As you can see from the lack of replies, the VI is not geared towards children. There is a pool at the Eco-tents and the hiking is good on STJ. I would suggest renting a vehicle, since you will be so far out there...then you'll be able to explore mor, as well, which you willneed to do with a little one. Maybe make a day-trip top STT to go to Coral World?

The Eco-tents are awesome, though! My wife and I love to go over there (we live on STT) when we need to 'get away'. No TV's, no radios, no phones, no cell phone coverage either! It's great!

We took our (then) 18-mo-old and 3-year-old to StJ in July '04. Our kids loved the beach. We brought arm floats for the 3-year-old and a Safe-T-Seal swimmer (body float) for the 18-mo-old so that both kids were able to swim with us. Because the water is so clear, they were completely at ease paddling around. We bought a kids' snorkel and mask for the 3-year-old - he didn't actually snorkel, but he started to get used to the idea (after watching "Finding Nemo", he was convinced that anyone wearing a diving mask is a "bad guy"). Pack a picnic lunch and spend a few hours; kids find things to do (coconut collections, feed hermit crabs, ect.)

Non-beach activities: We visited the Annaberg ruins, went to an iguana feeding at the Westin, drove around the island, walked around Cruz Bay, and spent time in the pool at the villa. They especially loved being able to swim in the pool at night and first thing in the morning. And most importantly, they were exhausted at the end of each day 🙂

Thanks ccase....I was wondering about the snorkeling...we will revisit finding nemo before the trip. We have an SUV reserved for the trip. Did you find it difficult to transport them from the airport to the Ferry. We are getting our car on STJ....what was your experience with these "taxis" with the little ones? Did you bring your carseat? What beaches did you find good for the kiddos?

I appreciate your help!

Rich

Before our trip I wondered about the taxi situation as well because we didn't take our carseats with us. Apparently taxis, buses, etc. are exempt from the carseat law, so carseats are not required (but that doesn't make it as safe are we like to be!). Because of this, we decided to take the ferry from Charlotte Amalie, as it is much closer by taxi than Red Hook. I should also mention that the airport-ferry taxis on STT are large 9-10 seat vans, not the open-air safari variety - a little less to worry about. I seat belted both kids and everything worked out fine.

We always rent a vehicle on STJ; the rental company provided carseats for a small daily fee ($5 I think).

Since you'll be staying at Concordia, you'll definitely want to try the beach at Salt Pond Bay. The walk from the parking area and back is a bit steep, but other than that, it is a nice calm beach. Salt Pond is the beach where you can find hermit crabs, so take some snacks. The hermits also hang out at Concordia too - you'll probably hear them clattering around on the hillside there, especially at night.

Any of the North Shore beaches are excellent for kids - probably even better than Salt Pond, just not as conveniently located. For the most part, you can't go wrong with any of them. Bring a neat sheet, snacks, and drinks, and you'll be all set.

Ok thanks! What is a neat sheet?? Possibly I missed this in that parenting book right??? 🙂

A Neat Sheet is a terrific invention - it is a water repellent ground cover. They're great for picnics, beach, etc. Sand won't stick to it and if it gets wet, it dries very quickly. You can buy them at WalMart, Kmart, Target, many grocery stores, drug stores, etc.

Check it out:
http://www.theneatsheet.com/

Wow...thanks! You need to write a book....where would we as parents ever be if we didnt have great advice from others.....

If you do take Marty's advice and go to STT, he is right on. Coral world and Coki beach are terrific for the kids. The snorkeling is easy (not very wavy and don't have to go too far out) The fish are very at ease with people and there are always plenty of them around...

rich,

imho, easiest and one of the prettiest snorkles (i like the colorful soft corals and its interaction with people and fish) is right side of maho. water is usually calm unless north shore seas are rough because beach is only exposed to nw wind. go in at right end of beach and follow rock shoreline out. often huge schools of minnors cover the area and pelicans dive bomb them. turtles frequent the sea grass just off the beach and rays often cruise sand bottom between beach and grass. otherwise little to see in those areas. mostly sandy entrance into water and slowly gets deeper. very safe for children under parents eyes.

if you arrive early morning (you'll be awake with little ones) you can park within a child's stone throw of beach. there will be some shade in june/july and there is plently between fall and spring equinox as sun moves further south of stj.

i've always had excellent cingular cellph coverage there since you can see stt. can get crowded later in day but then unless you drug your kids, the family will be ready to move on by time it gets crowded.

have fun. you are very brave to take your kids on such a long journey. perhaps comments from board visitors will make the family trip something other than a chevy chase vacation!

papabou

I have had many, many STJ trips with kids.....

ideas....

Of course, kids just love to hang out on the beach - no frill, no thrills - just sand and sun and water - what more would kids want? You can find sand toys and water noodles, etc at the Starfish Market and/or the little drug store across from it.

You can also try....

mini-golf at Pastory Gardens

Ferry rides

Noah's Little Ark's adventures - dinghy rentals

Dinner at Rhumblines - they have rope swings at the bar where my daughter loves to sit and swing while I sit next to her and eat or drink

But, really , kids just love the beach and time with their happy, relaxed parents. No worries...enjoy.

