St. Thomas/St. John Excursion Questions

[mike14450]

I'm considering a few St. Thomas/St.John excursions and am hoping that anyone who has had done any of these can lend their experiences:

St. John Trunk Bay Beach and Snorkel Tour (5 hours) or
5-Star St. John Snorkel and Beach Adventure (4-4.5 hours) or
Doubloon Sail & Snorkel Tour (3.5 hours)

This will be a family excursion with two adults and my DD (10) and DS (9). We're interested in how good the snorkling is as well as the water depth.

Thanks for any help!

Mike

 

[kimkatmom]

Mike:

We took the St. John Trunk Bay Snokel tour. It was amazing! Your children are the perfect age for this tour, but don't wait too long to book it, it fills up in a hurry! 60 days out is when you need to book it.

The water is beautiful and not really very deep, but you do need to warn your children about the dangers of coral. You know, sharp - ouch!

They provide you with little floatie vests, your snorkle, mask, fins and instruction. The operators are really great. Don't hesitate to ask for help.

You will have a wonderful time -- dont' forget your sunscreen!

Leslye

 

[power_alaska]

Have done all three - Would recommend Trunk Bay. ALL were excellent and fun. Good weather, good water, lots of fish.

Doubloon was a great sail but if you are worried about water depth, it is probably the deepest of all. Also, slightly more exposed than the others.

Trip to Trunk Bay takes a little longer but it is a nice trip to a National Park area. Area is a little more protected and environmentally better managed. Not sure about the kids swimming ability but the lifejackets are pretty easy to deal with. My wife gets nervous in deep water but as long as I am holding her hand she does fine. Except when I pointed out the barracuda ... then she could walk on water ... she was ready to get out anyways which left me plenty of time to explore on my own...

Hope that helps ...

 

[zeldacruiser]

Don't know if you're looking for other suggestions, but we did the Captain Nautica excursion and really loved it. It's a speedboat, so it's fun (and not too time-consuming) getting from one place to another. We went to three different spots, saw big turtles, barracuda, swam through a huge school of fish, etc. It was all relatively close to shore, but deep enough that we didn't have to worry about brushing against the reef.

 

[mike14450]

Thanks to everyone who replied! This helps quite a bit. Our cruise date is only 37 days out so we might not be able to get into the Trunk Bay snorkel tour, but we will try today.

We appreciate the opinions, and thanks again.

Mike

 

[cramam]

I would second Capt. Nautica. Great experience with my 8 and 12 year old. Water depth up to 15 feet, but much in the 5 foot range.