Overwhelmed - how to pick a beach in St. Thomas?

[AmativeDame]

I have been trying to decide on a beach option for St. Thomas (1 st wk of july/July 4th wk, I don't know if this will affect traffic?) and I have been trying to gather more info on the various beaches.

 

The more I learn the more overwhelmed I am getting, it seems that every time I search our forums on here I find conflicting information so maybe some of you who have recent experiences would help me out?

 

Ideally I would like a relatively quiet beach and something with calm waters. Is there something that would fit this description? I looked at limetree & megan, and lindquist because these seemed like they might fit but then I also see complaints about them being crowded or not worth visiting.

 

I am starting to think that it may be hard to find calm waters without a lot of tourists? I figure since we are likely to only spend a couple hrs there (we arrive @ noon) I am not really worried about bars or facilities.

 

Is my ideal beach out there or should I just resign to a busy beach?

[Daisyloo]

We have been in St Thomas when there were 6 ships in port, one of them was Oasis (or Allure). We were worried about the same thing as you, and about the possibility of not being able to get a cab. So, we booked a ship excursion to Megans Bay. Basically they stopped at a lookout, then took us to the beach for a few hours. It was great. If you walk down the beach, to the left as you face the water, it will be much less crowded than if you stay close to the bar area. Even the bar end of the beach wasn't crowded. It is a long beach with lots of space to spread out.

The sand is soft and white, water shallow and clear and calm. We really enjoy it there. They also have washrooms and change rooms.

I would recommend it for a nice beach day.

[runner15km]

Emerald Beach :)

[blue_water]

For a beach with calm water you have 3 options and each are different.

Magens is where the biggest crowd will be, larger bay with amenities but just lacking character compared to Sapphire and other beaches in our opinion. But dead calm water.

Secret Harbor and Sapphire are East End beaches and very nice. SH is very calm because it's a protected bay, while Sapphire may be very calm or a bit waiver depending on sea conditions that day. There is no shade at SH for cruisers while Sapphire has a lot of natural shade. We would choose Sapphire, but for only 2 hrs you could do Lindbergh Bay (aka Emerald Beach) that's closer to Crown Bay. Not as nicer as the other beaches but a little closer.