Trip Report - St. Thomas - Hired private boat

[susanf31]

Just returned from the Oct. 17th Carnival Liberty. We had the best day in St. Thomas! I know it's on the expensive side, but if you are looking for WORLD CLASS snorkeling and to not be "cattle-herded", I suggest you give this some thought.

 

We hired a private boat/captain to take just our family on a day of snorkeling around St. John. A private driver picked us up at the ship and drove us to the boat we chartered for the day in Red Hook. The captain asked us what we wanted to see and do. He had a cooler full of drinks that we previously emailed him. We told him we wanted to snorkel away from crowds in awesome spots that only boats can get to.

 

We stopped at 4 places...the first being a green turtle nursery...full of juvenile green turtles then we went on to other awesome snorkeling spots. We stopped on Honeymoon Beach in St. John for lunch and then continued on. When we were done for the day, our captain radioed our driver and he was waiting for us when we got off the boat. He gave us a nice tour of St. Thomas on our way back to the ship.

 

I can't tell you how nice it was to have a private tour like that. No hassel. No worries. The boat held 6 ppl. We could only hire him for a 1/2 day because of our limited time in St. Thomas, but if you have a longer stop, you can hire him for a full day and he will take you anywhere you want to go...including the British Virgin Islands. The cost was about $650 and the boat held 6 ppl.

 

The captain gave us an underwater camera to use and then emailed us the pictures. The entire day was awesome.

 

The name of the boat was Big Blue - Captain Wilson.

[ldydoc12]

We are planning on doing this when we are in St. Thomas in Jan. Can you tell me what the cost was?

[DonnaK]

This sounds wonderful...how did you arrange this???

[susanf31]

I found this trip just by researching private charters in St. Thomas. I knew I wanted a powerboat and not a sail boat so we could get to all of the snorkel stops quickly. Then I started reading reviews and Capt. Wilson/Big Blue got RAVE reviews on all reviews I found.

 

The price for 1/2 day for 6 ppl was I think $495 plus fuel, which was about $70 and we tipped himm about $70. If you go over to the British Virgin Islands, you'll pay more in fuel and you have to pay a $25 pp customs fee. The private driver was $25 pp round trip...and he was SOOOO worth it. No crowds. No hassel. It was great. You don't have to use him if you don't want to.

 

We stayed on the USA side and didn't have to pay the customs fee.

 

Just do a goole search for Big Blue Captain Wilson.

[scooter90]

How did you find the driver? I don't see transportation on the Big Blue site so figured you had to book him separately.

 

This may work perfectly for my family. Thanks for sharing

[susanf31]

Capt. Wilson of Big Blue recommended this driver to us. His name was Ali and Capt. Wilson will give you his number if you are interested in hiring him. he said that we didn't have to use him, but he was the driver he recommends to all of his charter cllients.

 

When we were on the boat, we mentioned to Capt. Wilson how great the driver was. Capt. Wilson said he always recommends this driver because he is one of the few he can rely on. He said it's hard to find drivers who take their jobs seriously as far as meeting specific people at specific times.

 

Ali met us at the gate with our name on a sign. He put us in his airconidtioned mini-van and whisked us away far ahead of all of the taxis and 1000+ other people disembarking at the same time. But we were lucky to be one of the first people off of the ship that day. We really husseled because we wanted to make the most of our time on the private charter. It was a big splurge for us, but we were so glad we did it.