# St. Thomas and day trips/hikes/tours to outer islands



## sammy (Apr 16, 2015)

We are heading to St Thomas next month staying at the Marriott Frenchman’s Reef.  We are considering a hike/kayak on St Thomas and day trips to Virgin Gorda for the “Baths” hike, St. John for hiking and a beach stop, and either Water or Hassel Island.

I am a bit unclear on a few items – 
-	Should I book my kayak/hike tour now or just wait to sit thru the Marriott welcome (I guess them have them every Monday am) and book through them?  I was considering the Hassel Island kayak/hike through ecotours. 
-	Regarding St. John, would we be better off booking a tour to take us thru the park or just winging it on our own?  I read we could book through the nps.gov site or through other tour companies.  If  we do it on our own, I read the “Caneel Hill Trail” is about 3 hours long and although very steep it is very interesting (we are average fit 50 year olds) – has anyone done this or other hikes to advise their value and difficulty?
-	Regarding Virgin Gorda, I thought we should take in the British side while there and chose what appears to be quite a little gem.  Would Tortola or a different British island be preferred for any reason?  I saw St Thomas does direct ferries to VG a couple times a week so thought that would work well. 
-             Water Island - is this preferred to visiting Magens Bay for a nice, relaxing day on the beach?  
-             And finally, where on St. Thomas would you suggest for the best snorkeling?    

Any other advise would be greatly appreciated!


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## ailin (Apr 16, 2015)

sammy said:


> -	Regarding Virgin Gorda, I thought we should take in the British side while there and chose what appears to be quite a little gem.  Would Tortola or a different British island be preferred for any reason?  I saw St Thomas does direct ferries to VG a couple times a week so thought that would work well.



I've heard BVI ferries sometimes get cancelled, so I don't think a day trip to Virgin Gorda by ferry would be a good idea.  There's only one return time and it doesn't run everyday, so you could get stuck there.  We did a day sail with Stormy Petrel & Pirate Penny that went to The Baths, Jost van Dyke, and lunch at Cooper Island (lunch not included in the tour price).  It was a great day.  Cost back in 2011 was $135/person plus $30 customs fee (paid to BVI government).

www.piratespenny.com

Have a great trip!


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## TUGBrian (Apr 16, 2015)

was reading another thread about the night kayak tour with clear bottom kayaks and lights under them.

definitely on my todo list when I visit later this year!


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## LisaRex (Apr 16, 2015)

Check out Viator to see if you can find a deal on any of the day trips.  They were running a 10% off special if you booked via their app awhile ago, but not sure if they still are.  I booked the Honeymoon Beach package on St. John via Viator and saved quite a bit of money vs retail.  I'm positive that Ecotours had some hike and kayak tours available on Viator as well. 

(If you don't know, Viator is a tour consolidator, so they don't divulge the name of the company you're booking with up front.  However, you can usually figure it out by entering key or unusual information found in the descriptions and/or customer reviews into Google or TripAdvisor.  For instance, I figured out what island tour company I was booking on St. Maarten by searching the guide's name mentioned in the reviews.  I figured out what ATV tour I was booking in Phoenix by doing a Google search of the distinct type of vehicle they used.  It's a little bit of work but it'll save you a little or a lot of money.)

I haven't done hikes with other companies, but I will recommend the ruins hike by the National Park Service.  It should be booked in advance.  Rain or shine doesn't really matter because you're underneath the tree canopy for most of the hike. It's downhill most of the way and then a boat takes you back to the NPS. 

I love, love, loved The Baths. We did the all-day excursion with Bad Kitty, which I'd recommend simply because they have it down to a science.  The downside is that it was rushed, and the boat was at max capacity. There are other operators who do this trip, including a sister boat of the Bad Kitty, which I'd use if I did it again.  Or consider booking a private charter.  FYI, it's a long way to Virgin Gorda, so target a larger boat with a lot of HP or you'll take too much time getting there. 

The author of Feet, Fins, and Four Wheels, Pam Gaffin offers private tours of St. John.  It's on my bucket list, though her tours are a bit pricey.  

If you love to fish, consider Swashbucklin' Tours out of St. Thomas. Captain Rick's boat "The Sea Weasel" is nothing to write about (it's literally a wooden boat with no bimini cover), but I guarantee that you'll be hauling in fish to eat for the rest of the week.  He also does private tours and hikes.  Nice fellow. 

