Sapphire beach?

[blue_water]

11 hours ago, udamom said:

Thank you Blue Water for all the info. Last time I was there (Feb 2020) we went to Sapphire Beach and enjoyed the snorkeling The bar and bathroom area were fine. Nothing special but very useable. I dislike sargasso smell and swimming in it. Do you have any friends in the area currently? Our cruise will be there 1/11/22 I always thought sargasso was a spring/early summer problem.

I am hoping more people will comment here if they are back from being there recently and have an opinion on how pervasive it is. It is a fairly large beach so if they rake it and move it off to one side of the beach it won't bother me. We were in Playa del Carmen in May and it was very bad. Made swimming in the water no fun as you we constantly pulling sargasso off yourself.  

thanks for any info all

Yes the facilities for day visitors to Sapphire are just fine IMHO as well, not as nice as the restaurant and restrooms at the Emerald Resort in Lindbergh Bay, but exactly what I would expect at a non-resort beach and nicer than at some other popular beaches…There was talk of the restaurant being taken over and reopened, that would be great!

 

We don’t have any staying friends there now so I have just been asking residents/land visitors what they are seeing day to day. I’m sure you will see some feedback from recent visitors, you may even want to start a new thread. The STT forum on TripAdvisor can also be a good resource, as some residents and most land visitors will be active there and can answer these types of questions. And TTOL (travel talk online) is another source, that is excellent for the BVI and SXM in case you are cruising there…

 

When we stay at Sapphire it is usually in January. There can be sizable swells in the winter months. For example we’ve seen Honeymoon Beach on STJ completely submerged while snorkeling Caneel Bay, and good-sized waves at Sapphire. But never any sargassum at that time…🤞

 

And yes we started seeing the stuff in Playa March/April as usual. It cleared up nicely later in the summer months. you would not expect sargasso to even be part of the discussion right now would you? I questioned that comment above because a friend’s friend who works there reported no sargasso the same week. But another day there was some in the water due to a major storm in the Atlantic so it can happen. 
 

Enjoy your cruise! Three good-sized ships in port, but with nice weather Sapphire is an excellent choice as you know! 😄

 

Edited December 7, 2021 by blue_water

[Chauncey Picklepants]

13 hours ago, udamom said:

Thank you Blue Water for all the info. Last time I was there (Feb 2020) we went to Sapphire Beach and enjoyed the snorkeling The bar and bathroom area were fine. Nothing special but very useable. I dislike sargasso smell and swimming in it. Do you have any friends in the area currently? Our cruise will be there 1/11/22 I always thought sargasso was a spring/early summer problem.

I am hoping more people will comment here if they are back from being there recently and have an opinion on how pervasive it is. It is a fairly large beach so if they rake it and move it off to one side of the beach it won't bother me. We were in Playa del Carmen in May and it was very bad. Made swimming in the water no fun as you we constantly pulling sargasso off yourself.  

thanks for any info all

There were piles of it 3 weeks ago - mid/lateNovember. Lindquist was also mildly affected. Sapphire it was raked up but stunk. 
 

 (If I’m permitted to inject a recent firsthand account, that is.) 

 

Edited December 7, 2021 by Chauncey Picklepants

[blue_water]

4 hours ago, Chauncey Picklepants said:

There were piles of it 3 weeks ago - mid/lateNovember. Lindquist was also mildly affected. Sapphire it was raked up but stunk. 
 

 (If I’m permitted to inject a recent firsthand account, that is.) 

 

There was one other report of a fair amount of sargasso from Nov 26 (as I mentioned 😄). I’m not sure if the condition reported below was the reason for this anomaly…
https://stjohnsource.com/2021/11/25/dangerous-surf-conditions-forecast-to-be-worst-on-western-and-northern-stt-shore-thursday/
 

But January is low-risk… 🤞

[kstetser]

We will be porting in Havensight on 12/30.   We have been to Sapphire before and found the waves too aggressive for swimming.  Is this typical for this time of year?   We really would like a little elbow room, a good place to swim, chairs and a bathroom.   I saw you mention Emerald Day Pass, is this possible from Havensight?  Any other suggestions or would you recommend we still go to Sapphire?

