Cinnamon Beach St. John?

[39august]

Does Cinnamon beach on St. John have food vendors? We are thinking of going over on our own to Trunk Bay first, then on to Cinnamon.

[lostdart58]

Cinnamin Bay is a full service campground. There is a cafeteria there that serves three meals a day. That being said sometimes during slow season (Labor day thru December 15th) the cafeteria is not open for lunch. There is also a small grocery store there. The optimun word being small.

 

I myself prefer to go to Cinnamin. There is no cover charge there. ($4.00 ar trunk) and less of those darm tourists.

[jean-lynd]

That's exactly what we did the last time we were there. We spent a couple of hours at Trunk and a couple more at Cinnamon. It was a great day. We did not see the cafeteria at Cinnamon but we did pick up some snacks in the little grocery store for the ride back. It was a great day. I have some pictures of both stops in the Explorer albums at http://community.webshots.com/user/jean_lynd that you might enjoy. Happy planning!

[Kelfly]

Jean-Lynd: Your pictures are beautiful. We've been to Trunk's Bay twice, so I was thinking of taking the ferry over to St. John (first week of Dec.!) and then taxi to either Cinnamon Bay or Waterlemon Cay. Is it quite a hike to Cinnamon Bay from where the taxi drops you off? Would we need hiking shoes or just are standard tennis shoes, etc? How is the snorkeling? The beach certainly looks lovely! Are there other ammenities (chair rental, etc)? I thought I read somewhere that Cinnamon had showers and facilities and had small Piper plane to snorkel over, and a reef close to shore, but I can't find the info any more. Did you have your taxi wait the entire time you were at the beach or are there plenty of taxi's available to take you back to the ferry?

Thanks for all the info!

[lostdart58]

Kelfly,

 

There is a 3 minute walk from where the taxi drops you off to the beach. I have walked it in no shoes at all, but that may be pushing it.

 

I think the snorkling is great there. (much better then Trunk, and less crowded and no entry fee). There is an island about 150 yards off shore that you snorkle around. There is no plane there. On a rough day you may not be able to swim all the way around the island. I was there a few weeks ago and the sealife was incredible!! Large seafans......two resident baracuda...a sting ray.......a morey ell......There was a school of minnow fry that literally surrounded the island that had to number in the millions...(it was a very calm day!)

 

There is a watersports rental hut, but I do not think they rent chairs. (snorkle gear, windsurfers,sunfish)

 

Taxis are always there. Or you can arrange to have the driver pick you up at a certain time.

 

Yes there are free cold water showers there with changing rooms.

[MandyGirl]

There is no plane there.

Did someone remove it??? :eek: It was there when we were there November 2002 - just past the rocks (far left) and out about 25 yards. We were amazed the prop looked so great for being submerged! Of course, we have an old wooden prop here above our computer, but it was amazing seeing that plane in such great shape (albeit in several pieces). But you could definitely make out the wing in a couple pieces, as well as the engine. If my scanner was working, I'd add the pics we took of it to my webpage (we took the pictures with an underwater camera and not our digital camera). Got the hardcopy pics in my hand though. :)

[jean-lynd]

Kelfly - we thought the snorkeling was great. Did not see the plane but we did not get to explore the entire cove. Taxis are no problem and the walk is very short. We did not see any rental chairs. We did use the showers and changed into dry clothes for the trip back to the ship. I thought it was great. The next time we go to St. Thomas we plan to skip Trunk so that we have more time at Cinnamon. I hope this helps!

[lostdart58]

I want to believe there is an airplane to snorkle over in Cinnamon bay............I made some casual phone calls today to try to confirm this. I am not able to confirm it yet.

If I remember I will call the National Park service in St John tomorrow....

