St. Thomas or St. John?

[dentblanche]

We are arriving in St. Thomas with Carnival Victory in May. I've noticed in several posts and excursions that St. John is a popular destination out of St. Thomas. Are the beaches better on St. John's for snorkling? It will be the first day of our cruise and we'd like to snorkle and see turtles.

 

Thanks for any input!

[Northender]

Trunk Bay is lovely and so are most of the beaches in St.John.:)

 

Sorry, I cannot compare the two islands as far as snorkeling is concerned, but enjoyed every minute I have spent on St. J:):)

[The Islander]

There are cruise ship trips that head to St. John and there are options for doing it on your own either by charter for an excursion, or by ferry/taxi and you do your own thing. Or you could stay on St. Thomas too. Both have good beaches for snorkeling.

 

Seeing turtles is pretty much chance/luck. Chances are usually better at beaches with sea grass since turtles eat sea grass. At Sapphire on St. Thomas you can sometimes see them. Lindquist too. At Sapphire there is a small sea grass area on the left side when facing the water, this is the sandier side of the beach, so enter on that side and swim straight out until you find the sea grass and swim around that area and look. Again there is no guarantee and generally not much else to see around sea grass except the chance turtle, maybe a conch and sometimes small juvenile fish hiding in the sea grass blades. You can see fish at Sapphire but you have to head to the rocks/coral on either side for that. At Lindquist, facing the water, head right and enter the water. Swim out to the right until you get to the sea grass and swim around and keep an eye out. You might consider a charter to Turtle Cove on Buck Island (a small island off of St. Thomas, not the same as Buck Island off of St. Croix). Turtles seem to hang out in that cove pretty much insuring that snorkelers see a couple, but again there is never a guarantee since the turtles are free to come and go. At Coral World, a small aquarium, they have a turtle interaction activity - these turtles are in captivity so it’s guaranteed they are there.

 

--Islander

[dentblanche]

Thanks for the info.! The cruise ship offers an excursion to Buck Island, off St. Croix or St. Thomas?, Well anyway sounds like our chances of seeing the turtles in their natural habitat calls for luck on the given day. We will find them!

[illini_guy]

Generally speaking, there is more to see in the water off of STJ, and the beaches are spectacular! But there are more amenities at the STT beaches, as well as no hassle to get to them. So just depends on what you are looking for. We are on the Victory in May, very excited about the itinerary! STT/STJ is the only stop we've been to before.