usvi-on-line
How did you get "here"?
1. We went to St. John for our honeymoon in 1980 and loved it. For the next 15 years or so we had young children, we didn't have much of a travel budget, and we spent our warm-weather vacations in Florida visiting grandparents because the accommodations were free. In the late 1990s I had built up enough points on FF miles to go somewhere interesting, so we decided to go back to St. John with our family. It was even better than we remembered, and we've been coming back ever since.
2. I remember the old AOL Forum, but I was mostly a lurker. Must have found my way to this Forum from AOL, I suppose.
2. I remember the old AOL Forum, but I was mostly a lurker. Must have found my way to this Forum from AOL, I suppose.
---Jim
-
caribechris
- Posts: 61
- Joined: Wed Mar 14, 2007 8:34 am
- Location: Near Philly, PA
Wanted to go to Caneel on our honeymoon but it turned out to be too expensive for us...Honeymooned in Jamaica...nice but have never been back!
1991 - A friend stayed at Maho, told us about it and off we went.
1992 - Maho
1994 - Skipped STJ for ARUBA -- YUK, hated ARUBA
1997 - JVD - Stayed on WhiteBay then on to STJ Morningside - 10th Anniversay took some friends along, they are hooked
1999 - Morningside complements of my friends!!!
Caribe Villa (cannot remember year)
2004 - Palladios View - Took our two girls, now they are hooked
2005 - Southern Exposure with friends and took the kids again...boy are they spoiled or what!!
2006 - Ches Shell
2007 - Sea Spirit
thinking about a trip this year....
Used to lurk on Anthony's old forum....now I lurk on this forum.
1991 - A friend stayed at Maho, told us about it and off we went.
1992 - Maho
1994 - Skipped STJ for ARUBA -- YUK, hated ARUBA
1997 - JVD - Stayed on WhiteBay then on to STJ Morningside - 10th Anniversay took some friends along, they are hooked
1999 - Morningside complements of my friends!!!
Caribe Villa (cannot remember year)
2004 - Palladios View - Took our two girls, now they are hooked
2005 - Southern Exposure with friends and took the kids again...boy are they spoiled or what!!
2006 - Ches Shell
2007 - Sea Spirit
thinking about a trip this year....
Used to lurk on Anthony's old forum....now I lurk on this forum.
1. Wandering Bahamas, St Martin, St Thomas, then St John found me.
2. We were a random couple on a flight to St John. Two groms seemed to be part of a larger party, so I offered them my Nat'l Geo map and the Trail Bandit map in hopes they might "get it". It was Rick G's group. We chatted at the bagage claim and he said stop by the BB on Sunday. It's been all downhill from there.
2. We were a random couple on a flight to St John. Two groms seemed to be part of a larger party, so I offered them my Nat'l Geo map and the Trail Bandit map in hopes they might "get it". It was Rick G's group. We chatted at the bagage claim and he said stop by the BB on Sunday. It's been all downhill from there.
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
[/url]
[/url]
1.How did you find St. John?
My family-in-laws. They were just my boyfriend's family at the time but apparently he talked me up right good and they decided to invite me to a family vaca to STJ. That trip hooked me on STJ. STJ fulfilled all my expectations of a tropical paradise that I had ever dared to dream about. lo and bheold, hubby bought my engagement ring on that trip and we lived happily ever after....
2.How did you find the forum?
Google. Friends call me the Google Queen. I started Googling before our second trip back to STJ. I wanted to find my own way around the island for our second trip with hubby. We needed to chart our own course and it was obvious that we loved some things that his family wasn't really into and vice-versa. This forum was, and still is, the BEST place for info on STJ and the USVI's.
My family-in-laws. They were just my boyfriend's family at the time but apparently he talked me up right good and they decided to invite me to a family vaca to STJ. That trip hooked me on STJ. STJ fulfilled all my expectations of a tropical paradise that I had ever dared to dream about. lo and bheold, hubby bought my engagement ring on that trip and we lived happily ever after....
2.How did you find the forum?
