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June 10 - 18, 2009 St. John Trip Report
June 10 - 18, 2009 St. John Trip Report
My husband and I traveled to St. John for our 20th Anniversary, loved it, went back two more times and decided to make it our destination for our 25th Anniversary – the reason for this trip. Instead of a narrative of each day, I decided to do it in groups so you’ll get the highlights!
Travel
On Wednesday, June 10th, our first day included 14 hours of traveling as we flew from Omaha to Chicago to San Juan to St. Thomas, ferry to St. John. A short connection in Chicago meant the luggage didn’t make it, so we made another trip to St. Thomas on Thursday on the 9:00 pm ferry, picked up our luggage at Red Hook and took the 10:00 ferry back! Our walk of woe started Wednesday, the 17th, with a 1:15 ferry to St. Thomas, then to Charlotte to Chicago (slept in the airport), finally to Omaha at 9:00 am on the 18th with luggage and ride waiting for us! We wanted to fly Delta so we would have only one stop in Atlanta, but the cost was double the option we chose – looking back, we maybe should have gone that route!
Randy making calls to the airlines at JJ's while his seafood omelet is getting cold.
Villa
We stayed at Villa Madeline in Coral Bay. It is a new villa and we rented from the owner, Chris Boyd. He gave the first 20 guests of the year a good discount and we couldn’t pass that up. The villa is beautifully built and decorated, less than two years old. It had a deck ¾ of the way around each of two levels. There was a nice sized deck with a pool, hot tub, outdoor shower (used MANY times) and an outdoor kitchen with sink, grill, and table. The villa is located close to Skinny’s. It’s not high, but the mosquitoes weren’t a problem. The view from the upper level and pool is of Coral Harbor and Hurricane Hole. There are other villas very visible, but we rarely heard or saw anyone. It is a quiet area, except for the occasional goats, donkeys, and frogs – typical island sounds. It was totally air-conditioned. We never used the living area AC, but we always used the one in the bedroom when we slept. It was very quiet and we like to be comfortable when we sleep.
Upper Level of Villa Madeline
View of Mardenboro Pt. (maybe)
Rainbow From Villa
Picture taken from road east of Skinny's.
View of Hurricane Hole
Experimenting with Camera (Canon Powershot SD880)
People We Met
Because of this forum, we were able to meet Ruth and Ron at St. John Spice. Great couple! We met Sea-nile, her mom, and daughter at the ‘small’ forum gathering. Her mom and I talked education, what a nice family! We saw jimg20 and his wife Diana at Crazy Crackers when they were eating with Sea-nile and family. Our plans were to meet up with them the next day at Vie’s, but that didn’t happen, so we didn’t get a chance to visit. When we did go to Vie’s (barely found a place to park – and that’s why jimg20 didn’t stay) we sat next to Diana2, by accident! We had a nice visit. We probably saw other forumites, but didn’t know it. My husband loves to find out what peoples “stories” are, so we picked up hitchhikers 4 different times. We met an Alabama couple on the trip to Jost and ran into them 3 times after that and enjoyed those conversations. We had taxi rides on Jost from Bunn and his brother Ceto (sp?) and when we could understand them we were able to learn a little about their families. We attended Sunday Mass at the Catholic Church and a couple renewed their wedding vows. I had my camera close and I recorded most of it. I just sent the video to the couple and found out they were on St. John to spend time with their son and family. On a sad note with that, the husband has cancer and isn’t doing too well, which was part of the reason for their trip.
Sea-niles 3 Generations, Ruth, Peg
Picture of Couple Renewing Their Wedding Vows (picture grabbed from the video - didn't take a still shot)
Hikes
We hiked Ram Head and loved that hike. We highly recommend it. In 2005 we went on the guided tour of the Reef Bay Trail, so this time we did it on our own. We stopped at the petroglyphs (waterfall running!) and then hiked back. It rained on the way back, but the canopies of trees were our umbrella and we barely got wet. We hiked to Honeymoon and missed a turn on the way back, so that was an extended hike! We stopped at the Annaberg Ruins before we hiked the Leinster Bay Trail to Waterlemon. My husband is used to riding a bike almost every day so we needed to do something to move our bodies.
Taken on way to Ram Head
Southernmost Point of St. John at end of Ram Head Trail
Ruins during Reef Bay Hike
Petroglyphs Waterfall -- There was actually a waterfall!
Picture taken from Annaberg Ruins.
Taken from Leinster Trail on the way back from Waterlemon. Notice the black skies -- this was the when the electricity was off on the whole island.
Beaches/Snorkeling
The beaches we relaxed at were: Maho, Jumbie, Honeymoon. We snorkeled at Francis and Waterlemon. This was our first trip when we didn’t frequent many beaches or do much snorkeling. That was partly due to losing the day we didn’t have our luggage, making a day trip to Jost Van Dyke and having cloudy, cool, rainy weather our last full day (although we did snorkel in the morning that day). We loved our relaxing times at the beaches and when we ran out of Painkillers at Honeymoon, my husband found the Caneel Beer cart and bought a few beers! It was overcast during our snorkel trips, so the underwater pictures were not good. You’lll have to enjoy the pictures from others on the forum! We still had a great time.
