If you have ever been to any of the beaches on these islands, which one would you recommend? Is there a charge to be on the island? Also, how long did it take to get to the island from the ship, and what was your transportation?
We've been to Magen's Bay, Sapphire Beach, and Coki Beach in St. Thomas; Trunk Bay in St. John; and have done the Tiami sail/snorkel in Barbados each time we were there. My personal choices are Trunk Bay in St. John, Magen's or Coki in St. Thomas, and the Tiami sail/snorkel in Barbados. To get to Trunk Bay, you take a taxi to Red Hook or wait in Charolette Amalie for the ferry to St. John, then you take a cab to Trunk Bay. The ferry ride is $6/pp each way and about a 20 minute trip. The cab fare was $11/pp to Red Hook. I think it was $4/pp to get into Trunk Bay. Trunk Bay is one of the top 10 beaches in the world. There is a self-guided snorkel trail about 50 yards off of the beach. The sand is snow white, and there is shade available. The cab fare to Sapphire Beach was $11/pp as well. The beach is no charge, but there are a lot of small rocks to get into the water. The snorkeling is pretty good. I believe the cab fare is $8/pp to Coki, the beach is no charge, the snorkeling is ok. I think the cab fare to Megan's was either $6 or $8/pp, the beach is no charge, snorkeling not that great. We've done the Tiami sail/snorkel on their catamarans 5 times, it's always been great. The crew is outstanding, they take you for a pretty good snorkel and then take you to a nice beach where you can snorkel, swim, or stay on board and drink rum punch. If you book the tour with lunch, the food is awesome. If you like spicy sauces, try the bajan pepper sauce. It's wonderful. Hope this helps a little!
penny3333, thank you so much for your information in regard to some of the beaches. I have written your information down, and am going to take it with me when we go.
Trunk Bay is a MUST. (thanks for your suggestion penny)It is absolutely beautiful there. We also saw Larry Ellison's (Oracle) yacht "Rising Sun" ankered out there. Man, what an awesome ship, apparently the largest private yacht in the world.
We just got pictures back from Trunk Bay (St. John via St. Thomas) and Orient Beach (St. Martin) today. Trunk was everyone's favorite. The beauty defies description, pictures don't do it justice. We have our own snorkel gear and were in the water swimming or snorkeling the whole time. We went on our own (cab to red hook, ferry--on the hour--across to St. John, another cab) on the advice of people in this forum and they were right on. We felt so sorry for the ship's excursion people who were rounded up to leave long before they were ready. We stayed the latest we could and felt comfortable still making it back to the ship (in other words, left plenty early but still had way more time than those other folks--also don't have to wear the obnoxious safety vests to snorkel if not with the ship). Orient was a let down after Trunk, but still an amazing beach--caught a cab with other cruisers at the pier from three different ships--guy came back for us (miraculously we all wanted to leave at about the same time) Enjoy the beaches!
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Laurie
RCCL Nordic Empress 1993
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to visit it while we are there.
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