Day trip/beach suggestions in St. Thomas
 

We will be in St. Thomas for a day off our Princess cruise ship. Last time we visited Coral World and Koki Beach. This time, we would like to try another beach and need something to do either before or after, as shopping is not in the cards this visit. Magen's Bay? Another beach? don't want to return to Koki, not impressed. Is there public transportation? There will be 4 of us, would you suggest a rental car? IIRC, they drive British style and am not keen on doing that. TIA!

i would not rent - roads are kinda windy & hilly - a bit much for one day.
get a taxi and head to bolongo beach resort if you want an active beach scene or secret harbour beach resort for a quiet spot. both have a restaurant & beach bar/food. secret harbour has very good snorkeling off the right side of the beach. take towels.

on the way to/from either, a taxi can run you over to magens just to see it & by drake's seat to take in the view. or there are a few historical buildings on the east end of charlotte amalie, and there is a museum with a few of camille pissarro's works as he is from st. thomas.

We love "Secret Harbor" beach near Red Hook. It has some of the best "walk-in" snorkeling on the island, a restaurant, and a beach bar with music on Sat.

You can take a cab there.

If you have enough time, you could cab it to Red Hook, and ferry to St, John----always fabulous.

We enjoyed an excursion to St John and snorkeling at Trunk Bay there. Beautiful beach, nice scenery and the boat ride over was fun too.

Good thing you got your Coki beach fill. I don't think the ships are having excursions there anyway due to an accidental shooting of a young tourist not too long ago. I try to keep up to date but that may have changed.

I would also recommend a taxi/ferry trip to St John since you have seen some of St Thomas. You coud get a taxi to the North Shore Beaches. Hawksnest, Trunk and Cinnamon are all beautiful with Trunk and Cinnamon Bay having facilities.

Okay, I have not done this yet, but it is on my list for next time. Water Island. It is about a 10 minute ferry ride from Crown Bay Marina(STT) by Tickle's Restaurant. Your ship may or may not be docked there. Crown Bay is for the bigger ships like Oasis of the Seas. Still, it would be a short taxi ride from Havensight. They have frequent ferry runs.

http://www.vinow.com/waterisland/gettingthere_wi/

Our friends live on St Thomas and have a boat so they go there frequently and enjoy it alot.

Magen's Bay also looks beautiful, but I have only seen it from Drake's Seat.

Secret Harbour sounds nice and the girls want to go snorkeling. Should we hire a driver for the day or can we rely on a taxi there and assurance there will be a taxi available when we are ready to go? Like the idea of a little drive around the island, see Magens Beach on our way back. Do we need to buy "day passes" to the resort? We only plan to use the beach, but would like to rent chairs & umbrellas. Any more information would be much appreciated, thanks!

at secret harbour there are trees for shade. no umbrellas to rent. no day pass needed. there are loungers on the beach intended for use by guests but if they aren't all taken i don't think anyone will bother you.
you can ask the taxi driver who takes you out to return for your ride back to the ship, or he'll give you a number to call and tell you what time to allow.
here's the restaurant site with menu and pics of the beach: http://bluemooncafevi.com/
you can eat on the deck beside the bar in bathing suits - real clothes for the real restaurant. ladies room is up cement path to left of bar.
it's a wonderful place so don't tell anybody where you're headed :)