach was very crowded.

 

Ron

[DeRon]

Just back from our Millennium Cruise. We went to Sapphore Beach and loved it! Liked it better than Magens Bay.

[heathernijoli]

My vote is for Salt Pond Bay on St. John (no 's', by the way). Uncrowded, out of the way, beautiful small beach, good snorkeling on either side of the beach, lots of fish, turtles, grouper, and other large fish can be seen often. It is not, however, for the normal cruise ship crowd.

 

 

I want to know more about this place!