Mageens beach St thomas OR Trunk beach St John?

[Mom24Princesses]

Would taking three sets of masks, snorkels, fins, and snorkel vests, plus towels be too much to lug around for this trip? I usually throw it all in one big mesh divers backpack/duffel.

No, that would be fine. Mainly if you have kids they will tire out if they have too much to keep up with on all that travel time. It is fun to ride the ferry over on the upper, open deck. It can be choppy and breezy. Hold on to everything and don't forget that motion sickness med.

When we did an excursion with a local outft who took us to Virgin Gorda last June to see the Baths and The Caves on Norman Island (2 guys one from Texas and one from Central Florida) CF guy said "Don't used a towel, let the sun dry you off, who wants to carry a wet, heavy towel?!" MADE SENSE!

 

[eph94]

We didn't bring any towels on our Reef and Rays excursion on Grand Cayman and we regretted that. However, something tells me that the June sun does a much better job or drying one off than the March sun. We were COLD!! We also sat on the upper deck of the charter boat (Native Way). The DW lost her hat due to the wind, but one of crew members was able to scoop it up. The seas were really rough. I was told that DCL cancelled their snorkeling excursions for the day, but our operator forged on. The boat rocking didn't affect me on the way out, but on the way back I started to feel a little queasy. I think, though, that more a result of drinking what felt like 15 gallons of seawater after the DS6 kept dunking me as he hung on for dear life in the rough waves. A few burps settled things down.

I'm looking forward to snorkeling in CALM waters where a thought like "Am I going to make it back to the boat while still conscious?" never has a chance of crossing my mind!!

Do you think the travel to Trunk Bay might be a bit much for a 6-year old?

 

[Maria395712]

so how do yoou get to sapphire beach . meghan's bay or orient beach how long to get to each
maria

 

[MiaSRN62]

Plan to catch the 2:00 ferry back to be safe.

Melanie,
Thanks for the step-by-stop instructions on how to get to Trunk Bay. So it's 20 min to TB once you catch a cab or bus from Cruz Bay , right ? How long does it take to get from the Magic to Cruz Bay (i.e. taxi to Red Hook Ferry and then Red Hook Ferry to Cruz Bay ?). Just trying to plot out our plans. Thanks again !!!

 

[delaneysmom]

We snorkeled thru Tiki Hut snorkeling on St. Maartens - best decision we made, I think, once we booked the cruise, that is!

Tiki Hut is an all-day excursion, takes only a few minutes to get there and you basically have all day to snorkel whenever you want. We snorkeled for 2 hours from about 9:30-11:30, then the capt of the snorkel boat brought us into town to do some shopping and met us at the water taxi dock at 3 PM to bring us back for 2 more hours of snorkeling. LOVED IT! Then spent the day at Magens Bay (but did not do the expedition, took a taxi on our own and saved tons of money).

 

[Mom24Princesses]

Melanie,
Thanks for the step-by-stop instructions on how to get to Trunk Bay. So it's 20 min to TB once you catch a cab or bus from Cruz Bay , right ? How long does it take to get from the Magic to Cruz Bay (i.e. taxi to Red Hook Ferry and then Red Hook Ferry to Cruz Bay ?). Just trying to plot out our plans. Thanks again !!!

It can vary. The ferry ride takes about 20. The taxi from the dock to Red Hook can be 20 minutes or a lot longer if traffic is bad. The taxi from Cruz Bay to Trunk Bay is probably less than 20 once you are in route. Your driver will want a full load if possible.

I was going to mention that you can see St. T and St. J great on Google Maps - click "Hybrid" You can zoom in and see the beaches. You will see the route to Trunk Bay. AND if you go over the little rise east of Trunk you will be looking at Cinnamon. There are mega houses over looking it. One of thoses is Kenny Chessney's "old" house. He is building a new one.
You will see a small beach around some rocks just east of Trunk. DH and I swam over there and rested a while on "our private beach".

 

[MiaSRN62]

We snorkeled thru Tiki Hut snorkeling on St. Maartens - best decision we made, I think, once we booked the cruise, that is!

Tiki Hut is an all-day excursion

Delaneysmom....
Thanks for this info. I posted this question twice on the DIS in the past weeks and got no replies. I was wondering what this excursion was. So you booked it through DCL or on your own ? Is the excursion entirely on a boat ?
Thanks !

 

[MiaSRN62]

Thanks Melanie ! You've been a big help

 

[delaneysmom]

Delaneysmom....
Thanks for this info. I posted this question twice on the DIS in the past weeks and got no replies. I was wondering what this excursion was. So you booked it through DCL or on your own ? Is the excursion entirely on a boat ?
Thanks !

It was amazing. Seriously. You should do it. We scheduled it thru Disney. They picked us up on their own boat and took us to the snorkel area. They have a dock with a practice pool. I saw a sea turtle and some barracudas, there are some cannons from a fort built in the 1600's that are underwater, and a submarine...Here are two pics I took:

and

I am *so* glad we chose this expedition. I filled out rave review comment cards for Disney and sent an email to the owners as well. The crew was fabulous, the all-day scheduling was great - we snorkeled for 2 hours in the morning, then the captain took us to the Phillipsburg dock and let us shop for a few hours, then came back and picked us up. We went back and snorkeled for 2 more hours then he brought us back to the ship. Perfect, perfect day.

 

[MiaSRN62]

Thanks Melanie ! Sounds like my kind of day as well......I can't see your pictures though unfortunately.

 

[eph94]

Here is the second one (fixed broken link):