NH II is THE BEST trip to the Baths and 3 other stops! FAN-freaking-TASTIC! Been on it about 30 times....www.newhorizonscharters.com

book a day on the" bad kitty. "
Virgin gorda to get passports approved, guided tour thru the boulders at the baths. lunch on beach at Cooper Island,snorkeling at Norman Island, the caves, and swim in to beautiful beach on Yost Van Dyke for beverages.. worth every penny..

"Best" is subjective. I like Pirate's Penny and Stormy Petrel. Comfortable and classy boats, carry 12 max passengers. Stop for lunch at Cooper Island.

Marty on STT

What makes NH II stand out from others mentioned?

I know one of the captains at new horizons and you can't get a better trip for the money. He is my caretaker.

SO go with New Horizons. Let me know and I'll put a god word in for you. Just need to know when you are making the reservation.

billd

Stand out from the others? Service, service, service!! Tim and Holly have been running day-trips for over a decade and their business is doing fantastic...not to say there is anything wrong with anyone else...but, in my 11 years of living here, and being in the tourism biz, I have been on all the trips mentioned above (as well as dealt with guests that have been on every trip there is)...NHII wins, IMHO...opinions are like...well you know how that saying goes! Haha! It's my own personal opinion...Captain Nautica also does a really nice trip...Limnos is good if you are a family with smaller kids....but, NHII has everyone else beat.

While I don't feel that my statement was "ragging" on anyone, I would like to say that when visitors ask about tour preferences, they should be wary of local posters who may be involved with tour, the owners, etc. Some posters are very up front with their connections, others not so much. There are several tours to the BVI, all have supporters. What is "best" for tiger123 may not be best for another visitor, or for a local :-).

We'll be in STJ July 18th thru 25th so i'll probably book something the 20th or 21st. We have been 3 times and never have done this excursion. I'm sure they are all good. We are late 40's, OK early 50's, but love adventure, snorkeling, eating good food and drinking great drinks!!!

For everyone's information: I have NO affiliations with ANY tour operators here in the VI....I base all of my suggestions on my own opinions...I have gotten to know some of the owners of some excursions, but that's only by going on them repeatedly because I liked the tour....for example, my EX-wife runs a business called BOSS Underwater Adventures...(www.bossusvi.com)...I still recommend the heck outta that trip, just cuz I, personally, think it's the best way to spend a half-day...nothing like driving a motorscooter underwater!! Haha! But, anyway, even though we USED to be married to her, and she now will have nothing to do with me, I still promote the trip...it's just one of those 'unique' things that people like to do/experience on vacation...

We just took our second Horizons excursion a couple of weeks ago. We had a group of 7 ranging in age 13-55. All of us love it. You get to see a lot in a day. The captain Scott and his firstmate Heather (think that was her name - she served a lot of painkillers/rum punch). were wonderful, funny and there to help in anyway. Totally would recommend it!

Thanks for all suggestions. It's probably gonna be NH. Also thinking about going scuba diving. Any opinions on 6paqscuba? I emailed them and they sound really great, plus i didn't see any other scuba excursions out of STJ.

As for Scuba on St John, Collette at SixPaq does a good job. She is a small owner operator with a small boat and personal service. The other major players on St John are in no particular order Low Key Water sports, Cruz Bay water sports, and Chris Sawyer at Caneel Bay.
As for personal affiliations since I am a resident my wife has been to the Rhone with Six Paq and we did see Collete at Cafe Roma the night before last when we were having dinner. I also bought some new sandals and Deb's new fins and wet suit at Low Key. I once looked at Cruz Bays boats while staying at the Westin.

