It's easy to get to. From the north shore road, if you were coming from Cruz Bay, you would pass Hawksnest, Trunk, Cinnamon and Maho Bay. Continue where the road becomes one way, and when you reach the "T" go right as if towards the Annaberg Ruins and Leister Bay. There's a small parking lot below the ruins; from there, you'll see a very well marked trail that skirts along Leister Bay for maybe half a mile so that you can get into the water for the snorkel around Waterlemon Cay.

FYI, there's a nice sandy beach along there and seems like a nice spot to hang out. Also, there's definitely other snorkeling around Leister Bay, though Waterlemon is definitely one of the best places.

And, just fyi, the Johnny Horn Trail begins just around the sandy beach area. There's a sign. It runs all the way over to Coral Bay with a cutoff down to Brown Bay. It's kind of a demanding hike, but even going just a little way up on the trail is worth it.

Here's a good STJ map:

http://www.virgin.islands.national-park.com/map.htm

A definite must if you like snorkeling. I was just there last week. You park by the Annaberg Ruins & walk down a trail for .8 miles. There is a sign that maps out trail.

Upon entering water we saw about 25 starfish that looked like big pillows.

We then saw approx. 5 sea turtles. They had what looked to be some type of little shark or some type of sea sucker attached to their backs.

My friend actually dove under & was able to touch the back of the turtle. It didn;t even seem bothered.

We saw very large sting rays & schools of large fish.

If you can try to snorkel out to Waterlemon Cay. It looks far when you on the beach but once you get into the water, you get lost in all of the fish. Sooner than you know, you are @ the cay. Very easy swimming ( at least the day we were there). Once you get closer to the cay, there are more reefs.

Enjoy & hopefully you will see all the cool things that we did.

The sea suckers are remoras. Scary looking things with sucker heads (and wouldn't that be a good name for a rock band as Dave Barry always says) but harmless.

Thanks for info. They actually looked like baby nurse sharks. (we knew they couldn't be though)

Thanks again.

Waterleamon is one of our favorite places and well worth the effort.

Hi! My husband and I just got back from our trip in STT yesterday. Spent a day out on STJ and went to Watermelon Bay/Leinster Bay (I believe it was Wednesday..maybe Thursday...the days sort of ran together when we were there..which was nice. 🙂 ) We had asked the girl at the activities desk at our resort which place on STJ she'd recommend that wasn't touristy/crowded, but had good snorkeling, and this was what she recommended. It was beautiful! Loved seeing the donkeys on the beach and the mongooses. Tried snorkeling, but I started to panic because the current was strong and I was getting pulled out. We were hoping to go around the cay, but since I freaked a little, I went to sit on the beach. We did see some gorgeous fish while we were in the water.

At one point, a fish beached itself, and a teen playing frisbee with his dad was trying to do the right thing and get him back in the water. Turns out that a baracuda was chasing the fish and he beached himself to get away. Poor teen didn't realize that and his dad joked that he just sent the fish to his death. 😉 Hiked part of the trail to see the ruins. It's gorgeous out there, so if you get the chance, do it..it's wonderful!

Just an FYI for others who read this, I believe it is illegal to touch sea turtles. I am sure Dawn's friend did not hurt the turtle, especially since the turtle failed to object, but don't want this to become a habit among visitors. Not meaning to blame anyone, just wanting to protect the folks and the critters.

Is there a prefered hike that takes you to Watermelon?

I don't know about the legality, but touching turtles is just not respectful. I can't imagine how I would feel if I was snorkeling along and some stranger came snorkeling by and--just our of curiosity--touched my back.

Hello Mabelline,

The Leinster Bay Trail follows the old Danish Road eastward along the shore from the Annaberg picnic area to Waterlemon Bay. It begins just below the Annaberg Plantation area; its a marked trail, about 0.8 mile and takes about 30 minutes.

If you meant a guided hike - don't know of any. The National Park service sometimes has a Leinster Bay Water's Edge Walk but that focuses on the mangrove area & shoreline sea life rather than heading to Waterlemon.

--Islander

Somewhere I thought I read that Leinster was a rocky beach, and that there were lots of sea urchins and starfish in the water right in front of the beach. Sounded like it would be tricky getting into the water to put flippers on. I sure don't want to be stomping on the starfish and the urchins.

But from some of these posts it looks like the beach is really nice and it's just the hike over that's rocky. So that just leaves me confused about getting into the water. Is it sandy where you go in, at least to a point where you can easily get your flippers on?

Thanks in advance.

WW

Humans can pass disease to turtles, and the turtles have no immunological defense to ward off disease - DO NOT TOUCH!

There is a part of Waterlemon/Leinster that is a nice sandy beach. But the part of the beach that is closest to Waterlemon Cay is rocky. You could head out from the sandy beach area, but most people like to enter the water from the closest point to the cay to have a shorter swim. It's not that difficult to enter the water from there.

Watermelon was the best we visited/ We went to the ruins and went down the trail (just walk east down the shore) and layed our stuff in the curve of the bay. We snorkeled to the right out to the cay and around it vack to the bay, it was the BEST!

Here is a map with pictures on how to get there.

http://www.stjohntour.com/Leinster_WaterlemonBay.html

Or you could do what we did and talk you daysail Captain into taking you there.

Thanks for the photographs. We always make this trek each year and we're looking forward to it again this year.

We were told to drive our jeep down the dirt road beside the ruins and park, then walk. (I'm not sure this was good advice. Anyway, walk anlong the shorelong and it will be rocky, then you will come to a large beach:

http://images.costcophotocenter.com/346996%3A%3B%3B%7Ffp3%3Enu%3D323%3A%3E%3B82%3E585%3EWSNRCG%3D323246%3B532%3B97nu0mrj

Swim out toward the cay, rest, adn swim back. I highly suggest a snorkle belt.

http://images.costcophotocenter.com/346996%3A%3B%3B%7Ffp3%3Enu%3D323%3A%3E%3B82%3E585%3EWSNRCG%3D323246%3B532%3B%3B6nu0mrj