I agree about St. John being one of the best - only St. John lodging tends to be much more pricey. Stay on St. Thomas and do day trips over to St. John via the walk/auto taxi. Do your search by typing in "Saphire Beach Lodging". The Saphire Beach resort is beautiful and a little pricey, but there are some cheaper deals right around that side of the island, you just have to weed through the options. Don't go over to the other side (West) of St. Thomas and try drive over to take the water taxi to St. John on the East coast because of the traffic - takes hours sometimes to get though the main town on St. Thomas (cruise ship traffic). There is some pretty great snorkeling right in Saphire bay off the beach in front of the Saphire Beach Resort. When facing the bay, go right off the beach and you will see corals with lots of colorful fish & eel. Funny story - I bought a big dog bisquit from this old guy who hangs out over at the Coral Gardens with his dog at that beach, and I had it tucked into my bathing suit at the hip to feel fish once I got out to the corals. When I stopped and did the snorkel hang, I looked up and right behind me I had about 50 ballyhoo right behind my head ranging from 4" to 1', I looked down and saw about 50 blue tang around my waist, and about 10 parrots hanging around my feet - shocked me! I didn't know the biscuit had started to disenegrate! They just loved me and followed me around like puppies for about an hour after that - wonderful fun! No one got greedy and tried to bite anything on me either! Back on land looking out to the water, if you go to the center part in front of the resort you run into some murkier grass areas with lots of cow & puffer fish (with a huge 6" baracuda on watch in the center of the grassy parts that freaked us out but didn't mind us going past all). Looking out to the bay if you go to the left there were huge bait balls of small fry that were near the beach that made me dizzy swimming around in them. That's just St. Thomas - but the very best was on St. John. Since Saphire Beach is on the E. side of St. Thomas with the Ferry over to St. John really close, it's an easy day trip to go cross over onto the other island that is mostly parkland. We took the ferry over almost every day (cheap ride) and the absolute best spot we found was a fairly hidden one that we had to hike to - called Waterlemon Cay on the North side of St. Thomas. You hike from a park, but I can't remember the name of the park. It was just a parking lot with some outhouses, and there were donkeys there on the road. You will need to get a very local map to show where Waterlemon Cay is - I didn't see it on most maps. Once you park in that lot, when you are looking towards the sea you go to the right on a path along the shore for about a mile or 2. Take water to drink! That path finally led us to this bay, and that's where you go so you can swim over to the little island. There was a tire to sit on and put on fins, but there are only bushes for you to hide (not really hide) your day packs or take a small dry sack and pull it along with you as you swim like I did. Walk all the way around the bay and pick the closest spot between the mainland shore and the island. Swim past the moorings but watch for boats because they can't really see you until they are on you. Small channel, fairly deep but you can see the bottom all the way across. Once across, you swim around that island but remember that there is really only 1 tiny little spot - not really a beach - to get out and rest and it's on the other side of the island. You need to be a good swimmer. When you get close to the island, I would suggest starting by going to the right (north) so you will have the current to help you on your way south on the opposite side of the island, helpful when you are more tired. This is worth it - trust me! You will see the most diversified amazing corals and fish & turtles, valleys and shelfs, etc.. just don't rush it - get there early in the day to really enjoy. Some fish are very large, biggest parrots I saw the whole trip, but there are so many colorful small ones to see if you take the time. Once you are ready to go back to the mainland shore again, going across the channel the same way you got out there, stop for a minute to rest or just snorkel along the beach towards the south for a ways and you will probably see small fry in mass as well as Cuttle schools, huge silver fish that are thin but big with huge eyes (don't know name darnit), plus lots of turtles. If you go out by the moorings that are closest to the path you came in on that faces North towards the little island, you will see starfish that are at least 3' wide on the sandy bottom below as well as rays. Tip - get out of the water inside the little bay and not too much farther West than the moorings, unless you want to work your way up to the beach through lots of black spineys. So worth the swim and the hike, best we've seen! Amost don't want to put this out there to save it for the next time I get there. If you aren't into the hike and swim thing, just go to the regular snorkel beaches on St. John, all are great. I've been to belize, barbados, florida, st lucia, san juan, la capia & the beaches of the baja plus others on a budget - and this was one of the most interesting close to the states. Take a snorkel boat and you will see some more great places around the VI's and BVI's, but that hike was most interesting. If going to those other countrys that I mention about, I can guide you to the best spots for snorkeling off the beach at those - just email me
[email protected] Hope this helps, can't believe I typed so much! - Enjoy!!
