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This is Part III of a series of articles featuring our favorite tropical destination, St. John, USVI. You can read about how to get to St. John here, and about our latest visit and stay at Coconut Coast Villas here. In Part II of the series we mentioned we would share our favorite beach bar/restaurants in this article, but those will be covered in Part IV instead.
This article will focus on a few of our favorite beaches that are our “go-to’s” when visiting St. John. However, there are so many beaches on St. John, you really can’t go wrong no matter which one you choose; but in the event you decide you don’t like one (this is hard to imagine though), or if you feel it is too crowded–well–that is the beauty of St. John: just pack up and drive up the hill and around the corner until you find another beach! That’s how many gorgeous beaches you have to choose from!! Enjoy them all!!
We will end the article with a feature about a very special sunset cruise we took, hosted by Cruz Bay Watersports. It was one of the highlights of our visit to St. John this time!
Maho Bay
David and I favor the northside beaches, due to their convenience to where we are usually staying, in Cruz Bay. Our most favorite has been Maho Bay, as it never disappoints with the turtle sightings when we are snorkeling. Maho Bay is a long, semi crescent-shaped, white sand beach, with limited parking along the road and a small parking lot at one end. Maho Crossroads is on the opposite end from the small parking lot, so we try to park in the lot and stay on the end further away from the “busy-ness” of Crossroads, which has a food truck, tiki hut/bar, and places to relax and socialize with friends and family. There are also public restrooms on that end. We usually pack a cooler for lunch, and along with our beach chairs, noodles, and snorkel gear, we find a nice shady spot to set up “camp” for our time at Maho.
Cinnamon Bay
Another of our favorite beaches is Cinnamon Bay. Cinnamon Bay is famous for two reasons. The first is that it is the longest beach on St. John. It is directly within the Virgin Islands State Park, and it’s crystal clear blue waters and white, soft powdery sand is exquisite! It is a little less crowded than Trunk Bay and Maho Beach, but has gained popularity over the past few years, which brings us to the second reason it is now famous–it is mentioned in Kenny Chesney’s song “Old Blue Chair”. Kenny sings of the boats sailing in and out of Cinnamon Bay–but the day we chose to visit there was hardly a boat in sight! We practically had the beach and the bay to ourselves! I did snap a picture of David snorkeling, using our all time favorite mask, shown here. If you love to snorkel like we do, this mask is a must!! It is all one piece, but it collapses into a condensed version so it travels well in it’s case. We use a hard-side case like this to pack it in our suitcase, but then we just use the mesh bag it comes with when we are at our destination traveling from beach to beach!
Cinnamon Bay Resort & Campground was heavily damaged due to the two hurricanes that came through back-t0-back in 2017. Prior to the hurricanes, there was the campground, a snack bar/grill, souvenir shop, showers, restrooms and more. Restoration was well under way to those areas while we were there though, and once completed, the campground and other areas will open again. The parking lot at Cinnamon Bay remains open to visitors, and of course the beautiful beach!!
Salomon and Honeymoon Beaches
When we visited St. John in 2019, we rented a two-person, glass-bottomed kayak from St. John Beach Bum. We left right from Cruz Bay, cut through the maze of moored sailboats, and headed over to two beaches: Salomon Bay Beach & Honeymoon Beach. We liked both of these beaches, and enjoyed the kayaking, although it was a little tricky getting around the rocks/jutted shoreline due to the change in the intensity of the water and waves. We managed well though, and spent the day at both of those beaches. Here is a picture of our kayak, although it is hard to tell from the picture that it is glass-bottomed:
As much fun as we had with the kayak last year, this year we decided to drive over to Honeymoon Beach for the day. Now, to get there via vehicle, we had to park just inside the entrance gates of the Caneel Bay Resort, (which is currently closed due to damages sustained by the 2017 hurricanes) and take a golf cart shuttle to the beach. The parking is free, and the shuttle is $10 per person, round trip. This is another beach that boasts all amenities: gift shop, restrooms, hammocks, water sports rental, beach chairs, just to name a few. There is also a place to purchase food, called Bikinis on the Beach Bar & Grill. We had packed our lunch, so we did not eat there, but the food smelled really good and it looked like a really nice menu of items.
Virgin Island Eco Tours
The best part of the beach set-up at Honeymoon is that it is also home to Virgin Island Eco Tours, which provides hiking, kayaking, and snorkel tours right from Honeymoon Beach. They also have a location in St. Thomas as well, at the Mangrove Lagoon Marina. Please visit their page to see all the tours they offer. David and I decided to spend the day on the beach to snorkel and relax, but the next time we visit St. John we are definitely going to contact Sybille and Diana (owners) to set up a kayak tour or two! We just ran out of time on this visit! We did see their cool masks online prior to heading to St. John, so we ordered a few we could wear while traveling to St. John and while we were moving around in St. John. They have become Teri’s favorite masks!
