St. Thomas or St. John?

[marshalls1963]

Any suggestions on which island to go to for a great beach and some snorkeling? I am trying to figure this out we dock at St. Thomas but we get to choose which island we prefer? Any help out there? This is our first time doing the eastern carribean

[howard6933]

I've been to St Thomas numerous times, and if you want to "shop til you drop" this is the place to go to. However, if you really want a gorgeous beach experience, go to St John. :cool: You can either take the ship's shore excursion or go on your own. With the ships excursion, they take you to Red Hook by van where you then take the ferry to St John. When you arrive at St John, a van will take you to Trunk Bay which is the most fabulous beach you will ever see. The sand is white and there is a snorkeling run that is pretty good. In the many times that I've been there, it is usually not crowded at all. Depending on how long the ship stays in St Thomas, you may even have time to shop in Charlotte Amalie when you return from St John. If you don't want to go all the way to St John, Cokie Beach is a fairly good alternative. And Magen's Bay is another nice beach as well as Morningstar Beach. So you've got a lot to choose from and you won't go wrong no matter which one you choose. Have fun!!!!! ;)

[Host Star]

I've been to St Thomas numerous times, and if you want to "shop til you drop" this is the place to go to. However, if you really want a gorgeous beach experience, go to St John. :cool: You can either take the ship's shore excursion or go on your own. With the ships excursion, they take you to Red Hook by van where you then take the ferry to St John. When you arrive at St John, a van will take you to Trunk Bay which is the most fabulous beach you will ever see. The sand is white and there is a snorkeling run that is pretty good. In the many times that I've been there, it is usually not crowded at all. Depending on how long the ship stays in St Thomas, you may even have time to shop in Charlotte Amalie when you return from St John. If you don't want to go all the way to St John, Cokie Beach is a fairly good alternative. And Magen's Bay is another nice beach as well as Morningstar Beach. So you've got a lot to choose from and you won't go wrong no matter which one you choose. Have fun!!!!! ;)

 

 

if you want to do snorkeling without going to Trunk Bay go to Coki.. great snorkeling.. lots of fish,, swim around the rocks towards the pier and ther are still some undamaged coral (sea fans, etc).. huge gorgeous parrot fish, etc.. they will give you dog biscuits to feed the fish.. we were snorkeling nose to nose with the fish :).. then you have more time for shopping in st. thomas instead of doing the ferry back and forth to trunk bay, which is wonderful but would take up much of your day with time getting there and back.. the drive to Coki gives you a good tour of st. thomas at the same time..

[Genessa]

we went to St. John on our first cruise and Trunk Bay has been the benchmark by which we rate every other beach we've been on. None has surpassed it...by St. Thomas comes really close and, so, we make our decision on whether to go to stay on St. Thomas or go to St. John by the weather of the day and how energetic we are.

 

You can spend much more time on St. John if you go by yourself, rather than with the ship's excursion, but it is more involved than just hopping into one of the taxis on St. Thomas and say, go to Coki Beach, go to Magen's Bay.

 

If it is somewhat cloudy or we are somewhat lazy, we just stay on ST. Thomas.

[Cruise4Andy]

Last year we took our rental Jeep and went to St. John via car barge, where we went snorkeling and sunbathing at Trunk Bay. What a wonderful beach and snorkeling opportunity. They even have an underwater snorkel path, and have plaques installed under water which will give you more information about the marine life, corals, fish, etc. Absolutely wonderful.

 

If you don't want to make your way all the way to St. John, Coki Beach on the north side of St. Thomas is a great alternative for snorkeling, although Magens Bay is (in my opinion) nicer if you just want to enjoy the beach. As Host Star mentioned, at Coki Beach you can get some dog bisquits or even bread and snorkel along the rocks on the left side of the beach... In a short period of time you will be surrounded by fish enjoying the bisquit... they'll even follow you while snorkeling along.

 

Don't forget your underwater camera (a disposable one will do). This a great opportunity for some really unique underwater and fish shots! A great experience!

 

Have fun... and say "Hello" to the fish at Coki Beach... (we fed them well last week!)

 

Andy