Originally posted by Annette
Anyone ever rented a dingy to go to the beaches in St. Johns? Sounds fun but would like more info than just the cost.
Hi,
I am really excited about renting a boat as well. Here is what I have figured out so far. Forgive me if I go into too much detail, I'm going to put this on a web page eventually so I wanted to include every detail. The only place I could find to rent small boats is Noah's Little Arks, which is on Cruz Bay, the main town in St. John. Their web page, such as it is, is:
http://www.bookitvi.com/nla.htm
You can also rent their boats through Low-key Watersports.
http://www.divelowkey.com/watersports.htm
One of the messages I read said to look for the owner "he is typically outside of the Beach Bar all day long - look for the little Rottweiler." I guess that is the island life, eh?
Almost all the messages I found in the USVI Online forum:
http://www.caribline.com/cgi-bin/agnes.cgi?CaribbeanAgnes+CaribbeanAgnesHTML
were very positive toward Noahs. Many people said it was the highlight of their trip and they wished they could have done it for longer. The few less than glowing comments indicated that in rough seas it could be somewhat difficult to navigate, and that you had to swim from where the boat was moored to the beach. The only negative comment I read was from someone who felt that the dinghy renters were careless, dropping anchor into the coral and stinking up the place like people on Jet-Skis used to before they were banned. That just strengthened my resolve to be a responsible boater.
The boat is a Caribe C12 or C14. You can read a little bit about the C12 here:
http://www.internet.ve/caribe/comparison_table.htm
http://www.inflatableboats.com/default.asp
Note that the "beam in", the measurement of the inside width of the C12, is just 2' 8", not very wide. For reference, an airline seat is only 1' 6". The C14 is 6 inches wider, so two people could probably sit together. One of the messages I read indicated the boat is more stable if someone sits in front. Also, the boat is quite heavy, so I would not expect to be able to carry it about on the beach. You will have to moor it by tying it to one of the many provided Park Service moorings, or use the anchor. If you drag it up on the beach, the tide might come in and then you might have some fun swimming after the boat. Be careful not to drop anchor onto plant life or coral. There are some rules from the Park Service:
http://www.nps.gov/viis/rules.htm
There are places that rent snorkel equipment at Cruz Bay and at Trunk Bay.
This place is at Cruz Bay and opens at 8AM daily. I think there are other, cheaper places.
http://www.divestjohn.com/diving/snorkel.html
It looks like the 15hp motor will let you go around 10-15 knots, so it will take a little time to get to the snorkel sites. Apparently there are marked channels in some places which you must follow. I'm not a boater, so I hope these are not too complicated. Everything I've read says that Trunk Bay is beautiful, but by 9AM is very crowded with cruise ship day trippers. The map (er, actually it's a 'chart') Noah's gives you covers from Cruz Bay along the north coast all the way out to Leinster Bay. I'm especially interested in the little islands just off the coast.
See this park service map for an idea of the distances:
http://www.nps.gov/viis/ppmaps/viismap1.pdf
For the fastest trip in the morning, you want to take a taxi from the cruise drop off point to Red Hook, the easternmost port on St. Thomas. From what I have read, it will cost around US$14/person and take 15 minutes. Then hop on the ferry from Red Hook to Cruz Bay. This leaves at 7:30AM, 8:00AM, and then hourly.
http://www.usvi.net/usvi/ferry.htm#RHSJ
$3/person, $1 for kids.
If you want you can go direct from Charlotte Amelie to Cruz Bay for $7/person, but you won't arrive till 9:45, which is pretty late. Maybe do a shorter afternoon of snorkeling?
Hope this helps,
Walt
