St. Thomas family tips?

[BeagleOne]

Hi,

 

My brother, SIL, niece (almost 10), and nephew (8) are on a Disney cruise leaving in a week, stopping in St. Thomas. I've already told them they probably would be better off staying on St. Thomas rather than taking the ferry to St. John since the ship departs about 4 p.m. and they won't have a lot of extra time.

 

They are interested in doing some snorkelling. Any recommendations on the best beach for kids of that age, taxi services to get there, etc.? Any places to avoid? Anything you would absolutely recommend/not recommend for kids on St. Thomas?

 

Thanks for any help!

[138east]

Folks with kids seem to enjoy Coki beach. All they have to do is get off the ship and take a safari cab there. Coral World is next door if that is of interest. Swimming with the sea lions seems popular. Magen's Bay is beautiful, but no snorkeling. Sapphire Beach and Secret Harbor also have snorkeling, but you have to swim out to it. At Coki you can see fish pretty close to the shore.

[ColleenThomas]

You can snorkel right from the shore at this beach, we did this with our then 11 and 8 yr old sons, on a Disney cruise a few years back. This is an awesome beach, as it has shade from the banyan trees, and there are plenty of huge iguanas that visit also.

 

This beach is not as crowded as Coki, and it had amazing snorkeling...we even saw an octopus!

[laser110]

I would recommend going to Secret Harbor. Sapphire is not as nice as it used to be. The beach is fine, but the hotel has really gone down hill the past couple of years. They do have people walking on the beach taking orders for food and drink. My parents were there in Nov and they are definately not strangers to St. Thomas. They were almost sure the waitress tried to rip them off there, which really surprised them.

 

Personally, I find Secret Harbor to be the best beach of them all if you want to do a little snorkling. The reefs are to the left and right of the beach with easy access. There are restroom facilities available, a place to rent chairs, and even a retaurant if you feel like your missing food from not being on the ship for so long from the ship .

 

I am not a fan of Coki and only go ever, if there are no ships in that day. Yeah, Coral World is right next door, but a good day of snorkling at a quieter beach will surely make up for that.

 

Scott