Scott and I had one full day left to relax and enjoy St. Thomas and our group decided to check out Coki Beach, which was a 5 minute walk from our hotel. We headed out early in the morning around 9am and already the sun was heating up and we were breaking a sweat. Along the beach in front of the hotel, workers were working hard to remove a seasonal algae called Sargassum. From the air, we could see miles of the algae, which is a major nuisance to Caribbean beaches and is threatening tourism.
Located on the other side of the peninsula, Coki Beach is well known for snorkeling. It is generally considered the best shore snorkel on the island, so we couldn’t wait to check it out.
As you approach the Coki Beach entrance, you’ll find a cemetery and many wild chickens running around. At first, I wasn’t sure if we had entered at the right location, but there was a very large sign at the entrance.
What made me question this? To be honest, it was a dirt lot and trash was everywhere.
Is this really the famous beach?
As Maria and I walked towards the beach, we passed so much garbage plus some extremely gross items that I can’t even mention publicly. We were both horrified to say the least. The blue water caught my eye immediately, but then so did all of the trash along the beach. The beach was filthy and unsafe. With bottle caps, broken bottles and other sharp objects, this was not a place to hang out for the day.
The four of us looked pretty defeated and sad, as this was not what we expected at all. We made the decision to head back to the hotel and spend the day there.
I’ve thought about that day a lot, because it wasn’t the only place we came upon so much trash. There was garbage on all three islands we visited.
I have to ask, what is the answer and how can we help? Being 6000 miles away, we can’t jump in our car and do a beach clean-up. However, there has to be something we CAN do. If you have suggestions or know of ways, please leave your comments for us. We know there are organizations like 4ocean and ocean conservancy who are working hard every day to help clean our planet, but is there a specific organization that is concentrating on the Virgin Islands? I found a Facebook Clean up page, but there was not much action on it. Please let us know – we want to help!
What a beautiful spot to relax
Our friends were staying on the opposite end of the resort, next to the hilltop infinity pool. After our trek back from Coki Beach, we headed up that way to spend the day by the pool. Instead of taking the golf cart, we opted to climb over 200 steps to get to the pool! Be sure to watch the video of Scott climbing!
The pool overlooked Water Bay and Thatch Cay (pronounced “key”) island. From the pool deck, the views of Water Bay are gorgeous and in the distance you can see Thatch Cay, which is an uninhabited 230 acre private island that is actually for sale. For information, click here.
Due to covid, you still had to wear your mask when you ordered drinks from the patio side, but if you swam up to the bar, you didn’t need to wear one. Needless to say, we spent a huge amount of our time in the water. Even with plenty of sunscreen, I got a bit sunburned, so don’t let being in the water fool you.
Staying in for dinner
Since we were flying out the next morning, we opted to hang around the hotel for dinner and take it easy. The hotel has one bar/restaurant, Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville which sits right on the beach. The food was good and the drinks were perfect. Our only complaint was everything shut down at 9pm, including the bar. Strange. So we called it an early night and headed back to our rooms to pack.
Be sure to tune in to our next blog and episode, as we take a sea plane to St. Croix, which is about 42 nautical miles south of St. Thomas.
As always, thank you for following our journey! Please be sure to subscribe to our blog and our YouTube channel, and follow us on social @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney
Cheers, Scott and Ally