Hope this helps.


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## Blue Skies (Apr 16, 2015)

We did the tour with Bad Kitty in February. It was really well done. We arrived at the boat dock at 7:30 am to get checked in, the tour left at 8:00. They provided juice, fruit and banana bread for breakfast onboard. The first stop we made was to clear customs in Virgin Gorda, then on to The Baths. Warning:  you have to swim 75-100 yards from the boat to shore to tour The Baths. We weren't aware of that in advance. We're not good swimmers, so glad we had our life preservers along. They provide some inflatable preservers but they wouldn't have been enough help for us. No flippers are used here either. The Baths is really interesting, but it was very crowded with a tour from a cruise ship. Then the swim back to the boat, it was a challenge.

Next we went to Cooper Island for lunch. There is only one Eco-resort on the island and all the residents work there. Lunch was very good. 

The next stop was The Indians at Norman Island for snorkeling. We had a perfect day for snorkeling here, very calm seas. The coral was very healthy and saw lots of fish. 

After snorkeling, there was an open bar onboard and we headed to Jost Van Dyke and the Soggy Dollar Bar. The Soggy Dollar was so crowded , so we went to another beach bar. Did a little shopping, then back to the boat. 

Back to St. John and US customs, which was very quick. It was 5:00 pm when the day ended. 

The cost was $155 per person, plus $45 per person (cash) for British customs fees, plus lunch, plus tips for the captain and crew. An expensive day, but well worth it. 

We have never approached such gorgeous beaches from the water before. The view was unbelievably beautiful with the stunning white sandy beaches and turquoise water. So glad we did it.


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## Weimaraner (Apr 16, 2015)

LisaRex said:


> The author of Feet, Fins, and Four Wheels, Pam Gaffin offers private tours of St. John.  It's on my bucket list, though her tours are a bit pricey.



We did the tour with Pam Gaffin and it was worth it. I figured since we only had one day to visit St. John that we should go to an expert. Lots of interesting stories about St. John's history and people.


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## Fairwinds (Apr 19, 2015)

I seldom take a guided walking/hiking tour because you have to move at their pace when they are ready to move and I think being in group ruins the peacefulness of a good walk. An informative lecture is fun but won't out weigh the detractors for me. And many of your other desired trips will require the guided group setting.

I do the ecotour kayak/snorkel tour often and always enjoy it. Same detractors as the hiking but my kayak won't fit in my luggage.

We had a GREAT time on the same Baths tour as Blue Skies described. The Baths themselves were fun to see and I wouldn't have missed them but they were so crowded that my family all agreed that the other activities were the highlights of the day.


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## Merbears (Apr 19, 2015)

Cokie Beach St Thomas for easy snorkeling. It's right next to Coral World aquarium . You don't even need to swim to see fish -just wade out. We also did a
day trip via sailboat to St. John's that had snorkel stops. 

St Martin - We did a two person jet ski "trail ride" that included snorkel stops. 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## sammy (May 7, 2015)

Thank you everyone!  Now I'm just hoping for good weather .


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## Former Cruiser (May 8, 2015)

Second on the Bad Kitty.  The places they took us were GREAT! Our original tour got cancelled the day before and someone suggested Bad Kitty.  We called that night and got on the boat in the morning.


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## shagnut (Jul 4, 2015)

luckily I did the Tradewinds for the BVI  so nothing was crowded.  I have a bad leg so I couldn't do the hike at the Bath's but Kelli did it and loved it.  I just snorkeled.  I did go to St Thomas once for a week and stayed at Bluebirds and they had a lot of scheduled activities  with lots of snorkeling.  I had a blast.  

shaggy


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## legalfee (Jul 5, 2015)

We did New Horizons to the BVI and had a blast. The Baths at Virgin Gorda, lunch at Marina Cay, snorkeling at Diamond Reef, and then Jost Van Dyke and the Soggy Dollar Bar.

http://www.newhorizonscharters.com/


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## GregT (Jul 5, 2015)

legalfee said:


> We did New Horizons to the BVI and had a blast. The Baths at Virgin Gorda, lunch at Marina Cay, snorkeling at Diamond Reef, and then Jost Van Dyke and the Soggy Dollar Bar.
> 
> http://www.newhorizonscharters.com/



We did the same trip and loved it -- one of our best excurions we have done on any vacation, it was outstanding. 

Best,

Greg


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