Which beach is best for family Coki, Saphire or Magen's bay???

[cruizing with teens]

I'm pretty confused. We will be there with our two teen daughters and want to do a little snorking if it is good, and then head to a nice beach with restaurant, facilities, etc.

What does anyone suggest???

Also at Coki can you rent snorkels, etc. We have them but want to keep our luggage to a minimum.

Any help appreciated!!

[DeltaDL]

Magen's Bay is really nice and you can rent snorkel gear there. If you want the best snorkel area, it would be at Sapphire in my opinion. Sapphire has a beautiful, but shallow, coral reef and we saw many interesting creatures...even an octopus! :D Sapphire also rents equipment there also. I believe your teens would enjoy themselves at either location if they like the water. There isn't anything other than the beach at these locations and it's not the best place to just let them wander off on their own.

[richtersl]

It sounds like Sapphire would best suit your needs. The snorkeling is very good and there is a restaurant on the premesis. It's also a resort and it's nice to walk around the beach area.

 

The snorkeling at Coki is also very good but they have no sit-down restaurant there -- it's just a snack bar. You can walk around the immediate beach area at Coki but I'm not sure about wandering too far from there. A local resident could tell you more.

 

The snorkeling at Magen's is not very good at all although the beach itself is very nice. They have restaurant on the premesis but it's jam-packed with people. Magen's is very good for walking around

[bnaj]

What about Coral World?? We are taking our kids there to enjoy the attraction and you get access to the beach, snorkelling, water sports, parasailing etc. If you do the excursion on the ship it can be quite expensive but if you go there on your own it is much cheaper and you can spend the day there.

 

Nancy

[cpham2]

How much does it cost (for taxi) from the pier to Coki Beach? Thanks

[cpizzull]

How much does it cost (for taxi) from the pier to Coki Beach? Thanks

 

Based on my research, and the thread below, it will cost about $9/person/each way.

 

I'm thinking of taking the Dollar Rides ($2) to Coki and walk, and then grabbing a taxi on the way back, assuming catching a Dollar Ride for the way back will be too cumbersome.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=285852

[caviargal]

I personally was extremely disappointed in Magens Bay this last trip and haev never cared for Coki. The sand there is rocky as are the shallows. It is also very small.

[CaribbeanBound]

I second teh opinion on Coki. There are better beaches.

 

We privately arranged for an island tour with Godfrey's Tour . He picked us up at the ship at 10:00 am and dropped us off downtown. At noon he picked us up for a 2-hour island tour and dropped us off at Coki beach (no beach charge) from 2pm to 4pm. We would have preferred Meagan's Bay ($3 per person), but the majority of our tour mates brought their snorkel gear and were set on Coki Beach with the clearer water and potentially more abundant fish. The downside of Coki is that it is a small, crowded, relatively unattractive stretch of sand maybe 25% as long as the considerably less crowded, more picturesque, Meagan's Bay.

http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/easterncaribbean.html

 

We'll be looking to spend the day at Saphire or Meagan's Bay this year.

[nimbex1970]

As I've said many times here, we personally love coki. it's smaller, but we love the basic snorkling and great prices. here is a link to our last triumph cruise that has coki pics, the underwater pics are from here and te overlook at magens bay... no saphire this cruise. the pics are a bit big, sorry but photobucket was new to me.

 

http://photobucket.com/albums/c207/nimbex1970/?start=60

 

hope this helps give you a view. in OCT. it was less crowded on our destiny cruise and the weather was much better than thanksgiving. Haven't loaded the better pics yet.

 

carol