Well I'd recommend a trip to Jost Van Dyke, and you MUST MUST MUST go to St John for the day and travel around.

Snorkeling was the single most amazing thing I did on my first trip to the Caribbean. Friends who lived on STJ insisted that we snorkel the first day we arrived on the island. I had no idea what it was all about. Using a snorkel seemed like it would allow me to swim without lifting my head and that seemed like a good thing. But I was unprepared for the sight of the coral and the fish. And the peace, the quiet. The sense of having entered a wonderful new world. I couldn't get enough of it. I still can't.

But enjoy it now, for as long as you can, because our coral seems to be in serious trouble:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060330/ap_on_sc/coral_death

Nick,

If you liked snorkeling that much next time you come you should try scuba. Now that is the most amazing feeling ever. Just complete relaxation.

I also dive, although don't usually when we're in the VI. My suggestion was for someone on their first trip to the Caribbean.

Well yes if you are a diver you should definitely dive down here. We have great wrecks and some amazing reefs.

All of the suggestions are good and I know you will probably want to see as much as you can. However, when asked this question I always recommend experiencing 'island time'. Not get frustrated at everyone moving on 'island time' but actually putting yourself into 'island time'. Take a lead from the Corona commercials. Turn off the phone, don't fill every minute of every day and find a tree to sit and rest under. It's called limin' and it does wonders for the soul.

Enjoy your trip. 🙂

What Chris said...and when you get hot...snorkel..and then get back under that tree 😉

I agree with Chis, get into limin' it's great.

I'm sure you have a "laundry list" of things to do, if it's not on your list do the sunset party at Paradise Point, one of our favs every year.

Go to St. John, get to Waterlemon Cay, bring a cooler of sandwiches for lunch and drinks for "in between", snorkel with the starfish, stingrays, and green sea turltles, and capture the best memories you'll find anywhere! Have fun!

One other thought came to mind, if your planning a day sail check out Captain Coy and "Island Girl" for a nice day sail or sunset on a six pack sail, 340-514-6866. You'll have a great time.

last year was our first time in the islands and we went for a high school graduation gift for our daughter. we also stayed at the frenchmens reef and could not of been happier with the service and just the place in general.our hotel room opened right on to the beach.stray cats at times can be a problem so don't do what I did and feed them or you will never get rid of them. thanks to this message board we rented a car and took it wherever we went even to st johns a few days that way you can drive to all of the beaches - forget megans bay - total let down - too many prople from cruise ships - go to all the other ones and bring your camera. we also took a day sail on "noshooze" with captain Josh - that was awesome and worth every penny we spent. he provided lunch and drinks and even got in the water because we were a little worried about snorkling - bring and underwater camera and lots of lotion - we got fried (our own fault) he was wonderful. there is also a kamrt not far from the hotel that has everything that you need. rum is cheaper than water so we ended up bring 18 bottles back - we are crazy. food places are so so and very expensive - make sure that you sample some of the fresh fruit drinks with or without liquor. our family would go back and do it again tomorrow

Thanks for all of the suggestions...I can't wait to spend the week on island time. While I am doing research I have no desire to have a schedule or plan...just some ideas so we can decide as we go! 🙂 THanks again!

ColoSun
Erika

Definitely try to get to Mountain Top to try one of their famous Banana Daiquiris - and get the bonus of seeing a beautiful view of Magen's Bay & some outlying islands.

Also, a fun stop is at Udder Delight on the way to Magen's Beach. Great shakes with a little "kick" to them.

Sorry, but I do agree with many of the other posts.

We took a day trip on the ferry over to St. John & just did a little 2 hour "taxi" tour and got a great introduction to the island. Then we spent a beautiful afternoon at Cinnamon Beach.

We, like you, planned out first trip to the Virgin Islands and decided to stay on St. Thomas for the week - but, we did enjoy our day trip to St. John so much that we will be staying on St. John for 7 nights (in just a couple short weeks) and will finish up with 2 nites on St. Thomas. St. John has such lush greenery & just seeing all the different beautiful beaches was really worth the day trip.

Don't get me wrong, Magen's Beach was nice - but, there was something more tranquil about Cinnamon & we were so glad that we took the time to check out St. John.

And, again, sorry, but I agree with others and strongly recommend, if possible that you get out on the water & perhaps take a trip to the British Virgin Islands. We took an all day powerboat trip with New Horizons 11, out of Sapphire Beach Marina on St. Thomas, and enjoyed a wonderful day at The Baths in Virgin Gorda, a great lunch on another island, some great snorkeling & wonderful stop at Jost Van Dyke for a Painkiller at Soggy Dollar Bar and some swimming & limin' on the absolutely amazingly gorgeous beach of White Bay. ( We loved Jost so much that we are making another day trip there, this trip!)

