Sapphire Beach or Coki Beach???

[seaisme]

which beach has the best snorkeling and is the nicest? we're taking the Sonny Liston tour and have the choice of the two beaches. Sonny was very responsive to our initial e-mail and from the board posts, gives a very good tour.

[fla-red]

We were at Coki Beach last week and had a great time. You can rent the snorkel gear there and they give you dog milkbone biscuits which you feed the fish with. We rented a beach lounger and fins (we had our own snorkel). They would come by and get your drink or food orders. They vendors are all different so once you get one stick with them. When we were ready to go we took one of the cabs back to town. Had a great time.

[seaisme]

We were at Coki Beach last week and had a great time. You can rent the snorkel gear there and they give you dog milkbone biscuits which you feed the fish with. We rented a beach lounger and fins (we had our own snorkel). They would come by and get your drink or food orders. They vendors are all different so once you get one stick with them. When we were ready to go we took one of the cabs back to town. Had a great time.

was it crowded? and how was the snokeling? our nephews (16 & 17) will be with us and are hoping they have a good snorkeling experience.

[CaribbeanBound]

Saphire is by far the larger and prettier beach, and the snorkeling is good.

 

Despite what everyone at the pier will tell you (and there will lie to you), you can get local transportation for $2 per person in an open-air taxi to Sapphire Beach. Simply walk out of the Havensight pier main gate, cross the street, turn left and walk until you get to the Bus Stop (there is a pullover area) across from K-Mart and cross the street so that you are standing on the K-Mart side of the street. It is a leisurely 10 to 15-minute level walk. When you see an open-air taxi drive up, flag him down, tell him where you wish to go and enjoy the trip. The drive takes about 20 to 30 minutes each way to Sapphire Beach depending upon traffic. Pay upon exiting the taxi. If you are going to Sapphire Beach, you will be dropped off at the entrance to the Sapphire Beach hotels which is at the top of a hill. A short 5-minute walk will get you on the beach. Sapphire Beach is a gorgeous white sand beach with lots of shade trees and awesome views of several nearby islands including St. John. The snorkeling is good. We saw several schools of fish (previously unknown to us), an eel, and a small stingray. Unpadded beach lounge chairs are $5 each if you want to rent one, or free if you just occupy one of the many chairs abandoned by their previous inhabitants. A dive shop, bar and grill, and restrooms are available. Some water sports are also available. Pick up the taxi again where it dropped you off.

 

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[nancycara]

How crowded are both of these beaches on a Sunday???

[canadiancruisers11]

I agree with Connie, we loved Coki, the dog bones are an added treat you get swarmed by fish...Really nice to swim in, no current and you can go out pretty far where it's deep to see even more...Sapphire is beautiful too, great for windsurfing (very breezy) if you're into that but more just a nice beach to lay on...Go with Coki, you'll love it

 

Craig:D

[richtersl]

How crowded are both of these beaches on a Sunday???

 

If you go to cruisecal.com you can find out how many ships will be visiting St. Thomas on a Sunday. This will tell you whether or not these beaches will be crowded.

 

Ships offer excursions to Coki so Coki will be more crowded during the busy season. If you're going in the summer months, when you may only have 1 or 2 ships in port, Coki won't be bad at all.

[ljtinney]

which beach has the best snorkeling and is the nicest? we're taking the Sonny Liston tour and have the choice of the two beaches. Sonny was very responsive to our initial e-mail and from the board posts, gives a very good tour.

 

I was on the Sonny Liston tour last month with some friends. Wow....we had a fantastic time!!!!!! He was wonderful. We ended up going to Coki beach which was a bit crowded...but beautiful. He did also offer to take us to Maegans Bay (you would have to pay extra to get in). If I was to do it again, I would go there instead.

[GloriaF]

When you go to the buffet for breakfast, grab a box of cereal, any kind will work, but we like to use All Bran because it doesn't dissolve as quickly. We take a small ziploc bag with us and put the cereal in it. Then open it slightly and let a little cereal out at a time ~ you will be swarmed by fish nibbling at your fingers! It is a lot of fun and the fish nibbles don't hurt. Try it :)

 

BTW, we've been to Sapphire and it is really nice & good snorkeling. I've heard from friends that Coki is good snorkeling, too. I think Coki is near Coral World, for whatever that would mean to anyone.

[cruisinzoe]

Which beach is better for snorkeling with kids, ages 9 and 12? Do you have to swim far out to get good snorkeling at either beach?

[macaroni]

At Coki you don't even have to put your head under to see all the fish.

[CaribbeanBound]

I vote for Saphire as the better beach with good snorkeling.

[rodbrod]

we booked a tour with sunny liston. there was 14 people in the van. sunny took us to coki first and we all voted to go to sapphire. there was 5 ships in port and coki was very crowded. Sapphire was perfect. not crowded at all, beautiful beach and snorkeling was good. For a family to see a beach and do some not serious snorkeling, sapphire was a good pick

[monicajay]

rodbrod,

Did you have a choice of beach? or was it majority rule? We really want to go to Saphire with Sunny and would hate to end up somewhere else because a group of strangers voted.

Hope you or someone else can clear this up for me.

Thks.

[snowgoose420]

Coki is a fine place to snorkel since the reef isn't far from the beach, the water is calm, and the fish are plentiful. It is unnecessary to bring anything in the water to feed the fish. I found it rather disgusting navigating through the floating dog biscuits and cereal.

[rodbrod]

we had three families on the van We could go to either beach, but we all went to sapphire because coki was way too crowded. He even took two people back to the ship because they did not want any beach time. He came back and picked us up exactly when he said he would. We all voted on a pick up time and had more than enough beach time. also had no problem leaving stuff with him on the van

[monicajay]

Thanks for your answer Rodbrod,

 

I really want to go to sapphire so I am glad we will have the choice on Sunny's tour.

[the-rickster]

We were at coki last week. It cost $10 pp each way from ship dock.

Yes the snorkling was pretty nice and I did a 1 tank dive for $50

2 chairs and a big umbella $20. I liked the beach area but I will tell you that the bathroom / changing area was very dirty. The water was off for awhile also. My wife went over to coral world to use the bathroom for $1.

Other than the dirty restrooms we liked it. One thing to remember the traffic seems to get bad in the afternoon hrs.

 

Rick

[rodbrod]

we were glad we went to sapphire, beautiful beach and easy snorkeling. no restaurant, but there was a convenience store and a changing area. even though it is a public beach, when we went, it was not crowded at all. there were waves but they only seemed about a foot or so. could walk out into water and then began snorkeling hope you enjoy as much as we did.