Google. Friends call me the Google Queen. I started Googling before our second trip back to STJ. I wanted to find my own way around the island for our second trip with hubby. We needed to chart our own course and it was obvious that we loved some things that his family wasn't really into and vice-versa. This forum was, and still is, the BEST place for info on STJ and the USVI's.
My Great Aunt, who I very close to always wanted to take me to St. Thomas. She got very ill and died before she ever got that chance.
We had been to many places, but St. Thomas was always in the back of my mind of places to go....so we went!
Now I'm obsessed, and we do visit STJ on every trip and I'm trying to figure out how to get back there again.
I'm not sure how I found this forum, but I'm obsessed about forums and read all different kinds.
We had been to many places, but St. Thomas was always in the back of my mind of places to go....so we went!
Now I'm obsessed, and we do visit STJ on every trip and I'm trying to figure out how to get back there again.
I'm not sure how I found this forum, but I'm obsessed about forums and read all different kinds.
"Paradise...it's a state of mine"
-
Ron in South Texas
- Posts: 249
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 4:15 pm
- Location: Skidmore, Texas
I knew about STJ about 25 years ago. We took a cruise on our 10th anniversary to St Thomas and spotted STJ. Also, one on the kids I taught is related to Melanie Griffith (the actress) and they spent time at her villa. We finally got to STJ by way of Starwood (Westin). I exchanged my week for STJ and the second time as well. The third time, I split a villa with my sister and her husband. It will be 3 years this summer since I have been back and I really miss the place. I think I found this forum by doing a Google search.
It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere!
We were looking for somewhere to honeymoon - my husband had been to St. John in the mid 60's and really loved it, so STJ it was. Once I got on the ferry in CA - I knew it was going to be great. Maybe too good. Everytime I mention somewhere else I'd like to go, my husband says do you want to go there or STJ - HAH no contest.
My husband found the forum in 2003/2004, I lurked a bit and then joined - probably around '05 on the old forum site uder jac w. A year or so ago the office computer went wonky and I couldn't log on for months - Anthony talked me through a fix a few times - but it always went back to wonky. I couldn't figure out a way to ask my boss for a new computer when the only thing that I couldn't do was get onto the forum, so I got a new id.
My husband found the forum in 2003/2004, I lurked a bit and then joined - probably around '05 on the old forum site uder jac w. A year or so ago the office computer went wonky and I couldn't log on for months - Anthony talked me through a fix a few times - but it always went back to wonky. I couldn't figure out a way to ask my boss for a new computer when the only thing that I couldn't do was get onto the forum, so I got a new id.
1 - We used to be cruisers. Hated just walking in downtown Charlotte Amalie on our first E. Caribbean cruise. Read about folks taking a ferry to St. John on CruiseCritic.com so we did that the next time and knew we loved it and had to come back.
2 - Ten years passed and on (yep) yet another cruise we booked a daysail out of Red Hook and I commented on some of the beautiful houses I could see on the islands. The captain told me that a lot of them were rental villas, and an idea was born that soon became an obsession. The captain said if we enjoyed his daysail to please post on that "other" forum, and since we had, I did. It was some reference to another forum that led me here - fortunately within a year of our long delayed first "real" visit to St. John!
2 - Ten years passed and on (yep) yet another cruise we booked a daysail out of Red Hook and I commented on some of the beautiful houses I could see on the islands. The captain told me that a lot of them were rental villas, and an idea was born that soon became an obsession. The captain said if we enjoyed his daysail to please post on that "other" forum, and since we had, I did. It was some reference to another forum that led me here - fortunately within a year of our long delayed first "real" visit to St. John!
Come see us!
Eastern Carribean cruise a few years back. STT was our favorite stop. Second cruise and second stop to STT. Vacationed with some family that owns a Marriott timeshare in Park City. A week after we got home we were at their house and they had received a brochure about a new location being built in STT. Bought within a month site unseen. Have since made 3 trips and the 4th soon come.
This forum.....I am a research freak when it comes to travel. Googled and found the vi forum and saw posts about this forum.
