We made a late afternoon visit to this beach and had to park at the end of the trail area but is was still an easy walk to the beach. Parking here also gave us the opportunity to take the trail back to the car which we were very grateful for. The beach was beautiful like many of the others in St. John, wide and sandy with plenty of spots for shade to get out of the hot sun. The trail was very nice and gave us the opportunity to see ducks and other sea birds wading in the pond as well as some ruins that we had read about. Definitely a beach to visit and don't miss the trail.
Francis Bay is incredible!!! It is a large bay with very easy access from the parking area (although you need to get there by 9:30 am or so for a good parking spot). The snorkeling is quite good, especially for rays and turtles in the center of the bay.
We went back repeatedly because of the wide, long sandy beach, with plenty of shade so you don't grill yourself.One of the best swimming beaches on the island because the water is generally very calm.
Good views and nice sandy beach with fairly good snorkeling. Good shade available. Can park close to beach.
The beach at Francis Bay is reached either by a dirt road requiring a high clearance 4WD vehicle from the end of the paved Mary Creek road or by the short, easy 0.5 mile (0.8k) Francis Bay Trail that departs from a parking area also located at the western end of the Mary Creek road. The trail is very worthwhile as it takes one through tropical scrub forest, past ruins of a great house, a saltwater pond and an area of mangroves. The trail emerges at the northern end Francis Bay Beach which, being a bit off the beaten path and well protected, is generally uncrowded and quiet with warm, very calm waters making the bay a picturesque and popular anchorage for sailboats and an excellent beach for small children. Off most of this beautiful, long strip of white sand beach, the bay’s bottom is sandy with turtle grass lacking rocky, coral outcroppings so the snorkeling is different here than at many other beaches. Here one will see many large schools of juvenile fish and goat fish searching along the bottom amongst the turtle grass. Francis Bay is also one of the better places on St. John to spot sea turtles but chances of spotting one are best early, before most day trippers arrive. However, if you are looking to snorkel with colorful reef fish, there are rocky headlands with coral outcroppings at either of the far ends of the beach that support reef communities. We really enjoyed this peaceful, picturesque beach and bay as well as the trail to reach the beach.
All the beaches on st john are beautiful, but I have chose this one as my favorite because:-short distance from parking lot to sand-fewer people-plenty of space mangroves to water-nice long beach for walkingthere are no chairs to rent, so bring your own along with a cooler!
It's a little out of the way, so, it's less crowded. It's really nice with a fairly wide beach for St. John and awesome water. Wish I could have spent more time there.
Francis Bay is a lovely long stretch of beach. We come for snorkeling and not laying on the beach. Snorkeling around the rocks to the left you will see beautiful coral and lots of fish. We did not swim out far enough in the center to see more.We found lots of conchs.Nice beach.
Smaller beach with parking. Good path to see unique crab life and ruins. Liked how unique it was andn o beaches crowded.
We hiked from the trail at top and then on Boardwalk through the mangroves. Beach was great, shade available but waves were huge.