Excursion Ideas for St. Thomas????

[nato00]

My wife and I will be in St. Thomas on Sunday Apr. 29th from 7am-6pm. We are trying to figure out what to do there as far as an excursion goes. This will be our 1st there and would like to do whatever the island is known for. Please let us know any recomendations that you might have. Thanks!!!

[CaribbeanBlue]

Since you have quite a few hours I would recommend an excursion out to St John and visit one of the beaches there for a day of snorkling and swimming. Trunk Bay would be a nice choice.

 

CaribbeanBlue

 

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[CaribbeanBound]

St. John is awesome, but as a first timer, I'd stay on St. Thomas as there is lots to see and do.

 

St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

St. Thomas, Trip #1

St. Thomas is a major shopping destination. A large number of passengers bought digital cameras at this stop. We privately arranged for an island tour with Godfrey's Tour, now $25 per person (plus tip). He picked us up at the ship at 10:00 am and dropped us off downtown. At noon he picked us up for a 2-hour island tour and dropped us off at Coki beach (no beach charge) from 2pm to 4pm. We would have preferred Meagan's Bay ($3 per person), but the majority of our tour mates brought their snorkel gear and were set on Coki Beach with the clearer water and more abundant fish. The downside of Coki is that it is a small, crowded, relatively unattractive stretch of sand maybe 25% as long as the considerably less crowded, more picturesque, Meagan's Bay. $20 will get you 2 beach lounge chairs (unpadded) and a very large umbrellaat Coki Beach.

 

St. Thomas, Trip #2: Saphire Beach

This trip, we opted to enjoy Sapphire Beach on our own and shop Havensight at the pier. Despite what everyone at the pier will tell you (and there will lie to you), you can get local transportation for $2 per person in an open-air taxi to Sapphire Beach. Simply walk out of the Havensight pier main gate, cross the street, turn left and walk until you get to the Bus Stop (there is a pullover area) across from K-Mart and cross the street so that you are standing on the K-Mart side of the street. It is a leisurely 10 to 15-minute level walk. When you see an open-air taxi drive up, flag him down, tell him where you wish to go and enjoy the trip. The drive takes about 20 to 30 minutes each way to Sapphire Beach depending upon traffic. Pay upon exiting the taxi. If you are going to Sapphire Beach, you will be dropped off at the entrance to the Sapphire Beach hotels which is at the top of a hill. A short 5-minute walk will get you on the beach. Sapphire Beach is a gorgeous white sand beach with lots of shade trees and awesome views of several nearby islands including St. John. The snorkeling is good. We saw several schools of fish (previously unknown to us), an eel, and a small stingray. Unpadded beach lounge chairs are $5 each if you want to rent one, or free if you just occupy one of the many chairs abandoned by their previous inhabitants. A dive shop, bar and grill, and restrooms are available. Some water sports are also available. Pick up the taxi again where it dropped you off.

 

St. Thomas, Trip #3: St. John

7:00am - 5:00pm. Our destination this trip was Trunk Bay and Cinnamon Bay on the Island of St. John for snorkeling. Just like our second trip, we caught local transportation for $2 per person in an open-air taxi to Red Hook to catch a ferry to Cruz Bay on St. John. The drive takes about 20 to 30 minutes each way depending upon traffic. The taxi will drop you off at the Red Hook ferry terminal. Pay upon exiting the taxi, go through the gates and hop on the ferry to St. John. We caught the 8:00am ferry and paid our $5.00/pp fare. Normally, you would pay at the booth prior to boarding. The very pretty ride across the bay runs about 15 minutes. Upon arrival at Cruz Bay, St. John, we caught a 10-minute taxi ride ($6.00/pp) to Trunk Bay, stopping once along the way to take pictures of Trunk Bay from a picturesque spot along the road. We arrived at 8:30am which allowed us to get in free. Once the admission booth opens, it costs $4.00/pp to enter this beautiful white sand beach with clear waters, awesome views of islands and cays, nice facilities, and an underwater snorkeling trail. The snorkeling trail can be found on the right hand side of the beach. It begins on the far side of the little island and works its way around the island and ends on the closer side. The snorkeling is very good, with lots of fish and colorful coral. Including the four of us, there was a total of 7 people enjoying this beach from 8:30am to 10:15am when larger groups began arriving —– at which time we left and caught a $4/pp taxi for Cinnamon Bay. (Trunk Bay is now one of our top three Caribbean beaches).

 

Cinnamon Bay is part of a campground with good facilities, snorkeling equipment rentals, and kayak rentals. The beach is not as pretty as Trunk Bay but offers good snorkeling as well. Sea Turtles can be spotted here in the middle of the bay feeding on the sea grass, but we did not spot any this trip. We caught a taxi back to Cruz Bay ($7/pp) at 11:40am. We just missed the noon ferry so we ate lunch at High Tide Bar and Grill adjacent to the pier. We enjoyed the Virgin Island Pale Ale (a fruity beer made for distribution in St. John by a brewery in Maine), and especially liked the sweet mango salsa which accompanies the chips and salsa appetizer. We shopped until 1:45pm and bought tickets for the 2:00pm ferry, which was 30 minutes late arriving. A very large crowd anxiously waited in a long line in the hot sun on the pier. There was no problem getting everyone on the ferry. We arrived back in Red Hook at 2:40pm. Ignore the $7/pp taxis and wait for a $2.00 taxi again EXACTLY where it dropped you off. (Do not cross the street). We got dropped off a couple blocks closer to Havensight than the K-Mart where we picked up the taxi. We look forward to doing this excursion on our own again.

 

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