Help us decide what to do with small children in tow

[meab]

We'll be in St Thomas at the beginning of November with our 3 year old and 6 month old. The 3-year-old is pretty well traveled and up for adventure. The 6-month-old is easy going, and we take him everywhere with us. We prefer to go it on our own, and skip the organized tours and shore excursions. We also like to make use of public transport when possible and really get into some local spots rather than tourist-only areas.

 

I'm trying to choose among several options on how to spend our day in port. Here are the options so far:

 

1) Coral World/Coki Beach. It seems like the obvious answer to St. Thomas with small children. BUT, it also seems pretty touristy and crowded, and we generally like to steer clear of operations like that. Also, we have visited sea world and other aquariums, so I wasn't sure if it was worth spending the time and money stopping there, especially since not all of the reviews have been great. AND, i haven't been able to get a feel of what the beach is really like, other than good for snorkeling (which we won't be doing anyhow). My husband thinks Coral World will be boring and a tourist trap, so this is his least favorite option!

 

2) Ferry to Water Island/Honeymoon Beach for the morning. We'd love to bike around Water island with the children, but we'd need to get too much gear (bike seats, helmets for the kids, etc.) so that will have to wait a few years! However, I thought it might be possible to ferry over and walk to the beach. My only concern is that it doesn't seem like there are any facilities at the beach. Any comments appreciated.

 

3) Taxi or bus to any beach on St. Thomas. This also opens another can of worms in terms of finding a good beach with some shade and facilities but isn't overcrowded (nor too desolate! I know, I'm impossible!). From another post, Secret Harbor looked like an interesting spot worth further investigation.

 

Last time we visited St Thomas, we hitched a ferry on our own to St. John, did some hiking, and hit the beach. It was great. But I think it will make for too long of a day with the little ones.

 

Please help us choose among these, or enlighten us with something else that's really great to do in St Thomas with little ones!

 

Also, we will have babysitters with us (the rest of the family!), so if there is something really outstanding that will last under 3 hours or so that isn't kid-friendly, then we might be up for that as well! But overall, we prefer not to separate.

 

Thanks in advance.

[YvonneSR]

We'll be on the Navigator in January 2005 traveling the eastern caribbean. Not sure what to do with our boys as well (4 & 7 years old).

 

Yvonne

[gambler]

Well, our son has been in St. Thomas, three times, once at 4 1/2 years, 5 1/2 years and then again at 7 1/2 years. The first time we did a ship sail/snorkel tour. He was a big young for that then. The second time we took a ship tour (ferry) over to St. John to Trunk bay. That was very nice and there was shade. The third time we took a cab to Coki beach (not much shade) and we enjoyed the beach and the snorkeling (he was really for it now) the beach started to get crowded in the afternoon. We are going this November and he is now 9 1/2. We are doing a private sail/beach/snorkel trip with http://www.sailhighpockets.com. They will adjust to your needs and they only take out 6 at a time.

Megan’s Bay beach may be an option with shade also. Coral World is definitely for kids. See my post under the tram question. That was nice also; the kids would enjoy the bird show.

[OceanCruise]

I would recommend a day pass to one of the resorts. At some of them you can rent pedal boats or kayaks (maybe one of you can use with your older child) and you will have the beach and all the facilities and restaurants.

[The Islander]

Hello,

 

The public transportation, buses, goes mostly to densely populated residential and commericial areas, so would not be an option for getting to say Magens Bay or Secret Harbor Beach...

 

Coral World and Coki Beach is a fun option; but considering your aversion to touristy places this may not be the choice for you. Many tours go to Coki Beach so the beach itself is almost always well populated/busy. Coral World is a small aquarium and is nice for viewing local tropical fish, sharks, rays, turtles. Coki Beach is a small beach, crystal clear water with good snorkeling, food shacks on the beach, lots of vendors with t-shirts, beads, hair braiding, chairs, snorkel gear, food, drinks. The Coral World/Coki option is definatley touristy.

 

You can do the bike tour on Water Island. http://www.waterislandadventures.com They provide all the gear but the kids are too young so you would have the option of leaving them with some of your family/babysitters on Honeymoon while the adults/older children biked and then you would join them again at the beach for swimming before returning to St. Thomas with the group or perhaps stay behind and take the ferry back. If you don't want to do the bike tour then you can ferry over and walk to the beach. Pirates Ridge is a short walk from the beach, about 5 minutes, and it sells pizza, sandwhiches, has cold drinks... so is a great spot of lunch and then return to the beach for a couple hours and then take the ferry back. There is a bathroom on the beach that is open when the bike tour is there. There is a bathroom at Pirates Ridge if you go there for lunch. That choice would be much less touristy and perhaps more of an off the beaten path choice. More info. on Water Island at http://www.*****/waterisland

 

Secret Harbor is a nice choice for a beach; good shade, nice beach bar, good restaurant, good snorkeling, nice sand and clear water. Beach chairs can be rented.

 

--Islander

*****

[meab]

thanks for all the info, everyone.

 

Islander (or anyone else), what do you think of the beach at Lindberg Bay? I read about that one on the ***** website, and it sounds good - accessible by bus, shallow water, good for kids, etc. etc.

 

I also read up a bit online about Godfrey's tours - it seems like everyone raves about it, and it's a great way to see the island. I just wonder at what age he starts charging for children. Ours are small enough and could probably sit on our laps the entire time. The one reason I was considering this is so that our whole family could go (from the 6 month old up to my 92 year old grandmother) and be all together.

 

Right now, I think those are going to be our 2 most likely options. Also, a friend of mine just returned from St. Thomas and suggested that I probably won't like Coki Beach (she said it is small, not shaded, etc.) and suggested Magen's Bay over it. Living in Florida, and not far from the beach, I would just hate to shell out all that money on a taxi and pay to get onto the beach.... but I'm still tossing it around in my head. How does Lindberg compare to Magen's?

 

Thanks in advance.

[pholter]

godfrey@godfreytoursvi.com

 

If you email Godfrey, he will respond usually within 24 hours. You can ask him your question about kid's pricing....