Hurricane Hole, St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

5TravelLoverLaura 5:00 PM Jun 17, 2015

Take an excursion!
You know how sometimes, if everyone says the same thing, there's something to it? We chose the "do-it-yourself" route for Hurricane Hole because we wanted the freedom to choose how long to snorkel and had just done a different tour elsewhere on the island. But this is a location meant for a tour (or charter or something to get you to the right spot). We'd originally planned to rent kayaks at Crabby's, but it was too windy for several days in a row. (We thought about paddle-boarding but were advised against it in this wind.) We learned of a gap in the mangroves by the road next to Princess Bay, so we parked on the side and went in. What a cool, otherworldly environment! Yes, the water is really the color shown in photos. Really! The water at this mangrove cutout, though, is really, really, really shallow, and the bay floor is covered with upside-down jellyfish. Plus, mangrove roots poke upward and are covered with little corals, so you really don't want one touching your bare skin. If you do go, I'd say, at a minimum: water shoes (no fins, because they'd definitely damage the environment) and a full skin (I wore a shortie and got a poke on my leg that got infected and took about a month to heal--don't know how I got it, because I was super-careful, but I noticed it when we left the water). If you swim way around along the left, the water gets deeper, and then you can really start seeing and appreciating the mangrove environment. But by that time, our kids were tired and we needed to turn back. In contrast, a kayak or boat tour would let you go to the prime snorkeling spots and avoid the shallow water issues. It was a great adventure I'm glad we had--a kayak or boat tour just would've made more sense, and I'm sure we could've found a really flexible one. The environment is one to experience if you can pull it off!

4PattiC216 5:00 PM Jan 21, 2020

long drive on windy, hilly roads but the beach was nice and not crowded
We drove from the westin on a windy day. Unbeknownst to us, LimeOut was closed due to rough surf. We hung on the beach with a few other people and enjoyed the sand. Disappointing we coulldn't try the floating taco stand - guess we'll have to go back! We went to a pizza place for lunch, then on to Salt Pond. SHould have had burgers at SKinny Legs instead.