Excursions to St. John

[mjea35]

I'll be cruising to St. Thomas in February and I would love to go to St. John. I have three children, ages 8,11, and 14. I know there are several beach areas. I'd like to find a beach where we can have a great time with water toys (doesn't have to be snorkeling), chair rental, food concession, and bathrooms. Any suggestions? Thanks, Jamie

[The Islander]

Hello,

 

Watertoys, chair rental, food, bathrooms... Cinnamon Bay. They have some watertoys like floats, noodles, kayaks and some others.

 

The two beachfront resorts; Caneel Bay & Westin have watersports booths.

 

Trunk Bay has chairs, food, bathrooms but no watersports booth, they do rent snorkel gear.

 

Here's a St. John Beach guide with photos and descriptions http://www.*****/stjohn/beaches_stj/.

 

--Islander

http://www.*****

[Seadiva2]

Hello Everyone,

 

I am brand new to these boards and to cruising. Our ship arrives in St. Thomas and I am thinking about taking the ferry over to see St. John. While at St. John I was wondering how to get to The Baths? Can both of these be done in about 6 hours or so? I would love to see all the great rock formations and the beaches.

 

Can I hire a taxi or tour to take me over to see the Baths? How far of a drive is it from St. John? Our ship is only in from 8 to 6 pm so I don't have all that much time.

 

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks so much,:)

[kchesneylover]

Islander,

 

I am hoping you can come back to this thread and answer my question :p

 

We will be in STT from 8am til 8pm - do you think we should go to Cinnamon Bay or Trunk Bay? We have been to Trunk Bay already, but I would love to do it again. Is Cinnamon Bay just as nice? Will we have time?

 

Did Kenny Chesney sell his place?

 

Thanks so much!!:)

[Betsy's Mom]

The Baths are in the British Virgin Islands, Virgin Gorda. It is not possible to make the trip during a stop in St Thomas:mad: St John is lovely and you will enjoy it. On a land vacation to St Thomas/St John it is possible to get to Virgin Gorda. It is an all day trip and a lovely trip, but too long for a one day stay.

B.

[The Islander]

SeaDiva - The Baths are on Virgin Gorda, an island in the British Virgin Islands. From St. Thomas or from St. John, both are islands in the US Virgin Islands, you would need to take a ferry (which has very limited direct service to VG) or a boat charter (a power boat). Going to Virgin Gorda, as Betsy's Mom mentioned, is an all day trip so doing both Virgin Gorda and St. John in a day in port wouldn't work.

 

KCLover - Cinnamon Bay is a beautiful beach. Its not that far from Trunk Bay so timewise its about the same. I think KC sold his previous house and bought another, not sure.

 

--Islander

http://www.*****

[kchesneylover]

Thank you, Islander!!

[Seadiva2]

Thank you to Betsy's Mom and to The Islander for your helpful information. I really appreciate you both responding to my post. Like I said I am brand new to these boards and addicted to them as well. Everyone on here is giving me great information to enjoy my Navigator of the Seas cruise in 2 weeks.

 

Thanks Again,:)

[Table 6 UK]

Hey Islander

Can you possibly help us out ?

 

I am so tired trying to find the best excursion in St. Thomas / St. John that would suit the two of us, and any information that you could give us would be greatly appreciated.

 

We will be cruising on the Explorer and will arrive in Charlotte Amalie on Monday 25th Sept AT 1.00 PM AND LEAVING AT 11PM.

 

I have looked on various web sites for independent charter sailings but cannot seem to get the same sailing time and day for what we would like to do, which is ideally:-

 

Something like . . .catch a catamaran sailing from St. Thomas to St.John,

find a nice uncrowded beach, Snorkel (we are yet to try this !) maybe a barbecue and then drinks on the way back to St Thomas.

 

Do you know anybody that does something like this . . on a Monday and during these times?

 

Thanks so much for any advice.

 

KEV

[mjea35]

Thank you all so much for your great information! Now I feel like I can plan our day!