“Friendly” Sting Ray at Honeymoon Beach
While at Honeymoon Beach, we were pleasantly surprised to meet a friendly sting ray, swimming up close to shore. It was so cool. We had seen a sting ray or two over at Maho deeper down in the water while we were snorkeling, but this one practically came up to our feet! We think he was a “regular” at Honeymoon, and maybe got fed a time or two, because he was definitely wanting to come closer to us. If we would have had the “appropriate snacks” for a sting ray, we so would have fed him!!
Champagne Sunset Cruise
While in St. John this visit, we had the opportunity to participate in a Champagne Sunset Cruise, hosted by Cruz Bay Watersports, which has locations in St. Thomas, as well as St. John/Cruz Bay, and St. John at the Westin Resort. Check out their website for all the excursions and experiences they provide. They have been in service for over 30 years. Our cruise departed from the Westin resort. We drove over to the Westin in our jeep rental, and parked in their guest parking lot. There is no charge to park there if you have an excursion booked with CB Watersports. The Westin grounds were absolutely beautiful, and we even had a “unoffical greeter” while walking to the check-in office.
Cruise Check-In
We checked in for our cruise at the Cruz Bay Watersports office, which was located right at the edge of the marina and adjacent to the beautiful resort pool. We met Banen, who worked in the shop and was very informative, as well as the Property Director for Cruz Bay Watersports, Dana Neil. Thank you, Dana and Banen, for taking the time to chat with us before we boarded our cruise. It was so nice meeting both of you!
Our cruise for the evening was onboard the Jammin, a 60-ft Gold Coast Catamaran, and boy was she a beauty! We were so excited to board though, we didn’t get a very good picture.
Awesome Crew
The Jammin had an awesome crew who took care of us from the minute we stepped onboard until we disembarked back at the Westin marina. Captains Brent and Jolene sailed us around the coast of St. John, while crew members Heather and Rachel, after hoisting the sails, kept us “hydrated” and offered delicious appetizers while we sailed. Now, some interesting facts about our crew members: Captain Brent and crew member Rachel are married, and when not sailing around on the Jammin, Rachel is also a 1st grade teacher at Gifft Hill School on St. John. Captain Jolene surprised us at the end of the night by telling us it was her first day on the job with Cruz Bay Watersports! She did say that while it was her first day with CB, she has worked for other companies and is an experienced captain. She competently displayed her talents as Captain Brent turned the “reins” over to her for the cruise — she did not disappoint! Thanks, Captain Jolene, you did great!
Now let me tell you about crew member/bartender Heather. We found out that she is from Richmond, VA–where David and I are originally from!! Of course when we found this out we wanted to hear all about her story on how she ended up in St. John. She graduated from Longwood University, which is where our oldest daughter, Kelsey attended before transferring to Virginia Commonwealth University. They probably attended Longwood at the same time, as they are approximately the same age! SMALL WORLD! Anyway, Heather decided she needed a change of scenery after not finding a job in her field after college, so she moved to St. Thomas and gave herself a year to “regroup/recharge”. That was 6 years ago!! She loves the islands, is not leaving any time soon, and also has all the credentials to captain her own boat!!
Here is the crew, although we didn’t get a picture of Rachel as she was darting from front to back of the catamaran and was never still enough for us to snap a picture! Heather is behind a plexi-glass, so that picture has a glare to it, but we wanted you to “meet” our new friend hailing from Virginia!!!
Appetizers and Sunset
The Champagne Cruise included an open bar with beer, wine, champagne, mixed drinks, and soft drinks. The “heavy appetizers” included caprese on a stick, meatballs, falafel with three cheese ranch dressing, and roast beef with pesto. YUMMY!
After reaching our turn point, the sails were full on for a nice glide back to the Westin while enjoying the beautiful sunset. We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful evening, and truly enjoyed every minute of the cruise.
We want to say “thank you” again to Dana for providing us this opportunity, and to the entire staff at Cruz Bay Watersports for making this one of our favorite nights on St. John! We would highly recommend this Champagne Sunset Cruise if ever you find yourself on St. John! You won’t be disappointed!
**Coming up next is Part IV of our series on St. John, featuring some of our favorite restaurants. We hope you are enjoying the series, and will follow us to read about all of our travels!!
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Your pictures look amazing and I want to go. It’s on 29 degree F here in CO and that water looks wonderful. 🙂 Seriously, we have been to Nassau, but that’s about it. Hope to make it someday. Thanks for sharing your adventures. Happy travels.
Oh, this is giving me serious travel envy!! What gorgeous beaches and fun water activities! It must be hard to leave!
Thanks for sharing your favorite beaches. I hope to get back to USVI soon and stop at some of your suggested spots.