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Iowaguy's Trip Report---Part 3
Iowaguy's Trip Report---Part 3
Hello again. I've covered beaches, boating, restaurants and bars in prior reports---those make up a lot of our trip, but there a few items left I want to mention in this final installment.
VALENTINE'S DAY LOVEFEST. We were lucky enough to be in St. John on Valentine's Day, so we made a bit of a production out of that. We had some small gifts on the pillows of each couple the night before Valentine's Day, as well as a Valentine's Day CD of romantic music (Norah Jones, Corinne Bailey Rae, Diane Krall---that type of thing). Also, on Valentine's Day the guys had arranged for Nomadic Spa to come to our house to give one spa treatment to each of the 5 girls---this was a surprise treat we told them about that morning at breakfast. 3 of the gals had a hot stone massage and 2 had a "Coconut Aloe Souffle Body Wrap" (I am still not entirely sure what that is, but Janie said she enjoyed it!) Casey runs Nomadic Spa and he does a very nice job. He brought Jennifer with him to do the body wraps---she also works at the Westin spa. They brought candles, soothing "spa" music, and set their tables up on the terrace overlooking the water---it was nice because you could also hear the sound of the ocean pretty clearly from the terrace. Here is their website in case anyone has an interest.
www.nomadicspa.com/
On the evening of Valentine's Day, we had our "Valentine's Day Dinner Dance." A little corny---sorry. Anyway, it was a fun evening. Passion Fruit Chefs came and cooked an incredible dinner. We had both cocktails and dinner out on the large covered porch. You might have gathered from my prior reports that we like to eat. We started out with a martini bar including cosmopolitans (pink for the holiday) as well as classic gin and vodka martinis. As an appetizer, we had Chicken Sate with Thai Peanut Dipping Sauce and Salmon Skewers with Orange Miso Sauce---both were delicious. Next was mixed greens with citrus vinaigrette.
The main course was filet mignon with portabello mushrooms, fresh asparagus, and garlic mashed potatoes. Dessert was really terrific---chocolate ganache cake with chocolate and white chocolate covered strawberries. Wish I'd taken a picture of this. If that was not gluttonous enough already, after dinner they offered chocolate martinis and french martinis (vodka with raspberry liqueur). Cassandra (from Passion Fruit Chefs) and her assistant did a great job and I would recommend them highly.
URL]/travel.webshots.com/photo/2445111910065479252SzWOQU]
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The martini thing was quite intentional. As you will recall, it was a dinner "dance", and in my experience, it sometimes takes quite a lot of alcohol to get 50-year old Midwestern men to dance. Anyway, it worked, and I will spare you the embarassing pictures of the dance part of the evening.
Here is the website for Passion Fruit Chefs---I know they do a lot of weddings, and a few of you reading this might have an interest in that.
www.passionfruitchefs.com/
THE VILLA. We rented Monte Bay villa, on Rendezvous Bay. There were a number of things we really liked about the villa. It was right on the water, which we liked. I know that I liked being able to hear the waves in our bedroom at night. There was a path down to the water where there was a rocky entrance. I know many of you would enjoy snorkeling from here---I just never fit this in, and didn't really have the right beach shoes for it. I did not find it too buggy, but then it was dry all week.
The kitchen was very nice and well-equipped. The artwork was the best I've seen in any of the villas we've rented. The main attraction, for our group, was the large, outdoor covered porch, whch is where we generally hung out.
The bedrooms were very uneven (which we knew about in advance), so this was a bit of an issue for a couples trip. Also, we had a few maintenance issues. The hot tub was not working, and didn't look to us like it had been working for a while (part on order). We had really wanted a hot tub and this was one of the criteria we had in selecting a villa---I would have felt better if Caribbean Villas had been the least bit sympathetic or apologetic on this issue. The A/C in the Master Bedroom didn't work most of the week. This was less of an issue since we wouldn't have used it at night anyway. It was a west-facing bedroom with a lot of windows, though, and got very hot in the day. They did have A/C people out checking on it throughout the week and ultimately determined it was a bigger problem than could be fixed quickly. Finally, and probably the biggest issue--we didn't think it was as clean as other villas we have rented---I would also place this issue with the management company, and this could easily be remedied.
Still, its hard to get too upset when you have a view like this when you come in to your driveway:
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:
We really like using St. John Car Rental. Their cars were new and in great shape. Most importantly, they have a great parking lot, between Beach Bar and Lime Inn, that you can use if you rent from them. Huge bonus.
We enjoyed both Bajo El Sol art gallery (best variety of quality art) and Coconut Coast Studios (most gracious welcome and scenic location):
We discovered we really liked Presidente beer (from Dominican Republic).
