Shut your eyes to examine a tropical paradise, and it’ll in all probability look lots just like the seashores of St Thomas, the place sugary white sands lined in perky inexperienced palms give strategy to faultless teal-colored bays. Whether or not you’re the kind to worship the solar, snorkel with sea turtles or double-fist daiquiris, St Thomas has a seaside certain to tick all the precise bins. Listed below are the most effective seashores the island has to supply, from the well-known strips of sand featured on all of the journey websites to the key seashores locals go to to flee the crowds.
Magens Bay
A frequent inclusion on lists of essentially the most lovely seashores on the planet, Magens Bay actually is well worth the hype. Sure, you’ll have to pay a payment to enter. And sure, it does get filled with vacationers (particularly when cruise ships are in port). However there’s no different seaside on St Thomas fairly prefer it – it’s tucked on the finish of a deep horseshoe-shaped cove with inexperienced hills snaking off into the horizon on both finish. Altering amenities, eating places, water sports activities leases, picnic tables and lifeguards all make it an incredible selection for households.
Honeymoon Seaside
Take a 15-minute ferry from the Crown Bay Marina to the dock on close by Water Island, hike for 10 minutes over a small hill, and also you’ll end up at a picturesque cove lined in towering palms referred to as Honeymoon Seaside. Blessed with extremely calm waters, it’s an incredible place to lease a kayak or paddleboard for a leisurely mid-morning journey. It’s additionally dotted with the umbrellas of low-key seaside bars, making it a really perfect spot for a type of lunches that by accident turns into an early comfortable hour.
Lindbergh Bay
Airplane spotters love Lindbergh Bay – as you lay again on a towel basking within the tropical solar, you may watch jets descend into the neighboring Cyril E. King Airport. Named after the pioneering American aviator Charles Lindbergh – who landed right here on a victory tour in 1928 after finishing the primary solo transatlantic flight – this lengthy, broad seaside shaded by seagrape timber is nice for strolls or swimming laps. Anybody flying out early ought to contemplate the 2 accommodations on both finish, Lindbergh Bay Hotel and Emerald Seaside Resort, which make handy final-night stays.
Lindquist Seaside
Nestled within the protected Smith Bay Park, Lindquist Seaside is a real imaginative and prescient of paradise, with smooth white sands main out to calm aquamarine waters. Off within the distance, emerald inexperienced cays roll throughout the horizon, making it a well-liked backdrop for each island weddings and American commercials. Households love the place, too, as a result of there’s all the time a lifeguard on obligation, picnic tables for lunching and a bathhouse with showers the place you may rinse off the salty sea.
Brewers Bay
Sea turtles and stingrays are steadily noticed ambling by means of the seagrass of this large bay behind the airport, which is a favourite with college students from the close by College of the Virgin Islands. Regardless of being the most effective locations on the island for sea life, Brewers Bay sees way more locals than vacationers, who usually come for picnics and gatherings on the weekend, chowing down on pates (meat pies) or johnnycakes (fluffy fried bread). On weekdays, it’s usually abandoned. With snack vans, restroom amenities and quick access by public bus, it makes an incredible vacation spot for vacationers on a price range.
Sapphire Seaside
It might be referred to as Sapphire Seaside, however the water right here is so turquoise that you just’ll assume your eyes are tricking you. Guests usually base themselves within the condominium leases and resort accommodations that encase this East Finish seaside for its sweeping views over St John and offshore cays which are as spectacular because the snorkeling on the reef close to Pettyklip Level. Sure, it’s unabashedly touristy, but it surely by no means feels overrun with day-trippers. And with a gradual breeze, it’s additionally the most effective spot on the island for windsurfing.
Neltjeberg Bay
Pristine sand traces and an ideal half-moon bay are the rewards on the finish of a 20-minute hike out to St Thomas’s most interesting secret seaside. Neltjeberg Bay lies on the far aspect of a thick tangle of bush – together with wild-growing pineapple and guava – to the west of the extra accessible Dorothea Seaside. The one signal of civilization is a solitary – and fairly opulent – home atop Ruy Level, in addition to the vine-clad ruins of an outdated sugar plantation. BYO every thing (and cart it again out) as there are zero amenities; it’ll simply be you, the sand and some curving coconut palms!
Coki Seaside
If you wish to snorkel proper off the coast of St Thomas, nearly everybody will level you within the route of Coki Seaside. Whereas the corals right here aren’t what they was – and the scene is something however serene – most guests do encounter loads of tropical fish (thanks, in no small half, to the controversial apply of fish-feeding). Understand that as a result of it lies adjoining to the flashy theme park, Coral World, this slim strip of sand can get completely slammed with vacationers.
Mermaid’s Chair
The prospect to place one foot within the Caribbean, then one other within the Atlantic is what lures intrepid vacationers to the distant double-sided seaside referred to as Mermaid’s Chair. This small strip of sand on the wild western tip of St Thomas is finest considered at low tide. To succeed in it, plan to hike about 1.3 miles (2km) downhill from The Protect at Botany Bay on a largely paved highway with in depth views over the westerly cays.
Buck Island
To not be confused with the Buck Island Reef Nationwide Monument off St Croix, the Buck Island National Wildlife Refuge off St Thomas is managed by the US Fish & Wildlife Service as a protect for migratory birds, together with frigates, terns and gulls. There’s a historic Danish-built lighthouse, however little else on this scrubby, cactus-dotted isle. The true purpose to go to is to not set foot on a seaside (you’re aren’t allowed!) however to snorkel or scuba dive on the offshore reefs – each pure and artifical (a shipwreck) – in addition to the seagrass-filled Turtle Cove, which is densely populated with, you guessed it, turtles!
