Beaches in St. Thomas

[aly2445]

Any suggestion one nice beaches in St. Thomas? What stores are there for the shopping enthusiast? Thanky you! -Aly

[LOSTBOY88]

Aly, We went to St Thomas last year, about 10 of us. We had no excursion planned so when we walked off the boat, one of the taxi (Truck) drivers approached us. He told us he would take us wherever we wanted to go all day for $25 each, we talked him down to $15 each and ask him to take us to a beach first. We drove probably about 20 mins through some rough looking neighborhoods and then turned into what seemed to be a junk yard. Fear and some serious doubt was running through our entire crew but just up the hill the driver stopped and told us we were there. We walked through a couple little shacks onto one of the most beautiful beaches we had ever seen. It was called Coki beach, we rented chairs and umbrellas for $5 each. The locals then came and took our drink orders, they compete with each other so the prices were great. They also had snorkel gear and a place called Coral World just down the beach. The snorkeling was great and I have since heard it is the best on the island. We all decided when we return to St Thomas, Coki is the only beach we will visit. Good Luck, Duke

[luv2gonow]

Aly, We went to St Thomas last year, about 10 of us. We had no excursion planned so when we walked off the boat, one of the taxi (Truck) drivers approached us. He told us he would take us wherever we wanted to go all day for $25 each, we talked him down to $15 each and ask him to take us to a beach first. We drove probably about 20 mins through some rough looking neighborhoods and then turned into what seemed to be a junk yard. Fear and some serious doubt was running through our entire crew but just up the hill the driver stopped and told us we were there. We walked through a couple little shacks onto one of the most beautiful beaches we had ever seen. It was called Coki beach, we rented chairs and umbrellas for $5 each. The locals then came and took our drink orders, they compete with each other so the prices were great. They also had snorkel gear and a place called Coral World just down the beach. The snorkeling was great and I have since heard it is the best on the island. We all decided when we return to St Thomas, Coki is the only beach we will visit. Good Luck, Duke

 

what is coral world???

thanks

K

[cpizzull]

Agree. We've been to St. Thomas 3 times now, and have gone to Coki the last 2 due to snorkeling. Just got back from there and got to see some tarpon (see pic link below). The drive there is not the best, and some taxi drivers will try to persuade you to go to sapphire instead. The beach can also be small for some, but if you are used to Jersey beaches, it won't bother you at all, ha.

 

The drinks were awesome, especially after paying $5/beer on the ship. They charged $15 for a bucket of 6 beers, which you can even mix and match. All the fruity drinks are made from freshly sliced fruit, so you may need to wait a bit. The taxi is about $9/person/each way.

 

Coral World is a very poor man's version of Sea World, and that is being generous. ;o)

 

http://cid-7635b246e275a15e.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Cruise-2010

[selzhouses]

We have been to St Thomas many times and have been to all of the top beaches there. Our favorite is Sapphire Beach. Megan's bay is also nice but Sapphire is just so pretty and quiet. You look out over St John and hardly anyone there.

 

As far as shopping goes, we have always found good prcied on diamonds and emeralds.

 

Enjoy your time. in St thomas.

[Arzeena]

Any suggestion one nice beaches in St. Thomas? What stores are there for the shopping enthusiast? Thanky you! -Aly

 

 

Hi Aly

 

I went to Megan's Bay. Took an excursion from the ship. It was beautiful. Water was very calm and clear. They have changing rooms and rest rooms. The small "restaurant" there is very expensive so don't plan to eat there. Shopping is good on thier main street and near the port, depending on what you want to buy. If you want jewelry, do your research here in the US first beacause I have heard a lot of good and bad reports about people being ripped off by the jewelry stores that the ship's "port and shopping assistant" recomends. They have shopping seminars on the ship where these assistants will enlighten you on "where" to shop. It is fun to attend since they give you coupons for freebies for some small stuff, but don't let them take you for a ride. They will also try to sell you a port and shopping book for $25. Ask to look at the book first, get it ONLY if you think its worth it. The hype is more than the value! I read somewhere that the shopping assistants get 16% (from the recomended stores) of every $1000 that the customer (sucker) spends. So the bottomline is that if you like jewelry, do some research on prices etc first so you have something to compare with. That said and done, yes, they do have lovely stuff and they are very pushy. They will quote you a price that is very high and then come down to make you feel that they gave you a great deal! So do some research. This is pertaining to jewelry and watches only. Good luck and have a great time!

[aly2445]

All great answers. Thanks guys! Would anybody have any suggestions on beaches that won't be too crowed. We're going in the middle of September. Thank you -Aly

[The Islander]

September is off season in the USVI, so 0, 1 or 2 ships in port are typical rather than 5, 6 or 7 like you might find on some days in the winter months. You can check a cruise ship schedule to double check number of ships on the day you are visiting. That said, Magens, Coki and Sapphire tend to be the most popular with cruise tours and cruisers. Again they shouldn't be super crowded if your ship is the only one in port. If you wanted a somewhat off the beaten path beach as far as cruise passengers go, you could try Secret Harbor (which has resturant/bar and some other amenities on site) or maybe Lindquist (which hasn't got any amenities aside from benches and port-a-johns). Try a beach guide for St. Thomas for photos and descriptions of these beaches mentioned: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=st.+thomas+beach+guide+%2B+east+end&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=.

 

--Islander

[Aligator6182]

I would also recommend coki. We have been to sapphire and enjoyed it but prefer coki. Better snorkeling. We had lunch there, the jerk chicken was amasing and fairly priced. We went downtown shopping in the morning then headed over to the beach. It was a little hard to get a taxi to take only 2 of us but one of the drivers offering a tour helped us out. We didn't do the tour this time because we did it once before. I think the tour is worth it if you have never seen the island, it is a beautiful place. Enjoy.

Ali

[uglybutgoodbakery]

thanks so much for posting that beach guide, i got a lot of great information from it!

[luv2gonow]

Anyone know if the snorkeling at Coki beach even compares to a snorkle tour to christmas cove.

I have an 8yr old if that makes a difference??

Thanks

kerri