点评:Our first full day we planned to ferry over to STJ and I was going to to do Maho for sea turtles until I figured out our island had that, so to save on expensive cab fare on STJ, we came here for our turtle mission. I wouldn't call it the sea turtle mecca that it is sometimes described, but we did see them. We arrived around 10am or so on a Monday and got free on street parking. I wouldn't call the beach pretty per se in comparison to other USVI beaches, but it was big with plenty of room to find your own spot and not crowded. I searched for nearly 30 mins---I was determined to be the turtle warrior. I figure the kids were tired of waiting for me and I wanted to surprise them, but I didn't want to have them wait forever so I told everyone else to come in. Of course, my husband spotted one in like 5 mins then another. He became the turtle hero *sigh* ;-). I later got the bragging rights of seeing a huge, majestic slightly intimidating spotted eagle ray later in our trip, so there is that.
Of course the turtle(s) were super cute, but no more than 2 were ever spotted in 90 mins or so of our combined snorkeling. What was really cool though was people describing it as the turtle mecca also said not much of anything else. I disagree. I saw the oddest thing that was soft and tubular and jellyish looking ---it was pink with spots and I later ran the pic through Google and we narrowed it down to likely some sort of eel. I also saw this unique pretty white fish with a black stripe and a few other cool things.
I researched before going should I do Brewers or Trunk for kids first time trying to snorkel from a beach and results said Trunk. Now that we did both, I mostly disagree. Especially if you have younger kids, which I do not, I highly recommend if on St Thomas you do Brewers first which is much calmer. It isn't boring, still no movement calm Magens Bay, but it has just enough movement while staying calm so you can have really pleasant snorkeling vs the chop we dealt with the previous day at Trunk. Trunk on the flip side would be a good first one for kids with any experience because of the marked trail.
They appeared to have restroom facilities though we didn't use them. It is by the airport if you are into watching the planes---more to our preference or concern, they were not loud and didn't bother us and most kids like watching planes take off.
No turtle mecca while we were there, but we did see a turtle and quite a haul from many resorts, but big beach, low crowds, fairly pretty and some of the easiest snorkeling (calm, no coral to navigate, clear, no urchins to run into etc.). It was worth the drive out there.
翻译:在我们抵达的第一天,我们原计划乘渡轮前往圣托马斯岛,我本打算去马霍海滩观赏海龟。后来才发现我们所在的岛上也有海龟,为了省下在圣托马斯岛上昂贵的出租车费用,我们便直接来这里完成观龟之旅。虽说这里算不上人们常说的“海龟圣地”,但我们确实看到了海龟。我们是在周一上午10点左右抵达的,当时可以免费在路边停车。与美属维尔京群岛的其他海滩相比,我觉得这里的海滩算不上漂亮。不过那里空间很大,有足够的地方可以找到属于自己的位置,而且也不拥挤。我找了将近30分钟——当时我下定决心要成为“乌龟勇士”。我想孩子们肯定等得不耐烦了,我也想给他们一个惊喜,但又不想让他们永远等着,所以就让其他人先进去了。当然,我丈夫才过了5分钟左右就发现了一只,接着又发现了一只。他成了“乌龟英雄”啦 *叹气* ;-)。后来我则获得了发现一只超大号乌龟的“荣誉”,可以拿来炫耀一番啦。那种威风凛凛却又略带威慑力的斑点鹰鳐,在我们行程的后期也出现了,就是这样。
当然,那些海龟超级可爱,但在我们合计90分钟左右的浮潜过程中,最多也就看到两只而已。不过真正有趣的是,那些把这里称作“海龟圣地”的人,却也说这里没什么别的可看的。我可不赞同这种说法。我看到了最奇怪的东西——它软软的,呈管状,看起来像果冻一样。它是粉红色的,上面还有斑点。后来我把照片发到谷歌上搜索,最终确定它很可能是某种鳗鱼。我还看到了一种很特别的白色小鱼,身上有黑色条纹,此外还有其他一些很有趣的生物。
出发前我做过研究,想知道对于第一次从海滩上浮潜的孩子来说,应该去Brewers还是Trunk Beach。搜索结果显示应该选Trunk。不过现在我们两个地方都去过了,我大部分情况下并不认同那个结论。尤其是如果你带的是年纪较小的孩子的话。虽然我自己并不去那里,但如果您在圣托马斯岛上游玩,我强烈推荐先去Brewers湾,那里要安静得多。那里并不乏味——马根斯湾依旧风平浪静,没有任何波浪,而Brewers湾则既有足够的水波活动,又保持着相对平静的状态,因此非常适合浮潜。相比之下,前一天我们在Trunk湾遇到的海面状况就糟糕得多。另一方面,由于有明显的步道指引,Trunk湾倒是很适合那些有一定经验的儿童作为初次体验之地。
那里似乎设有洗手间设施,不过我们并没有使用。如果你喜欢看飞机起降的话,这里离机场很近——对我们来说更值得庆幸的是,飞机飞过时并不吵闹,完全没有打扰到我们;大多数孩子也都很喜欢看飞机起飞呢。
我们在那里的时候没能找到所谓的“海龟圣地”,不过确实看到了一只海龟,还有许多来自各度假村的游客。这里的海滩很宽阔,人也不多,景色相当宜人;潜水条件也堪称绝佳——海水平静、没有珊瑚需要躲避、水质清澈,也不会碰到海胆之类的。为了来这儿专门开车一趟,绝对值得!