Which beach?

[Butterbean1000]

One of the excursions we are looking at gives us a choice of one of 3 beaches.  Magen's Bay, Sapphire or Coki Beach.  It is just my husband and I.  Which one would you recommend?

[blue_water]

Snorkeling or just beaching it?

Magens is beautiful (all three are) but no snorkeling at Magens. We would choose Sapphire for the beautiful island views and beach...

 

[Butterbean1000]

The hubs likes to snorkel.  Me, I'm more of a beach lounger with an occasional trip down to the water to cool off.  So, Sapphire?

Edited August 7, 2019 by Butterbean1000

[blue_water]

Coki is also a popular choice for snorkeling, just a bit more congested being a small bay. Sapphire also gets crowded with more and more day visitors so either is an option. We prefer Sapphire because there are no vendors (home to condo properties) and there’s a bit more room to spread out. Pretty island views as well...You can imagine how nice it would be to return and rent a condo there! 

[Butterbean1000]

Thank you, sounds great.

[MrSchwump]

On 8/7/2019 at 9:12 AM, blue_water said:

Snorkeling or just beaching it?

Magens is beautiful (all three are) but no snorkeling at Magens. We would choose Sapphire for the beautiful island views and beach...

 

Last time we visited STT we went to Sapphire. There are 2 places to get drinks.  The open air bar makes a great Painkiller!  Great views too.  Get there early as we got the last couple of chairs available before a ship excursion showed up. We just took one of the open air taxis and paid for our own chairs. Probably a lot cheaper than the folks on the excursion paid. 

 

[BSR]

On 8/7/2019 at 7:35 AM, Butterbean1000 said:

The hubs likes to snorkel.  Me, I'm more of a beach lounger with an occasional trip down to the water to cool off.  So, Sapphire?

I would go to Coki for the snorkeling.  Also good to lounge around the beach.

[Stinger-pr]

I have been to both Coki and Sapphire on land based vacation and on cruise stops. But I always rent a car, even if it's for the day. I have yet to visit Meagan's since its a "beach to relax" and we're more active in that we love to snorkel (although DW would LOVE if we just chilled every once in a while...lol). Coki and Sapphire are great for snorkeling but are a bit different one from the other. Coki has more abundant and colorful fish that will swim around you like you're almost not there. The water is usually calmer and clearer. Sapphire is a more "complete" snorkeling experience in that it has more and diverse plant life underwater. From rocky areas with all types of coral to grassy areas. We've seen basically the same fish (although in lesser quantities) than in Coki but we have also seen Stingrays, lobsters and octopus. Sapphire is less shielded from the open ocean and tends to have more waves, which can sometimes make it difficult to snorkel near rocks or on shallower areas but we've had a bunch of fun there anyway. 

 

Hope that helps a bit.

[mitsugirly]

SAPPHIRE BEACH with pictures

 

COKI BEACH with pictures

 

 

[foxymustang]

@mitsugirly Can you give me some direction on which way you swam at Coki beach? It looks like your amazing coral pictures are from the area around the Coral World Observatory building? Your pictures are amazing - thank you for sharing!

[Stinger-pr]

While I have not scuba dived on Coki, I had snorkeled a few times and can say that we have seen the most amount of fish near the rocks that surround Coral World, to the right side of the beach. @mitsugirly dove farther out so the marine plants they saw were in deeper waters. Be careful though of the surf near the rocks. Even on relatively calm days a small swell can bring you very close to those rocks and coral without a warning.

[mitsugirly]

21 hours ago, Stinger-pr said:

While I have not scuba dived on Coki, I had snorkeled a few times and can say that we have seen the most amount of fish near the rocks that surround Coral World, to the right side of the beach. @mitsugirly dove farther out so the marine plants they saw were in deeper waters. Be careful though of the surf near the rocks. Even on relatively calm days a small swell can bring you very close to those rocks and coral without a warning.

 

 

I just wanted to say...the dive was the second time we were there. We had been there before and the coral and everything just going snorkeling was pretty darn amazing as well. That was the reason we decided to go back for scuba. The link I posted above to OP was all snorkeling only. We did not dive that time.

 

Here's a few select pics of snorkeling at Coki

 

Eel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My dive pictures...well that's another story and AMAZING    HERE

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 31, 2019 by mitsugirly

[mitsugirly]

On 8/30/2019 at 12:04 AM, foxymustang said:

@mitsugirly Can you give me some direction on which way you swam at Coki beach? It looks like your amazing coral pictures are from the area around the Coral World Observatory building? Your pictures are amazing - thank you for sharing!

 

@foxymustang I went on both sides. Down the right along the side by Coral World and then along the wall to the left.

 

LOOK HERE and you will find all my snorkeling pictures from that day. Starting out was along the right and then around the 4th page is starting on the left side (with the bright purple coral). I honestly did NOT go out far at all. I feel like if I would have, I probably would have seen even more).