The Virgin Islands has some of the best snorkeling with enough amazing spots to fill your day! We will take you to several different sites so you are able to see various underwater habitats such as gardens of coral and sponges, grassy sea beds perfect for spotting sea stars, spotted eagle rays and hawksbill turtles and rock walls to see octopus, squid and colorful angelfish.
Board VIBE1 at 8:30 a.m. and set course for the North side of St. John. Enjoy the scenic beauty of St. John’s North shore as the boat heads to Leinster Bay. First stop, a wall with a shallow garden of soft corals, sea fans and sponges. This area is filled with angelfish, parrotfish and an occasional turtle.
Onto the beach area which is a grassy sand bottom teeming with sting rays, giant sea stars and turtles. Swim over to the left-hand side of the beach to a long rock wall formation and home to octopus, squid and assorted bottom dwelling fish.
If you are a strong swimmer, Waterlemon Cay is straight out from the beach in the middle of the bay. It has a white sand beach and is surrounded by reef. When the sun is out, the aqua water glows and it offers wonderful shallow snorkeling.
Depending on sea conditions, the next stop could be Mary’s Point which is a deep water snorkel or Whistling Cay with cool rock formations and a chance to see an octopus or lobster.
Now that everyone has worked up an appetite, it’s onto Cruz Bay for lunch. There are many choices here ranging from Deli Grotto where you can pick up gourmet sandwiches on freshly baked bread to take back to the boat or several beach restaurants if you prefer to sit down and eat a meal. Just tell Sam what you are in the mood for and he will send you in the right direction!
After lunch, we will head around to the South side of St. John to Salt Pond Bay. This bay has a huge rock formation in the middle and a wide array of large fish. Since it is close to the open water it makes for an interesting snorkel for uncommon species.
The next stop is Big and Little Lameshur Bay, a grassy area with turtles, sting rays and lots of conch. There are a couple of beaches to swim to and explore too.
At this point it will be around 3:30 p.m. and unfortunately time to head back to the dock!
