how was honeymoon beach? was it pretty. I'm torn between this excursion and trunk bay. I need help deciding. Also, did you run into any scary animals while snorkeling? did you see sea turtles?
Honeymoon beach was nice. It is back in a bay, so the water was very calm. Also was nice and shallow for the kids to swim and play without having to worry about a sudden drop off.
Here is a review on Tripadvisor with some pictures - one of the reviews said it gets busy with a lot of boats from the cruise ships, but the day we were there the DCL excursion was the only one at that beach.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...ymoon_Beach-St_Thomas_U_S_Virgin_Islands.html
We saw lots of turtles at Turtle Cove. Some were just sitting on the bottom and some would swim right past you. No scary animals. Typical assorted fish.
Bump! Keep them coming guys!
Debsx
Thank you so much for your details. We are booked for this very excursion (with the Honeymoon Beach part). Do you remember how much time you had at Honeymoon Beach?
Two I would recommend for St. Maarten would be:
Bernards Tours - http://www.bernardstours.com/
Great overall sampling of the island. A nice mix of sightseeing, shopping, and beach time, hitting both Orient Beach and Maho beach to see the planes land. We had a larger group and were able to get a private tour with just our group for just a few dollars more per person than the group tours, then we could customize the tour to what worked for us, a little more beach time and a little less shopping time.
Random Wind Sailboat - http://www.randomwind.com/
A beautiful 54 foot sailboat that offers full day sail/snorkel/swim trip. A relaxing sail along the island with stops to swim and snorkel. On one of the stops they set up the tarzan swing, which is a trapeze rigged to the spinnaker boom and you swing off the boat and drop to the water below. My kids went off the tarzan swing about 50 times each. At another stop they prepare a nice lunch cooked fresh onboard.
We have done many caribbean excursions and my kids (13,11, & 7) all ranked this one as their favorite so far.
This is one I'm planning as well - would love to hear feedback!
Looking for recent reviews of St John ECO Hike!
Just off the Magic on Saturday- here's what we did:
St Maarten: Bernards Tours, we contacted them independently, $40pp. They have a stand right beside the info center by the dock. We really had a great time, our driver took us all over the island and we were able to determine how long we wanted to stay at each stop. We went to Orient Beach, which was really windy and the ocean was choppy, so we only spent 30 minutes and then headed to Marigot and spent longer there. After that, we went to Maho and spent about 1 1/2 hours watching the planes. We also had drinks included in the price.
Did you book this ahead of time by their website? On the website it says that you have to have a reservation because they do not allow walk ups anymore.
We also did the St. John Island Tour. This was a narrated, open air bus tour. He took us to some amazing places to take pictures. I would highly recommend this for those who dont want to spend the day at the beach. We were able to spend about 45 minutes in the shops near the return boat dock and had some desserts at a small café in St. John.
We enjoyed a scenic boat ride along St. Thomas coastline towards St. John. On the way over, we sat on the top deck of the boat. Since it was morning and spring time, the sun really wasnt too hot and we really enjoyed it. On the way back I would suggest trying to get on the lower deck on the side benches. This will let you enjoy the outdoors and see everything on one side of the boat, but have the shade from the boat.
This tour allowed us to see the entire island. Next time we are going back to Trunk Bay because it looked absolutely beautiful on our tour.
Here are a couple of photos of St. John we took on the tour.
I have two co-workers going on it too. We did not coordinate the time. I think the first cruise of the summer is very popular.Looks like we are on the same cruise.