St. John/St. Thomas in One Day

[dleem63]

I know Islander will have the answer to this. We will be in port on 11/12/08 and wanted to go to St. John first thing in morning for a couple hours at Annanberg Sugar Mill and then back to Charlotte Amalie to see some historic sites including Frederick Lutheran Church and then taxi back to Havensight. Is this crazy? Should we just pick things to do on one island and next cruise do the other. Thanks for all our imput. We only have one other port, St. Maarten on 11/11 with half the island closed because of St. Maarten day. Again thanks.

 

D

[Ms411]

Though Annanberg is supposed to be open every day, they don't have the NPS demonstrations every day like their website says. I tried to go two weeks ago, and after getting to St John, found out they were on hiatus for a while until season picked up, and they couldn't give me an exact date for when they would resume. So I'd call just before you leave for your cruise to see if they're doing the cultural demos. The ruins are always there, of course, but I think they're more interesting with historical background info. I think they start at 10.

 

If you're on the 1 o'clock ferry from STJ, you should be back in town by 2, so you'd have time to see the Lutheran church, etc. There's a good walking tour map at the Native Arts and Crafts cooperative across from the Vendors' Plaza (not open on Sundays!), and the tour might take an hour.

 

So you should have plenty of time to do both, IMO.

[The Islander]

Its possiable to do some things on St. John and on St. Thomas in one day. What time do you get in port, expect to be off the ship and what time do you have to be back on board?

 

--Islander

[sugarsmacks]

Can you go to Trunks bay and still have time to shop in St.Thomas? Will be going in January and will have a large group. Will be in port from 7-4 and docked at Crown. Would love to have at least 3 hours at the beach and a few for shopping.

[The Islander]

Sugarsmacks... do you know what time you will be able to get off the ship and what time do you have to be back on board for the 4pm departure? Do you know how many ships are in port that day?

 

--Islander

[Ms411]

There's great shopping in St John right by the ferry dock, so I'd do my shopping there, if I were you (unless you're crazy for fine jewelry. St Thomas has a much larger selection). You can buy souvenirs, t-shirts, spices, jewelry, and clothing right there in STJ. You'd need to be on the ferry NLT than 2 to make sure you get back to the ship on time, and even that might be pushing it.

[sugarsmacks]

Islander- I am not sure when we can get off since we will probably have to go thru customs. I know I like to be back on board at least 45minutes before departure. I believe we are the only ship in St.Thomas that day. I don't want it to be to stressful.

 

Ms411-Thanks about the shopping in St.John. I have been to St.Thomas once but my mom and aunt are coming this time so I would like them to see St.Thomas also, just not sure if I can do both in the amount of time we have.

 

It might just be easier and more relaxing if we stay in St.Thomas. I just heard so many good things about Trunks bay. I know we want to go to a nice beach were we can snorkel. My son would also like to try parasailing.

[The Islander]

There are four ships in port on the 12th. There will be some traffic in the morning with passengers heading out and in the afternoon with them returning. Again depends on when you get off the ship and on your way but you could head to St. John first thing. There are two ferry departure areas; Charlotte Amalie and Red Hook. You'd need to look at the schedules and see which would work best for you. Heading to Annaberg will take about 20-25 minutes from the ferry dock in Cruz Bay, and then time to look around and then 10-15 minutes to drive to Trunk Bay. You could get lunch there. Take a taxi back to Cruz Bay, takes about 12 minutes. If you took the Charlotte Amalie ferry you'd arrive right on the Charlotte Amalie waterfront. The CA ferry takes 35-40 minutes. From the ferry drop off point you could walk to the Lutheran Church and other sites.

 

Your best bet would be to plan loosely, have the time schedule planned out for St. John/St. Thomas, go to St. John first and then play it by time on whether you can do the historic sites in downtown Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas.

 

You mentioned your son wants to parasail. There isn't any parasailing at Trunk Bay St. John. There is watersports/dive center in Cruz Bay that can arrange parasailing but with that in the St. John plans then you'd be just doing St. John.

 

On St. Thomas you could arrange for parasailing at Sapphire Beach if you decide to do beach time and historic sites on St. Thomas. There is good snorkeling at Sapphire also.

 

Enjoy planning your day and have a great cruise.

