Hello Maria,

Trunk Bay is still gorgeous!!! And the snokeling is still great. I took some folks who were visiting in November there, they had a great time. But you are right about the deteriation. If your choose to go there again, you would still have a great time, I am sure.

Water Lemon Cay, is great. You can drive to a certain point, right below Annaberg, next to Leinster Bay and then you must walk the remainder of the way, about a 30 minute walk, if memory serves me. Not a hard walk, pretty flat and enjoyable. You walk along the rocks for a bit, then the shore line of the beach and then to the end where you get in and swim over to the cay, snoreklign is around the cay.

Salt Pond Bay - I have had great days there and not so good days. (Went there also, with the visitors in November, lots of little thorny plants on the shore, got them in my hand, feet, cloths. So beware of those, if you choose to go.) The beach is nice, usually not populated. The snorkeling is good along the rocks only, the area for swimming has not much at all, sandy bottom really. And you have to drive passed Coral Bay, and then walk. I would say Trunk Bay is better if you are on a ship, or Cinnamon Bay.

Congo Cay; if I am thinking of the right place, I think this requires a boat.

Leinster, is nice. Again if you only have a day, I would say Trunk Bay, Cinnamon Bay or Water Lemon. Although you park next to Leinster to go to Water Lemon, so if you had enough time, perhaps could try both. The reason I say Leinster last to the others is because its a large area, I am not sure where to tell you the good snorkeling is in the that area, it also is shallow a good portion and then gets deep as you get close to the open ocean. Perhaps someone who has more experience snorkeling at Leinster can direct you to the good spots there.

Have a great trip. When you have return from your cruise, please drop by and let us know where you choose to go and how you enjoyed your time in St. John/St. Thomas. We enjoy reading what people say about there trips. It also helps others to plan.

--Islander

Hey, thanks Islander! I had hoped you would see this question and figured you'd be the one to know. Since we may or may not have a few other people w/us, I'm not sure if we can do any of these locations on this trip (since they are not as easy to get to as Trunk Bay, Cinammon, etc.) We have ONLY done Trunk in the past. Before I saw the list of "best snorkeling sights" I was thinking we'd possibly be able to walk to Honeymoon (per your instructions on a previous post) and still have time to either drive to or get a cab to Cinammon and Trunk. Looks like that's what we'll do unless we can find someone with a boat who just takes people out from Cruz Bay. (Last yr. we tried to check out some non-cruise ship affiliated snorkel tours, but the ones I found all departed too early in the morning - & some from resorts - for us to make certain we'd get over to St. John to catch them. Others returned too late to catch our ship!) If we stay w/our current plan and don't get talked into some shore excursion by friends, I will be certain to post our "adventures". Someday, in the not-to-distant future, we are going to make certain we spend several days on St. John. I have a photo of Trunk Bay on my frig. and it's also the background on my computer! Thanks again for your help!

Maria, if anyone in your group has any experience with boats, perhaps you might consider something completely different. Renting a dingy in Cruz Bay and then beach hopping by dingy/boat along the coast to these beaches. Is that a possibility?

Honeymoon is beautiful, a nice hike as well. If you are sending the whole day in St. John you can do this along with another beach by taxi. If you are doing half St. John and half St. Thomas, its a bit too much to get time at another beach. You can also hike, if you like hiking along from Honeymoon to Caneel Bay, just keep following the trail/dirt road. Then take a taxi back from Caneel Bay rather then hiking back. So you would start in Cruz Bay, hike passed Solomon, then Honeymoon then Caneel Bay.

Good Luck.

--Islander

The dinghy idea is a great one, as my husband used to have a little Boston Whaler as a teen in Annapolis, and we have rented ski boats several times. Last yr. I looked into renting a 24 ft. motorized boat and the marinas I contaced didn't advise that we rent one and try to drive it ourselves due to too many coral reefs in the area. We could have hired a driver, but the prices weren't cheap and we were also worried about committing to such an expense so far ahead of time. (Since conditions could've ended up lousy once we arrived.) Do you have any ideas of where we could rent a little boat and how much it would cost? As there will be 7 ships in port in St. Thos. the day we are there, I fear about everything will be rented out! Also, re: your other (charter sailboat) idea, do you have any idea what type of price range would we be talking about for a group charter?(this is why we need to STAY in St. John for a vacation. We are so pressed for time and governed by schedules!). Thanks for your help so far!