USVI-On-Line

Is it possible to just walk through Caneel Bay to these beaches without being thrown out by the "resort police"??? I know we don't want to be obvious "intruders" with chairs, coolers etc, but I sure don't want to be embarrassed either. If all else fails we'll rent a zodiac and swim in but would rather spend some time on the sand between snorkels. We promise to be on our best behavior....

If you come by boat you can use the beach up to the high water mark

I always like to visit Caneel when I am in St. John because Caneel was our honeymoon spot many years ago that started our interest in St. John. We usually head to Caneel beach one day and also have lunch and drinks there. In the past, we have sometimes taken a walk down to Scott or Turtle, not even taking our towels. This last trip, in March, my wife and a friend walked down Caneel Beach and exited the beach walking toward Scott---no towels, beach chairs, bags---just themselves. They were indeed stopped by the "resort police" and nicely reminded that if they were not resort guests they were only to use the main beach at Caneel. I'm not complaining about this----if I were shelling out $1000/night for a beachfront room at Caneel in high season I probably wouldn't want to mingle with riff-raff like us either---just wanted to let you know.

I think they are getting a lot more diligent about this. This past stay we were stopped on two occasions while walking on the grounds and asked for our room number. It was not a big deal, but it had never happened to us before. Maybe we look like riff raff.

Doesn't the National Park have an arrangement with Caneel to allow visitors (who have properly signed in with the front desk) to use one specific trail to get to Turtle Beach? I thought I read that somewhere. But, you have to go to the front desk to notify them of your intentions?

liamsaunt - I think you're right about that. High season Easter week 05 we snorkeled Scott no problem, then got chased away deep in low season Aug 07.
As for arriving by water, I would assume they dont want folks beaching rented dingys on the beach either.
While understandable, perhaps not reflective of the spirit of Mr. Rockefellers intentions.

You do have to tie up to a mooring ball

Well I guess I will throw on the diamond tiara, mink bikini and give it a go!

I thought you were allwed to use Honeymoon, too-via the trail from the NPVC?

Yes you can use honeymoon you can get there from npvc or from caneel

snorkelqueen wrote:Well I guess I will throw on the diamond tiara, mink bikini and give it a go!

Was that you in Sports Illustrated?

Cheers, RickG

Tropic at Heart,
I had heard this as well that there is a trail, that is part of the national park, that you can use to get to Turtle Beach. I looked at the "Trail Bandit Guide" and it shows it as Turtle Point Trail.
We were on Turtle Beach in April, however, and were asked to leave. We stay at Caneel once every trip, with the exception of that April trip, and have never been asked for a room number, but this time, people were asking left and right. Yikes. I must of looked riff raff! When we go in July, we will be staying there once again, and I'll have that uncomfortable feeling that they're going to be asking me any minute if I'm a guest.

Right - that WAS me in Sports Illustrated....the VERY SENIOR edition!!!!

gymnastika wrote:Tropic at Heart,
I had heard this as well that there is a trail, that is part of the national park, that you can use to get to Turtle Beach. I looked at the "Trail Bandit Guide" and it shows it as Turtle Point Trail.
We were on Turtle Beach in April, however, and were asked to leave. We stay at Caneel once every trip, with the exception of that April trip, and have never been asked for a room number, but this time, people were asking left and right. Yikes. I must of looked riff raff! When we go in July, we will be staying there once again, and I'll have that uncomfortable feeling that they're going to be asking me any minute if I'm a guest.

I'm surprised they asked you to leave from the beach. I thought is was U.S. law that all beaches are public up to the vegatation or high water line. I understand if they can ask a person to leave if they know they trespassed private property to get to public property, but technically once you're on the beach you're on public land. Of course, they can prevent you from going back across their property if you don't have a boat pick you up. So, I guess you'd have to leave if the ask you to, as they are granting you a way to use their land to leave. I will investigate further with the National Park Service to see about the Turtle trail. Maybe it's something that you have to register with the NPS first and they notify Caneel.