We are planning a trip to the
Carribean and trying to decide between Grand Caymans, Aruba or St. Croix. I would love a place to solo swim a couple miles each day safely. Any suggestions?
Thanks !
Annie
You should check out Swim Trek (www.swimtrek.com) They offer open water swimming vacations in the British Virgin Islands and St. Kitts/Nevis. Not solo swims but a great open water swimming holiday none-the-less.
St Croix has a good group who get together to swim OW regularly. You might be able to contact the masters group there to see if they'll let you know when/where they're swimming. There are several good places like Cane Bay on the north shore and anywhere between Chenay Bay to Green Cay to The Buccaneer on the east side of the island. www.stcroixdolphins.org/swim-team.html
If you go there, I'd recommend the Tamarind Reef hotel. It's not fancy, but it has a quiet atmosphere, a restaurant/bar attached, a beach shack with all kinds of water sports toys, and you can swim from the beach to Green Cay, around and back again for a good swim every day.
Of your choices, I've only been to Aruba. Though Aruba probably has some of the nicest beaches in the world, the number of places to swim OW very limited for a few reasons. First, most of the Island is surrounded by rough waters crashing into jagged limestone/corals. There are a few calm areas but it is the second reason, Aruba suffers from over-tourism and much of the best potential areas to OW swim are crowded with recreation traffic.
H2O temps range between 79˚F (March) and 84˚F (October)
My first OW swim in Aruba I was pulled over by the Coast Guard riding a jet ski while I was swimming beyond the buoyed sections of the Hotel beaches.
One OW friendly area is along Boca Catalina to Malmok, which has a dedicated area for swimming and non-motorized activity about 1km long and perhaps 20 to 50m wide in about 200m long sections (have to slip under rope each section). The water is calm and clear and the marine wildlife is OK (though it seems to have dropped off recently). Unfortunately this area is also popular for folks trying to catch their supper from the shoreline.
The best area to swim would require a guide to access, and is also busy with fishing boat traffic. I won't even bother mentioning it.
Masters Practice is MWF (5:30 to 6:30) at Roly Bissick pool in Saventeta
I second St. Croix. In addition to the places already mentioned, the West end of the island is the lee and offers fantastic swimming.
There is also a group is called the Finfolk Caribbean Swimmers (formerly the St. Croix Finmen) that swim regulary. They have a Facebook page that allows you to message them.
I have only been to Grand Cayman of the three you mentioned, but for what it is worth the beaches and island are amazing. The main tourist track is along 7 mile beach, which is a long strip of white sand beach. There is the usual activity there all day with watersports and the like, but in the morning this area is very calm and when I was there many people used this time to swim this stretch. Also Just north of this is a lesser known beach and reef, with far less activity. The beach is called Cemetery beach, named because there is a cemetery adjacent to the beach. This is a great place to not only swim, but snorkel as there is a reef right off the beach.
Let us know where you end up going, happy swimming!
Thanks to everyone for all your insight!!! I will definitely let you know where we decide! I'm going to reach out to the St Croix masters and see what I can find.
I have been to Aruba for diving not OW swims and - yes it is rough on the coast not by the beaches and resorts. It sounds as if St. Croix will be a good choice for you.