We haven't been yet but are taking our two kids to STJ in November. They will be almost 4 and 15 months. Just thought I'd let you know you aren't the only ones. We are staying at Maho Bay and plan to rent an SUV on STT and take the car ferry. We use our car seats on the plane so will have them with us. We figure that the transfers from airport to taxi to ferry would be too much. I do plan to ship a couple of boxes ahead of us so we won't have to deal with too much luggage (other than the car seats, stroller, diaper bags, and of course the kids!). Travelling light is a long way off!

I am working on compiling the information I've gotten so far from this board and others so if you want to PM me, I'll send you what I have. It's so nice to have such great information out there!

Does anyone know if there's some sort of "window" you can put in the water to look through? I don't think I could get my son to wear a mask, but some sort of small "glass bottom boat" thing might make it easy for him to look under the water.

Sorry for the rambling!

Keri

Hello Keri,

There are small boogie boards with underwater viewers - that might work.

--Islander

yes...If i had two I would rent at the airport as well, I did read something that the car ferry is a little more hectic. It also seems like everyone says to pack real light...more room for the little mans stuff.
Actually for the "window", what we did in Florida was use a large rectagular "measuring cup"...It was about 5X4 and made a neat viewing glass....

Keri,

Ill spit you an email and we can share notes...We can also "talk" after I get back which may make your trip easier....

Do a Google search for snorkel raft (or the like).

Here is one of the sites I hit, which I know another poster recommended for exactly the same type items. http://store.isnorkel2.com/snorkelrafts.html

Jennifer

We don't have kids ourselves but the last time we had nieces and nephews along we did the following things - not geared to a specific atraction or activity but just some kid stuff to pass the time:

1) Set up a "Gothcha" game before we went. Made a list of "gotchas" on the computer and print out copies. This is a car or walking game - see a mongoose - "Gotcha" 25 points, see a donkey - 20 points; see a rainbow - 50 points. We made it with pictures and included easily recognizable types of flowers and trees. Use as many easy to spot landmarks as possible to build points and keep the game lively. Highest score of the day gets a prize, as does highest score of the week. Actually, you could start this at the airport at home. You could also do this with a "bingo" card setup.

2) Get some swim noodles and rubberbands and have a small craft (lol) building / race contest. You need an adult to supervise and cut the noodles to "spec" for the kids' plans. The race happens at the shallow end of the pool where each kid follows their craft along the "course", pushing their craft to the finish by blowing it along - no hands allowed. You can pack a yard or two of white cotton fabric for sails and the sails can be decorated with markers.

3) This is lame but it works - for kids that swim and are just starting to dive or are comfortable under water - the old money (change) in the pool treasure hunt is good for an hour or two - again, adult supervision in the pool.

4) We also had a lot of fun at the beaches with cheap kites . Just make sure they have strong string. Pick a wide beach so you don't get hung up in any trees. Get some cheap kites at home then let the kids decorate them and jazz them up as they are putting them together. If you want to offer a prize for "highest, just put a mark on the string before they reel them in and then measure the strings after the kites are brought down. This is not a very good idea at beaches where they offer parasailing but I didn't really have to tell you that - did I?

5) Figuring a rainy day we brought some crafts - foam visors (with those curly pastic fasterners) in colors for both boys and girls and little foam boxes. We also brought a collection of those peel and stick foam shapes for decorations with, of course, the markers. They wore the foam visors and had the little foam boxes for bringing home their shell finds. You can get this foam stuff at a craft store in many different forms - including flip-flops.It weighs just about nothing. We also had a smoothie-a-thon, using the villa blender. (Again, you may need an adult to man the blender). Put out a bunch of ingredients and let them be creative. We also brought some very inexpensive colorful see-through blow-up inner tubes. They decorated those, as well - just bring some permanent markers (like Sharpies) and be sure to keep an eye out that the tubes are all they are decorating - lol. The kids liked the idea of decorating these and then leaving them at the villa for the next kids - kind of a "we were here".

Hope these will spark some ideas.

Have a great time!

Check this out from Target.com They call it a Reef Explorer Fun Float.

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=1-9/qid=1148584509/ref=sr_1_9/602-5164170-6377434?%5Fencoding=UTF8&asin=B000ENA3X2

Please buy your child a rash guard. The sun is very strong and I saw way too many very badly burned children.

http://www.myrashguards.com/ToddlerRashGuards

http://www.shop.com/op/~UPF_Shirt_Sharky_(Rash_Guard)-prod-12909595?gs=1

Here is a Spiderman one on Ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/SPIDERMAN-Swim-Sun-Shirt-Rash-Guard-Rashguard-SzM-SPF50_W0QQitemZ6884941389QQcategoryZ15604QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Have a nice trip.

The National Park Service has a Junior Ranger Program too - we plan to do that with my kids in a few weeks. Thanks everyone else for the information - I am keeping a runnning list!

Tracy

Tracy from WI!

Where?

I'm in Wisconsin too....

Ain't St. Thomas THE place to go!!!!!

We are in Hot Madison! Lots of poor runners gearing up for the Mad City marathon this weekend - 88 degrees and humid! Where are you?