ST. JOHN
All cruise ships that stop in St. Thomas have morning excursions to Trunk Bay Beach in St. John. Off this beach there is an underwater snorkel trail where you can see thousands of beautiful, "day-glo" tropical fish and colorful coral. There are many other gorgeous beaches on St. John. My favorite is Cinammon Beach. Sitting on that beach and viewing the specks of little green hilly islets dotting the water as you look out to sea is heaven, indeed. I'm not a snorkler, but just wading and bobbing my way out to the reef (its shallow-going) I saw with the naked eye all sorts of brilliantly-colored fish in the crystal-clear water.
Caneel Bay Beach is probably the most beautiful on St. John. The best snorkling is off Caneel. Through your goggles, you can see starfish, squid, rays and sea turtles, along with a super-abundance of exotic fish life.
Two-thirds of St. John is a U.S. National Park, on land donated many decades ago by the Rockefeller family. It's largely undeveloped, but all food, restroom, etc. amenities are there. Everything is spotless.
St. John is really a snorkler's and swimmer's paradise extraordinaire. Since we're in port from 8 AM till midnight, there's plenty of time to see the incredibly gorgeous beaches of this little jewel islet alongside St. Thomas.
The brochure in your cabin will provide details of any shore excursions.
A thumbnail sketch of Virgin Gorda, the islet near Tortola will follow.
Leni
Virgin Gorda, the second-largest of the British Virgins, ranks high in popularity for cruisers. It lies alongside our port-of-call, Tortola.
In addition to the scenery, "The Baths" is one of the prime reasons to go to Virgin Gorda. The Baths is a small beach framed by giant boulders. The boulders spewed from an ancient volcano and lie scattered on land and sea.
To get to the beach, you pick your way through land boulders which form narrow caves and hidden grottos where only rays of light penetrate. There are mysterious sandy-bottom pools of water within the bowels of some of the cathedral-like caverns. It's cool inside in stark contrast to the warm temperatures after you reach the beach.
The beach itself is incredibly and totally beautiful. Here you can swim around huge boulders, and don snorkeling gear to view the abundance of sea life that hangs around them.
Whether or not our ship will provide an excursion to The Baths is unknown at this time. It's advisable to take a ship-sponsored excursion to Virgin Gorda as finding your way on this island is tricky. But it's well worth going for an extremely unique treat. I really hope there'll be an excursion provided.
Sounds kinda H.G. Wellesian!
Leni