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Sapphire Beach - St. Thomas

mavvie

By mavvie,
in Scuba and Snorkeling

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mavvie

mavvie

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I love to snorkel and usually DIY off the beach. A lot of websites recommend Sapphire Beach as a great place. I have seen some underwater pics and they show a pretty wide variety of marine lofe. My wife loves to sunbathe and the beach itself looks very nice which is a bonus. Then...... I read a few posts here saying the snorkelling isn't that good. People quote "a few baracudas and seaweed" or "schools of minnows". The conflicting reports are troubling. Any specific experiences with this location??

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BillOh Holiday Sharing Rare

BillOh

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I love to snorkel and usually DIY off the beach. A lot of websites recommend Sapphire Beach as a great place. I have seen some underwater pics and they show a pretty wide variety of marine lofe. My wife loves to sunbathe and the beach itself looks very nice which is a bonus. Then...... I read a few posts here saying the snorkelling isn't that good. People quote "a few baracudas and seaweed" or "schools of minnows". The conflicting reports are troubling. Any specific experiences with this location??

 

If you work your way back to the FRIENDS OF CRUISE CRITIC section and then find ARIZONA CRUISERS, there is a thread there for the 4/28 sailing of Allure of the Seas. I am on that cruise and a bunch of the AZ cruisers are going to Saphire beach, all for the 2nd time and they report enjoyable snorkeling there.

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mavvie

mavvie

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If you work your way back to the FRIENDS OF CRUISE CRITIC section and then find ARIZONA CRUISERS, there is a thread there for the 4/28 sailing of Allure of the Seas. I am on that cruise and a bunch of the AZ cruisers are going to Saphire beach, all for the 2nd time and they report enjoyable snorkeling there.

 

 

Thanks, I will check it out.

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mavvie

mavvie

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We go to Sapphire beach each time we are in St Thomas. My wife sits on the beach while I snorkel. The best areas are off to the Left and even better on the far right (if you are facing the water).

Here are some pics

 

DSCF1288.jpg

 

DSCF1247.jpg

 

P1020260.jpg

 

DSCF1296.jpg

 

Nice pics. It looks like there is some nice coral and bottom structure. Have you ever seen any sea turtles. I have read they can sometimes be found in the grassy areas. I am 99% sure this is where we are going in St. Thomas. How long was the cab ride from the pier?

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mitsugirly Great Review Rare

mitsugirly

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I completely cracks me up when people say there is nothing to see here but a few minows or whatever. There's an entire reef there full of tons of stuff located right in front of the Sapphire Condo's. It's as soon as you walk in to the water and goes WAY out but yet it's still not deep. In the middle there is sand for those that just want to swim. There is some sea grass in areas and people have spotted sea turtles.

 

To us, this place was paradise. The beauty, the water, the beach, the sea life, iguanas walking around and in the trees. It was the best of both worlds for those that like to snorkel and those that don't.

 

I did a review on it...I'll link it here. At the bottom of the review is a link to all of my pictures from that day...you tell me if there's any snorkeling to be done.

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1280889

 

 

IMG_1710-M.jpg

 

 

IMG_1841-M.jpg

 

 

 

IMG_1998-M.jpg

 

 

IMG_1866-M.jpg

 

 

IMG_1942-M.jpg

 

IMG_1948-M.jpg

 

 

Of course you can view all of my pictures at the link in the review.

 

Also, you can check out their webcam any time day or night and see what it looks like there:

 

http://www.sapphireinthesun.com/

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caribdiver

caribdiver

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Sapphire Beach is a beautiful spot for a beach day and snorkeling when cruising the E. Caribbean. Most of the time you can easily see lots of marine life.

 

And this beautiful beach is usually not that crowded.

 

My wife and are divers, but when in St Thomas we are perfectly happy to enjoy a day of snorkeling there. We bring our own snorkeling equipment but they have a dive shop there where you can rent.

 

If you have divers in your group they can arrange a dive there too.

 

All in all I have to agree with the previous post.....it's paradise.

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  • 2 weeks later...
mitsugirly Great Review Rare

mitsugirly

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Is there anywhere at Sapphire to rent chairs, purchase food...maybe rent a kayak?

 

Thanks!