You will no doubt enjoy your trip, whatever you do. No choice is wrong. We wanted to "hit" St. John & some of the British Virgin Island because we didn't want to just spend all of our time on St. Thomas, in case we didn't get back to this vacation locale again.

But, as you can tell - we loved it so much that we may try, whatever it takes, to make this a yearly event!

Have fun!!

Once again, it seems that most suggestions for people staying on STT are that they should leave the island and go somewhere else. There's gotta be a week's worth of good stuff to do on STT....doesn't there?

I definitely think there is a weeks worth of 'stuff to do' on STT. I think the suggestion to go to St. John comes from the feeling that you are so close, its a shame not to hop over...

We also considered going to St. Croix, BVI, etc, etc. (again.. we are so close, it seems like we would be silly not to give it a try) We settled on a day at St. John, hopefully some day we will go back and stay on St. John and take a day trip to BVI, etc) but it just seemed like it would be too much rushing around.

One island (almost) at a time for us 🙂

I also believe that there's probably a lot to do on STT. But what is it?

Weary, Yes, it is whatever you want it to be!
you can have the best vacation of you life on any of the islands, depending on what you want. They all have great beaches, great weather great people and STT has more shopping and more of a night life, while STJ is less developed and more slow paced. They are also very close to each other, so going from STT to STJ is a 14 minute trip by ferry (from Red Hook) and is not a big deal. First figure out what you want to do then see if you can do it at any of the islands. Taking a boat from STT to BVI and or go for a day long snorkeling cruise is part of the island fun/adventure. So, to answer your question, just figure out what you want to do

Weary,
I started at our local libary and checked out a few tourist books. The guidebook that is sold above called Explore the Virgin Islands was the best one I found. According to the guidebook one of the number one things to do is go to one of the forty four beaches on St. Thomas. Under the St. Thomas listing above you will find a tab for beaches. If you want a snorkeling beach Coki and Secret Harbor seem to be the top choices. The most beautiful beach is supposed to be Magens Bay Beach with good swimming but not the best snorkeling. Other snorkeling beaches are Sapphire, Cowpet Bay and Hull Beach. If you are a beach bum then you could spend the entire week on a different beach each day. Most of them have beach bars too.

The St. Thomas Attractions are many other than just the duty free shopping. You can take a drive to Mountaintop, Estate St. Peter, and Fairchild Park. Golf at Mahogany Bay Golf Course, Drakes Seat for pictures, Coral World Marine Park, Tillett Gardens, Camille Pissarro Gallery, Kayaking tour in the mangroves,Charlotte Amalie historic sites walking tour, Hassel Island, Water Island, mountain biking tour, Paradise Point Tram, BOB underwater adventure, The Atlantis Submarine ride, Snuba, Parasailing, surfing and Windsurfing, learn to dive, go sailing, go fishing, and even Homers night snorkel. I'm sure I missed a lot but I think you have enough here to keep you busy for a week.

Have fun planning your trip. I sure did.

ColoSun,
My one must do for us is spending a day on a sail boat. The two out of St. Thomas that we picked were The Alaunt with Captain Ron Arens and Ike Witt Charters with Captain Pat (who is taking us over to St. John for snorkeling). Watch for my trip report after Easter.

Well..since you asked...this is what we 'plan' to do..

Practice snorkeling on the resort beach

Coki Beach - hang out, eat, get braids for my daughter

Coral World - the kids and hubby loved it last year, we are going again!!!

Sapphire Beach - we were on STT last year but we didnt' visit this beach, I can't even believe it. Hoping to hit the Beach Party too..not sure if kids are appropriate there... if anyone knows, I appreciate the info..

We went to Paradise Point last year and enjoyed the view..I think we will do Mountain Top instead this time around.

Planning time in Charlotte Amalie.. shopping and to do the walking tour listed on this site. (The kids want to see the towers too... )

Eat, eat, eat.....

Magens Bay.. we went here last year but we hardly spent enough time. By the time the kids met some friends, they were ready to go back to their cruise ship. This time around we are going earlier and plan to take Bluwater's advice for lunch ( i don't remember the name off the top of my head) and staying long enough to enjoy the crowd as well as enjoy the quiet after the crowd!!

I guess we will spend some time at the resort.. The kids would like to see the Iguana feeding, and we dont' mind either.

I also have a list of backup plans in case we get caught in a shower, or run out of things to do.. Atlantis Submarine, Drakes Seat, catch a sunset...

And, of course the day trip to St. John.

🙂