Beach Days with Kids

[LuCruise]

We are doing an Eastern Caribbean cruise with our kids who will be 10.5 and 6.5 years. Our older one is a good swimmer, but our younger one is just learning (she enjoys the water but can't swim on her own).

 

For those visiting beaches with kids, what do you do? Do you bring rafts, water wings, floats, etc? Do you rent things? Or do you just and swim / jump the waves, and build sand castles, etc?

 

We don't have a beach near us, but I'm sure our kids will have fun.

 

PS - Our 3 stops are Bahamas (which will be a beach), St Thomas (which will be attraction + beach), + St Maarten (which I'm thinking of a tour, which includes a beach stop)

[Marie51]

We are doing an Eastern Caribbean cruise with our kids who will be 10.5 and 6.5 years. Our older one is a good swimmer, but our younger one is just learning (she enjoys the water but can't swim on her own).

 

For those visiting beaches with kids, what do you do? Do you bring rafts, water wings, floats, etc? Do you rent things? Or do you just and swim / jump the waves, and build sand castles, etc?

 

We don't have a beach near us, but I'm sure our kids will have fun.

 

PS - Our 3 stops are Bahamas (which will be a beach), St Thomas (which will be attraction + beach), + St Maarten (which I'm thinking of a tour, which includes a beach stop)

 

I recently sailed on Oasis with the same ports of call. We love the beach and in St Thomas we took a taxi to Coki beach and had a great day there. The beach has beautiful clear calm water, food & drink service on the beach and loungers for rent for $5. Taxi is $10/pp from ship to beach one way.

[cb at sea]

If your child is more comfortable with water wings, by all means, bring them...they take up no space when deflated! I wouldn't do floats on a beach, unless you plan to be right there every single second....

 

Kids, (especially those that aren't used to beaches) love digging in the sand...a stick or shell or plastic cup makes fine tools!

 

LOTS of sunscreen is a MUST! Remember to apply the sunscreen BEFORE you leave the ship. It takes 30 mins. or more to form a "screen" against the UV rays! Reapply after toweling off....stuff might say "waterproof", but it's not "towel proof"!

[Warm Breezes]

My kids usually played in the shallow end and in the sand making castles and motes. One word of warning....Some beaches in St. Maarten may have people showing more of their body than your kids are used to ;). In the words of my daughter on the non-clothing optional side of Orient Beach "I didn't need to see that" as an older couple walked by her chair, both topless and in thongs :eek:.

[HawksFan74]

If your 6 year old weighs 50 lbs. or less, I highly recommend the Puddle Jumper. My 3.5 year old started using one a few months ago, and she is actually able to "swim" while wearing it. It is even Coast Guard approved as a life jacket. The only downside is that it only comes in one size and is rated for 30-50 lbs.

 

[Sooner-Cruisers]

Another vote for the puddle jumper, it's fantastic! A little bulky to pack but nice for the pool and the beach.

[#1TravelMom]

When our DD was learning to swim, she would wear floating. She would also use a blow-up noodle and hang over top of it. She could wear goggles and dip her face forward to look at the fish under water but feel safe.

[LuCruise]

Yeah...I've heard about Orient beach...it's on the tour that is highly recommended, and that's the one thing that's making me think twice about that tour.

 

And yeah, for St Thomas, am thinking of Coki beach with Coral world.

 

Guess though if we bring things to the beach, it needs to be easy to carry and pack.

 

Thanks for the tip about the sunscreen. We're all pretty fair.

[Marie51]

Yeah...I've heard about Orient beach...it's on the tour that is highly recommended, and that's the one thing that's making me think twice about that tour.

 

And yeah, for St Thomas, am thinking of Coki beach with Coral world.

 

Guess though if we bring things to the beach, it needs to be easy to carry and pack.

 

Thanks for the tip about the sunscreen. We're all pretty fair.

 

Coki has umbrelles for rent if you need one to stay out of the sun.

[epcopres]

The beaches I visited in St. Maarten (Orient Beach and Maho Beach)were nice but the water was rough. At the time it didnt seem very friendly to someone who could not swim so beware of swimming conditions. Maho Beach wasnt quite as rough but the water seemed to get deep quickly.

 

In St Thomas we did Meagans Bay beach. This was wonderful and very calm. Its in like a "cove or culdesac" area where the waves and rip currents are not there. There was plenty of room, there was bathrooms and food/drink for purchase. This was our favorite

 

Enjoy your cruise

[Bellyflopchamp]

We live like 20 minutes from the RI beaches. actually just went the other day with my 18 month old daughter. When going into the water either my wife or I will take her in with us. We currently don't use swimmies and we just hold her the entire time. The water up here is a lot rougher than I have seen in the Caribbean when we have gone. It seems like a lot of the beaches are pretty protected there and is more like swimming in a lake. Of course there are some beaches that might have bigger surf than others. You could probably easily get away with using swimmies or the puddle jumper thing on the younger one but either way I would suggest that you only let them in the water if you are with them.

[CanadianDee]

I'm going to throw this out there because it's the most successful gift we've ever given a child and it's beach friendly.

 

Have you heard of finfun? Mermaid tails. We got one for our granddaughter for her birthday in June and she loves it. We pair it with a life jacket. And we stay within arm's reach. She's only five, but can swim fairly well and even better with her mermaid tail.

 

If they made them for festively plump grandmothers, I'd get one for myself.

 

Edited to Add: The puddlejumper. Yes, we've used that with her mermaid tail, too. Works very well.

Edited August 10, 2015 by CanadianDee

[LuCruise]

The beaches I visited in St. Maarten (Orient Beach and Maho Beach)were nice but the water was rough. At the time it didnt seem very friendly to someone who could not swim so beware of swimming conditions. Maho Beach wasnt quite as rough but the water seemed to get deep quickly.

 

In St Thomas we did Meagans Bay beach. This was wonderful and very calm. Its in like a "cove or culdesac" area where the waves and rip currents are not there. There was plenty of room, there was bathrooms and food/drink for purchase. This was our favorite

 

Enjoy your cruise

 

Thank you for the warnings. I had forgotten I had read that about Orient.

We probably wouldn't swim at Maho...more to see the airplanes.

[LuCruise]

We live like 20 minutes from the RI beaches. actually just went the other day with my 18 month old daughter. When going into the water either my wife or I will take her in with us. We currently don't use swimmies and we just hold her the entire time. The water up here is a lot rougher than I have seen in the Caribbean when we have gone. It seems like a lot of the beaches are pretty protected there and is more like swimming in a lake. Of course there are some beaches that might have bigger surf than others. You could probably easily get away with using swimmies or the puddle jumper thing on the younger one but either way I would suggest that you only let them in the water if you are with them.

 

For sure...would never let them go in themselves...even true for the 10 year old as he's only used to swimming in a pool where there is no current/waves.