Jewel of the Seas - Best Snorkeling Port?

[suep]

We will be on the Feb 1 Jewel OTS cruise visiting St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John's Antigua, Martinique and St. Lucia. Because my husband has a very large salt water fish tank at home, we’re always looking for a great place to snorkel on at least one of the islands we visit on our cruises. We’ve already snorkeled at St. Johns off of St. Thomas, but we are looking to find out which island (other than St. Thomas) would be good for snorkeling. Any recommendations? Thanks!

[lexingtonave]

We are on the same cruise. My husband is the snorkeler, I like calm water. In St. Thomas we went to Coki Beach. You can snorkel from the beach or just go for a swim.

In St. Croix, there are a number of places. We go to a resort where you can swim or snorkel. However, for a real snorkeling adventure, check out ports on Cruise Critic. They can give you a list of places that are good. I don't know any of the other ports, but will be reading your thread as people reply so I can get more info. Thanks for posting.

[erniesband]

St Lucia is the best one on that itinerary. Check out the day package at Ti Kaye with Island Divers. http://www.tikaye.com

[sippican]

St Lucia is the best one on that itinerary. Check out the day package at Ti Kaye with Island Divers. http://www.tikaye.com

 

We had booked with Island Divers this past April, but needed to cancel due to an injury. Heard from others that it was great.

Can't wait to try again next April.

[karena1]

I know you said "other than St Thomas" but Sapphire Beach in STT has fantastic snorkeling. IMO it is just as good there as it is on St John. Antigua has good snorkeling but only if you do an excursion out to one of the reefs. We have done the snorkel tour off the ship many times there.

[NemoCrownie]

St Lucia marine reserve beneath the Pitons - great snorkeling from the beach. We really enjoyed Trunk Bay on St John but the snorkeling on St Lucia was much better - in our very limited experience.

[publicpersona]

I have been snorkeling on cruises for almost 25 years, and the best I've ever seen was on this ship/itinerary last week .. at Buck Island off St. Croix. I'm told the coral was about gone several years ago but has made a remarkable recovery. Lots of fish too, including a pair of barracuda. Highly recommended.

[abitaturbodog]

I agree with Coki Beach and Sapphire Beach in St. Thomas...Coki is closer to the port, so less expensive taxi ride.

 

Trunk Bay on St. John is one of the best snorkeling sites--we swam with sea turtles there! But it's not easy to get there. In my opinion, it's worth the extra effort.

[SECdawg]

I vote for St. Lucia. Snorkeling beneath the pitons was like swiming in an aquarium!

[suep]

Thanks to everyone for your input!! I've read all of your comments to my husband and it sounds like he's leaning toward St. Lucia or St. Croix. However, this will be our first visit to St. Croix so it will be hard to choose between touring around the island or going snorkling! ;)

[erniesband]

I see you're going in February so beware of the north swells at that time of year. We always cruise mid January and every time we've been to St Croix the north swells have made snorkeling at Buck Island very rough and difficult. We've seen people out snorkeling at Cane Bay but to me it looked to rough to try. The bays in St Lucia are protected and the swells don't affect the snorkeling there.

[JasonV1]

Read reviews for snorkeling at Trunk bay, absolutely beautiful.

 

Honestly with snorkeling I would try to go independent and get off the beaten path. Unless the reef is deep enough to avoid being stomped on, anything visited by cruise ships regularly isn't going to be as nice as those lesser known areas. St. Johns is nice because the island itself is not the busy, and many avoid it due to the ferry ride (or catamaran if taking an excursion). For a cruise ship excursion, St. Johns is hard to beat for beaches and snorkeling.

[cathep]

Wish the itinerary discussed was the same as ours in April. I stayed at a resort on the north end of St. Lucia in July and was amazed at how good the snorkeling was off the shore. I never made it the Pitons, but others on the trip raved about it. The resort's day package is way too pricey to recommend, but I can recommend St. Lucia as a snorkeling location.

[suep]

Thanks everyone for all expert advice! We've already taken the ferry over to St. John and snorkeled at Trunk Bay. I'll be doing some more research on snorkling in St. Lucia!

[cathep]

This was a great idea for a thread. I'll probably copy it for our ports as we get closer .