St. Thomas Sapphire Beach or Magen's Bay

[aandb]

Hi,

I got some great advice re Orient Beach. I was wondering if I could get some equally great advice about St. Thomas. I want to do some shopping here but also want to visit the beach. I read that Magen's Bay is one of the 10 best beaches in the world, but on another thread someone recommended Sapphire Beach. What does everyone think?

[shipty2]

Find out how many ships will be in port with you then decide. If not many Magen's Bay is really the nicest but with a few ships docking it can be congested and not as pleasant so Sapphire would be the best bet.

[Lynnees]

Megan's Bay by a landslide. They charge $4 per person and it can be crowded but it's 100 x's better than Sapphire. We were at Sapphire at the end of November and I can't tell you how disappointed we were.

 

We've always loved Megan's Bay.

[Clamett]

Hi,

I got some great advice re Orient Beach. I was wondering if I could get some equally great advice about St. Thomas. I want to do some shopping here but also want to visit the beach. I read that Magen's Bay is one of the 10 best beaches in the world, but on another thread someone recommended Sapphire Beach. What does everyone think?

My vote is for Sapphire Beach. There was no snorkeling on Magen's Bay. I thought the beach was crowded and not the clean sand that Sapphire Beach had.

[barbaragrace]

Hi,

I I read that Magen's Bay is one of the 10 best beaches in the world, but on another thread someone recommended Sapphire Beach. What does everyone think?

 

 

We've been to Magen's Bay but never to Sapphire. Our choice is Coki Beach: http://www.ultimatetaxi.com/vacation_photos/st_thomas_coki_beach1.htm

Calm waters and friendly (hand sized) fish. Don't forget the dog cookies and underwater camera.

[judyf]

I've been to all 3 and liked them all for different reasons. Magen's beach was nice and the first one we went to. Had to after reading it's the best. No snorkeling.

 

Sapphire had snorkeling a ways out and it was nice no problems.

 

Coki, was really nice and had great snorkeling,

 

If I had to rate them it woukd go in this order

 

#1- Coki, for snorkeling

#2 -Magens-for it's beauty

#3-Sapphire- nice but nothing stood out except the company.

 

If you want shoppping and then beach time check out Sunny Listen tour for $25 per person. he was great for the price. He has a web site.

 

Have fun planning

[snowmouse]

We've been to Sapphire and really enjoyed it. We have always avoided Magen's due to the reports of crowds and lack of services available. Is this still the case? We would like to be able to rent chairs, get drinks, and use modern-ish (at least) facilities. Any recent experience?

[Sharkmedic]

We've been to Sapphire and really enjoyed it. We have always avoided Magen's due to the reports of crowds and lack of services available. Is this still the case? We would like to be able to rent chairs, get drinks, and use modern-ish (at least) facilities. Any recent experience?

 

If you want a snack bar, great drink service on the beach and calm water sans nearby restaurants go to Magens Bay. I like it but it's not Saphire Beach.

 

Saphire Beach gives you the options of hitting the beach, places like Duffy's Love Shack or access to ferries.

 

Depends what you want. I always found enough room on the beach at Magens Bay, even when cruise ships were in.

[4bythebeach]

Haven't been to Megans, we looked down on it from the mountains, but was at Saphire in Dec. I can tell you it was absolutely beautiful and not a whole lot of people and this was on a busy port day. We had asked for advice from a local and they said they would never pay to go to a touristy beach like Megans. So, I guess what I am saying is if you want the touristy thing, go to Megans. If you want more of a local, lower key experience, I would suggest Saphire. Just my opinion!! Either way, enjoy St. Thomas, it is a beautiful island.

[katiel53]

We prefer Magen's but it's because there isn't a big drop off in the water. It is easy to walk in and out of. They also have chairs to rent, a place to buy drinks and I think food. I'm not sure about the food though as we sat at a picnic table and we went after lunch.

 

We did see people with drinks and I am guessing there is still a place to buy drinks. I know when we went a few years ago we could get them. It does get crowded with tourists, but we still prefer it over Coki or Sapphire.

 

If you look at the pic posted on Coki Beach you can see that not far into the water people are waist deep, so to me that would indicate a drop off. I have two artificial knees so I can't do the drop off's as I can't get back to shore with them. So, I probably am totally biased but I have no trouble at Megan's.

 

All are great beaches, it just depends on what you want. Enjoy your cruise.

[dsparku]

We chose Sapphire-its free,not crowded,places to eat,bathrooms,you can rent snorkeling equipment,cute little ducks,clean sand and not so rocky sand in the water, etc.In my signature are pictures of Sapphire Beach-when you go onto my webshots page,click Celebrity Constellation Cruise-the pictures are there.

[Mommy40]

Thought Magens was overcrowded and overrated. Went to Saphire this past November and it was nice and quiet. Depends on what you want. Next time I plan on trying Coki because my kids like to snorkel and they will tell you this is the clearest water.

Also if you are doing a shopping/beach day I highly recommend booking with Godfrey. It is a fraction of the price of what you would pay independently just in taxi fares.

Have fun!!

[burban64]

When we went to Sapphire Beach there were many iguana's on the beach of all sizes. At the time my son was 4 and he was just amazed by them. He chased them around all day. It was one of the highlights of his cruise. The beach was beautiful, you can rent a beach chair, there is a bathroom and a bar for refreshments. You can also rent snorkling gear or beach mats. If you have small kids I think they would enjoy Sapphire to Meagens.

[sea-cruise]

We've been to all of the beaches there. Our favorite is Coki (next to Coral World). Our DD & SIL brought their own snorkel gear and they saw some beautiful fish close to shore. The beach lounge-chairs are $5.00 for the day.

It costs $9.00 pp one way from the ship via taxi.