As for day trips, sorry Marty but to make a blanket statement that one is that much better than the others is way to subjective. I have been on Llimnos IV trip and had a good time. It is probably the least expensive and most reliable way to go. As for the best, for me it would have to be on a smaller boat with a private charter. My first choices would be LionInDaSun or John Brandi on Palm Tree Charters. Yes I know the owners of these boats personally. I am not in general a fan of big tour boats. They serve a purpose but a few drunken "sailors" on board can greatly reduce the fun factor unless they are your friends then its just funny. That said if the sea state is up which doesn't happen nearly as much in the spring and summer the smaller boats can be a rough ride. The bigger boats cover a lot of water quickly and most of them do a very professional job of handling a big group.
Jay

SUBJECTIVE: Function: adjective 1: of, relating to, or constituting a subject: as aobsolete : of, relating to, or characteristic of one that is a subject especially in lack of freedom of action or in submissiveness b: being or relating to a grammatical subject ; especially : nominative 2: of or relating to the essential being of that which has substance, qualities, attributes, or relations3 a: characteristic of or belonging to reality as perceived rather than as independent of mind

According to Merriam Webster, my posts since the original have made it abundantly clear that my OPINION is NOT subjective...LionInDaSun is a great trip, too...never been out with Palm Tree...NHII only holds 18 and takes the rougher waters very well. I hope this helps to clear it up now? I am not making ANY blanket statements...I am merely posting MY OPINION, which everyone is allowed to have! And my statements are NOT subjective! They are my OPINIONS!!!!! OK?

You guys crack me up!!

Captain Jay, you made a good point about the smaller boats being a bit rougher ride and that played into my consideration. My fiance doesn't do boat rocking very well, if you know what I mean. I feel sure we will enjoy NH very much. As for the scuba, it looks like 6paq is small and would be more for me, since I haven't done a lot of diving, and personal service is what I would need........hand holding!! Ha, Ha.

By the way, I know it says posted by tiger123 and my last entry was tiger1. Forgot my password and set up new account on my home laptop and this entry is from my work computer. Sorry, I know rules say not to do that.

Marty: Opinions are always subjective. There is nothing wrong with having an opinion. But when someone asks "Which trip is the best?" it is a question that really cannot be answered. One may answer: "I like X because..." or "I prefer X because...", but saying "X is best" (or "has everyone beat" ) removes opinion from the remark.

Is this a picky semantic distinction? Well, some of us still believe that words mean something, even in this postmodern world. where someone could say with a straight face, "It all depends on what the definition of 'is' is."

And please note, I am expressing my opinion here. 😉

Marty,
East ender said exactly what I was trying to say. I didn't say you weren't allowed to have an opinion, and undoubtedly your experience is important and relevant. The point I was trying to make is that there are different trips and operators the quality and type of experience varies greatly. There is no one operator that is "Best". There are to many variables in the whole thing. For me as I said the a smaller private boat with total control over the day is preferable to a large group. For that matter in most cases I would just rent a boat and go on my own. I didn't get into that option on my post this morning because that's not what the poster asked about and if you aren't experienced then you can't do that anyway.

Tiger as for the hand holding with the scuba. If you are rusty or inexperienced then you may even want to consider having Colette do a refresher course for a couple of hours then a few dives. I am sure she would work with you.
Jay

You're probably right, I'll do that about the scuba.

Thanks everyone, can't wait to come back in July.

EE and CJ....I copied and pasted right from Merriam-Webster...how can you argue with the dictionary??? My statement WAS IN NO WAY SUBJECTIVE!! Read the dictionary, guys! 3a, which I put in BOLD, says it succinctly...that it is characteristic of or belonging to reality as perceived rather than as independent of mind That part in italics puts in into plain English! 'Independent of mind" IS opinion! So, by definition, by scholars the world over and every dictionary on the planet, my post was NOT 'subjective'! And CJ, I never accused you of saying I couldn't have an opinion, I just reiterated that my post WAS an opinion and was NOT subjective...I may be arguing semantics in your minds, but the fact remains...what I have written is the TRUTH! A FACT! Not something that I just made up!

(and, just so you guys know, this is not meant in any way to be derogatory to either of you, nor anyone else, I would just like to be understood correctly...trying to type voice inflection and meaning into words on a screen can sometimes be such a daunting task! LOL!)