Diving Spots that are good for Snorkeling too - BVI/USVI

[troyce1]

We will be in St. John this May and are planning on chartering a boat to do some island hopping.
There will be two of us that are divers and 3 who are not.

I am trying to find some good spots that are suitable for both divers and snorkelers.
First spot I can think of is The Indians which we have been too for snorkeling, but not for diving.

Any others?

I was reading about Eagle Shoals which is close to St. John, I figured if we had extra time to kill coming back we could stop there to at least snorkel, has anyone been here?

 

[EDGE245277]

Diamond Reef in Marina Cay is another

 

[diversteve]

Thumb Rock off Cooper Island rises to within about 15' of the surface. It tripped my computer into safety stop countdown when I swam over the top of it.

Seal Dog Rock in the Dogs breaks the surface. There was a big school of baitfish on the more protected side within a few feet of the surface. We watched a barracuda pick some off one dive. I filmed inside them and they moved almost to the surface at times. It's sort of open water there though - a small pinnacle rising out of deeper water. It's the Atlantic on the outside so there were some bigger pelagics hovering nearby. I've heard it called an Advanced dive but it wasn't the day we were there - low current, great vis.

The Aquarium off Virgin Gorda has some of those big boulders like at the Baths but they're u/w. Some must be within 10' or so of the surface. It's just off the harbor IIRC.

Other options: Caribbean Beaches - British Virgin Islands Dive Sites

 

[troyce1]

@ Diversteve - Thumb Rock sounds cool, and I've read about it some other places too. Virgin Gorda is probably out of the question as I figure we will dive/snorkel for the first half of the day and hit up sandy spit, and Jost the last half to third of the day.

I know with alot of these dive / snorkel spots its objective.

I've been to St. John 3 times, and still never been to Trunk Bay. In my opinion the best snorkeling is deep water snorkeling around pinacles at the south side beaches that are less traveled, so less people talk about them....so I'm hoping to find some of the same "off the beaten path" type spots around Cooper, Norman, Tortola etc.

We will only have a boat for a day, so trying to pick the best!

 

[diversteve]

Oh, I thought you were doing a yacht charter.

Maybe Carval Rock off Cooper - I've never been there though just heard about it.

Thumb Rock was good but I wouldn't make a special trip there. I'm not sure we would have found it w/o a guide - it's not very big.