If you want a beach with amenities and good snorkeling on STT- try Secret Harbor.
Lindquist is great for snorkeling but just has seagrape trees for shade, porta potties and picnic tables tho quite beautiful.
Coki is also great for snorkeling and Coral World is right next door to it but as you said pretty busy on cruise ship days.
Or go on a tour to STJ and go to Trunk Bay as it has great snorkeling and amenties.

There are always raves about Magens, but in close to 12 trips to St. Thomas I find it to be too touristy. I would suggest taking the ferry to St. Johns, doing an island tour and snorkeling at Leinster, Trunk or any of the other beaches on St. Johns

For a one day cruise ship stop I recommend Coki Beach.

Nice beach, good snorkeling, rest rooms, food & beverage runners on the beach and Coral World next door.

Don't worry about the "crowds". If there's only 2 ships in that day it won't be crowded.

Have a great time!

F.I.

irishmist wrote:
There are always raves about Magens, but in close to 12 trips to St. Thomas I find it to be too touristy. I would suggest taking the ferry to St. Johns, doing an island tour and snorkeling at Leinster, Trunk or any of the other beaches on St. Johns

They'd need to rent a car to do Leinster and majority of other STJ beaches while there are tours that offer the trips from cruise ship to Trunk. Just trying to keep it simple for them. In season, all beaches can be crowded so it may not matter where you decide to go.
Just relax and enjoy whatever you do!

Sapphire will offer you the perfect compromise and pay no attention to the negative reports you hear. I've no financial stake in Sapphire at all but it's an absolutely gorgeous beach, the snorkeling is excellent. The buildings aren't at all run down but many people mistake "weathered" for "run down" and although the main beach bar and restaurant have been closed and boarded up for a few years because of an internal dispute, the "Banana Cabana" on the beach offers good sandwiches and salads and a variety of beverages. Both they and the Sapphire Grill situated above the complex have beach runners to take your orders, and Senor Pizza also has a beach runner on site to take orders.

Here's a link to the Sapphire webcam:

http://www.sapphireinthesun.com/

St John is lovely (no "s" on that, irishmist - aaaargh!) but with just one day at your disposal I'd opt for Sapphire. Coki is way too "busy" on ship days for my liking, Secret Harbour would be a good option to Sapphire but the latter is my first pick.

Enjoy a wonderful day here whichever you choose and hopefully one day you'll come back for a land vacation so you can explore to your heart's delight!

The problem with the internet is people don't always update their site, so there's a lot of old info online.

There was a time when the facilities at Sapphire left something to be desired, but now that more cruisers ate visiting Sapphire, some things have improved maintenance wise.

The dive shop at Sapphire now maintains the bathrooms, and everytime I've gone they were well maintained though small.

Some people don't like the fact that there's no full service sit at bar restaurant. Food/drink concession is near the volleyball net, so if food/drinks are your priority, set your chair close to that area. Service can be slow.

I prefer to go to Sapphire Grill after my beach time, because it's more relaxing and you can eat drink comfortably. Menu is more comprehensive. I've reviewed it on TripAdvisor and the Grill has a website, so you can see the options.

Getting to St John can be half the fun of going to Trunk Bay. So if you have a full day off the cruise ship, I would recommend a tour to Trunk Bay. It is an amazingly beautiful beach (much more tranquil than Sapphire) with some shade available and beach chairs for rent, and very good (National Park) amenities. And the the snorkeling is very good for "him". (tu) We saw some "cruisers" arrive at Trunk Bay and they got about 4 hours of beach time at Trunk, before they headed back to STT, but as I said, getting their by safari van and ferry boat is half the fun. Check out this St John video I created during our visit in May.

[video] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1a3GH7_7yc&feature=plcp [/video]

Sapphire Beach is also very nice, you can see some of that and some underwater video of the snorkeling there on this video I made.

[video] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieAkkzRaAvw&feature=plcp [/video]

A Sapphire visit would probably leave you enough time to do some Charlotte Amalie shopping if that is your thing. Either way, you will have a great time. Enjoy your visit!

I just think there are better places to snorkel than Sapphire tho it is a gorgeous beach.

Alana33 wrote:
I just think there are better places to snorkel than Sapphire tho it is a gorgeous beach.

Please share where. Thank you in advance!

Im just an annual STT vacationer and I don't know how a one day visit would work but Trunk Bay is the most amazing beach I have ever visited. snorkeling is wonderful. If you get a chance do Trunk! If you opt for time in Charlotte Amalie, definitely eat at the Tavern on the waterfront.

Good Day! My wife and I were on STT during the second week of September. I highly recommend Coki Beach as the best snorkelling on the island, but your question was about Sapphire. We went there during our stay. Very nice beach. Clean restrooms, clean beach. The food and beverage service was a little slow, but that's called "island time". I hand fed the iguanas the lettuce from my cheeseburger and I'll never forget that! We saw rays and turtles while snorkelling. I would go back in a heartbeat. If snorkelling is not your thing, try Coki and let your DH have fun. The beach is beautiful! 😎

I heard about Magen's Bay and people say that beach of this place is specially awesome but many people say that this belongs to private owner and this is not under the Goverment land. And the Owner of this place is taking much charges for visiting some place at Morgen's Bay. Is that right ?

jonyseer wrote:
I heard about Magen's Bay and people say that beach of this place is specially awesome but many people say that this belongs to private owner and this is not under the Goverment land. And the Owner of this place is taking much charges for visiting some place at Morgen's Bay. Is that right ?

You've been given much misinformation. Magens (no apostrophe) and its surrounding land were deeded to the USVI many years ago by then-owner Arthur Fairchild to be held in perpetuity for the people of the Virgin Islands and undeveloped. The beach is maintained by the semi-autonomous government agency Magens Bay Authority which maintains the grounds immaculately and charges an entrance fee for the cost of that upkeep.

If you go to "travel info St Thomas" top of this page and scroll down you'll find more information.

I love Magens Bay. It is a nice relaxing beach and they have THE BEST PIZZA! It isn't a great beach for snorkeling but it is a must experience. Plus after the day at Magens you can stop at Udder Delight for a boozey milk shake and stop at Drakes Seat to take in the beauty of Magens Bay. IF your husband is not willing to give up snorkeling I would vote to go to Trunk Bay because it has the best of both worlds. You will just have less time. However the rum punch at Trunk is wonderful! (Happy Hour at Woody's on St. John is fun too and close to the dock!) I agree that "getting there" will be fun! Enjoy your time and hopefully some day you get to come and stay for awhile to get to know St. Thomas and St. John. They are my favorite!