Christy:

Most of the time..... YES. Sometimes visibility is a little cloudy after a storm. But on most days, you can be neck deep in water and you can look down and see your feet. You can also see what's swimming around you. The pictures are not deceiving.

tmax

Christy-

It's even more clear than you see in the guidebooks/magazines. I can't even go to the Jersey shore becasue I can't swin in water I can't see to the bottom of. Also, I've noticed that other tropical places don't have the clearity and allure of VI waters. I've been to Cancun, Puerto Rico, Florida's Gulf.....NOTHING even close to what you find in the VI. People have no idea about the difference until you see for yourself.

Its so clear that when my children went swimming for the first time, they asked me why the water was salty (they'd been in ocean water many, many times before) I think they thought it was a giant swimming pool.

🙂

I love this "how clear is it?" thread....

I'll add another....

It's so clear you can sit in your beach chair on the sand and watch the fish swim by.

What an interesting question...

Yes the water in the Virgin Islands (both British and US) is very clear..

No...it is rarely"crystal clear", but compared to the coastal East and West coast...Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, it is wonderful...and much warmer. Most people don't know , but the Pacific Ocean off shore of "sunny" California is about 50 degrees . Colder in the winter. It is somewhat warmer in the southern part of the state, but is still cooled by the Alaskan current. (that also produces California's wonderful moderate climate. The Atlantic Ocean on the Eastern seaboard "warms slightly" in the summer, but never really approaches the 80+ degree temperature in the Virgin Islands.

The clarity is affected by storms, surges and time of year.

There are many places around the world...(mostly in the southern hemisphere) that have water as clear (or more?) as the Virgin Islands.

But ..yes.. unless you come at an unusual time you will not be disappointed.