 

My question for Islander is this: Where exactly should we go when we get to Cinnamon Bay? If we use the watersports booth at Caneel Bay or the Westin for kayaks, floatie toys etc., can we use the beach facilities at those resorts or did you have in mind another section of the bay? I have no idea how large Cinnamon Bay might be. Thank you!! Jamie K

[The Islander]

Hello Kev,

 

Sounds like you would need to do a private half day charter. I don't know of any private trips that do bbq, but most offer lunch so you should be able to work out food/drinks. There are several private sailing trips listed at http://www.*****/stthomas/SandL/charters.php. Have you tried any of them?

 

Jamie - Cinnamon Bay is about a mile long. You can walk from one end of Cinnamon Bay to the other and see which spot looks the best to you. ;) When you walk down the entrance you end up sort of in the middle of the bay, the watersports booth is on the left.

 

Caneel Bay and Great Cruz Bay (Westin) are shorter than Cinnamon Bay so even easier to walk from one end to the other. Not sure what you consider beach facilities. You can go to the beaches. The chairs are for hotel guests, not sure if there are beach attendants that keep an eye out or not. You can rent gear from their watersports booth. You can buy food/drinks at the restaurant/bar close to the beach. Restrooms are available.

 

--Islander

*****

[RyanMFitz1]

Islander,

 

My mom and I are traveling on the Valor 8/27 and we are soooooooo confused about what to do in St. Thomas/St.John. My mom wants to go to Magens Bay cause it's my sisters namesake. But we would also like to go to St. John. But not sure where to go. We have read ALOT of posts about Coki, Trunk Bay, Cinnamon etc. We would love to just relax and play in the water, snorkel (If we choose to). Where in your opinion is the best place to do all of this? Any help would be greatly appreciated. My mom is driving me crazy with this. lolololololol

[RyanMFitz1]

Hello Kev,

 

Sounds like you would need to do a private half day charter. I don't know of any private trips that do bbq, but most offer lunch so you should be able to work out food/drinks. There are several private sailing trips listed at http://www.*****/stthomas/SandL/charters.php. Have you tried any of them?

 

Jamie - Cinnamon Bay is about a mile long. You can walk from one end of Cinnamon Bay to the other and see which spot looks the best to you. ;) When you walk down the entrance you end up sort of in the middle of the bay, the watersports booth is on the left.

 

Caneel Bay and Great Cruz Bay (Westin) are shorter than Cinnamon Bay so even easier to walk from one end to the other. Not sure what you consider beach facilities. You can go to the beaches. The chairs are for hotel guests, not sure if there are beach attendants that keep an eye out or not. You can rent gear from their watersports booth. You can buy food/drinks at the restaurant/bar close to the beach. Restrooms are available.

 

--Islander

*****

 

 

 

 

Islander,

 

My mom and I are traveling on the Valor 8/27 and we are soooooooo confused about what to do in St. Thomas/St.John. My mom wants to go to Magens Bay cause it's my sisters namesake. But we would also like to go to St. John. But not sure where to go. We have read ALOT of posts about Coki, Trunk Bay, Cinnamon etc. We would love to just relax and play in the water, snorkel (If we choose to). Where in your opinion is the best place to do all of this? Any help would be greatly appreciated. My mom is driving me crazy with this. lolololololol :D

__________________

[The Islander]

Hello,

 

If your mom wants to go to Magens Bay because of the name... well there are no others with that name. ;) How long are you in port? Perhaps you could go to St. John in the am, come back to St. Thomas leaving enough time to taxi to Magens Bay for a quick visit before heading back to the ship.

 

Coki is on St. Thomas. Trunk and Cinnamon on St. John. All three are great for relax, water, snorkeling - thats why you read about them so much. I know that didn't help ;), but if you want to go to St. John and your mom Magens Bay then see if your schedule will allow both. On St. John both Trunk Bay and Cinnamon Bay are beautiful, both have snorkeling, both have food/drinks (Cinnamon Bay's restaurant is tied with the campgrounds and they close from September 1 to Oct. 9 for maintainance so no food/drinks, watersports, looks like you'd be on island right at the end of August?). Cinnamon Bay has a trail and ruins right accross from the entrance so if you wanted to do a little hiking and explore some ruins then its a good choice.

 

--Islander

*****