Trunk Bay or Bucks Island snorkel

[island pat]

I think they are both at St Thomas would like to snorkel there. Can any one compare the two as to the qualitly of the snorkel and the beach.

[10X]

We've done the Buck Island snorkel excursion twice, and really enjoyed it both times. The trip out and back on the sailboat was excellent.

 

We've only snorkeled at Trunk Bay once and found the snorkeling to be poor, but others have reported that it was good. We found that there were way too many people trying to follow the "underwater trail" and they didn't have any qualms about kicking you in the face to get where they wanted to go.

 

We didn't have any such problems on the Buck Island excursion, and if we were faced with the choice, that's where we'd go again.

[coevan]

Isn't Trunk Bay in St. John?

[Host Star]

yes.. trunk bay is on st. john... but Buck island by sailboat is the better snorkeling

[swiss]

Does anyone have any Buck Island sailboat excursion recommendations?

[mrsfuzzmo]

I totally agree. Trunk Bay on St. John USED to be the place to go, but in my opinion, it has gotten WAY over used and it shows! Much better snorkeling at Buck island which is reachable by sail or motorboat. I recommend sailing. It's gorgeous in the Virgin Is. If/When I go back I would definitely book Buck.

[headusher]

Snorkeled at Trunk Bay last March. Most of the Coral was white. I was told that meant it was dead. Not very many fish either.

 

Snorkeled at Coki Beach the year before. It was wonderful!!

[feistytigger]

has anyone snorkeled other spots on st. john - like cinnamon or hawksnest? how do those compare to coki on st thomas or buck island?

[PABirder]

Feistytigger, for St. John, I would definitely recommend Salt Pond Bay for an easy and somewhat less populated but very good snorkel trip. For a bit more challenging but excellent snorkel try Leinster Bay and Waterlemon Cay. You have to walk about 1/2 mile along the beach and swim about 1/4 mile through the bay to get to the reef but the sand inbetween is good for rays, turtles, starfish, urchins, octopi. I was there about a year ago.

 

I was at Buck Island about 6 years ago and it was very good but deeper than the reefs along St. John if I recall correctly. Never been to Coki.

 

Good luck!

[feistytigger]

Feistytigger, for St. John, I would definitely recommend Salt Pond Bay for an easy and somewhat less populated but very good snorkel trip. For a bit more challenging but excellent snorkel try Leinster Bay and Waterlemon Cay. You have to walk about 1/2 mile along the beach and swim about 1/4 mile through the bay to get to the reef but the sand inbetween is good for rays, turtles, starfish, urchins, octopi. I was there about a year ago.

 

I was at Buck Island about 6 years ago and it was very good but deeper than the reefs along St. John if I recall correctly. Never been to Coki.

 

Good luck!

 

ooh - i've heard about salt pond bay several times! my only hesitation about it is getting to it! i heard taxis don't go there. but i guess we could rent a car if we can get enough people in on the plan to go there.

 

i'm a little too nervous to try waterlemon and leinster - don't they have currents? i'm definitely not a swimmer. :(

 

ah, if buck island is deeper, then that's not what i want. i liked how trunk was so close to the shore and fairly shallow. thanks!

[golfer1966]

Snorkeled at Trunk Bay last March. Most of the Coral was white. I was told that meant it was dead. Not very many fish either.

 

Snorkeled at Coki Beach the year before. It was wonderful!!

 

I was there a little over a year ago and it was beautiful and great snorkeling. If its like that now, thats a shame.

[PABirder]

ooh - i've heard about salt pond bay several times! my only hesitation about it is getting to it! i heard taxis don't go there. but i guess we could rent a car if we can get enough people in on the plan to go there.

 

i'm a little too nervous to try waterlemon and leinster - don't they have currents? i'm definitely not a swimmer. :(

 

ah, if buck island is deeper, then that's not what i want. i liked how trunk was so close to the shore and fairly shallow. thanks!

 

 

Feisty - Buck Island still is not too deep as you get closer to the island, just starts out deep from off the boats. As far as Leinster - it is wide but partly sheltered and shallow so there should not be much current unless there is a storm (at least I never noticed any strong currents). If the water is calm, you can still see all the stuff I mentioned just within a few hundred yards of the beach (I saw a loggerhead turtle and remoras just about 200' off the beach). The greater currents are on the other side of Waterlemon Cay towards the channels. All in all, Trunk is not bad for a beginning experience - it just tends to be a bit cramped with people. If you can get a rental vehicle, check out Salt Pond - swimming is easy to get to the reef and as it is about a 45 minute drive from Cruz Bay, it is less populated. Also, the village of Coral Bay is not too far and has some shops and decent restaurants.

[PABirder]

I was there a little over a year ago and it was beautiful and great snorkeling. If its like that now, thats a shame.

 

Yeah, there was a coral "bleaching" event in the summer of '05 due to some excessively hot days (and other related environmental issues). Many parts of the Caribbean experienced this - some more than others. I saw some bleaching at various locations in St. John and in the BVI last winter. It does take some time for the bleached coral to re-colonize and develop the colorful algae communities that attract the higher diversity of fish. But I still found lots of places that had still-thriving coral communities and got a good bit of under-water photos of neat stuff!