What would be considered the "least" crowded beach in St Thomas (St John's as well)

[sppunk]

DW and I will be sailing to St. Thomas again (third time, wee) next April and are beginning our planning stages for the trip.

 

We've been to Trunk Bay and Megan's Bay, and now want a more solitude, tranquel beach for the time. We don't care about snorkeling and we don't care about resorts.

 

We just care about a lack of people (mobs, I mean :) ) and a very relaxing day laying in the sun and shade on a beautiful Caribbean beach!

[richtersl]

Consider Cinnamon Bay or Hawksnest Beach on St. John. Though neither will be completely empty, it's easier to find a quiet corner to relax on either of those two beaches than at Trunk Bay. Taxis stop often at these two beaches. Maho Bay is worth a shot too but you need to make arrangments with the cab driver in advance for pickup.

[M&T]

Linda, thanks for the pictures. I understand there is a walk down to the beach. Is it steep? How long does it take to get to Cinnamon beach from where the taxi lets you out? Thanks. Marlyne

[The Islander]

Hello,

 

sppunk, how about going over to Water Island - Honeymoon Beach.

 

M&T, The walk from the drop off area at Cinnamon down to the beach isn't steep, its almost flat. About a minute and you are in front of the beach.

 

--Islander

http://www.*****

[M&T]

I first asked these questions on another thread but didn't get an answer, so I thought I'd try here. I have read several posts where people say they prefer Cinnamon over Trunk. Are the primary differences in Cinnamon and Trunk the crowds and underwater snorkel? Are they both long and wide? Is there a time when Trunk gets busy? We may be there from 10-1. Also, where do you snap the picture of TrunkBay? Thanks. Marlyne

[2Feathers]

Marlyne... Trunk and Cinnamon are similar in a lot of ways: both are pretty long, beautiful white sand beaches, and both have a little cay off the beach to snorkel around, although Cinnamon's is a little further swim off-shore and Trunk's has the underwater trail around its cay. Snorkeling is pretty good at both. Cinnamon is generally less crowded than Trunk, but is fairly well visited. (There is also the campground at Cinnamon, so the campers use the beach a lot.) Both have showers and bathrooms, a snack bar, small store, some equipment rentals (Trunk has snorkel and chair rentals, Cinnamon has that plus kayaks, small sail boats and sail boards). There is a small fee to use Trunk, but not Cinnamon. Cinnamon isn't much further down the road than Trunk, so time isn't really an issue. Both will have taxis available to take you back to the ferry.

 

sppunk... If you're looking for a really quiet beach on St. John, you might try Salomon. Its usually very uncrowded, because you have to get to it by foot (an easy 20-30 minute hike from the Cruz Bay ferry dock) or by boat (there are no roads leading to it). Its a beautiful, classic Caribbean beach with soft white sand, calm crystal clear water, good snorkeling and scenery, palm trees... Ahhh! My favorite beach! Some people will warn you about nudity there, although we've only seen that once. There are no facilities of any kind there, so you need to take your own water and snacks if needed. After you get off the ferry, walk down the street to the left until you see the National Park Service office at the edge of the bay on your left and ask for directions. The path begins just accross the street from the NPS office. You'll love St. John!! Have a great time!

[2Feathers]

Oh yeah, Marlyne... The overlook for the famous Trunk Bay photos is on the North Shore Road on the way to the beach. Any self-respecting taxi driver will automatically stop there, and you absolutley can NOT leave the island until you've taken that photo. Serioulsy... I think its a law...

[Oaktree]

Take a taxi to Caneel Bay, go to the left from the parking lot and look for a

path which will take you to Honeymoon Beach. It is on the same path as

Salomon, but is a larger beach. There are no facilities, so take water and

snacks. There is shade if you want it. The water is clear and words cannot

describe the beauty. Sometimes daysails anchor off shore for snorkling.

It has never been crowded when I was there, but I should stop telling people

how to find it! You can return by Caneel Bay and use their facilities to

freshen up.:cool:

[sppunk]

Thanks for the responses. Cinnamon sounds a good fit - I am always worried about visiting somewhere that does not have immediate taxi pickups. From what I read, Cinnamon does have a taxi stand correct?

 

I was nearly stranded once by a driver failing to pick us up and fear that happening again!

