Navigating St John

[mrobinson]

My husband and I have been to St Thomas on many cruise stops and this time in Nov we are planning on going to St. John for a change.

 

We are going to go on our own- taxi to ferry and then a cab at St. John.

 

This is where I'm stuck -where do we go once we get to St. John?

 

What beach? We like snorkeling and pretty beaches so where do we ask them to take us?

 

Also is there a problem getting a return cab to the ferry?

 

Is there anything else we should do on St. John.

 

Thanks

 

Mary

[AlanAllyn]

Trunk Bay is lovely. It has a snorkel trail. I was on a tour; don't know about return trip by taxi.

[flashdog_1]

Trunk Bay is lovely. It has a snorkel trail. I was on a tour; don't know about return trip by taxi.

 

You'd probably have to arrange with the taxi driver who drops you there, to come back at a certain time, or get his cell phone #, assuming you can get service at Trunk Bay. Trunk Bay is the beach you always see on the ads for the Virgin Islands, with an island in the small harbor (not a big island in a big harbor like Christiansted, St Croix which you never see a photo of. (That island is called the hotel on the key). The island at Trunk Bay is the one around which the snorkel trail goes. It is the only underwater trail in the US National Parks system!

 

Another possibility is Hawk's Nest, which is a national park, also. This is the area where if you were staying a week you could get a "tent" cabin. It is a huge, huge beach, and just as pristine as others. There was a snack bar when I was there, don't laugh, when I lived on St Thomas 45 years ago!!

 

Cinnamon Bay is next to Hawk's Nest. Except for the cruise ship crowd, it would be virtually empty. Totally on the other side of the island overlooking Tortola is Cruz Bay. Water is rougher.

 

A call to the tourism office might be an option for more up to date information than my 45 year old info!

 

One of the most beautiful places on St John is Caneel Bay, but that is part of the Rockefeller Plantation, and I don't know if anyone but guests of the hotel may use the beach. Again, worth inquiring about. There are ruins of an old sugar mill on the premises, too, and flamboyant trees everywhere.

 

Be sure to check what times the ferry service back to St Thomas depart. Remember that Herman Wouck wrote Don't Stop the Carnival about life in the US Virgin Islands. He said there are two speeds on the island, slow and stop (speed limit in Charlotte Amalie is 20 mph). And although this IS the United States, it is also still the Virgin Islands, and you may have learned from prior trips, that Wouck was correct, and you don't want to get left behind because the captain of the ferry decided he had to leave early so he could relax at home. LOL.

[augie]

As you head east from Cruz Bay (that's where the ferry unloads) along North Shore Road the first beaches you'll encounter will be the ones on the Caneel property. If you're not a guest there you can still walk onto Honeymoon and Saloman Beaches on their property, but the other five beaches are exclusively for the use of their guests. No facilities at Honeymoon or Saloman.

 

The closest beach that is on National Park land is Hawksnest. There are some shaded pavilions there, and bathrooms, but no snack bar. The reef is very close to shore and you can do some easy snorkeling there, but a lot of the coral, particularly close to shore is dead, so it's not as visually pleasing as places where more the reef is still alive. As you sit on the beach there, if you look past the right end of the beach you will see a beautiful sandy beach with gorgeous palm trees. This is Gibney beach, also called Oppenheimer due to it once being owned by the famous "father" of the atomic bomb. You can swim to Gibney rather easily if the seas aren't rough, but don't go all the way down to the end of the beach where the house is, as above the high tide line there it's private property.

 

There are a couple of other beaches, that you'll pass (Dennis, Jumbie) before you get to Trunk Bay, which, as mentioned above, is the one you see most often on postcards and travel magazine covers. There is a fee to use the beach, but it also has chaairs for rent, lockers, a snack bar, restrooms, showers, and lifeguards. it is also without a doubt the place with the highest concentration of taxis on the island on cruise ship days. The most people on the beach as well.