A Look at Trunk Bay from Jumbie
How we relax on the island -- Honeymoon Beach
Our local paper asks for pictures from Vacations! Wanted a turtle in the background -- but they were in hiding that day at Waterlemon.
Food/Drink (on St. John)
We enjoyed food and drinks at JJ’s Texas Coast, Skinny’s, Island Blues, Aqua Bistro, Tourist Trap, Miss Lucy’s, Vie’s Snack Shack, Shipwreck Landing, Beach Bar, High Tide, Crazy Crackers, Woody’s, and Morgan’s Mango. At every opportunity, my husband ordered the blackened Mahi Mahi or whatever fish was available. Skinny’s topped the list for best fish sandwich. He also had a Painkiller at every location; Shipwreck seemed to have the booziest drinks! I enjoyed the Lobster Roll at Tourist Trap. We ate breakfast at the villa every morning which consisted of our favorite bran cereal, milk and a banana! We had to have some regularity in the trip!!
Drink Right/Keep Left at the Tourist Trap
Drinks and Backgammon at Island Blues
Vie's Snack Shack -- Vie is wearing the cream colored hat.
Day Trip to Jost
On Saturday, we took the ferry from St. John to Jost Van Dyke. The ferry ride and drop off seemed to go much faster than the trip we made in 2005. I think that everyone having Passports helped, plus it was a smaller ferry and not many people made the trip. We had a drink at Corsairs, tried to get a breakfast sandwich at Christine’s Bakery, but the person making sandwiches wasn’t there, and the gal made no other suggestions, so we left. We took a taxi to Little Harbor and made a few drinks at Sydney’s Peace and Love, we were the only ones there. The lobster sandwich was very good. Bunn picked us up and took us to White Bay. More drinks, some food and soaked up the beautiful white sandy beaches. Bunn took us back to Foxy’s. We relaxed in the hammocks and walked back to the ferry. A young girl was baking cookies on the beach in a Sun Oven. They weren’t done yet, but I would have loved to have tried one!
Randy making a drink behind the bar at Sydney's.
We filled a blank wall space at Sydney's.
No water clearer than at White Bay Beach.
Bunn's Taxi
Young Girl Baking Cookies in a Sun Oven
Other Photos
Soggy Donkeys after a Heavy Rain
Coral Bay Triangle and the Missing Signs
Gas Prices at Coral Bay
Gas Prices at Cruz Bay
We had a great trip for our 25th Wedding Anniversary and thanks again to the people on this board for their wealth of information!
Peg and Randy
Travel
On Wednesday, June 10th, our first day included 14 hours of traveling as we flew from Omaha to Chicago to San Juan to St. Thomas, ferry to St. John. A short connection in Chicago meant the luggage didn’t make it, so we made another trip to St. Thomas on Thursday on the 9:00 pm ferry, picked up our luggage at Red Hook and took the 10:00 ferry back! Our walk of woe started Wednesday, the 17th, with a 1:15 ferry to St. Thomas, then to Charlotte to Chicago (slept in the airport), finally to Omaha at 9:00 am on the 18th with luggage and ride waiting for us! We wanted to fly Delta so we would have only one stop in Atlanta, but the cost was double the option we chose – looking back, we maybe should have gone that route!
Randy making calls to the airlines at JJ's while his seafood omelet is getting cold.
Villa
We stayed at Villa Madeline in Coral Bay. It is a new villa and we rented from the owner, Chris Boyd. He gave the first 20 guests of the year a good discount and we couldn’t pass that up. The villa is beautifully built and decorated, less than two years old. It had a deck ¾ of the way around each of two levels. There was a nice sized deck with a pool, hot tub, outdoor shower (used MANY times) and an outdoor kitchen with sink, grill, and table. The villa is located close to Skinny’s. It’s not high, but the mosquitoes weren’t a problem. The view from the upper level and pool is of Coral Harbor and Hurricane Hole. There are other villas very visible, but we rarely heard or saw anyone. It is a quiet area, except for the occasional goats, donkeys, and frogs – typical island sounds. It was totally air-conditioned. We never used the living area AC, but we always used the one in the bedroom when we slept. It was very quiet and we like to be comfortable when we sleep.
Upper Level of Villa Madeline
View of Mardenboro Pt. (maybe)
Rainbow From Villa
Picture taken from road east of Skinny's.
View of Hurricane Hole
Experimenting with Camera (Canon Powershot SD880)
People We Met
Because of this forum, we were able to meet Ruth and Ron at St. John Spice. Great couple! We met Sea-nile, her mom, and daughter at the ‘small’ forum gathering. Her mom and I talked education, what a nice family! We saw jimg20 and his wife Diana at Crazy Crackers when they were eating with Sea-nile and family. Our plans were to meet up with them the next day at Vie’s, but that didn’t happen, so we didn’t get a chance to visit. When we did go to Vie’s (barely found a place to park – and that’s why jimg20 didn’t stay) we sat next to Diana2, by accident! We had a nice visit. We probably saw other forumites, but didn’t know it. My husband loves to find out what peoples “stories” are, so we picked up hitchhikers 4 different times. We met an Alabama couple on the trip to Jost and ran into them 3 times after that and enjoyed those conversations. We had taxi rides on Jost from Bunn and his brother Ceto (sp?) and when we could understand them we were able to learn a little about their families. We attended Sunday Mass at the Catholic Church and a couple renewed their wedding vows. I had my camera close and I recorded most of it. I just sent the video to the couple and found out they were on St. John to spend time with their son and family. On a sad note with that, the husband has cancer and isn’t doing too well, which was part of the reason for their trip.
