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Hello again! You have been very helpful with my silly questions in the past and I really appreciate you taking the time to help me, as I'm sure many do on this board and the other you visit regularly. So right up front, a big THANK YOU :~)
Anyway...I was looking at some aerial photos of the beaches of St. John and noticed something. We have visited Hawksnest, Trunk and Cinnamon (our favorite!) quite a few times, and we love to snorkel. We will be visiting in April and had planned this time to make the effort to get to Waterlemon for the snorkeling but on those photos I happened see that there appears to be quite an extensive reef right off (below?) the Annaberg sugar plantation ruins. Is this so, and would this be a good choice rather than making the hike out to the closest place to get in the water to make what appears to be a fairly long swim out to Waterlemon? We want to maximize our beach/snorkel time as we will only be able to stay on St. John for part of the day (getting the 9 a.m. ferry from Red Hook as we always try to do, returning on the 3 p.m. ferry). Thanks again for your time! Gene in (cold!) Massachusetts
Hello Gene,
You are likely looking at Leinster-Waterlemon, if its just below and to the right of Annaberg. You can hike a short distance, 10 minutes down the trail from the road until you find a litte sandy spot to enter the water and snorkel the shallow reef there. The water or rather the sea bottom drops off very quickly not far from shore. Hike about 15 minutes further and you will be on the beach... from here its a long swim to the Waterlemon Cay so its a good idea to continue walking down the beach to a small trail that leads to the closest point between St. John and the cay and swim out from there. Its a bit rocky - use care when entering. I don't think the hike is to bad and neither is the swim and its worth it. I haven't ever stopped to snorkel the closer reef, next time ;-).
--Islander
Thank you again!
Hey Gene! I am also from chilly MA (not too bad today, though)! Just came back from St John a couple weeks ago. Already thinking of when we can go back!
My husband, aunt and uncle made the trek to the sandy beach right across from Waterlemon Cay. Not a bad walk, about 20 minutes along a trail, lots of different terrain (rock, sand, pebbles). You definitely need comfy walking shoes. We had trouble when our flip flops got wet, very slippy (there are some spots where you have to walk in the water). From there, it's a short swim to the Cay.
We did see a couple people snorkeling Waterlemon Bay (about 10 minutes into the walk) and they said the snorkeling was good, even saw a nurse shark. Some people on this board think Waterlemon Bay and Cay are best for snorkeling! We did see some octopus on the Cay just be careful of the current on the left side.
