I keep hearing that Gibney beach is many people's favorite beach on St. JOhn, but I can not locate it on a map! Where is it/where do I find the entrance etc? I thought perhaps it was somewhere around Caneel bay...

Gibney Beach (also referred to as Oppenheimer's Beach) may be an unofficial name. It's part of Hawksnest. If you look at Hawksnest, and if you were standing on the beach looking out at the water, Gibney is the righthand crescent. There is a small "point" of rocks which separates the two "beaches" In other words, you can swim from Hawksnest over to Gibney but there's no foot path between the two, that I remember.

This gives info. on Gibney beach, including how to get there.

http://stjohnbeachguide.com/Beaches/gibney.html

Carole

OK... just got home to look at my St. John research notes.

One of the travel forums (can't recall which one) said to look for a rustic gate on the left-hand side of Route 20 heading away from Cruz Bay (the link above says it is 2.1 miles east of Mongoose Junction). The gate used to say "Oppenheimer" on it, but many of the letters are now gone. Maybe if you are watching for it, you will see it.

My notes say to walk through the gate and down the driveway, through the volleyball area, next to the yellow building, and onto the beach. It mentions that Gibney is a very small beach, especially when the tide is in.

Hope this helps.

Just past the parking lot for Hawksnest beach, you'll go around a couple curves, and you'll see the old iron gate. There is only room for 1-2 jeeps. Just walk through the gate, and down a steep driveway. At the end is a yellow building sitting right on Gibney beach. By far one of the most beautiful spots on the island, and most likely, it will only have a few people around if any at all.

There are two books that are an absolute must for St John:

Feet, Fins, & Four Wheel Drive

The St John Beach Guide (mentioned above)

We used these everyday to find different beaches....Once you have these guides, you can find just about anything you are looking for on STJ.

Scottb: Thanks for that tip! I've never bothered to look for the "community" building entranceway. I always swim to Gibney from Hawksnest, but I'll have to check out that driveway nex time.

ScottB gave great directions.As for the parking at Gibney,like Scott said,there are only 2 spots but if they are taking,you can park on the side of the road across the street.

It is a great beach,not crowded.Alot of the locals go there because it is not that well known to tourists so it's not crowded.

If you snorkel,straight out in the water towards the right is a reef,we enjoyed snorkeling there.

Have a great time!
Christie