Sand Beaches vs. Rocky Beaches

[Dome526]

As a Virgin to St. John, USVI, we are very excited for our first trip this November. Our first week will be the first week that Cinnamon Bay Cmapground is open, and our second week will be near Coral Bay. I have seen many pics posted of beaches, some are sandy beaches, and some are rocky beaches. Is there a general rule as to which beaches are sandy vs. rocky? It seems that the north side of St. John has sandy beaches, and the south/southeast has rocky beaches? Any guidelines?
Tom in CT

[lprof]

Some useful beach information here:

http://www.seestjohn.com/beaches_types_of_beaches.html

Maybe we'll will see you in November!

[54b]

To varying degrees, every beach on the North Shore (Salomon to Francis) is going to have soft sand good for limin'...or put another way, good for going barefoot.

Relatively speaking, the sand on the South Shore beaches is little courser. You can certainly still go barefoot on beaches like Salt Pond and Little Lameshur with no problem, but the difference is noticeable. The beach area right below the surface of the water on the South Shore also tends to be a little rockier (people often wear water socks or their flippers when they enter).

And then there are the South Shore beaches that are all rock or stones like Great Lameshur, Grootpan, Cobblestone and Drunk Bay. The link that lprof mentioned above is great for getting details on specific beaches and I'd also suggest going to Amazon and getting a copy of Feet, Fins and 4WD by Pam Gaffin.

[Capn Dan and Ruby]

To handle the rocky beaches Capn. Dan and I figured out how to wear our keens in, take them off and put them on our wrists (turning them so the shoe is on the back of our hands) and putting our fins on in chest deep water. It works great, and they are not in the way.