 

--Islander

[sugarsmacks]

Islander- Thank you for all your help. I am going to be on the Crown and we will be in St.Thomas on Jan 22. I believe we are the only ship in port that day. At least it was the last time I checked. We really don't care to see alot of the historic sites. We want a nice beach to snorkel at and a little time for some shopping. I will try to let my son parasail either in St.Thomas or St.Martin. If we decide to stay in St.Thomas, which beach would you recommend..Sapphire or Coki? Some of the people in my group have never snorkel so I want it to be easy for them.

[The Islander]

Oops - I read the first post by dleem63 and your post sugarsmacks and combined the two into one and answered accordingly. Sorry about that.

 

So, the first part of my response would be for dleem63 and to add to it; if it were just Annaberg of interest on St. John then you should be able to do both St. John and St. Thomas, but again depends on when you get off the ship and have to be back.

 

And sugarsmacks; since its just Trunk Bay on St. John you are interested in you should be able to do both. The Charlotte Amalie ferry, if it works with your schedule, would get you right to Charlotte Amalie waterfront and you could walk right accross the street to the shops. Otherwise you could take the Red Hook ferry back and a taxi to downtown.

 

Sapphire or Coki... here is what I wrote in another thread; hope it helps ;).

 

Both Sapphire and Coki are pretty beaches. Coki is a very small beach. Sapphire is longer but also not a very long beach when looking at the sandy part only. Coki has a gentler slope in the water than Sapphire which deepens more quickly. Coki is usually very calm, and Sapphire calm. Coki is usually super clear, Sapphire also clear. Regarding calm and clear; this is the usual status but in both cases it depends on weather systems affecting the water and possibly stirring up the sand. Both are sandy, Sapphire has some pebbles mixed in with the sand around mid-beach and then has a lot of pebbles/coral rubble on the far right side, sandy on the left side. Sapphire has resort/condo/marina developments around/near it; the area is maintained accordingly. The area before/around Coki is a bit seedy. Coki has various vendors that sell drinks, food, souvenirs/gifts and they are housed in small booths along the beach. The vendors approach beachgoers to take drink orders and to sell their wares, rent chairs and so on. Sapphire doesn't have vendors. Both places have food/drink. At Coki there is food/drink service on the beach. Burgers, chicken, sandwiches and the like are available. Sapphire there is a small place a short walk from the shoreline that sells burgers, fish sandwich, beer/soda a few mixed drinks and a couple other things and also beach wait staff taking orders for the restaurant up at the condos. Taxis are available at both places. If you are renting a car and driving; parking is readily available at Sapphire. Parking is limited at Coki but if you get there early you can get a good spot. Do not park in Coral World's parking spaces unless you are going there. Watersports; Coki has snorkeling, dive shop and across the street there are jet skis. Sapphire has kayaks, windsurfers, snorkeling, dive shop at the watersports booth on the beach. They can also book jet skis and parasailing which are located around the corner from the beach at the marina. Both have chairs for rent. Coki has umbrellas for rent, Sapphire does not. Sapphire has natural shade on the right side under sea grape trees, and some on the left side also. Coki has little natural shade but there are a few shade providing trees along the shore.

 

Coki has good snorkeling for beginners; the fish are used to being fed (which isn't necessary since they are used to it and will come around anyway and also feeding marine life food not usually in their diet like dog biscuits and bread can be harmful to them). Since they are used to being fed they come right up by the shore basically - so quite easy to see a bunch of fish without leaving the comfort zone of being very close to shore. Swim out toward/around the rocks on the right side and it's still pretty shallow and more fish to see. Not a huge assortment of types of fish and very little coral. Water is generally calm so another plus for beginner. Sapphire has a larger area for snorkeling and more diversity in what you see - there are sea grass beds on the left side (when facing the water) and there are fish in there and the possibility of seeing marine life that like sea grass such as conch, also turtles - but neither is a guarantee. On the right side there are rocky outcrops and also a large shallow rock/reef area with a lot of juvenile fish and further out deeper areas with coral, seafans and various fish. The closer snorkeling around the rocks and over sea grass beds are good for beginner adult and kids with assistance from adult. The very shallow areas should be avoided if you aren't very comfortable snorkeling and are not a very good swimmer because it is quite shallow and you need to stay floating/swimming parallel to the rocks to avoid possibly hurting yourself on the rocks and damaging coral and marine life by bumping or standing on them. You can snorkel around the ledges of the shallow area and stay in a regular depth of water; you'll see fish along the ledges and under them. You can go out toward and around the point of the peninsula, it’s very good snorkeling but it’s fairly deep and there is a current so keep that in mind.

 

--Islander