Trunk Bay and snorkel trail question

[osucruise]

What exactly is a snorkel trail? Also, any positives on snorkeling at trunk bay through a ship excursion? Or other suggestions?

[pisces223]

I have done the snorkel trail at Trunk Bay and would have to say that it is very nice, especially for a first-timer! You just snorkel out from shore at the place where there is a marker starting the trail and snorkel along it, reading the underwater signs as you go.

 

As I try to never book with the ship's excursions because they are so much more expensive and usually more crowded than I can do on my own, I would recommend finding another way to do it. I will be there in a couple of weeks and plan to rent a car in STT and take it for the day. Our time in port lasts until 10 p.m. So, this way, we'll be able to get something to eat and do it at our leisure. Hope this helps!

[BlueJacketsFan1]

My wife and I did this excursion with Carnival and had a very nice time. Trunk Bay is listed as one of the top ten beachs in the world.

[saxlover]

My wife and I did this excursion with Carnival and had a very nice time. Trunk Bay is listed as one of the top ten beachs in the world.

excusion is listed as a 4 hour excursion. how much of that time is spent at trunk bay?

[leftcoast]

We got off the ship early took a taxi and were first ones there. No need to pay extra through cruise line. Rented the equipment which was decent stuff. Yes it's a trail in which you read cute signs underwater. Only thing was I read more words than fish that were present. When I tried to snorkel around the small island the water got ruff on the outer part. Can't recommend it sorry.:rolleyes:

[augie]

Trunk Bay is among the most beautiful beaches in the world!

 

The snorkeling experience depends on several factors. If you're a very experienced snorkeler/scuba diver, it probably won't be the most scenic, from either a fauna or flora perspective, that you've ever been to. That said, we've seen some pretty cool stuff in the water there, even though it's not even in our top 10 (or even top 20) places to snorkel on St. John.

 

If you're there when there are big crowds with a lot of folks in the water, you can expect that a lot of the fish will elect to either hide from, or flee, the hordes!

 

If the water is rough, or murky, or the weather in general isn't great, those can all affect your experience.

 

It's an easy place to learn to snorkel since the water off of the beach is a shallow slope. The cay (island) provides a more interesting environment visually than just the sandy bottom off of the beach (although we have seen turtles at Trunk in the grass beds).

 

My last four visits to St. John have been land based, and i can visit just about any beach on the island, but we still usually visit Trunk at least once each trip (when it's not "crowded").

 

I think it's a great place to get acquainted with Caribbean, and especially USVI, beaches.

[cindivan]

it does get deep - about 10 feet, so if you have young children or get tired swimming (it took us about 1/2 hour to do trek, but could be longer or shorter depending), it's totally worth it to rent those little life jackets. You can still dive down by slipping them off, but then you have something to float on when you resurface