Half Moon Cay is popular with cruisers that sail on Holland America Line's ships. The long beach on Little San Salvador Island in the Bahamas is the beach most people dream of when escaping to the Caribbean: sugary sand, mostly uncrowded, and rum drinks easy to order. The destination is also private, only hosting passengers from the line's cruise ships, usually just one ship at any given time. Sometimes an additional ship might stop, as the Rotterdam did when I visited off of the Nieuw Statendam early in April. My ship offered a guided snorkeling excursion off the island, however the tour was cancelled when the boat that was supposed to take passengers experienced some problems. But there was a solution for many of the disappointed tourists; join me on a mile hike down the beach to the western end of Half Moon Cay. From this uncrowded corner of the isle, it was an easy swim to where the tour boat was originally headed. Like most of a ship's stops in the Caribbean,
Most people with a limited amount of time on St. Thomas head immediately to Magens Bay Beach. Cruise ship passengers by the hundreds include at least a short stop at the longest and, possibly, most beautiful beach on the island. While undeveloped and protected as a park, I've always understood that it's not known for its snorkeling, lacking easily swimmable coral reefs. As a result, on my recent visit to the Virgin Islands, I headed to Coki Bay at the northeastern end of the island. As the taxi driver reminded me in the cruise port about my favorite pastime, "I've lived on St. Thomas for forty years; believe me, it's the best!" I actually had a list of several other snorkeling spots to consider: Secret Harbor, Lindquist, Brewers Bay, and Sapphire. Each was off of a sandy beach, and each had its own attractions. However I was familiar with Coki already, having snorkeled there just over six years ago. It was a pretty beach with the requisite Virgin Island