The Virgin Islands, one boat ride apart.
Which catamaran actually stops where the turtles feed. What a private charter costs once eight of you split it. Whether the Baths day is worth the passport. Every tour on the three islands, reviewed.
In the Virgin Islands, the boat is the decision.
Sail or power, half a day or the whole one, six guests or forty. The beach, the turtles and the lunch stop all follow from what you step onto at the dock.
Wide deck, shade, a ladder off the stern
The easiest first day on this water: room to lie on the netting, a crew who know which cay is holding turtles today, and a swim ladder rather than a leap. These fill earliest in the week.
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Half a day of canvas and two or three stops
The standard outing here: sail out, pick up a mooring over reef, swim, take a beach stop, and be back in before the afternoon wind. The small-boat versions cap the guest list; the big cats trade that for shade and a bar.
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Your own boat, your own running order
Powerboats here are quoted per hull rather than per head, so a group of eight often pays less each than eight seats on a scheduled trip — and you choose the stops.
See all 9 →Three islands, and they are not the same holiday.
St Thomas has the harbour, the marinas and most of the fleet. St John is mostly national park and beaches. St Croix is forty miles south and runs at half the speed.
Where the Virgin Islands keep their green turtles.
Seagrass beds off Little Buck Island, Honeymoon Beach and the St James cays feed green turtles all year. These are the boats that stop where the grass is rather than where the schedule says.
The Virgin Islands tours everybody ends up on.
Every review →More travellers take these than anything else on the three islands — and this is what each one is actually like once the boat leaves.
1
Turtle Cove Catamaran Snorkel and Sail at Little Buck Island STT
3-hour St Thomas catamaran snorkel at Little Buck Island Turtle Cove with gear, snacks, and an open bar after the water.
From · $119
Read our review →
2
Snorkel St. John Tour from Sapphire and Margaritaville
from $180
3
Night Kayak Tour St. Thomas – Westin Frenchman’s Reef
from $69
4
Tree Limin’ Extreme Zipline
from $155
5
Afternoon Snorkel, Pizza & Sunset Tour departing from St. Thomas & St. John
from $120
6
Parasail Experience in St Thomas
from $146
7
Sunset & Harbor Lights Dinner Sail from the Marriott’s Frenchman’s Cove
from $119
8
Night Kayak Tour St. John – Westin Resort
from $69
In these islands you swim to lunch.
A wood-fired pizza barge moored in Christmas Cove off Great St James. A taco bar floating in Coral Bay on St John. You arrive by dinghy or by paddle, order from the water, and eat with your feet still wet.
The floating bars →
What a Virgin Islands day actually costs.
Every reviewed tour by the price on the ticket. The cheap days here are on land; the water starts higher, and the private boats are priced by the hull rather than the head.
Harbour runs, the ocean park, the jeep road day and the kayak trips — a full morning without chartering anything.
The scheduled boat day: catamaran snorkels, the St John run with lunch aboard, the sunset fleet.
On St Thomas the day ends at a marina, not a bar.
Frenchman’s Cove, Sapphire, Margaritaville: the sunset fleet leaves from the resort docks around the east end, pours something cold, and puts Water Island and the harbour lights on the way back in.
- 1Afternoon Snorkel, Pizza & Sunset Tour departing from St. Thomas & St. Johnfrom $120
- 2Cocktail Sunset Cruise from Sapphire Beach Resortfrom $130
- 3Champagne Sunset Sail from Margaritavillefrom $130
The Baths and Jost Van Dyke are a passport away.
Virgin Gorda’s granite pools and Jost’s beach bars are a morning’s sail from St Thomas and a different country. Every boat here clears you in and out; without the passport you stay aboard.
Four things to settle before you land in the Virgin Islands.
Most of these islands can be booked from the hotel the night before. These four cannot: they turn on a border, a group size, a second ticket and a park gate.
- 01The Baths and White BayVirgin Gorda and Jost Van Dyke are British territory. No passport, no boarding, and it cannot be fixed at the dock.
- 02Explore the Virgin Islands on a Private Boat CharterPrivate boats are quoted per hull. Settle who is coming before you price it — the per-person number changes completely.
- 03Sea Trek Helmet Dive at Coral World Ocean ParkPark admission and the in-water add-ons are separate tickets, and the helmet and Snuba slots are the ones that run out.
- 04St John Island and Trunk Bay Beach TourTrunk Bay sits inside Virgin Islands National Park, which charges its own entry on top of whatever the tour costs.
On St Thomas the water keeps going after sunset.
Clear kayaks with lights under the hull go out from Frenchman’s Reef and from the Westin dock on St John, over grass beds and reef where the fish come up to the glow. Two hours, flat water, no experience asked for.
Three St Thomas days that surprise people.
Snorkelling and beach bars you can find all over the Caribbean. A sealed helmet on the sea floor, a mangrove sanctuary you can only paddle into, and a road that keeps left belong to this island.
The helmet walk at Coki Point
A sealed helmet feeds you air while you walk the sea floor off Coki Point, glasses on and hair dry. It is the way into the reef for anyone who will not put their face under, and it is booked on top of ordinary park admission rather than instead of it.
- 1Sea Trek Helmet Dive at Coral World Ocean Park★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 992 reviews
- 2Coral World Ocean Park General Admission Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 442 reviews
- 3Snuba Adventure at Coral World Ocean Park★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 114 reviews
Cas Cay and the Mangrove Lagoon
The south-east corner of St Thomas is a protected lagoon of red mangroves, and the channels through it are too narrow and too shallow for anything but a kayak. Most trips beach on Cas Cay for a walk over the volcanic rock before the snorkel on the far side.
- 1Cas Cay – Kayak Hike and Snorkel Adventure★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 870 reviews
- 2St Thomas Mangrove Lagoon Kayak and Snorkel Tour in the US Virgin Islands★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 658 reviews
- 3Best of Mangrove Lagoon Kayak, Hike and Snorkel Adventure with Picnic Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 261 reviews
The open-air road day
The Virgin Islands are American in every respect except the one that matters at a junction: traffic here drives on the left. Hand the wheel to a guide, sit high in an open jeep, and take the ridge road over the top of the island without thinking about it once.
- 1Half Day Cultural Jeep Beach Adventure – 4 Hr Tour St. Thomas★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 181 reviews
- 2Private Open-Air Jeep Adventure with Tropic Sun – Hidden Beaches★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 100 reviews
- 3Best Jeep Tour of ST.Thomas Virgin Islands★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 97 reviews
By island, and how much each one has
St Thomas204 tours
St John52 tours
St Croix20 tours
Sightseeing on St Thomas13 tours
Snorkelling off St Thomas13 tours
Sightseeing on St John9 tours
Jeep days on St Thomas8 tours- Every reviewed tour →
By experience — what kind of day is it?
Latest Virgin Islands tour reviews.
All recent →
Sunset on the Water + Night Snorkeling with Guide in St. Thomas
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Private Sunset Charter + Guided Night Snorkeling in St Thomas
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Prince Taxi & Tours St.Thomas Airport transfer to Redhook Ferry
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Henry E. Rohlsen Airport (STX) to St.Croix – Round-Trip Transfer
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