I like to take neighborhood walks in the morning and the rocky beach in front of Belle Mer villa is a good snorkeling spot, and generally pretty location, for anyone staying in this neighborhood.
No building yet on Ditleff Point. A neighboring villa owner said the lots have not been selling well. I did go out out on the paved road on Ditleff Point--very pretty views.
ST. JOHN RUTH/JEROME'S HOT SAUCE. The last day of our trip I finally made it to St. John Spice---I felt bad that it took me so long. She has a beautiful store. While I was there, Ruth introduced me to Frank Barnako, who was also there. Frank writes News of St. John, which I read religiously every week, so this was like a "celebrity sighting" to me. I bought a painted metal iguana for our sun porch at home, as well as some Jerome's Hot Sauce, so I could make Rick G's shrimp at home (despite eating out a lot on vacation, we cook a lot at home). Ruth nicely wrapped both up in bubble wrap for the trip home. Stupidly, I put the hot sauce in my carry-on bag. As we passed through security at the St. Thomas airport, the security personnel quickly honed in on that bubble-wrapped package. As they began to unwrap the layers of bubble wrap, I knew I was sunk. Sure enough, the Jerome's Hot Sauce was confiscated by security. To make matters worse, after seeing that I was trying to smuggle Jerome's Hot Sauce into the country, they had me go stand in a special area to wait for a little while, then eventually they patted me down (they might have thought I had additional jars of Jerome's Hot Sauce strapped to my chest). Anyway, I got a laugh out of it, even as it was unfolding.
Thanks for reading. Can't wait to go back to my favorite place.
VALENTINE'S DAY LOVEFEST. We were lucky enough to be in St. John on Valentine's Day, so we made a bit of a production out of that. We had some small gifts on the pillows of each couple the night before Valentine's Day, as well as a Valentine's Day CD of romantic music (Norah Jones, Corinne Bailey Rae, Diane Krall---that type of thing). Also, on Valentine's Day the guys had arranged for Nomadic Spa to come to our house to give one spa treatment to each of the 5 girls---this was a surprise treat we told them about that morning at breakfast. 3 of the gals had a hot stone massage and 2 had a "Coconut Aloe Souffle Body Wrap" (I am still not entirely sure what that is, but Janie said she enjoyed it!) Casey runs Nomadic Spa and he does a very nice job. He brought Jennifer with him to do the body wraps---she also works at the Westin spa. They brought candles, soothing "spa" music, and set their tables up on the terrace overlooking the water---it was nice because you could also hear the sound of the ocean pretty clearly from the terrace. Here is their website in case anyone has an interest.
www.nomadicspa.com/
On the evening of Valentine's Day, we had our "Valentine's Day Dinner Dance." A little corny---sorry. Anyway, it was a fun evening. Passion Fruit Chefs came and cooked an incredible dinner. We had both cocktails and dinner out on the large covered porch. You might have gathered from my prior reports that we like to eat. We started out with a martini bar including cosmopolitans (pink for the holiday) as well as classic gin and vodka martinis. As an appetizer, we had Chicken Sate with Thai Peanut Dipping Sauce and Salmon Skewers with Orange Miso Sauce---both were delicious. Next was mixed greens with citrus vinaigrette.
The main course was filet mignon with portabello mushrooms, fresh asparagus, and garlic mashed potatoes. Dessert was really terrific---chocolate ganache cake with chocolate and white chocolate covered strawberries. Wish I'd taken a picture of this. If that was not gluttonous enough already, after dinner they offered chocolate martinis and french martinis (vodka with raspberry liqueur). Cassandra (from Passion Fruit Chefs) and her assistant did a great job and I would recommend them highly.
URL]/travel.webshots.com/photo/2445111910065479252SzWOQU]
[/URL]The martini thing was quite intentional. As you will recall, it was a dinner "dance", and in my experience, it sometimes takes quite a lot of alcohol to get 50-year old Midwestern men to dance. Anyway, it worked, and I will spare you the embarassing pictures of the dance part of the evening.
Here is the website for Passion Fruit Chefs---I know they do a lot of weddings, and a few of you reading this might have an interest in that.
www.passionfruitchefs.com/
THE VILLA. We rented Monte Bay villa, on Rendezvous Bay. There were a number of things we really liked about the villa. It was right on the water, which we liked. I know that I liked being able to hear the waves in our bedroom at night. There was a path down to the water where there was a rocky entrance. I know many of you would enjoy snorkeling from here---I just never fit this in, and didn't really have the right beach shoes for it. I did not find it too buggy, but then it was dry all week.
The kitchen was very nice and well-equipped. The artwork was the best I've seen in any of the villas we've rented. The main attraction, for our group, was the large, outdoor covered porch, whch is where we generally hung out.
