Last summer, my husband, son and I went for an early snorkel at Maho. We parked, as usual, nestled under the trees. We left the windows open in the vehicle -- too early for bugs --why not? A couple of hours later, we returned. As I was brushing off my feet before getting in the car, my husband said,...

Take a look at Satinwood. satinwood-usvi.com It's a great family villa, with magnificent views, wonderful pool and plenty of space. You could put the kids in one of the master bedrooms (which has a fun loft with 2 single beds), and one of the couples could take the downstairs apartment. We've stayed...

We didn't discover St. John early enough to remember those things; however, we did meet Diddy a few years ago on the beach at Francis. She charmed our kids (and us) with stories of the early days when the beach was "theirs" (her and her husband's), before the road. And we'll never forgot h...

Julee, Take a look at notreciel.com. Notre Ciel is a wonderful, comfortable villa on Mamey Peak with a delightful pool and hot tub. The views are never ending, and we loved the location. It's an easy drive right down to Francis and Maho. We stayed there for two weeks in August a couple of years ago....

We recommend Bookitvi. They are on island and very responsive. Haven't used the others. Good luck!

We (family of 5) stayed at Satinwood and loved it. It's a great family house. The lofts, the views, the pools, the stargazing -- magnificent. It's located at the very end of Magestic Mile, so it seems very private, but you're looking down into Coral Bay and beyond. The breeze is constant and the hou...

We have stayed "next door" at Skyridge twice. (While relatively close, the two houses are completely private.) This is one of our favorite locations, on Carolina Ridge. The view over Sir Francis Drake Channel is magnificent. We love not looking down onto other houses. There's a real feelin...

S kyridge (listed on bookitvi.com) is one of our favorites for the magnificent views over Sir Francis Drake and Bordeaux, the comfort and the outdoor showers. Next door (but private) is Casa Luna , listed with carefreegetaways.com. Our friends stayed there and loved it. I've always wanted to stay at...

Our first trip to St. John was in late August of 2001. The sense of awe of the discovery of such a unique place was overwhelming. We returned home to downtown Manhattan and a couple of weeks later, our lives were changed forever. As we looked out our windows each day to the smoke of the remnants of ...

Teresa Rae and all who are interested, here is the response we received about Paypal and donations: If they pay with a credit card, PayPal extracts a small percentage, so a direct check is always better, but PayPal does pay with "impulse donations" not requiring the follow through of writi...

Wow, great to hear from all of you. I love all the photos and stories. Theresa Rae, I e-mailed Bonny about Paypal. I'll let you know. Islandgirl, we share your dream. We're far from actualizing it, but we hope you manage it. Just think of it this way -- the cats need you! JT, I read your post to my ...

Thanks to all. We, too, have befriended the stray cats at our rented villas (one who showed up daily during happy hour/appetizers) or at Shipwreck, etc. While there, we've helped Pirate Bill in his efforts, with our rental car, but we are sadly there too infrequently. What is needed is the consisten...

From Shelley, infrequent poster, long time lurker I know so many here love St. John as do we, and so we're appealing to you to help the island. For some time there has been a serious feral cat population, and in the past several years, locals have battled this with a humane and diligent effort. Inte...

Polarized sunglasses, a couple of good books, great music and people you love. Can't think of another thing. Shelley.

ME AND MY BELOVED VIRGIN is beautiful book by Guy Benjamin. He's an amazing man who writes lyrically about growing up on the East End of St. John many years ago. It will make you wonder, laugh and cry. Highly recommended. My husband has also written three books, mystery/suspense novels, which take p...