We boooked our summer vacation for July in St Thomas. I have 3 boys (11,7 and 5) that are not too "beach crazy", they will snorkel and build sand castles for a little while but will not spend the whole day on the beach. So I had based my choice of island on activities ie Atlantis submarine, sea treaking, New Horizon II boat tours and chocolate factories, it seemed to me that ther was just much more "to do" on St Thomas rather than St John, although I agree St John's is much more of a nature's lover paradise. But from reading all the posts it seems that St Thomas is not getting good reviews, or is being pushed aside, did I make a mistake booking in St Thomas? Also I really wanted to work with McLaughlin Anderson and they could not offer anything in St John that would accomodate my (younger) kids. Anybody, give me some word of encouragenents!!!
Thanks
Julie

While many here prefer St. John, St. Thomas is still an excellent place for a family vacation, for the reasons you've listed. It still is the Caribbean afterall.

The beaches and water are beautiful, there are activities and shopping not found on St. John, you can always day trip to St. John to explore that island for a day. For those of you who are St. John fans, please don't turn this into a "St. John is better than St. Thomas" discussion. I'm merely pointing out that St. Thomas IS a good place to vacation, and Julie is already committed to going there.

I spent a week on St Thomas this spring w/ 11 & 9 yr old and we all had a blast.

I strongly recommend you get snorkel sets for the kids rather than having to rent every time you want to use one (unless your hotel has free sets to offer). My kids spent hours snorkeling - most of it just within 10 feet of the beach, watching the fish swim by. The Kmart in Tutu has lots of sets, or you can bring one from home. I bought mask and snorkel at my local sporting goods store and was glad I had them from day 1.

Also, bring a long sleeved t-shirt for each. The tropical sun can burn fast, even with sunscreen. Face down in the water snorkeling exposes the back, arms, and even hands to a lot of sun, so the long sleeved T offers some good protection while in the water.

If you have specific questions about St. Thomas, just reply and I'll fill in with my experience. I have found that there are other web sites with more active Caribbean island discussion than this one. Those include tripadvisor.com and www.caribbean-on-line.com

Kids love pirates. Lots of pirate-theme things on St. Thomas. Also, there's Coral World which is good for blowing 1/2 a day. There's also a sky tram to take them up in. Can't say I am a huge fan of St. Thomas, but it is larger and has more resources than St. John.

If they are not that into the beach there is a lot more to do on St Thomas. Dont worry about it, I lived there for a long time, there is plenty to do. Have fun!

That's because there IS a lot more to do on St. Thomas, pure and simple..and there'll be more for YOU to do on St. Thomas, too, when you can stick the kids somewhere for a while and do something for yourself.

Enjoy your trip.

3littlepeas,

You should have no worries, St. Thomas is a great little island, lots to see and do. There are several boat trips as you mentioned to go lots of places. There is also a speed boat in fact I think it's New Horizon where you can go visit BVI, it's a day trip and sounds like a lot of fun (haven't done it myself but heard lots of rave reviews about it while there, we ran out of time!)

You can also get them interested in diving. We did our first dive there at Coki beach, they are very patient, it's done right off the beach rather than in the deeper water and perfect for beginners.

Have a great trip!