What island????????????

Pia

IMO...

St. Thomas= Coki
St. John= 3 way tie between Waterlemon Cay, Trunk Bay, and Cinnamon Bay.

As for St. Croix I have no idea... never been there.

On STX there are several. The beach by Cottages, the Buccaneer, the beach by coconuts are three.

we loved Coki on STT. Actually, we also liked the area off the small Sugar Beach at Point Pleasant. On STJ, we loved Waterlemon!

Only snorkeled at Secret Harbour on STT - that was very good.
On St. John, Waterlemon is great! Lots of starfish, turtles.
Also, the very northern end of Francis Bay beach is awesome if you're up for a fairly long snorkel - you go all along the southern edge of Mary Point and all the way to the narrow passage between Mary Point and Whistling Cay.
We saw a little bit of everything - rays, turtles, barracuda, nurse shark many various fish.

St John: Waterlemon (from what I understand there tends to be more of a current there than most other places on the island, so just be aware). Anyone on this thread could correct me if I'm wrong or add to this if I'm right.

I personally had a pretty good snorkel at Lampshire. There are a lot of little tiny canyons underwater there formed from the rock and the scenery just looks amazing. We saw a lot of squid, tons of different fish...and everything was incredibly colorful. It's quite a drive down, but the beach isn't very populated. If the water isn't choppy, the snorkeling is great.

Do you mean Lameshur on the south shore of STJ?
Drove down there last year but didn't snorkel.
Snorkeled instead at Salt Pond Bay just to the East and it was very good, also.

Yes...oops...guess the early morning made me spell it sooooo incorrectly. We have spent the past two days at Disneyland, so I'm a bit out of it. What a ditz move. My apologies.

Salt Pond is also pretty good. I'm not fond of the actual beach, but everything underwater is great. Still, it's probably my husband's favorite...and it's nice that hardly anyone shows up.

I should also mention that there is a Great Lameshur and a Little Lameshur. You'll want to head to Little Lameshur. The sand is pretty good, the swimming isn't bad, and the snorkeling is pretty good.

On St. John, both Salt Pond Bay and Little Lameshur are very good. Both have sandy beaches while some of the beaches in that area are pretty rocky. Waterlemon is a pretty good swim to get to.
My favorite would be Salt Pond Bay around 9 in the morning. Tends to be pretty deserted. Has some large rocks on the bottom so places for fish to dart into. Have seen turtles there as well. Pelicans and the brown bootys are fishing in the morning which is pretty cool to see. It is about a 1/4 to 1/2 mile walk from the small parking area off of Salt Pond Road. Salt Pond Bay also has several hiking trails from the beach and, as the name suggests, there is a salt pond really close. The beach offers snorkeling for beginners to more advanced based on how far out in the bay you wish to swim.
Little Lameshur requires a 4-wheel drive to get to it. However, since very few venture on that road, it is usually totally empty.
Trunk Bay is no doubt the most picturesque and well known; and, because of that tends to be crowded (in my mind anyway)

Waterlemon (from what I understand there tends to be more of a current there than most other places on the island, so just be aware). Anyone on this thread could correct me if I'm wrong or add to this if I'm right.

Yes! Holy cow! We forgot fins, and just couldn't get all the way out there. After, I tried to get back to shore and swam and swam and wasn't getting anywhere. LOL I laugh now, but at the time, it was scary! So bring fins, and you should be fine with the current. 😉

Is it better to snorkel off the beaches or take a day sail to go out into the sea and snorkel? Do the daysails take you out to the beach snorkel spots or are they different? Most of the daysail companies are vague on the snorkeling sites and say "it depends on the weather conditions etc." so I'm not sure whether to spend the money on the daysail to snorkel or just rent equipment and do it off the beach.

Hmmmm....nobody has answered you yet and unfortunately we haven't dont both, so I can't give you a good answer. I can tell you that the snorkeling is very good all over St John. I would imagine, however, that if you took a private charter you would probably hit comparable, if not better, spots. I think they generally take you fairly close to the shore, in bays, for snorkeling, not as much to the open water. Also, I'm pretty sure your captain will take you to a few different islands (if you have a passport), so you'll get a broad snorkeling experience.

If you're considering a private charter, don't do it just for the snorkeling. I don't know that there is such a thing as a thousand-dollar snorkel out there...maybe there is, I just don't know. From what I understand, it's about the entire boating experience: being out on the water, having a great captain to educate and entertain you, checking out the "road less traveled", snorkeling, drinking (if you drink), etc. My point is that if you're strictly looking for a great snorkel, I think you can find it just off-shore on St John...but again, I'm not entirely sure. Hopefully someone with more experience will reply to you soon. Either way, I'm sure you'll have great snorkels and a great time!!!

Great snorkeling at maho bay along both sides of the bay. And its usually calm water. Francis bay on the south side out on the point is good also. Hope this helps

My wife and I recently sailed with Captain Pat on the Ike Witt and as Crystal mentioned it's a sail to bay on STJ with excellent snorkeling, entertainment and some education about the local history. Lunch is served and an open bar if that's your desire, bottled water and soft drinks were also available. The charter boats can moor just off the beach at several locations that private boats can't and they will usually pick a good spot with calm water and no crowds for snorkeling. Captain Pat brought us into the beach in the zodiak (small dinghy) and after snorkeling with us and bringing up starfish and various other stuff he returned to prepare lunch while we snorkeled for awhile more. We were just in the VI for a day off the cruise ship and had little less time or Captain Pat would have sailed to a second snorkeling spot. A nice sail back to Red Hook sipping some Rum Punches and it was a very relaxing day. I had researched day sails before our cruise and most charge around the same pp which is about $110 for a full day. Would diffinitely do a day sail on the Ike Witt when in the VI again.

I would love to do a day sail from St. Thomas to St. John for snorkeling but I have a bad back and cannot sit without back support for more then 10 minutes. Is there a place on the boat where I would be able to sit with back support cause it doesn't look like from all the photos on the boats?

Has anyone snorkled at Honeymoon? If you have I would love to hear. Thanks, Leticia

My wife and I snorkeled the rocky area between Honeymoon and Soloman 2 days ago, saw a good variety of fish, including some very large and colorful parrot fish. Theres interesting coral here also. The entry from Honeymoon is easy, go in on the left side of the beach where the shore starts to get rocky. When we arrived at around 11 AM after a wonderful rock scramble along the coast line from Cruz Bay, I was not too happy to see the hordes of snorklers from 3 different outfitters swarming in the bay. Happily they all left by 12:30, otherwise we may have passed on snorkeling that day. We also saw a good size ray in the sandy area right in front of the beach. The coastline between Honeymoon and Caneel bay is also worth exploring. J