 

The next big beach is at Cinnamon Bay. No fee, but they also have showers, bathrooms, and a general store/snack bar that services the small camprgound there as well as day visitors. They have a wide assortment of water sports equipment for rent. There will be a lot of taxis here as well (this is the last beach along this route that you can almost be certain that you can catch a cab back to town without having made prior arrangements to do so).

 

Continuing east, the next big beach is at Maho Bay. For years it was almost strictly a locals beach, even though its wide, sandy bottom, and white palm tree flecked beach are absolutely gorgeous! They have just recently constucted a bathroom building as well as what may be a concession stand, even though it was locked up the last couple of weeks. Maho features a rocky shoreline on either side of the bay. The one on the right goes around the point to Little Maho Bay and the Maho campground. This beach is a little trickier to get to by land, and as such is probably rarely visited by cruise ship passengers.

 

If you continue on North Shore Road beyond Maho Bay you can either take the road up to Centerline Road, which runs down the "spine of the island) or continue eastward where you can either go towards Little Maho/Maho campground/Francis Bay, or towards the Annaberg sugar mill ruins and Leinster Bay/Waterlemon Cay. Some great snorkeling in either direction, but no facilities, and there may be some walking involved to get to the water.

 

If you opted to go to centerline Road you're probably not planning to do any snorkeling on a cruise schedule, but there are some parts of the island that should be seen if you get the chance, even if it's "just" the view of Coral Bay from Chateau Bordeaux!

 

Hope this helps. If it only leads to more questions, don't be shy - go ahead and ask!

[norloel]

On an upcoming cruise we stop in St. Thomas, and would like to ferry over to St. Johns and taxi to Francis Bay, but are concerned about easily getting a taxi out in time to get back to the ship before she sails. Can you offer advice on this?

 

Norloel

[augie]

On an upcoming cruise we stop in St. Thomas, and would like to ferry over to St. Johns and taxi to Francis Bay, but are concerned about easily getting a taxi out in time to get back to the ship before she sails. Can you offer advice on this?

 

Host Anne's rule of thumb (which is a good one, I might add) is to plan to catch the ferry leaving Cruz Bay on St. John three hours before your ship is scheduled to leave. Working backwards from there, allow yourself 30 minutes to get from Francis Bay to the ferry terminal (it won't take that long, but that will give you a little time in case Murphy's Law tries to intervene).

 

When you first get off of the ferry on St. John find a taxi driver that will take you to Francis and will promise to come back and pick you up at a specified time. You might have better luck doing this by taking a few minutes to shop/wander near the pier - there is a "feeding frenzy" when passengers first get off, and they try to fill up the taxis with folks going to the more popular destinations, and may be less inclined to listen to what you're looking for.

 

Have fun!

[kcparrothead]

As you head east from Cruz Bay (that's where the ferry unloads) along North Shore Road the first beaches you'll encounter will be the ones on the Caneel property. If you're not a guest there you can still walk onto Honeymoon and Saloman Beaches on their property, but the other five beaches are exclusively for the use of their guests. No facilities at Honeymoon or Saloman.

 

The closest beach that is on National Park land is Hawksnest. There are some shaded pavilions there, and bathrooms, but no snack bar. The reef is very close to shore and you can do some easy snorkeling there, but a lot of the coral, particularly close to shore is dead, so it's not as visually pleasing as places where more the reef is still alive. As you sit on the beach there, if you look past the right end of the beach you will see a beautiful sandy beach with gorgeous palm trees. This is Gibney beach, also called Oppenheimer due to it once being owned by the famous "father" of the atomic bomb. You can swim to Gibney rather easily if the seas aren't rough, but don't go all the way down to the end of the beach where the house is, as above the high tide line there it's private property.

 

There are a couple of other beaches, that you'll pass (Dennis, Jumbie) before you get to Trunk Bay, which, as mentioned above, is the one you see most often on postcards and travel magazine covers. There is a fee to use the beach, but it also has chaairs for rent, lockers, a snack bar, restrooms, showers, and lifeguards. it is also without a doubt the place with the highest concentration of taxis on the island on cruise ship days. The most people on the beach as well.