The bedrooms were very uneven (which we knew about in advance), so this was a bit of an issue for a couples trip. Also, we had a few maintenance issues. The hot tub was not working, and didn't look to us like it had been working for a while (part on order). We had really wanted a hot tub and this was one of the criteria we had in selecting a villa---I would have felt better if Caribbean Villas had been the least bit sympathetic or apologetic on this issue. The A/C in the Master Bedroom didn't work most of the week. This was less of an issue since we wouldn't have used it at night anyway. It was a west-facing bedroom with a lot of windows, though, and got very hot in the day. They did have A/C people out checking on it throughout the week and ultimately determined it was a bigger problem than could be fixed quickly. Finally, and probably the biggest issue--we didn't think it was as clean as other villas we have rented---I would also place this issue with the management company, and this could easily be remedied.
Still, its hard to get too upset when you have a view like this when you come in to your driveway:
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:
We really like using St. John Car Rental. Their cars were new and in great shape. Most importantly, they have a great parking lot, between Beach Bar and Lime Inn, that you can use if you rent from them. Huge bonus.
We enjoyed both Bajo El Sol art gallery (best variety of quality art) and Coconut Coast Studios (most gracious welcome and scenic location):
We discovered we really liked Presidente beer (from Dominican Republic).
I like to take neighborhood walks in the morning and the rocky beach in front of Belle Mer villa is a good snorkeling spot, and generally pretty location, for anyone staying in this neighborhood.
No building yet on Ditleff Point. A neighboring villa owner said the lots have not been selling well. I did go out out on the paved road on Ditleff Point--very pretty views.
ST. JOHN RUTH/JEROME'S HOT SAUCE. The last day of our trip I finally made it to St. John Spice---I felt bad that it took me so long. She has a beautiful store. While I was there, Ruth introduced me to Frank Barnako, who was also there. Frank writes News of St. John, which I read religiously every week, so this was like a "celebrity sighting" to me. I bought a painted metal iguana for our sun porch at home, as well as some Jerome's Hot Sauce, so I could make Rick G's shrimp at home (despite eating out a lot on vacation, we cook a lot at home). Ruth nicely wrapped both up in bubble wrap for the trip home. Stupidly, I put the hot sauce in my carry-on bag. As we passed through security at the St. Thomas airport, the security personnel quickly honed in on that bubble-wrapped package. As they began to unwrap the layers of bubble wrap, I knew I was sunk. Sure enough, the Jerome's Hot Sauce was confiscated by security. To make matters worse, after seeing that I was trying to smuggle Jerome's Hot Sauce into the country, they had me go stand in a special area to wait for a little while, then eventually they patted me down (they might have thought I had additional jars of Jerome's Hot Sauce strapped to my chest). Anyway, I got a laugh out of it, even as it was unfolding.
Thanks for reading. Can't wait to go back to my favorite place.
---Jim
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Tracy in WI
- Posts: 1624
- Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 8:39 am
- Location: Wisconsin
Thanks so much! I think the Valentine's Day Dance" sounds like a great idea - except with all those martinis my husband would have been jumping instead of dancing - really. I need to watch my feet for sure - this may be something seen at our forum party this summer here in Wisconsin (unfortunately!).
I appreciate your report!
I appreciate your report!
Tracy, Seaside Properties at Grande Bay
#1: Wow! That dinner & drinks description has me drooloing on my keyboard. I love non-martini martinis aka froofroo martinis and the chocolate and french ones are my fave 
.
#2: Wow! You guys were really thinking with the spa surprise thing. I hope you scored some major points.
#3: Wow! StJohnRuth & Frank Barnako! I am also big fans of both and would consider that a huge STJ celebrity siting.
Sounds like you had a great V-Day celebration and STJ vacation in general. Sure the beats the kind of weather youse guys in Iowa are getting right now in Iowa!
.#2: Wow! You guys were really thinking with the spa surprise thing. I hope you scored some major points.
#3: Wow! StJohnRuth & Frank Barnako! I am also big fans of both and would consider that a huge STJ celebrity siting.
Sounds like you had a great V-Day celebration and STJ vacation in general. Sure the beats the kind of weather youse guys in Iowa are getting right now in Iowa!
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obsessedmuch
wish me and my hubby could have been part of that V Day dinner. sounds great and like loads of fun! we don't have any fun couples in our group - our friends are either single for the long haul or about to divorce it seems!
Funny story on STJ Spice. We bought a LOAD of stuff there and shipped most things home except a bottle of Vanilla I bought for my Mom. Knowing I would be seeing her as soon as I got home I decided not to ship that item. When we were packing up I shoved it my husband's carry on bag at the last minute. Totally didn't think about the liquid thing AND never mentioned to him that I put it in the bag. So I sailed through security only to turn around and see his bag getting searched - at that moment it hit me!