This forum.....I am a research freak when it comes to travel. Googled and found the vi forum and saw posts about this forum.
1. I wanted to find an island where it was quiet with great beaches. I searched and found Caneel online. However, back then the price was way out of my range so I forgot about ever being able to visit. I had no idea there was more on the island than Caneel. About 5 years ago things got much better financially so I went back to do more research about Caneel. Imagine my surprise when I found out there were many other options for a stay on St. John. We came and stayed at Gallows on our first trip and the rest is history.
2. I am a research nut and found the forum during my search for our first trip.
2. I am a research nut and found the forum during my search for our first trip.
Tim
Just Another Day in Paradise!!!
Just Another Day in Paradise!!!
How did I find St. John?
I watched St. John from the deck of a Navy ship as we steamed past headed to a St. Thomas port call. I think it was 1989 and I was a civilian tech-rep doing computer work on the Coral Sea, CV-43 (flashback!). My brother lived on St. Thomas and worked at the East Coast Bar & Grill in Red Hook. I spent a day and a half tearing up St. Thomas with my brother, but never made it to St. John. Hurricane Hugo made life very interesting for a lot of people later that year. My brother lasted a couple more years, but the hurricane recovery (no electricity for nine months, no phone for two years) and the first Gulf War drop in tourism broke his bank. However, the hippie campground reputation of St. John was in the back of my mind.
I visited the Mexican Caribbean coast and the BVIs in the ensuing years and occasionally road ferries past St. John. I remember in November 1996 riding from Road Town to Charlotte Amalie on a ferry through the passage between Whistling Cay and St. John in the rain and seeing, what I later learned was, Francis and Maho Bays spread out completely empty in the early morning mist. After a pretty rough solo visit to Tortola, I was hooked on the idea of visiting St. John. I took the whole extended family to stay on STJ at Hart Bay Beach House in November of 1997. 14+ trips later, I've only done two additional trips to the BVIs and I had to finish those on St. John.
How did I find VIOL?
I've done paid work on the Internet since 1985 and can bore you with tales of the "good old days." To folks that were active on USENET in the early 1990s, those days were over when AOL built their first Internet gateway. I worked on the Internet-side of one of their first email gateways, so I'm partially responsible for facilitating the great unwashed entering the old boys club that was the Internet until 1994. So, I was not on the old AOL forum.
My first Caribbean travel resource on the Internet was the monthly Caribbean Travel Roundup digest that was email based. This was an incredible pre-WWW resource that consisted primarily of long trip reports and reviews. In the days before the web it was email or USENET. In both cases, you had to wait days for your Internet content fix. This drove authors to write extremely detailed trip reports that the reader could use as a blueprint for a vacation. Take a look at some of the old reports to get a glimpse of these amazing works - you can pick the year and month of your flashback. How about a TR from November 1993? Pusser's had just taken over Beni Iguanas and the Wendy's was still closed after the fire.
http://www.caribtravelnews.com/c0194_01.htm
One of my favorite trip reports of all time is by Sandy and Dave Dudich from 2002.
http://www.caribtravelnews.com/c1202_01.htm#stjsandy
The CTR was a monthly email and not enough to keep me happy. When I was researching our November 1997 trip I was looking for good resources on which villas to rent and wanted more specifics. I looked at my prep notes from that trip and found a bookmark to the www.caribbean-on-line.com bulletin board titled "Re: 1st time visitors to St. John looking for information"
The old forum format was hard for me to read, and you pretty much had to read every day to keep up with the context - it was just a stream of posts with a click required to read every post. The new forum that came online in 2006 was what got me to participate more. Prior to that I had about 40 posts; it's been a few more since then.
For a VIOL flashback, check out the first ever VIOL posts
http://web.archive.org/web/199902090957 ... /dar1.html
Cheers, RickG
I watched St. John from the deck of a Navy ship as we steamed past headed to a St. Thomas port call. I think it was 1989 and I was a civilian tech-rep doing computer work on the Coral Sea, CV-43 (flashback!). My brother lived on St. Thomas and worked at the East Coast Bar & Grill in Red Hook. I spent a day and a half tearing up St. Thomas with my brother, but never made it to St. John. Hurricane Hugo made life very interesting for a lot of people later that year. My brother lasted a couple more years, but the hurricane recovery (no electricity for nine months, no phone for two years) and the first Gulf War drop in tourism broke his bank. However, the hippie campground reputation of St. John was in the back of my mind.
