Reef Bay Trail - Newbies

[Bumblebee2]

We've visited St. John multiple times but this will be our first time hitting the Reef Bay Trail. We're really looking forward to it. We made reservations with the park guide. We've read about it and watched a few videos. Besides appropriate attire, enough water, packed lunch, bug spray, sun screen am I missing anything?

[PA Girl]

We did it in February with our 7yo so I saw it through new eyes, so to speak.

The ranger described it as "this will probably be my coolest hike all year" (refer. to the temps) and we burned through far more water than I expected, six full bottles. I packed our water, lunches and towel in a light day pack, which worked well. A couple of people were carrying small totes, which looked uncomfortable. One Dutch couple had their things in a plastic shopping bag, not good. Take a small trash bag for your lunch trash so your back pack doesn't get messy.

Didn't encounter any bugs but that may be weather dependant.

The trail was much more rocky than I remembered in prior years. I am glad the guys had on keens and equally glad I wore running shoes instead of the tevas I brought along.

Don't be afraid to take a camera, the boat crew was super careful about keeping peoples bags dry.

There is no place to change at the bottom of the trail, which took a number of participants by surprise.

[Bumblebee2]

Thanks for the great info PA Girl! One thing I didn't read much about is the boat(s) on the return. Are they dinghies?

[islandbrenda]

They bring a dinghy to pick you up at shore and take you out to the sadie sea.
Google the sadie sea so you can see the boat...the owner/operater Tom is a fantastic host! You will enjoy it!

[Bumblebee2]

Thanks again PA Girl! I have a clear picture now

[mindehankins]

We took the plunge and finally did this, yesterday. It was great.
You meet at the NPS pavilion. There will be a binder there with info on the hike and they paint a pretty dire picture of the difficulty and tell you to go to the NPS desk if you want to back out, and they'll refund you. Don't back out - it wasn't a difficult hike. Almost all of it was downhill (we skipped the petroglyphs part).
When you get to Reef Bay, if the Sadie Sea isn't there yet, walk out to your left. Pretty neat beach!
If you can get it, the best seat for the ride back is at the captains right shoulder. I agree that he's a terrific host. The boat ride alone was worth the $30! He tells lots of trivia and points things out. Good times agree completely with all the other advice. Blaine really needed to use the restroom, but would not go in them there. They are really gross!
P.S. I wonder why they don't give the ranger a trash bag every Monday, and have them bring back all the accumulated water bottles by the potty? Seems easy enough...

[Bumblebee2]

About how long is the boat ride back?

[mindehankins]

Oh, and FYI: we saw several people but not all, tip some combination of the taxi driver, the ranger, and/or the boat captain. It didn't seem to be either expected or refused.

[PA Girl]

The weather was absolutely horrible for our return boat trip, it rained so hard that we couldn't see the shoreline so my estimate of 30-45 minutes might be way off, hopefully someone else has better info.

I agree, during prior trip, that the boat ride was the $30 on its own. You will see parts of the island you would never see otherwise.

[TrvlJohn]

For a funny take on the Reef Bay Trail experience, you should read this Reef Bay Trail Report by Forumite 54B...I laugh out loud every time I read it... http://bit.ly/11Pvl9G

John

[inuny]

That was hilarious.