 

The next big beach is at Cinnamon Bay. No fee, but they also have showers, bathrooms, and a general store/snack bar that services the small camprgound there as well as day visitors. They have a wide assortment of water sports equipment for rent. There will be a lot of taxis here as well (this is the last beach along this route that you can almost be certain that you can catch a cab back to town without having made prior arrangements to do so).

 

Continuing east, the next big beach is at Maho Bay. For years it was almost strictly a locals beach, even though its wide, sandy bottom, and white palm tree flecked beach are absolutely gorgeous! They have just recently constucted a bathroom building as well as what may be a concession stand, even though it was locked up the last couple of weeks. Maho features a rocky shoreline on either side of the bay. The one on the right goes around the point to Little Maho Bay and the Maho campground. This beach is a little trickier to get to by land, and as such is probably rarely visited by cruise ship passengers.

 

If you continue on North Shore Road beyond Maho Bay you can either take the road up to Centerline Road, which runs down the "spine of the island) or continue eastward where you can either go towards Little Maho/Maho campground/Francis Bay, or towards the Annaberg sugar mill ruins and Leinster Bay/Waterlemon Cay. Some great snorkeling in either direction, but no facilities, and there may be some walking involved to get to the water.

 

If you opted to go to centerline Road you're probably not planning to do any snorkeling on a cruise schedule, but there are some parts of the island that should be seen if you get the chance, even if it's "just" the view of Coral Bay from Chateau Bordeaux!

 

Hope this helps. If it only leads to more questions, don't be shy - go ahead and ask!

 

Thank you so much for this info! We're hoping to hire a taxi when we arrive at Cruz Bay for the $25. per person tour I've read about. We've "been there, done that" with Trunk Bay.

 

My question is - after we take in the view of Coral Bay, is it better to return back to Cruz Bay via Centerline Road or does the southern coastline have better views?

[augie]

Thank you so much for this info! We're hoping to hire a taxi when we arrive at Cruz Bay for the $25. per person tour I've read about. We've "been there, done that" with Trunk Bay.

 

My question is - after we take in the view of Coral Bay, is it better to return back to Cruz Bay via Centerline Road or does the southern coastline have better views?

 

There's no way to complete the circumnavigation of the island along the south shore. Your choices for returning to Cruz Bay are either Centerline Rd. or back along the north shore. Centerline is the more direct route, but it's not scenic the way that North Shore Rd. is.

 

If it were me, on the way back from Coral Bay I'd turn right off of Centerline Rd. at the Smoothie Stand (might not be a bad place to stop for that matter!) and take North Shore Rd. back to "town".

[norloel]

Host Anne's rule of thumb (which is a good one, I might add) is to plan to catch the ferry leaving Cruz Bay on St. John three hours before your ship is scheduled to leave. Working backwards from there, allow yourself 30 minutes to get from Francis Bay to the ferry terminal (it won't take that long, but that will give you a little time in case Murphy's Law tries to intervene).

 

When you first get off of the ferry on St. John find a taxi driver that will take you to Francis and will promise to come back and pick you up at a specified time. You might have better luck doing this by taking a few minutes to shop/wander near the pier - there is a "feeding frenzy" when passengers first get off, and they try to fill up the taxis with folks going to the more popular destinations, and may be less inclined to listen to what you're looking for.

 

Have fun!

 

Thanks for the info, sounds like logical, good advice.

[kcparrothead]

There's no way to complete the circumnavigation of the island along the south shore. Your choices for returning to Cruz Bay are either Centerline Rd. or back along the north shore. Centerline is the more direct route, but it's not scenic the way that North Shore Rd. is.

 

If it were me, on the way back from Coral Bay I'd turn right off of Centerline Rd. at the Smoothie Stand (might not be a bad place to stop for that matter!) and take North Shore Rd. back to "town".

 

Thank you!