Best non-sea-sick passage from St Tom to St John

[abitjaded]

What sort of experience has anyone had booking a sail and or motor boat to St John? We would love to try Trunk Bay. The best scenario for us would be something fast and steady, we range from 6-84 years old, and some of us have motion sickness. Seems by the time we buy separate taxis, ferries, and/or shore excursions for seven people we might as well charter our own. I would love to leave from Charlotte Amalie and go straight to off-shore at Trunk, snorkel, then have at least an hour or two back in CA to shop a bit. Doable or pipe-dream?

TIA Carla

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

If you're worried about getting seasick on the trip over to St John, and if you are worried about how much time you'll be spending in transit, why don't you scratch the idea of going to St John and go enjoy Magen's Bay or Coki Beach on St Thomas instead. They're both wonderful beaches, and the transit is much easier.

But if you <i><b>do</b></i> decide to go to St John, taking a taxi to Red Hook and the ferry from Red Hook to Cruz Bay would be your fastest/easiest option if you're prone to seasickness.

 

[abitjaded]

Thanks Dave, but we want to check out St John because we have been to St Thomas, including both these beaches. Coki is just a bit too small when crowded (which I would assume it is with 4 ships in port) to park some of our members on the sand, plus if the wind or currents are up, it is not a very safe snorkel spot for kids (though if bad, not sure how similar weather affects Trunk). Magens is great, but the snorkeling stinks. We want to beach sit and see great fish, rays, turtles.... Any other beach suggestions for St Tom that have good sand and fish?

Carla

 

[northsouth]

I can only offer my own experience and see what you think. We took the 5 star St John snorkel excursion ($45pp) on the Leylon Sneed boat and it was fine. Just only had 1-1/2 hours at Trunk Bay which was a little short. But it was very easy, just met at Studio Sea at 740am, checked in and got towels, etc. Walked to the end of the pier and boarded the Leylon Sneed which holds 110 passengers I think. It was a very steady ride and no one seemed seasick that I could tell. It was about an hour's cruise as the pace of this boat is a little slow. For about 30 minutes of the boat ride (each way) there is a nice narration done by the crew; they were very personable young people and they did a good job. If any of your party doesn't care to snorkel or "dinghy" to the beach (you climb down to the dinghy on a 4 foot ladder off the side of the boat) I think they show a film of some sort on board the boat, and there is a little gift shop and a rum punch bar.

As we approached St John we were all outfitted with snorkel gear and when we arrived we had the option of snorkeling off the side of the boat or riding a little inflatable dinghy to shore. We were probably about 50 yards from shore, on the "far" side of the beach away from the main section so we practically had the whole snorkel area and beach to ourselves. A beautiful place to visit, though I personally did not see any sea turtles or rays, but the fish were lovely.

Too soon it was time to go back (1055am) and we were back on the ship in time for lunch (1215pm?) and had plenty of time to shop also. Hope this helps.

 

[abitjaded]

Was it a mob scene at Trunk Bay? Seems getting 110 people into the water could be crazy. We are experienced divers and snorkelers, if so, could you be first in the water? Was an hour and half enough to really see anything?

Carla

 

[northsouth]

Hi, Carla!! I doubt we had the full 110 passengers on our excursion, maybe more like 75 and at least 30-40 were kids. It seemed the kids were more inclined to dive off the boat and snorkel, and about 20-25 of us went to the beach on dinghies. The crew was very efficient at organizing everything and everybody, and I never perceived a crowd anywhere. I had headed for the beach coz I needed to practice my snorkeling, since I was not experienced with flippers. But it is not that hard to snorkel of course, so soon I headed over to the "coral area" to sightsee. There were a couple of times I almost got flippered in the head by a kid, but probably only because of my own inexperience (it really wasn't that crowded). There is plenty of room on that part of the beach for experienced people to explore underwater. I would guess not everyone snorkeled either, a lot of people just enjoyed the beach. We had teens with us and they went off to the opposite side of the beach (where all the "land" people arrive) and snorkelled down at that end, there is plenty of room for all if you go in the morning, I think the afternoon may be more crowded.

I guess you could be first in the water if you head for the jump off place on the boat as you approach the island, or mention this to the crew ahead of time. I did have a problem with only having an hour and a half there, twice that amount of time would hardly be enough for me; in the future I would definitely try to get there on my own to have more time. We had 6 people in our party though, as you mention you have seven, so an excursion does seem more convenient for that many people. But remember most of the St Thomas "taxis" hold up to ten or twelve people, they are mostly open air vehicles or vans (that we saw) and can hold a lot of people. And we had several ferry type boats go past us a lot faster than we were going. I know Leylon Sneed has an afternoon excursion also if you don't want to go in the morning, but the morning excursion was recommended to us.

Also there were only 3 ships in port (St Thomas) the day we were there, I have heard it can be a lot more crowded as there can be up to 6 ships at St Thomas on some days. Here is a neat website that tells what ships are in port on certain days. (scroll to the bottom of the page) http://vinow.com/general_usvi/getting_here/index.php