It was a Sunday and we had taken the car ferry over from St. Thomas for the day. Our mission? Well, we’d love to experience every single one of St. Johns beaches, so part of it was to find a few beaches that we hadn’t yet seen and the other was to find a beach to veg.
Gibney and Oppenheimer beaches were on our list, as the few parking spots for them have been full every time we’ve driven by. This time there were open parking spots, but there was a sign on the gate that said “Closed for a private event”. Sigh…still on the list. (Find Gibney Beach on our St. John Map)
Next stop? Peace Hill. We continued just a little farther on North Shore Road to the Peace Hill sign and a small parking area.
We’d taken the short path Peace Hill and the sugar mill ruins before, and loved the terrific overlook of Gibney Beach, sigh, Hawksnest Bay, and Trunk Bay, but didn’t realize that a small unmarked path off to the right led to the rather secluded Denis Bay Beach until we got home and studied our map (I got low grades on my pre-trip research for that particular trip!). Anyway, we were here now and determined to find Denis.
The path to Denis is a bit rocky and muddy after a rain storm and probably best done in sturdy shoes, but we of course were wearing flip flops. It had poured for a few short minutes prior to our arrival and so we slipped and slid down the trail but arrived with lower digits intact. The wooded trail opened up to beach at the end, where we ditched the flip flops and walked to the right, where the beach looked sandiest.
The beach is not large compared to neighboring Hawksnest and Trunk Bays, but it was deserted and the only person we saw was a lone fisherman on a rocky outcropping a few yards from shore in the bay.
I imagine the beach is usually pretty quiet as it takes a little effort to get there, but we thought it was worth it. Denis Bay Beach found and we’ll be putting a check mark in front of one more beautiful St. John beach.
Have you been to Denis Bay Beach? Tell us about it!
Find Denis Bay on our St. John Map
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