[blue_water]

I can say that we have seen it very calm one January and quite rough while there during another January. So not much help, sorry.

I probably misspoke in regards to an Emerald Resort “day pass”. They do rent lounges and umbrellas, and you have access to the restaurant, beach bar, and nicer restrooms, but not the pool. The resort was offering a day package that included a room for the day, that was a popular option to families and couples sharing the cost. You’d have to call/email to see if that is an option, or if they are offering any new day passes.
 

The beach at the Emerald is nice, not as nice as the east end beaches but very nice. You can certainly taxi there from Havensight. I can’t comment on how rough it gets there during winter months.

 

Secret Harbor and Magens Bay are known for being protected and calm. Elbow room at SH may be an issue because it is a resort. They do run out of chairs/umbrellas but you can reserve ahead through AA Divers. At Magens we’d want to walk down to the far end of the bay to get away from the crowd. But there are only 3 “smaller” ships in port and it may not be that bad that day…
 

Our choice would always be Sapphire or Lindqvist, but we like the nicest beaches/views and if the water is rougher we can live with that to an extent… We can find a nice spot to sit  away from the busy area. At Lindqvist you must bring a towel to sit on and bring your own lunch and drinks of course. But what a gorgeous beach…

 

Sorry not much help!

[blue_water]

And we miss the live webcam an owner shared until Irma, but this drone video from 2017 shows the beautiful water and why Sapphire is loved by many…

 

Edited December 12, 2021 by blue_water

[indyfranks]

We got back from a cruise last week and we visited Sapphire Beach on Wednesday, December 8.  For a beach day trip from the cruise port, we loved it.  There are fixed rates from the cruise port to the various beaches and we paid $11pp one way to Sapphire.  We took one of the open air taxis and our entire taxi got out at Coki Beach except for us LOL.  We had been to Coki before, so we wanted to try someplace new.  We very much enjoyed our afternoon at Sapphire!  To start out, there were NO seaweed/seagrass issues the day we were there.  We rented beach chairs for $9 each and found a nice shady spot under some trees on the right side of the beach, but still close to the bar area.  We're not big laying out in the sun people, so we actually really enjoyed that our chairs were able to be in the shade for the day.  We did some snorkeling from the beach (we brought our own gear, but there are rentals available too) and while it wasn't great, it was decent.  The water was clear and not choppy.  The bar prices are quite reasonable and they had a good selection of beers including some local brews, which was nice.  They sell food too, but we just bought a few hot dogs, so I can't comment much on the food piece.  The beach wasn't super crowded either.  When we left, we just had to wait 5 minutes or so for another open-air taxi back to the cruise port.  All that said, we would totally visit Sapphire again on a future visit.

[blue_water]

Thanks for sharing and for the pics!

[momscruising]

On 12/7/2021 at 10:10 AM, blue_water said:

Yes the facilities for day visitors to Sapphire are just fine IMHO as well, not as nice as the restaurant and restrooms at the Emerald Resort in Lindbergh Bay, but exactly what I would expect at a non-resort beach and nicer than at some other popular beaches…There was talk of the restaurant being taken over and reopened, that would be great!

 

We don’t have any staying friends there now so I have just been asking residents/land visitors what they are seeing day to day. I’m sure you will see some feedback from recent visitors, you may even want to start a new thread. The STT forum on TripAdvisor can also be a good resource, as some residents and most land visitors will be active there and can answer these types of questions. And TTOL (travel talk online) is another source, that is excellent for the BVI and SXM in case you are cruising there…

 

When we stay at Sapphire it is usually in January. There can be sizable swells in the winter months. For example we’ve seen Honeymoon Beach on STJ completely submerged while snorkeling Caneel Bay, and good-sized waves at Sapphire. But never any sargassum at that time…🤞

 

And yes we started seeing the stuff in Playa March/April as usual. It cleared up nicely later in the summer months. you would not expect sargasso to even be part of the discussion right now would you? I questioned that comment above because a friend’s friend who works there reported no sargasso the same week. But another day there was some in the water due to a major storm in the Atlantic so it can happen. 
 

