We are on the Disney Magic that stops in St Thomas. We want to snorkle in St John's National park. In the past we have gotten longer/better/cheaper snorkle trips if we book outside of the cruise ship. Any suggestions? Our group is 8 years and up, though we are experienced.

Thanks for your help!!!!

First of all, it's St. John and Virgin Islands National Park. St. John's is in Antigua. Sorry, but that's a pet peeve of mine.

If you want to snorkel in Trunk Bay, you can easily do the trip on your own. Take a shared taxi to Red Hook, and then jump on the next ferry to St. John. Taxis meet all the ships (you pay by the person, not by the ride, same as on St. Thomas). Get off at Trunk Bay and pay your admission to the park. There are cool water showers and a place to rent snorkeling equipment if you don't have your own. The beach is beautiful, though it has relatively little shade. There's a snorkeling trail, but in truth the snorkeling here isn't the best. If you want to take a snorkeling trip, then you might want to book a boat trip, many of which leave from both St. Thomas and St. John.

Do you set up a taxi to come back or are they hanging around the park?

We did the taxi thing, and they hung around the park to take people back. Made us a bit nervous that we would miss the ferry, but we did get to snorkle much longer than the cruise trip and more cost effective (can't remember by how much). We also beached far away from the cruise trip.

I think certain times of the year that there is a ferry that goes walking distance to the ships. We went in October, and had to do the taxi. I think the snorkeling was pretty good for the caribbean, the view on the beach is amazing. We did see stingrays, barracudas and a variety of other fish. We ordered room service the night before and packed it in(sandwiches and cookies). Take cash in small amounts, the ferry ATM wasn't working, and the credit card machine wasn't either when we went.

If you frequent National Parks and have a passbook, take it and they will stamp it. We hooked up with other families from our boat, and we watched each others stuff when we went to swim. Also helped when we didn't have enough cash, and we paid them back on ship.

It was one our favorite things we did that trip. Made us want to go stay on the island

We did the taxi thing, and they hung around the park to take people back. Made us a bit nervous that we would miss the ferry, but we did get to snorkle much longer than the cruise trip and more cost effective (can't remember by how much). We also beached far away from the cruise trip.

I think certain times of the year that there is a ferry that goes walking distance to the ships. We went in October, and had to do the taxi. I think the snorkeling was pretty good for the caribbean, the view on the beach is amazing. We did see stingrays, barracudas and a variety of other fish. We ordered room service the night before and packed it in(sandwiches and cookies). Take cash in small amounts, the ferry ATM wasn't working, and the credit card machine wasn't either when we went.

If you frequent National Parks and have a passbook, take it and they will stamp it. We hooked up with other families from our boat, and we watched each others stuff when we went to swim. Also helped when we didn't have enough cash, and we paid them back on ship.

It was one our favorite things we did that trip. Made us want to go stay on the island