Renting a Dinghy on St. John

[jimbug]

Can anyone recommend a good dinghy rental company on St. John? We'd be taking the ferry from Red Hook on St. Thomas into Cruz Bay, and would like something within walking distance. Also, there will 3 of us (adults)...will the "standard" size dinghy work, or will we have to have a larger one?

 

Thank you!

[The Islander]

Hello,

 

Noah's Little Ark is in Cruz Bay, walking distance from ferry.

 

--Islander

*****

[Sheffie]

If you check out http://www.kroooz-cams.com and then go to portcams, there is a new cam at Cruz Bay. You can see some dinghys that are for rent right there at the ferry pier.

[2Feathers]

Sheffie... I'm not sure, but I think the white/gray dinghies you can see on the little side pier in the webcam are private ones that belong to the yacht owners coming into Cruz Bay. All of Noah's rental dinghies are bright yellow and a little further (maybe 50 yards) down the beach (left as you're looking from the webcam's view, but out of the camera's view).

[Sheffie]

Sheffie... I'm not sure, but I think the white/gray dinghies you can see on the little side pier in the webcam are private ones that belong to the yacht owners coming into Cruz Bay. All of Noah's rental dinghies are bright yellow and a little further (maybe 50 yards) down the beach (left as you're looking from the webcam's view, but out of the camera's view).

 

Thanks for the info!

[fireboss]

can you rent dinghies on St. Thomas

[Sheal]

We rented from Noah's this past February. Noah's is just to the right just as 2Feathers stated. The 12 Ft can fit 4 adults, the 14 Ft fits 6 adults. You can rent 4 hours or 8 hours. Here is a link to the site. www.bookitvi.com/nla.htm

 

Before you take off in the boat you will watch a video for 10 minutes or so. You will also receive instruction on running it along with a map. Keep in mind when the ferry times. We made it back on the ship with 4 minutes to spare.

[Sheffie]

We rented from Noah's this past February. Noah's is just to the right just as 2Feathers stated. The 12 Ft can fit 4 adults, the 14 Ft fits 6 adults. You can rent 4 hours or 8 hours. Here is a link to the site. www.bookitvi.com/nla.htm

 

Before you take off in the boat you will watch a video for 10 minutes or so. You will also receive instruction on running it along with a map. Keep in mind when the ferry times. We made it back on the ship with 4 minutes to spare.

 

Sheal, do you remember the prices? This sounds like it could be a great thing to do!

[Sheal]

Michelle,

We rented for 5 hours and purchased insurance of some sort and the total was $135.00. We waited until that morning to decide based on the weather. I wasn't too concerned about not getting a boat. He had plenty there. We split the bill with my Sis and BIL so the price wasn't outrageous. Snorkeling was great out at Waterlemon Cay and then we headed to Cinnamon Beach and got lunch. Lunch was about $10 for a burger and fries (kinda dry but edible), I heard there is a deli shop right at Cruz Bay that could put together a picnic type of lunch. We had a great time.

[Jeanne B]

can you rent dinghies on St. Thomas

 

In all my research I did this summer for our land vacation I never read anything about dinghy rentals on St Thomas so I'm quite certain the answer is no.

[Sheffie]

Michelle,

We rented for 5 hours and purchased insurance of some sort and the total was $135.00. We waited until that morning to decide based on the weather. I wasn't too concerned about not getting a boat. He had plenty there. We split the bill with my Sis and BIL so the price wasn't outrageous. Snorkeling was great out at Waterlemon Cay and then we headed to Cinnamon Beach and got lunch. Lunch was about $10 for a burger and fries (kinda dry but edible), I heard there is a deli shop right at Cruz Bay that could put together a picnic type of lunch. We had a great time.

 

Thanks for the info!

 

Another question - our friends have never snorkeled before, and we need a beach to walk into the water for snorkeling - can you walk in at Watermelon Cay?

[2Feathers]

Sheffie... Waterlemom Cay is a little island about 200 yards or so off the coast of Leinster Bay. You can hike there (about a half mile from the Annaberg Ruins parking lot), or take the dinghy, but either way there is some swimming to do to get to the cay. If you take the dinghy, you have to tie onto a mooring ball, jump in the water and swim. Probably the closest mooring balls would still leave you a 30 to 50 yard swim to the cay. There is a small sandy beach on one side of the cay that you can rest on. As Sheal said, the snorkeling there is excellent... possibly the best on St. John.

 

A couple of things to consider before renting a dinghy and heading to Waterlemon... If the seas are rough, you may have trouble getting there in a dinghy. There is a stretch around Mary Point (the land area that sticks out form Francis Bay) where you are in somewhat "open water" where you can really get tossed around. If the ferry ride over from St. Thomas to St. John is very rough and the winds are high, I wouldn't recommend a dinghy. We've rented dinghies twice: the first time was very calm and we had no trouble getting to Waterlemon, but we didn't make it the second time because it was just too rough.

 

The other issue is getting back into the dinghy... If you can't "beach" the dinghy (which you cannot on certain beaches - Noah will tell you which ones, but it includes Waterlemon), its not the easiest thing to get back into the thing from the water. The sides of the dinghy sit a few feet above the water line, and there are handles on top to grab. Then you basically have to try to get a little momentum going, swing a leg up, and yank your, er, backside over the side and into the dinghy. (Not the easiest task if your, shall we say, "center of gravity" is heavily weighted toward the rear, as mine is...) If one of your party manages to actually get back in, they can help the others, but just be warned its neither an easy nor particularly dignifying endeavor, so you need to be willing to swallow a little pride if you want to "do the dinghy" at Waterlemon. But it is SO worth it!

 

As I recall, you can "drive" the dinghy directly onto the beach at most other North Shore Beaches if you want to avoid the re-entry issues. If memory serves, we were able to beach at Salomon, Honeymoon, Hawksnest, Gibney, Trunk, Cinnamon, Maho, and Francis... probably others.

 

Renting a dinghy is a lot of fun! Have a great trip!

[Sheal]

Michelle,

 

2Feathers said it perfectly. If the weather was going to be rough I would consider renting a jeep and driving to Annaberg Ruins. It is about a half mile hike on mostly level ground. My cousin lived there last year so she drove us to the Ruins to look around and then we went snorkeling. We ended up short on time so we just entered the water and snorkeled right in Leinster Bay. It was too far to swim to Waterlemon from where we entered although some people continued walking to get a little closer.

 

Since your friends are beginners maybe you could stop at Maho. This is one of the beaches before you get to Waterlemon Cay that you can pull the dingy up on shore at. They could do a test run here and then maybe have them try to get the gear on when they can't touch bottom.

 

Swimming out to Waterlemon from the mooring will take about 10 minutes of swimming. Going back it seems like 20, so eat your wheaties and you should do fine. Let the guys get in first so they can pull you in. It is certainly something to laugh about.

 

Sheal

[mnnjcouple]

We just got back from doing this. Renting a dinghy at Noah's was one of the best excursions we had during our cruise. Thanks for all the helpful information!