 

Yes, yes and yes. My pictures show the kayaks for rental. There is a small hut there that you can rent equipment for snorkeling and I assume that is also where you would rent the kayaks. We didn't do the kayaking, so I didn't ask about it. They also have some food there. I don't exactly remember what all they had because we didn't eat there (we were waiting to eat at Paradise later in the day), but I can tell you that the drinks were ICE COLD! :D

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cocontom

cocontom

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We did Secret Harbor in the early morning and Sapphire later in the afternoon. It was amazingly beautiful, and the snorkeling was definitely better at Sapphire, but there were under 50 people at Secret Harbor versus crowds at Sapphire. I did see one turtle at Sapphire.

 

The lady on the far left hand side makes a phenomenal rum punch and Painkiller (and she does it right, with freshly grated nutmeg- the Banana Cabana uses jarred). The food was good at Banana Cabana though.

 

One warning- do not feed the iguanas. I decided if one of them would eat out of my hand, it could have a potato chip. My hand dropped and that sucker rushed me so fast, there was no way I wanted my hand near it! And another one apparently jumped onto a guy's chair, knocked over his plate, and carried off his sandwich (or just tried to, we were snorkeling when it happened). They definitely are not more afraid of you than you are of them.

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  • 2 months later...
neptuno

neptuno

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Does anyone know the price of taking a taxi there?

 

The tourists pay $10 each way from Havensight. We are a family of four, so instead of paying $80 round trip to Saphire, we walk out to the road and flag a safari for $2 and $1 for kids. It drops you on the road and you walk down the drive through the condos to Saphire Beach. Going back, the Safari travels in the same direction, it makes a loop through Red Hook, and will drop you right in front of Yacht Haven.

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avatheps

avatheps

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OP, I have not yet cruised and have never been snorkeling, however, I have been interested and planning for several months now. I have spent many long hours on many online sites including CC. I have drawn the overwhelming conclusion that Saphire is about as good as a newbie like myself is going to get. Oh I am sure there are more colorful or exciting places to go, but probably not on short duration visit like you are going to get on a cruise ship. I hope you enjoy Saphire. I know I am going to.

Bob

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  • 9 months later...
Nicagal

Nicagal

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I completely cracks me up when people say there is nothing to see here but a few minows or whatever. There's an entire reef there full of tons of stuff located right in front of the Sapphire Condo's. It's as soon as you walk in to the water and goes WAY out but yet it's still not deep. In the middle there is sand for those that just want to swim. There is some sea grass in areas and people have spotted sea turtles.

 

To us, this place was paradise. The beauty, the water, the beach, the sea life, iguanas walking around and in the trees. It was the best of both worlds for those that like to snorkel and those that don't.

 

I did a review on it...I'll link it here. At the bottom of the review is a link to all of my pictures from that day...you tell me if there's any snorkeling to be done.

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1280889

 

 

IMG_1710-M.jpg

 

 

IMG_1841-M.jpg

 

 

 

IMG_1998-M.jpg

 

 

IMG_1866-M.jpg

 

 

IMG_1942-M.jpg

 

IMG_1948-M.jpg

 

 

Of course you can view all of my pictures at the link in the review.

 

Also, you can check out their webcam any time day or night and see what it looks like there:

 

http://www.sapphireinthesun.com/

 

 

Read your full post...you said you guys went to Sapphire Beach then headed to Paradise Point. We are going to St. Thomas in March. We are at port from 730am - 4pm. What would you recommend for time at each place? After the beach did you take the cab right to Paradise Point? And what was the cost / time frame from Paradise back to the port? Want to do both, heading to beach first since like you said they don't open til 9. What did the full day cost you guys? Your help/opinion is greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

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mitsugirly Great Review Rare

mitsugirly

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Read your full post...you said you guys went to Sapphire Beach then headed to Paradise Point. We are going to St. Thomas in March. We are at port from 730am - 4pm. What would you recommend for time at each place? After the beach did you take the cab right to Paradise Point? And what was the cost / time frame from Paradise back to the port? Want to do both, heading to beach first since like you said they don't open til 9. What did the full day cost you guys? Your help/opinion is greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

 

There have been a lot of post about Sapphire Beach closing the dive shop and the bathrooms there to the public and roping off the entrance to the drop off for people.

 

Check whether Sapphire has rentals, bathrooms, etc--several have posted it does not now because the resort went bankrupt. If so, try Coki Beach and use Coki Dive Club for gear.

 

I don't believe there is a report about the condo's going bankrupt. ;)

 

http://virginislandsdailynews.com/news/secret-harbour-sees-boost-in-tourist-traffic-1.1621621

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