Enjoy your cruise! Three good-sized ships in port, but with nice weather Sapphire is an excellent choice as you know! 😄

 

Blue Water, thank you for all your valuable information on Sapphire Beach.  7 years ago, we visited Sapphire Beach because of your post on CC.  We absolutely loved our day on the beach.  We'll be docking in Havensight in late March, and we are the only ship in port that day.  I believe I read the taxi prices are regulated, do you know if this is in deed the case.  Years ago, we were told to go outside the port to catch a taxi.  I'm not sure if that was for quicker transport, or less expensive.  Would an open air taxi still be the best option for getting to Sapphire Beach?  Any other advice you can give?

Thank you,

[blue_water]

21 hours ago, momscruising said:

Blue Water, thank you for all your valuable information on Sapphire Beach.  7 years ago, we visited Sapphire Beach because of your post on CC.  We absolutely loved our day on the beach.  We'll be docking in Havensight in late March, and we are the only ship in port that day.  I believe I read the taxi prices are regulated, do you know if this is in deed the case.  Years ago, we were told to go outside the port to catch a taxi.  I'm not sure if that was for quicker transport, or less expensive.  Would an open air taxi still be the best option for getting to Sapphire Beach?  Any other advice you can give?

Thank you,

Hi momscruising! Thanks for your kind words, and I love your name and avatar!

 

Yes taxi rates are published and regulated, and just hopping a shared safari taxi is the best option IMHO. The fare is ~$10/pp each way, and taxis stop in at different times to pick folks up. You may need to wait at the dock u til the taxi fills up, and if that is a concern you can ask the taxi coordinator for a private taxi or walk out to the street and hail a taxi. We’ pave never done that so I can’t comment on how easy or hard that is. But we’d just hop a taxi at the dock…

 

[diane.in.ny]

On 12/20/2021 at 12:35 PM, indyfranks said:

  We rented beach chairs for $9 each and found a nice shady spot under some trees on the right side of the beach, but still close to the bar area.  

 

 

 

Thanks so much for your report. Wanted to know if it was also possible to rent umbrellas.

[blue_water]

Normally no umbrella rentals, but there are shady spots away from the sandier swimming area…

[udamom]

On 1/15/2022 at 12:26 PM, blue_water said:

Normally no umbrella rentals, but there are shady spots away from the sandier swimming area…

Blue, is this new that Sapphire doesn't have umbrellas? I just reviewed my pictures from Sapphire in March 2020 and we have rental chairs and umbrellas in those pictures. Rented from the stand to the left of the bar  (if you are looking at the water) think chairs were like $10 and umbrella 15 or 20.

Anyone who has been there recently and rented chairs were there umbrellas available also? We were planning to go there in early April but my husband has to have an shade/umbrella. I know there are some shade spots under the trees but obviously there is no guarantee of getting those.

thanks for any info

[blue_water]

27 minutes ago, udamom said:

Blue, is this new that Sapphire doesn't have umbrellas? I just reviewed my pictures from Sapphire in March 2020 and we have rental chairs and umbrellas in those pictures. Rented from the stand to the left of the bar  (if you are looking at the water) think chairs were like $10 and umbrella 15 or 20.

Anyone who has been there recently and rented chairs were there umbrellas available also? We were planning to go there in early April but my husband has to have an shade/umbrella. I know there are some shade spots under the trees but obviously there is no guarantee of getting those.

thanks for any info

No not new, sorry, umbrella rentals were not there the years we stayed there and later according to others.So my info is not current, there must have been a change there…
I’m sure someone can give you more current feedback.

 

For immediate confirmation you may want to pose this question on the STT forum on TA, some owners and renters follow that forum…