 

Maho looks LOVELY, but again I fear being stranded!

[GOTTA-GO]

Thanks for the responses. Cinnamon sounds a good fit - I am always worried about visiting somewhere that does not have immediate taxi pickups. From what I read, Cinnamon does have a taxi stand correct?

 

I was nearly stranded once by a driver failing to pick us up and fear that happening again!

 

Maho looks LOVELY, but again I fear being stranded!

YES there's a taxi stand at Cinnamon, but there's always the question of whether there'll be one there when you need it. Variation on a theme take the cab to Caneel Bay as suggested by Oaktree - Enjoy Honeymoon/Salamon Beaches and follow the trail back to the ferry docking area. Get a cool drink while you wait for the ferry. OR take the trail both ways and save the taxi fare. Nice Hike with good views and picture taking oportunities. BYO stuff - not much there except some picnic tables, maybe a couple benches on the trail.

 

We wandered around Caneel Resort for awhile, but there were quite a few signs and DW didn't really feel comfortable invading their space.

[richtersl]

Not to worry, taxis are plentiful there. We saw a number of them in the parking lot when we were there.

[GOTTA-GO]

Not to worry, taxis are plentiful there. We saw a number of them in the parking lot when we were there.

Always until you really need one bad. I just wouldn't try to catch the last cab for the last ferry&cab before the ship leaves. Murphy is always alive and well on our trips.

 

Anyone ever visited the Westin on StJ? Looks nice.

[richtersl]

Always until you really need one bad. I just wouldn't try to catch the last cab for the last ferry&cab before the ship leaves. Murphy is always alive and well on our trips.

 

Anyone ever visited the Westin on StJ? Looks nice.

:D You got that right about the cabs. You most certainly don't want to wait for the last one, that's for sure.

 

The Westin itself is gorgeous! The island tour we took of St. John stopped there briefly. We got as far as the pool and didn't see much of the beach, though.

[sppunk]

With all of you guys' suggestions, I think we are leaning toward renting a dingy from Noah's Little Arks for our trip and exploring the north beaches of St. John's!

 

So long as the weather is good at least ... if not, we'll take a taxi to Cinnamon most likely and explore there all day! :)

 

Now, I've read some posts about Noah's Little Arks, but do any of you have any experience with them and their reliablity?

[2Feathers]

sppunk... We've rented from Noah's twice. The first time the seas were calm and we had an absolute blast! Went all the way to Waterlemon and snorkeled the cay there, which is my favorite snorkel spot on St. John. Then we hit many of the North Shore beaches on the way back. The second time, the seas were rough and the wind was up, and it was not as much fun. The waves would break over the bow of the dinghy, and the wind would blow the water right into our faces. I was absolutely soaked by the time we got half way to Waterlemon, and the dinghy was full of water! When we got around Mary Point, it was very bad, and we were just rolling. We decided not to go on, because we were nervous... and I was tired of getting smacked in the face with salt water every few seconds! We went to Frances and some of the other more sheltered bays and still had fun, but I would definitely re-think the dinghy rental if the ride over to St. John on the ferry is rough and you can see a lot of white caps along the way.

 

As far as reliability,Noah's is great! They give you very good instruction and even have a video with safety instructions. They also provide a map of the beaches and bays. The only thing they don't tell you is how to get back in the thing if you tie up to a mooring ball (as opposed to beaching the dinghy), and that's apparently because there is no good way of doing this. (Either that or they secretly follow you with a video camera hoping for an America's Funniest Home Viseo moment.) You have to have good upper body strength (which I do not possess), and low er... "lower body" weight (suffice to say I had trouble in that department as well), plus good coordination (once again, unfortunately, nada for me...). But we sort of got the hang of it, and once we figured out how to yank one of our rear ends in, that person could help haul in the other. I highly recommend it and we would do it again in a heart beat... IF it was a calm day. Have fun!!

[M&T]

Thanks so much for the responses. I greatly appreciate your helpfulness. I think we will go to Cinnamon first for about 4 hours, then get the picture of Trunk on our way back to Port. We may ask the driver to go a little out of the way for us to see a little more of the island. We won't take time to eat at the Chateaux Bordeaux restaurant. Thanks again. Marlyne