Excursions / Quadbikes

[brwab]

Perhaps there may be some of you who can help me here..

1. Quadbikes at St Maarten - We are going as a party of 15, including 9 'young adults' aged 19-25. 9 of the party wish to go on the Quadbike adventure though note there is a stipulation regarding the need for driving licenses. 2 of the 9 have UK provisional driving licences (on a green card as opposed to pink) i.e. currently taking lesson but not yet passed. My question (based on others peoples experience) is a) will these licences be checked - if so b) will 'provisional' licences be accepted? I've no doubt the 2 with these provisional licences are competent enough to drive quadbikes but unfortunately we need to really know before pre-booking on the RC website. RC have been asked and their response was 'yes, you will need them but may be able to sort something out beforehand on the boat).

2. Snorkelling in general (in this case at St Thomas) - I see the price for snorkelling is somewhat expensive and as opposed to doing an 'official' excursions, wondered (again based on others' experience) how simple it was to make your own excursion i.e. buy snorkelling equipment in advance and upon arrival, making own arrangements to get on a boat to say St John, exploring the island ourselves, relax as and how we want to and do some snorkelling without being part of an organised group. How feasible is this idea? How much do these boat trips usually cost?

Thanks very much for any comments in advance!

[penny3333]

Hi brwab, not sure about the quad excursion. However, the answer to snorkeling on your own is a definite yes. You can even rent snorkeling gear at Trunk Bay (St. John) or if you choose to stay on St. Thomas, Coki Beach. It's just my opinion that snorkeling at Coki is better than Megan's. Sapphire Beach is the best, but I didn't see any rental equipment there. Trunk Bay by far is the best and it's very easy to get to. There is a complete instructional guide in the FAQs at the end of the front page, but quickly. You can catch a ferry at Red Hook (or Charolette-rates vary Red Hook is $6/pp) take a cab to Trunk Bay, pay the entrace fee ($2/pp I think, not expensive). Then enjoy one of the top 10 beaches in the world. Here is the ferry schedule.

Best wishes and have a marvelous cruise!

[brwab]

thanks very much penny.

i think i may well follow your advice. its my first time on a cruise and to the caribbean so have no idea of the size.

i think we are in st thomas between 9am and 5pm - do you think that gives us enough time to go to trunk bay, or would coki beach be better? i suspect a cab journey to coki beach would be the best thing to do.

sapphire beach also sounds worth going to, would you say that if we bought our own snorkelling equipment it could be better to go there?

as i say, i have dont have experience with cruises and the caribbean - would a cab be easy to get from charlotte amelie to say sapphire beach?

[brwab]

.. and when we do go to sapphire beach, are there designated areas where to go snorkelling to see the nicest fish, or can you just go to any area of the beach and expect to see nice fish in the sea? does one have to pay for going into designated areas?

im a novice!