St. John Trunk Bay Beach and Snorkel tour???

[frank2271]

I was hoping to get some advice on this trip. I've seen pictures of Trunk Bay and it looks awesome, is it?? My son (8), wife and I like to snorkel and this sounds like a nice place to do it. My wife will only snorkel from the beach so this seems like the place for that also.

Is it worth the money? Is there something better? Anything else you can say about it will help.

NOTE: I'm sorry if I am asking a lot of questions but this is our first cruise and I want to make it as perfect as I can. So please excuse my over asking.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Frank

 

[TMTIP]

Last year we did the Trunk Bay Snorket Tour but it was by boat. Trunk Bay has to be the most beautiful place I have ever been. It was well worth the money and my kids (ages 8 & 10) loved jumping off of the boat to snorkel!

 

[DIS NURSE]

Granted I have never been there, but have done a lot of reading about this trip. Even our infamous Passporter book states that the boat ride is maybe a little too long....especially for kids. At least 45 minutes each way....you don't get a ton of time to snorkel. And I agree, it is expensive. If I were you (and you have a child old enough...I don't and am so bummed....) I would look into Captain Nautica's speed boat adventure. They take you on a big speed "raft" that takes you to at least 2 different snorkel sites just off the same ares near St. John. You are so much less likely to get sea sick on fast speed boats and the ride itself I guess is awesome! That's my little bit of wisdom. P.S. Cheaper, too!

 

[wildernessfamily]

Snorkeling at Trunk Bay is awesome, I recommend it. I think with the shore excursion you only get 1 1/2 hours to snorkel. They do have showers and a place to rinse your equipment if you have your own. Flush toilets, it is a US National Park. You are in deep water and they make you wear a neck float. Some people choose to do it on their own, get a taxi to Red Hook and a ferry from Red Hook over to St John's. If you tell the taxi what time you want to leave they will be there to get you. You have to watch your time and weather though in the afternoon to make sure you will get the ferry back to St Thomas in time to board. If you do it on your own. The beach and snorkeling are beautiful and gentle. A sting ray swam right next to us as we were just off shore. It was a highlight of our trip.

 

[Hgomes]

I went snorkeling at Trunk Bay with my daughter, her husband and my grandchildren 5 and 9 this past January. Ditto on the beauty. We had a wonderful time and the showers etc were great to have. They gave us a brief instruction and had a lifeguard on the beach and in a kyak out where we snorkeled. It seemed like we were the only group on the beach. The excursion by boat was there also but not right near us. It is a must to see St. John. A friend of mine told us to go there if we went to St. Thomas and I now know why.

 

[TinkerBellMom]

Our server recomended that we try Trunk Bay and we did it on a budget. We did our owm excursion. We took a taxi (Which was really a surrey-like truck that held 14 people) to the ferry (I think Charolette Amoilee sp? but maybe is was Redhook) whichever was the one that allowed for the shortest ferry ride to St John. On the ferry ride across you pass old buildings on islands once used in the "Rum-runner" and slave trade years ago in social studies books. This is public transportation the way the locals do it. Round trip ticket prices save a few bucks too.

Once on St John we got into another "Taxi"truck and had a little tour by the driver who pointed out other beaches, resorts, and points of interest on the way to Trunk Bay and stopped for an overview photo that looks like that from the Travel Magazine. Once on Trunk Bay we discovered that it is a National Park and cost very little to get in Adults $4 and kids free if I remember right. Snorkeling was some of the best ever with an underwater picture guide to fish identification and equiptment rental was $5 with a $25 refundable deposit. Food and beer were available. Burgers were good.(We took water with us but not really necessary) Gift shop staffed by Nat Park Service volunteers who were helpful and friendly. Shower facilities were clean. Took the opposite ferry back to St Thomas and was let off close to town where we walked and shopped and walked back to the ship. Kind of a ways to walk. Some one said a mile and some one said 3 miles... ( I do not recomend the Taxi drivers in StThomas from town to the ship. They seemed drunk. Those actually parked in a line at the port were nice, clean and safe. ) To make a lond story short--I think we spent $60 for 3 of us. We were talking at dinner about how beautiful the Trunk Bay was and found out that the Disney excursion did not even make it as "The water was too rough". I don't reallyknow what happened as I did not see rough water and it was about $45/per person to visit some other beach. Trunk Bay is the most Awesome beach and is one of the Top Beaches in the World. I plan to do it again in Dec 2005. Questions-email me.
TinkerBellMom