I visited the Mexican Caribbean coast and the BVIs in the ensuing years and occasionally road ferries past St. John. I remember in November 1996 riding from Road Town to Charlotte Amalie on a ferry through the passage between Whistling Cay and St. John in the rain and seeing, what I later learned was, Francis and Maho Bays spread out completely empty in the early morning mist. After a pretty rough solo visit to Tortola, I was hooked on the idea of visiting St. John. I took the whole extended family to stay on STJ at Hart Bay Beach House in November of 1997. 14+ trips later, I've only done two additional trips to the BVIs and I had to finish those on St. John.
How did I find VIOL?
I've done paid work on the Internet since 1985 and can bore you with tales of the "good old days." To folks that were active on USENET in the early 1990s, those days were over when AOL built their first Internet gateway. I worked on the Internet-side of one of their first email gateways, so I'm partially responsible for facilitating the great unwashed entering the old boys club that was the Internet until 1994. So, I was not on the old AOL forum.
My first Caribbean travel resource on the Internet was the monthly Caribbean Travel Roundup digest that was email based. This was an incredible pre-WWW resource that consisted primarily of long trip reports and reviews. In the days before the web it was email or USENET. In both cases, you had to wait days for your Internet content fix. This drove authors to write extremely detailed trip reports that the reader could use as a blueprint for a vacation. Take a look at some of the old reports to get a glimpse of these amazing works - you can pick the year and month of your flashback. How about a TR from November 1993? Pusser's had just taken over Beni Iguanas and the Wendy's was still closed after the fire.
http://www.caribtravelnews.com/c0194_01.htm
One of my favorite trip reports of all time is by Sandy and Dave Dudich from 2002.
http://www.caribtravelnews.com/c1202_01.htm#stjsandy
The CTR was a monthly email and not enough to keep me happy. When I was researching our November 1997 trip I was looking for good resources on which villas to rent and wanted more specifics. I looked at my prep notes from that trip and found a bookmark to the www.caribbean-on-line.com bulletin board titled "Re: 1st time visitors to St. John looking for information"
The old forum format was hard for me to read, and you pretty much had to read every day to keep up with the context - it was just a stream of posts with a click required to read every post. The new forum that came online in 2006 was what got me to participate more. Prior to that I had about 40 posts; it's been a few more since then.
For a VIOL flashback, check out the first ever VIOL posts
http://web.archive.org/web/199902090957 ... /dar1.html
Cheers, RickG
Last edited by RickG on Tue Feb 24, 2009 11:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
S/V Echoes - Coral Bay - St. John, VI
-
cool breeze
- Posts: 275
- Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2009 12:34 pm
- Location: N.H
Carnival cruise line ship Destiny back in 1998. Took a champagne catamaran trip to STJ and was curious from that moment on. Never did set foot on the Island but the snorkeling was the best. Took almost 10 years to return to Caribbean but in 2007 started to research a trip to STT and discovered Vivacations whom we have used since in putting together our villa arrangements. btw they are a first class operation! Anyway the rest is history another New Englander falls in love with "The Love Island"! The forum came by exploring the web regarding anything and everything relative to STJ.
CB
CB
-
mindehankins
- Posts: 3014
- Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:21 am
- Location: Western NY State
1. In PA school I was working with an ER doc who was getting ready to leave for the month of Dec. with his family, to STJ. I said how can you do that on an ER doc salary (they don't make allll that much) and he told me about Cinnamon Bay. I looked it up and said "I'm going there someday."
2. On tripadvisor, someone posted a message that linked to this site. I started looking around and thought I belonged here.
2. On tripadvisor, someone posted a message that linked to this site. I started looking around and thought I belonged here.