hawksnest beach

Arnoldfamily1

The beach is hilly with lots of spots for shade in the mangroves. Great snorkeling here and some waves for the kids. We all loved this beach and stayed for quite a while. You can see ruins up on e hill across the bay.

rogery548

Get here early as there is limited parking. The beach sand is so very fine and the view is amazing. Snorkeling is very good here as well but better at Francis, Maho, and Salt Pond. Great beach!

wannabecruzin

We loved this beach and went many times during our visit…we could snorkel or swim over to Oppenheimer and we Love this beach and will be back. Its the one that drops off into the water and has the softest SAND

JillConnecticut

powdery sand and protected bay. With shady areas. Watch the clouds roll by while and the waves come in others cram into Trunk bay which is wonderful at non peak times.

668CM668

This is a beautiful beach and the snorkeling is really good too!Would recommend it and will visit again

BarbWas

Beautiful, blue waters and white sand. Plenty of shade. Just gorgeous. It was quite wavy when we were there which we heard happens on the northern beaches in the winter. Just made it more fun!

2newdocs

we had fun at this beach and snorkeled all around the beach and water. the kids really liked it with little to no current made it easy to swim around. there were some really cool rock formations and we climbed on and swam around as well. Definitely worth a visit!

DOMAMA81

Came to Hawksnest the last beach day of our vacation. Every other day the winter ground swells were up, making most of the north shore beaches too rough for snorkeling or the kids to play( age 3 and 5). I also think the full moon tides may have had something to do with it?We had calm enough seas that the kids could play by the shore, 5 year old snorkeled with mom. We saw coral, a turtle, a ray, a cuda, lots of fish. The beach is quite sloped. Proximity to town is great. Get there early.If ground seas up, go to Francis or Maho where we spent the rest of the week with the kids.

JudyK288

we went a couple of days following a storm so the normally big waves were huge (9-10') which made for a lot of fun. surfers were out. some folks tried to snorkel but just could not. there is not much beach at high tide so we were crowded into the bushes along the edge with the other folks. there is a bathroom (outhouse) and there are grills and picnic tables. parking is very close so it is easy to carry your gear in. the water is warm and the beach is sandy. you will get sun in the AM primarily. occasional pelican can be seen.

annieb40

All beaches on St. John are beautiful, so take this criticism with a grain of salt! The day we were there the water was fairly rough and the there was very little " safe" beach where your stuff wasn't going to get wet. Also, the beach is very sloped, making it difficult to place your beach chair. The beach is considerably smaller than some of the others as well.

IndependentTravelAK

Like most visitors to St. John, I had read up on all the beaches prior to coming, and had compiled a short list of "must do's". Hawksnest was not on my "top" list based on the reviews I had read on many websites, but in the second tier. We ended up here because we had gotten kind of a late start on the day, and all the "Tier 1" beaches had full parking lots (the lots are mostly really small). It didn't help that there were 10 of us in 2 cars!Anyway, we ended up really loving this beach. The sand was wide and white, the water warm and crystal clear, and there are a couple of decent snorkeling areas not too far off the beach. We didn't see any super cool stuff, but a nice reef with lots of fish, sea fans, and sea urchins. We ended up spending the rest of the day there with snacks and beer and a really "chill" vibe. It wasn't our favorite beach on St. John, but the bar is VERY high on this island. On virtually any other island, this likely would be #1.

leed809

Such a wonderful beach, really enjoyed we only stayed a couple of hours but well worth the visit clean tidy beautiful crystal clear water , not commercial at all and its easy to get to just tell the safari taxi driver that you need to be dropped there and getting back is easy you just flag down a taxi they run by all the time,

AnnieDodgeCity_KS

We talked to several snorkelers on this beach and they had spotted sea turtles as well as sting rays. My husband was out swimming and almost stepped on a sting ray(4 feet under on the ocean floor), so watch wear you step.

730stacyb

We didn't have great snorkeling luck the day we went but the beach itself is lovely and easy to park at. it also wasn't too crowded, though we went quite early. We spent the day with an adorable little box crab right next to us digging himself a new home.

pine1010

This is the first beach with parking/facilities you get to when leaving Cruz Bay. That being said it is usually very busy. The only plus is it gets morning sun