Snorkeling at Trunk Bay in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

A snorkeling trip to St John’s Trunk Bay is an extremely popular shore excursion many cruise passengers choose when sailing to St. Thomas. Snorkeling at Trunk Bay happened to be our very first experience on what has become our favorite Caribbean destination. During a non-cruise vacation to St. John, we spent a considerable amount of time exploring the many trails and snorkeling around the island. I’d be lying if I said Trunk Bay was the best place to snorkel in St. John, but as a cruise excursion it is a great place to see some marine life in their natural habitat.

On your way to Trunk Bay, you driver will likely stop an the overlook which provides the following view. The land mass you see in the middle of the picture is Trunk Cay. On the east side of Trunk Cay there is marine park with a 224-yard long snorkeling trail.

Trunk Cay At Trunk Bay St John, USVITrunk Bay’s snorkeling trail features guided markers with some information on the corals and fish you may see. If you are new to snorkeling, there a couple of very important things you should remember. One, DO NOT TOUCH THE CORAL!!!! Touching coral will kill the coral, which is not cool. Coral can also cut you and some will sting you. If you really have a need to touch coral, make sure it is fire coral (NO; don’t do that either. As the name suggests, it will not be a pleasant experience for you.). The other tip is to NOT harass the marine life. Relax and casually float around the trail and the fish will more than likely swim close to you once they determine you are not a threat.

The following video features a trip along the snorkeling trail. It is a little long, but I encourage you to stick around, or at the very least skip ahead to see the sea turtle and the ray. Seriously, the sea turtle was amazing. I could have watched it all day.

The snorkeling trail is not the only place to see some unique marine life. While swimming around the shore, a large school of fish caught our eye which led us to the discovering of a conch taking a break before its next move. Unlike the first video which was handheld, in this one, I placed the camera in the sand and continued to swim around.

If you are interested in learning about getting to St. John on your own, I shared some tips on how to get to St. John from St. Thomas.

One Reply to “Snorkeling at Trunk Bay in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands”

  1. Max Jones

    My wife and I have always wanted to do a snorkeling tour, and I think that being able to read a little bit about the experience would be neat! I’ve always heard about how cool it is to be able to see fish and other sea life in the water naturally, so being able to take a snorkel tour would be a lot of fun for me. I’m glad that you talked about being careful not to touch anything like the coral, and how it will kill it if it’s touched. I’m going to have to be really careful we don’t touch anything, and hopefully have a neat experience snorkeling for the first time!

    Reply

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