Magen's Beach vs. St. John Trunk Bay Beach

[Poohbeck]

I am hoping you will all be able to help me decide what to do the day we are in St. Thomas.

 

We arrive at 10am and depart at 6pm.

 

We are a family of 4; me, my husband and our two sons (14 & 16).

 

The boys really want to go go Snorkeling. Me...well, I didn't have too much fun Snorkerling when we went in Cozumel. I have pretty strong glasses (no contacts-not an option) and it was difficult to enjoy without being able to see. :( I am looking for prescription goggles tho. :)

 

Anyway, I LOVE the beach.

 

My intial thought was always to head to Magen's Beach so we could just have a beautiful beach day. But, now I've been reading about Trunk's Bay and that sounds like it may be perfect for the boys to Snorkel and be a beautiful beach too.

 

Any thoughts?

 

I recently read about a Catamaran trip for Snorkeling, but, I think I'd rather spend the day at the Beach if I can find one the boys can Snorkel at.

 

Thanks so much.

[JKSAN]

Definitely Trunk Bay! Our whole extended family (14) went about a year ago and FELL IN LOVE with it! The few hours that we had didn't seem to be enough. We went to Megan's Bay a few years back, and although it was beautiful, it just didn't have the magic of Trunk Bay. We got some fantastic pictures. The water was unbelievably clear. The facilities were nicer as well. We saved a ton of money and some time by getting off of the ship and going directly to the taxi station and getting a taxi straight to Red Hook for the ferry to St. John and then a taxi to Trunk Bay. You don't need to book through the ship. I could go on and on! To end, I have to tell you that we loved it so much that our family of 4 planned this year's vacation around Trunk Bay. We are spending the entire week on St. John this year.

[USVIcruizer]

Although a scenic beach, the bottom at Magen's is sandy, so nothing really to see snorkeling. Trunk Bay sounds like it would please everyone, they have a very unique underwater snorkel "trail", albeit not as lively as it once was...then again, neither am I! ;)

 

Whichever you choose, enjoy!

[O2B@Cagain]

Pooh: There are more than two choices! Magens is a great beach for strolling, floating, sunning and castle building. Coki and Sapphire are also good for snorkeling.

 

St John will require 4 round-trip taxi rides from your ship to Red Hook, 4 round-trip ferry rides, 4 round-trip taxi rides from Cruz Bay to Trunk. To me, that is a lot of travel time and expense in a short day, but you may have different values.;)

[blue_water]

Trunk or Cinnamon Bay on St John is the ultimate destination from the port for a day of beaching ad snorkeling. You would take the 20 - 30 min taxi to Red Hook ($72 RT), 20 min ferry to Cruz Bay ($48RT), and short taxi to Trunk or Cinnamon ($48RT) for a total of $168. Great day, but you would have to hustle to get the 11AM ferry and you'll probably want the 3PM ferry back to Red Hook to get you back to the ship by 5PM. So you'd have almost 3 hrs to enjoy the beach. 8 hrs in port is just a bit short but it's doable. As jjsan said it's a very easy self-excursion and so much more enjoyable on your own.

 

An alternative is taking the taxi to Sapphire Beach which is just a few minutes past Red Hook (total transportation $72, taxi is $18pp RT). Gorgeous beach with great snorkeling and all the amenities you need. Or Coki which is a much smaller bay nearby and also offers snorkeling but a much busier vibe and more vendors bugging you. Bit both very nice beaches. We're staying at the Sapphire Beach Resort (condo resort) starting tomorrow and it is really a nice beach. The resort restaurant and pool bar have been closed for some time which detracts from the look of the resort but the beach and water are really gorgeous and there's a dive center and food and drink available.

[Packedready]

We have stayed in St John for 1 week years ago and it is one of our favorite islands. Having said our ship arrives at 8am and departs at 5 pm. There is enough time to go to St John, but 1/2 of your day will be in taxi's and boats. Because of that we have decided not to spend our cruise day in St John.

[blue_water]

With 9 hrs you'd have at least 4 hrs of free time on STJ so it's a matter of choice. With 8 hrs it's harder to justify...

[Poohbeck]

Thanks for all the tips. We have decided to do a catamaran over to St Johns and it stops at Honeymoon Beach. Hopefully it will fit all if my families needs.

[blue_water]

We were at Honeymoon today(on a boat) while staying on STT, very rough and murky due to a swell (Jan of course). Not a lot of beach right now as the water is up and it gets deep quickly. Friends recommend Maho and we learned today there's a ray living there that grew up there -neat! Didn't see Trunk, Cinnamon, Maho, and Francis today but we'll see them tomorrow while driving STJ and will report back if interested.