 

Heck....I have only lived in St Thomas for thirty years........:eek:

[MandyGirl]

I can't remember where I first read about the sunken plane at Cinnamon. I definitely read about it on the old CC boards - that's where we learned where to walk to find it - other posters shared how to find it. Of course, after arriving at Cinnamon, I had forgotten if it was to the left end or the right end of the beach (when facing the water) so we were snorkeling the right end for about an hour. We finally went inside to ask, and they told us it was the left end just past the rocks. They almost acted like it was some sort of secret or something - very quiet about it. But it's small - like a two-seater - not something really big - and in several pieces. It's kinda cool though because we had never snorkeled over a plane before. (This was Thanksgiving day 2002)

I may have also read about it in Pam Gaffin's book "St John Feet Fins & Four Wheel Drives" that we purchased for our vacation (which is awesome to have on St John!). I'd have to dig it up at home to see for sure. But I think it might be referenced in there as well.

Here is a website you can check out as well that references the plane - apparently the crash was 35 years ago according to this post:

http://www.virtualtourist.com/f/p/10042/

If I had not known what I was looking for, I would have swam right over it. Hubby loves airplanes, so that was a "definite must see" on our land vacation that year. :)

[The Islander]

Hello Mandy,

 

Good memory!! It was here on CC that we discussed it.

 

... not many people talk about the plane but its there.

 

--Islander

*****

[MandyGirl]

Welcome back, Islander!! I hope you've been on a good vacation! :) We are very happily planning our "ONE" day back in November... researching beaches. :) (Our summer trip got nixed, but this will at least get me back for a short period!) But I cannot say how happy I am our port times are 8A-11P that day - we can really enjoy the full day! (We have contracted Chef Mulcare to make another wedding cake for us - smaller version, of course - so we can revisit Hawksnest Beach that morning!) Hopefully I've sent some weddings down to the USVI from the CruiseCritic wedding/honeymoon boards!

 

Okay - I did find my Pam Gaffin book - here are the details from it. Copyright date is 1994, 2001 and here's what it has (page 43): "To find the airplane wreck (possibly a Piper Cub), enter the water at the beginning of the beach where the reef and rocks stop, then swim straight out about 20 yards (the water will be about 15 feet deep). Notice how amazingly clean the propeller and wings are - after 40 years underwater - no coral, barnacles, algae or rust. If boat builders used the same material, no one would need bottom paint!" Book is "St. John Feet, Fins & Four-Wheel Drive" and publisher is American Paradise Publishing. I've found it at St John Spice (online) and Amazon before.

If I broke some copyright laws, I apologize. (Hey... I'm a teacher... we "beg borrow and steal") BUT... I must say... this is a terrific book! My cover has fallen off, and I've loaned it to friends vacationing on St John, but it is really good. If you like finding unique things about the locations you visit on a cruise, this book is great to purchase about St John. It is particularly good if you are planning to rent a vehicle on the island. I would drive, and hubby would read out loud. The book talks about all of the many beaches on St John, great hikes to take, and good drives (or drives you'll be on anyway to go from point A to point B). While Trunk Bay is incredible, there is so much more to St John than just that one beach. You won't meet friendlier people anywhere!

lostdart58 - Now you'll have a mission on your next trip to Cinnamon! :) But thirty years - wow - you have definitely weathered the good and the not-so-good! Hubby and I both love airplanes (him more than me) - so St John for snorkeling at Cinnamon and St Maarten for the airport beach (www.sunsetbeachbar.com) are our favorites!! You'll have to go check it out!

[MandyGirl]

Islander... by the way, we've always been curious as to the history of that plane. Do you have any insight?

[The Islander]

Mandy - I don't know the story on the plane... will see if I can find out.

 

--Islander

*****

[lostdart58]

YES.....I will have to go to Cinnamin and seek this mysterious plane out, that very few folks seem to know about.

 

 

 

Y'all just pulling my leg aren't ya???

 

:eek: :eek: :eek:

[The Islander]

Not at all lostdart,

 

(Just looked at the info. in one of my St. John books to confirm location.) Its at Little Cinnamon Bay. The propeller and one of the wings is visable most of the year but of course would be affected by visiability. Snorkel out from the eastern part of the beach.

 

--Islander

*****

[lostdart58]

............

If I remember I will call the National Park service in St John tomorrow....

 

:eek:

Well, a National Park Ranger on the phone did confirm the existence of the mysterious airplane................................

......(although he did say his name was Fox Mulder):eek: