We had a rather unusual (not sure if it was or not) experience with a villa safe. As you all know, the mechanism is battery operated and the select-your-own-code kind. One morning I tried to punch in the code but no matter what numbers I punched, the only numbers showing up in the panel were 0’s. We...

sunset view from pool deck, st. john

We rented a jeep from Paris once and were not allowed to park in their lot. I don’t know if that has been changed or not. The jeep we rented was on the beaten-up side, which did not bother us because it drove fine.

I have to say… Underrated: Rhumb Line When we ate there last June, there was hardly anybody there. They had live music that night, which we didn’t know until a woman with a guitar appeared on the stage and began preparing for her show. We then realized that we had been seated right in front of the s...

I agree with liamsaunt. I think it’s good news. We enjoyed our meal at Ten Tables and were planning to go back. Now we are more excited because of chef Trujillo’s relocation to Paradiso. Paradiso has been our sentimental favorite even after we stopped going there. It used to be the place where we sp...

I vaguely remember reading about a stand/vendor (or something) that sells fresh vegetables in the Coral Bay area. As I recall, it’s not easy to be found. Am I confused or is there a stand like that in Coral Bay?

This might be a dumb question but if you are staying on the Coral Bay side of the island for 10 days or more and you are cooking at the villa at least half of your stay, how do you deal with getting fresh meat and produce? Let's say you are NOT bringing any frozen meat from home (we prefer traveling...

Our story is pretty simple. My husband and I had been to Hawaii and French Polynesia. We very much enjoyed snorkeling and the tropical air but it’s a long trip from the east coast. We began looking for a place closer to home. The words describing St. John like “nearly 70% of the land is National Par...

Paradiso used to be a really nice restaurant (it was our favorite on St. John for a while) but after the chef, Ted Robinson, left for Tage, it sort of went down hill, in my opinion. I know Ted eventually left Tage too but did I hear he’s back again with Tage?

Francis is my favorite too.

I, too, saw a shark that looked like the one in your photo in Leinster Bay. It was there right below my belly in the 4-foot-deep water over the sea grass. Though I could be wrong, I think it was a lemon shark. I recall seeing a fairly large second dorsal fin, which was not as big as the first dorsal...

When we bought snorkel equipment for the first time, it was for a trip to French Polynesia and we went for quality ones instead of cheap ones. Since we were visiting some remote atolls, we didn’t want to take any risks of having a lousy time in the water with poor equipment and ending up ruining our...

There were at least 6 beach towels the last time we were there. I remember there were 8 during our other stays. You are not supposed to take regular towels to the beach (assuming that’s still true) so make sure to ask the agency if the villa has plenty of beach towels for you all to use. There were ...

My husband and I have stayed at Le Lapin a couple of times. Pros : 1. The view of sunrise and sunset. 2. The breeze (that could get quite windy sometimes…) 3.The feel of openness – Even when you are inside the villa in the great room you don’t feel cooped-up due to the sliding doors and windows with...