Literally had to yell out "Sorry, Charlie! there's vanilla in your bag!"
The TSA guy was really nice. I told him to just dump the bottle but he took the trouble to go back and see if our bags were still around. They were and when I got home I found the vanilla, no leaks, in my suit case. Must have been a slow day at the airport!
Funny story on STJ Spice. We bought a LOAD of stuff there and shipped most things home except a bottle of Vanilla I bought for my Mom. Knowing I would be seeing her as soon as I got home I decided not to ship that item. When we were packing up I shoved it my husband's carry on bag at the last minute. Totally didn't think about the liquid thing AND never mentioned to him that I put it in the bag. So I sailed through security only to turn around and see his bag getting searched - at that moment it hit me!
Literally had to yell out "Sorry, Charlie! there's vanilla in your bag!"The TSA guy was really nice. I told him to just dump the bottle but he took the trouble to go back and see if our bags were still around. They were and when I got home I found the vanilla, no leaks, in my suit case. Must have been a slow day at the airport!
Great trip report, I like the way you wrote it. Does Gerald Singer, "Off The Beaten Track," still own Montey Bay? I like that side of the island. I get up early on vacations and stay up late (can't waste the hours) and I love to see the morning light on the sea, flowers and green. The South side gets killer morning light.
I agree on the Presidente. It's cheaper than Carib and, I beleive, a better beach beer. Mostly because it was pretty fresh while we were there.
I sympathize on the loss of your Jerome's. Ruth ships! I had a leatherman tool that had been with me on 6 continents across 20 years get nabbed recently. It's just a tool, but the things it had seen...
MB, I had a bottle of vanilla break in my large hard sided suitcase on the way back from Quintana Roo 20 years ago. It still smells like vanilla and sents all of the clothes that go in it!
Cheers, RickG
I agree on the Presidente. It's cheaper than Carib and, I beleive, a better beach beer. Mostly because it was pretty fresh while we were there.
I sympathize on the loss of your Jerome's. Ruth ships! I had a leatherman tool that had been with me on 6 continents across 20 years get nabbed recently. It's just a tool, but the things it had seen...
MB, I had a bottle of vanilla break in my large hard sided suitcase on the way back from Quintana Roo 20 years ago. It still smells like vanilla and sents all of the clothes that go in it!
Cheers, RickG
S/V Echoes - Coral Bay - St. John, VI
Thanks for the nice comments. It was fun to write the report because I got to relive it in my mind.
Mary Beth--Thats funny about the vanilla---no such offers were made with the hot sauce.
Rick G--- Gerard Singer does not own Monte Bay any longer. Someone else bought it and did a nice job redecorating/refurbishing it.
Mary Beth--Thats funny about the vanilla---no such offers were made with the hot sauce.
Rick G--- Gerard Singer does not own Monte Bay any longer. Someone else bought it and did a nice job redecorating/refurbishing it.
---Jim
Rick, that's not a bad thing! I always smell like vanilla - it's the only scent I use! Hate perfume so I stick to the warm vanilla sugar from Bath and Body works. Which of course is a totally different thing from the vanilla I brought my mother. Ok, I guess enough about vanilla.
There's not too many people around here that I would describe as vanilla either.
There's not too many people around here that I would describe as vanilla either.
Hmmm, one young lady served with a warm vanilla sugar glaze? Sounds like a dessert topping...mary beth wrote:Rick, that's not a bad thing! I always smell like vanilla - it's the only scent I use! Hate perfume so I stick to the warm vanilla sugar from Bath and Body works.
S/V Echoes - Coral Bay - St. John, VI
Thanks for all the reports – I really enjoyed reading them. Ah – you just can’t trust those 50 year old mid-western guys. Butter up the wives on Valentine's Day – then try to smuggle hot sauce into the mainland. What’s next ….
FlaGeorge
"Swim Against The Current - Even a Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow"
"Swim Against The Current - Even a Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow"
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Jan&MikeVa
- Posts: 1084
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 5:32 pm
- Location: The Chesapeake Bay
I've been a little behind on my trip report reading, and just finished yours up
What a great group you have to travel with, sounds like a fantastic week. I love your Valentines Day, WOW!! And thank you for all the honest reviews.
I was sorry to hear about your Jeromes Hot Sauce, that's a bummer!
Thanks again!
Jan (akaCharlie)
What a great group you have to travel with, sounds like a fantastic week. I love your Valentines Day, WOW!! And thank you for all the honest reviews.
I was sorry to hear about your Jeromes Hot Sauce, that's a bummer!
Thanks again!
Jan (akaCharlie)