Hello Jan,

I think maybe what you are seeing for advanced might translate to deeper water, open ocean - so would be better for a stronger swimmer and more experienced person. The beach accessiable and coast line snorkeling is less scary for an in-experienced person. Do you snorkel already?? If not, snorkeling is not difficult to learn to do.

You can do some easy to access snorkeling in relatively calm, easy to swim in waters around St. John to start out with - no need for a trainer just need some gear and the desire to snorkel. Head to Trunk Bay and try the underwater trail there, then try Cinnamon Bay, then maybe hike out to Waterlemon Cay and snorkel there, Lameshur is also good and not hard to snorkel at. If you want more advanced snorkeling like at reefs or small cays- you would have to do a dive or snorkel charter and the deckhand or captain will sometimes join the group and show you around.

--Islander

Islander, I would like to respectfully disagree with you on this one.
Snorkling in deeper water is just swimming(theres no danger unless you cant swim or float).....you cant see much cuz the action is near the bottom, unless your diving, then it would be skin diving, wouldn't it?
I look at "advanced" snorkling as more of a term to describe tough currents(surges) or shallows with lots of hazards like coral or rocks. I think the dangerous part of snorkling is going into unknown waters and being careful not to lose your orientation because everytime you take your mask off and go vertical in shallow water, you are in danger of hitting corals or animals.
Like if you are swimming with the current and then all of a sudden that current is pushing at a bunch fire coral. One major rule, as with diving, is to always start off swimming against the current so you dont bite off more than you can chew and you go exactly where you want to. Like waterlemon, you wanna start off snorkling the Cay counter clockwise or you could run into trouble. I would rate waterlemon as a more advanced snorkle. In otherwords, if youve never snorkled, you wanna try some other spots first. It also helps to know your aquatic animals so you can observe them and especially distance yourself from the fire corals, urchins, and jellyfish. Youre not in your backyard swim pool anymore.

I see that I wasn't clear in what I wrote. I didn't mean snorkeling in the vast abiss of the ocean but rather at cays around the island that are not beach accessiable. Devoid of the protection of a bay they get more currents and so require a better swimmer and more experience = more advanced skills. Thanks Chris for filling in the necessary information concerning currents, drifting, corals, I should have expanded on my thought.

An additonal thought - Jan if your family isn't interested at least try to get one of them to go out with you so you have a buddy even at the easy snorkel spots like Trunk Bay. Also do you recall what snorkeling sites were listed - perhaps if you mentioned the ones you read about and were interested in folks who have snorkeled there can give their opinions.

--Islander

Hi Jan
One of the many great things about STJ is that there is so much good snorkeling right off the beach. No need to pay somebody to take you out on their boat or someone to lead you off the beach. STJ is very much a do-it-yourself kind of place. Buy a guide book or two, rent some snorkel gear ( and don't hesitate to rent a flotation belt to get started ). Just start slow. Get the mechanics of it down while in shallow water. There's really good stuff to see right the beach. It's not like you have to settle for second-rate snorkeling if you don't pay somebody to take you somewhere.