You really should rent a car. Gives you a lot of freedom and saves some money. Cab rides can add up! St. Thomas is not a place to stay at your hotel all day. If you look at some of the tabs on the top of this page there are a lot of activities for boats to the BVIs.

RL

For a great excursion charter contact VIBE Charters at 340-62-2875. They do day charters to the BVI, island and bar hopping, snorkelng and site seeing.

VIBE Charters for a fun excursion at 340-626-2875.

Hi Ann. Welcome to the VINOW forum.

Your questions are good ones and are asked more frequently than most. I don't know what the fare would be, but I know that Crystal Cove is close to Red Hook (maybe 3 minute drive).

As Ron stated, car rental is preferable to most visitors because, unlike islands where the resorts are self-contained (often for safety reasons), the resorts on STT and STT are only one facet of your vacation experience. The VI islands are most enjoyed when you get out and explore the historic sites, beaches, restaurants, shopping, and driving around the island for the sake of exploration can be just as enjoyable as getting to a particular destination.

Although driving is on the left, most visitors report that the transition was easy. The things to really be careful about is not driving, but pulling out onto a road (rather than looking for cars coming on your immediate left, you have to look right first)...same with walking off of a curb. The signs are in English and look just like the road signs in the US - same system.

Nothing against the taxis. But, I like the idea that if i want to run to the store for a bottle of rum and a liter of coke, I can. Or, I can decide to have cocktails in Palm Passage in Charlotte Amalie, dinner at the North Drop in Hull Bay and then go listen to music at Ritz Carlton near Red Hook. To me, that's easier in my own car (and cheaper!). Or, things like this happen....you pull up in a taxi at your desired restaurant, pay, get out and then find that they can't serve you for over an hour...you want to go elsewhere....now you have to hail (hail?? this is not Manhattan, is it? - I mean CALL) another taxi and quickly decide where to go next...while the meter is running. Too stressful.

Rent a car. If you can, get a small one....as small as possible. Smaller cars are easy for us visitors to navigate on the tiny streets with the open gutter systems. If it has some dings when you pick it up, all the better.

I rent my STT cars from Hotwire. I expect to pay around $19-$21 a day. If the rate doesn't look good, i play with the dates. I stay for 2 weeks, so if I have to make 2 reservations to make the rate work, I do. I'll make a trip to the airport to check my car in and back out if I can save $100 or more. 100% of my Hotwire rentals have linked me with Avis for my rental. Avis cars can go to STJ.

Boat trips to BVI? You might want to use the "Search" function. We've discussed this ad nauseam. I have done:
In order of most recent...
1. Born to Rhumb powerboat charter with Captain Kevin - MAJOR fun - excellent trip. I think you have to have a party to rent the boat - or pay the full fare with just 2 people. I assume you have just 2. Sometimes, people on his forum will post a message of the dates they want to go and see if any other visitors will go in on a charter. I did this with a forum member and it worked out well for our families. Captain Kevin (awesome, awesome Captain) visits this forum, so he can probably quote his price. There is also a website. Kevin is very laid back and won't stress you -and he serves yummy painkillers!!! If you don't drink them all, he sends you home with the leftovers. In our case, this caused the party to go on for several days - beware!

2. Public Ferry to BVI. If you search, you will see that I am a fan of the public ferry It is an affordable way to visit the BVIs and if you pick the right ferry, it can be like a charter. In Feb, I used the public ferry to go nonstop from STT to Virgin Gorda(9am depart- $60 r/t adult, $40 r/t child). . It was a very small, fast ferry with an outside top deck where we sat going and returning. Taxis picked us up at the dock in Virgin Gorda and took us to the Baths....the fee was amazingly low - I want to say $10 for 2 people round-trip. The taxi driver gave us a stub to use on the return and he told us what time he would pick us all up to take us back for the return ferry that afternoon. He even held some people's stuff for them. He was so nice. It was a safari bus. He came right on time and we got to the ferry and returned around 5:30.

I had previously told this forum that I always meet the most interesting people on the public ferry. Last time, I met a middle aged backpacking couple from Switzerland...on a no-agenda trip through the islands. This last time, I met a lady and her son from the Philippines. She saw me at the St Thomas dock, struck up a conversation and asked if she could go with us (her son was my daughter's age). She was holding a ticket to Tortola (another person with no agenda), but when we met she cashed it in for a ticket to Virgin Gorda and off we went - spending the day together. I wonder who I'll meet next time.

3. Nauti Nymph Powerboat rental. You can hire one of their captains for about $100/day or take the boat out without a captain (bareboat). These are fast powerboats (think Fountain) that will take you wherever you want for the day. Will run about $400 + gas and oil. The more horsepower you get with the boat, the more fuel you'll burn. Then again, the more power, the faster you'll get to your destination. STT to the Baths is a long trip without sufficient power. Plan on at least $100 for fuel.....maybe $150.

With options 1 and 3, you'll tip the captain - 20% or so.

Hope this helps!! Go use the Search feature.