Confused about St. Thomas excursions!!!

[goatwife]

Help!!! I am having a really hard time deciding between St. John's Beach and Snorkel, or Sapphire Beach and snorkel. We are travelling with our two boys (8&10), and they have not snorkelled before. I have heard mixed things about Sapphire as it is under construction right now, but have also heard mixed things about St. John's (long time to get there). Anyone who has done either or both of these excursions, your help would be greatly appreciated. I know that we will probably end up loving either one, but would just like a few more opinions if possible! We are just looking for a little relaxing beach time (on a beautiful beach), with some time to try out snorkelling and see some cool fish (turtles would be awesome too)! Thanks for any help!

[soxfan7]

We have been to St John (last year) and we are going back on our cruise next week! We love it there! We also did the beach and snorkel and it was awesome. It was a nice scenic boat ride to the island, then a short open air bus ride to the beach, they give you all the equipment for snorkeling, and it was awesome. They have an underwater snorkeling trail and we aren't experienced snorkelers at all. Definitely bring a waterproof camera for all the amazing stuff you will see!

 

We are going back this year (on Oasis, assuming you are too) and we are doing the Beach and Cays by Classic Schooner because it's exclusive to people on the Oasis and we are really looking forward to it. Good luck deciding and have fun!!

[Kallie22]

i just wrote a board on beaches and snorkling .look under best beaches in st. thomas. However even though sapphire beach is supposed to be under construction,i didn't see any when i was there last week.what i did see while i was snorkling was a sea turtle eating about 20 feet below me.I alslo saw 2 rays swimming 5 feet below me for at least 10 minutes. i swam with them as as as i could before they decided to go to the deep blue sea.when i went to st. johns beach it was very small and the snorking was poor.sapphire beach is a great place to start out snorking until you want to jump off a ship into the ocean!

[goatwife]

soxfan7 - Just wondering how long the excursion took when you did it. The info says 4 hours, but it sounds like a very long time to get to trunk bay. Our excursion leaves at 8:30am, will we really be back just after lunch? Did you see any cool fish? I know that all depends on the day, but we are really hoping to see something!

 

Thanks

[goatwife]

soxfan7 - by the way, we are on the same cruise!

[soxfan7]

soxfan7 - Just wondering how long the excursion took when you did it. The info says 4 hours, but it sounds like a very long time to get to trunk bay. Our excursion leaves at 8:30am, will we really be back just after lunch? Did you see any cool fish? I know that all depends on the day, but we are really hoping to see something!

 

Thanks

 

I'd say the ferry ride is about 30-40 minutes maybe, but there is so much to look at it seems much shorter. The captain of our ferry also pointed out a lot of stuff and gave some narration so that was cool too. We got to the beach, they explained St John is a preserved park and not to touch or take anything, etc, then we went and sat on the beach. I'd say we were at the actual beach about 2.5 hours or so, which was time enough for us to do the trails a few times, walk down the beach and lay in our chairs and take it all in. We aren't big snorkelers, so this was really cool for us, not sure names of the things we saw, but there are tiles all along the trails showing you everything you are looking at which is cool. It was perfect for us, and yes we got back to the ship just after lunch and we actually did some shopping in St. Thomas first, then came back to the ship and got lunch (we like a late lunch) so we didn't have to buy something out :)

[goatwife]

Thanks everyone! Haven't made final decision yet but am leaning towards Sapphire Beach only because of the kids. They may think the time to get to Trunk Bay is a little long. Since we have never been to St. Thomas before, I am sure both beach will be gorgeous to us. And the snorkeling at either will be fun for us first timers.

 

Thanks for all of the help. Can't wait to cruise!!!!