Does anyone know if there are any areas in St. Thomas/St. John that have nice shells? What about dolphins? Do the USVI have any?<BR>I'm thinking they have neither or else I would have read about it by now. <BR><BR>Thanks!

Your best bet to see Dolfins would be to get out on a boat in the mornings when they are feeding.

Shell beaches are on the windward shores for the most part. The best shelling I have seen is at John Brewer's Bay, although if you go out as high tide is receeding (and before anyone else gets there!) there are lots of spots. Dolphins for the most part are off shore animals, however, there is one that visits, again, John Brewer's and I have seen them north of St Thomas near Hans Lollick as well as in Maho Bay, St John. In the winter we have visiting whales, too.

I don't know about the shelling beaches, but I have seen wild dolphins around St. John. On my last snorkeling trip, which was a boat trip, we saw several frolicking offshore Honeymoon Beach after we had all gotten back in the boat.<BR><BR>Of course, dolphin spottings are not as consistent or predictable as whale migrations. So don't go to the USVI and expect to see dolphins. Certain places are feeding or breeding grounds for whales at certain times of the year, thus you can predictably and consistently find them. Dolphins do not follow this pattern - they are around but they show up when they show up.<BR><BR>There are a few places in the world where wild dolphins are more consistent. The Bahamas has several places if you are interested in that. I remember off the coast of Lahaina, Maui of being able to spot wild dolphins too.<BR><BR>If you go to the USVI, enjoy them for what you do see, and if you see some dolphins, consider yourself lucky and consider it a gift.

In addition to Brewer's Bay for shells, I've heard of folks having good luck at Dorothea and Hull on the northside past Magens.<BR><BR>Schultz

Shelling is not encouraged in the USVI and every year the Ag Dept collects tons of them from departing tourists.

Is it that they don't let you take shells with live animals in them and/or empty shells. Perhaps I should have made it more clear, but I meant empty shells. I wouldn't take an animals home. I'm referring to shells on the beach that are empty.<BR><BR>We went to Sanibel, FL earlier this year - lots of shells. But they had a rule that you couldn't take live shells. Its the VI rule something similiar?<BR><BR>Thanks for your help. Oh, as to the whales - what time of year do they normally appear?