st thomas

[ganurse]

2 years ago, we did the champagne lunch catamaran snorkeling trip and had a great time..we got back in time to do a bito f shopping and then we were back on the boat.
what else have other people that was fun and relaxing and that you would do again?
amy

 

[DisneyKids]

We did the Champagne Catamaran, as well and that's what we'll do again this April. I guess I'm not much help. We have considered the St. John Eco Hike (not necessarily relaxing but looks great) but liked the catamaran so much, we decided to stick with it!

 

[Spaceman Spiff & Co.]

We did the Buck Island sail and snorkle and it was very enjoyable.
We saw 2 sea turtles, numerous species of fish, and coral.

 

[TMTIP]

Randy-
Hi, saw your post--we are just about neighbors! We live across the bridge in Yorktown. Good to see someone from our neck of the woods on the boards.

Tracy

 

[jrabbit]

If you like snorkeling and you like sailing on a catamaran, there is the barefoot sail and snorkel trip from St. Thomas to St. Johns. We had a great trip. the boat was very nice and the crew was great. We snorkeled for about an hour at Honemoon bay (before everyone else arrived (we were leaving as they were comming). Maybe not all the ammenities of the "champange" trip but they did have drinks (rum punch and regular punch and soda and snacks).

hey Spaceman Spiff I really miss the adventures of Calvin and his buddy in the newspapers!

 

[PhotoLisa]

The Doubloon Sail & Snorkel is a blast! We've done it twice and would do it again in a heartbeat!

Lisa

 

[tink5697]

Lisa I just sent you a pm

 

[skoi]

Is the Doubloon cruise a heavy drinking thing like some of the other boats? Has anyone taken younger (10 and 6) kids on it?

Thanks,
Julie

 

[mobetsy]

We arranged privately to go to Coki Beach, through the Coki Beach Dive Club. It was fabulous; they have an intro scuba program not only for adults, but also for 8-10 year olds; it was definitely a highlight of my ds9's trip. My almost 6 y.o. son loved the beach and water there as well; there are fish to be seen at 3-4 ft. deep, so easy even for young ones. Take a look at their website, and know that they are as excellent as they claim to be.

 

[HollyH]

mobetsy:

How long was the dive for? My DS (17) desperately wants to try a scuba dive. Also... how much was it?

 

[two-foxes]

Originally posted by mobetsy
We arranged privately to go to Coki Beach, through the Coki Beach Dive Club. It was fabulous; they have an intro scuba program not only for adults, but also for 8-10 year olds; it was definitely a highlight of my ds9's trip. My almost 6 y.o. son loved the beach and water there as well; there are fish to be seen at 3-4 ft. deep, so easy even for young ones. Take a look at their website, and know that they are as excellent as they claim to be.

Glad to hear some good reviews there! I was looking for reviews on the net and found other good reviews! We are most likely booking the shore dive for our St Thomas excursion. Did they provide transportation back to the ship for you and did the dive time allow some shopping time after?

 

[mobetsy]

They picked us up at 8:30 right at the dock...very friendly and welcoming. The drive took about 20 minutes I think, no more, though we (our group of 2 families, 7 people total) had to wait about 10 min for one other family to get off the ship. The ride there was included in the cost, and they let my ds5 come along for free (I had asked if I should pay for him, but they weren't concerned about it). They got us all set with snorkel equipment (again, including ds5 who wasn't paying for anything), as well as boogie boards with a mask sort of things set into them (so you could lie on the board and see underwater) for the 3 kids. We played and snorkeled until about 11:00. They then did about a 20-30 min land based instruction for all of us as well as another man who was doing the same intro scuba. I, the other mom, and 2 of our kids then went out with an instructor; a little embarrassing to admit that I was nervous enough only to be up to the level of the program for 8-10 year olds, but oh well, I was happy! We stayed in the water for about 30 minutes; it probably could've been a bit longer, but the adults were getting a little cold (water was nice, but a bit chillier than usual, and I think nerves had something to do with it). They had a couple of shortie wetsuits for the kids. We came back in, and the same instructor took our dh's out for what I'm sure was over an hour; they went fairly far out and had a ball. We had use of the snorkel equipment and boogie boards for the entire day. They also have large containers right next to all their equipment where you can put your belongings for the day; that helped make it much easier not to have to be worried about the security of our stuff on the beach (we only had our towels and such there), and it was only a matter of about 25 yards to get to the containers if we wanted anything. We took along sandwiches, chips, and cookies from room service, so we didn't have to buy lunch. We had to get our own transportation back (very easy...tons of taxi vans are right there) for $7 per person. The cost for the scuba instruction and use of the equipment all day was $40 for the kids and $60 for the adults, very reasonable especially since it included the ride there. I really can't say enough good things about our experience that day, and also in all the planning stages of e-mail correspondance with them.