Sea-niles 3 Generations, Ruth, Peg
Picture of Couple Renewing Their Wedding Vows (picture grabbed from the video - didn't take a still shot)
Hikes
We hiked Ram Head and loved that hike. We highly recommend it. In 2005 we went on the guided tour of the Reef Bay Trail, so this time we did it on our own. We stopped at the petroglyphs (waterfall running!) and then hiked back. It rained on the way back, but the canopies of trees were our umbrella and we barely got wet. We hiked to Honeymoon and missed a turn on the way back, so that was an extended hike! We stopped at the Annaberg Ruins before we hiked the Leinster Bay Trail to Waterlemon. My husband is used to riding a bike almost every day so we needed to do something to move our bodies.
Taken on way to Ram Head
Southernmost Point of St. John at end of Ram Head Trail
Ruins during Reef Bay Hike
Petroglyphs Waterfall -- There was actually a waterfall!
Picture taken from Annaberg Ruins.
Taken from Leinster Trail on the way back from Waterlemon. Notice the black skies -- this was the when the electricity was off on the whole island.
Beaches/Snorkeling
The beaches we relaxed at were: Maho, Jumbie, Honeymoon. We snorkeled at Francis and Waterlemon. This was our first trip when we didn’t frequent many beaches or do much snorkeling. That was partly due to losing the day we didn’t have our luggage, making a day trip to Jost Van Dyke and having cloudy, cool, rainy weather our last full day (although we did snorkel in the morning that day). We loved our relaxing times at the beaches and when we ran out of Painkillers at Honeymoon, my husband found the Caneel Beer cart and bought a few beers! It was overcast during our snorkel trips, so the underwater pictures were not good. You’lll have to enjoy the pictures from others on the forum! We still had a great time.
A Look at Trunk Bay from Jumbie
How we relax on the island -- Honeymoon Beach
Our local paper asks for pictures from Vacations! Wanted a turtle in the background -- but they were in hiding that day at Waterlemon.
Food/Drink (on St. John)
We enjoyed food and drinks at JJ’s Texas Coast, Skinny’s, Island Blues, Aqua Bistro, Tourist Trap, Miss Lucy’s, Vie’s Snack Shack, Shipwreck Landing, Beach Bar, High Tide, Crazy Crackers, Woody’s, and Morgan’s Mango. At every opportunity, my husband ordered the blackened Mahi Mahi or whatever fish was available. Skinny’s topped the list for best fish sandwich. He also had a Painkiller at every location; Shipwreck seemed to have the booziest drinks! I enjoyed the Lobster Roll at Tourist Trap. We ate breakfast at the villa every morning which consisted of our favorite bran cereal, milk and a banana! We had to have some regularity in the trip!!
Drink Right/Keep Left at the Tourist Trap
Drinks and Backgammon at Island Blues
Vie's Snack Shack -- Vie is wearing the cream colored hat.
Day Trip to Jost
On Saturday, we took the ferry from St. John to Jost Van Dyke. The ferry ride and drop off seemed to go much faster than the trip we made in 2005. I think that everyone having Passports helped, plus it was a smaller ferry and not many people made the trip. We had a drink at Corsairs, tried to get a breakfast sandwich at Christine’s Bakery, but the person making sandwiches wasn’t there, and the gal made no other suggestions, so we left. We took a taxi to Little Harbor and made a few drinks at Sydney’s Peace and Love, we were the only ones there. The lobster sandwich was very good. Bunn picked us up and took us to White Bay. More drinks, some food and soaked up the beautiful white sandy beaches. Bunn took us back to Foxy’s. We relaxed in the hammocks and walked back to the ferry. A young girl was baking cookies on the beach in a Sun Oven. They weren’t done yet, but I would have loved to have tried one!
Randy making a drink behind the bar at Sydney's.
We filled a blank wall space at Sydney's.
No water clearer than at White Bay Beach.
Bunn's Taxi
Young Girl Baking Cookies in a Sun Oven
Other Photos
Soggy Donkeys after a Heavy Rain
Coral Bay Triangle and the Missing Signs
Gas Prices at Coral Bay
Gas Prices at Cruz Bay
We had a great trip for our 25th Wedding Anniversary and thanks again to the people on this board for their wealth of information!
Peg and Randy
)
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John LMBZ06
- Posts: 286
- Joined: Mon Mar 09, 2009 11:52 am
- Location: Frisco, TX
Love the picture of flowers from Annaberg ruins...
Thanks for the TR
Thanks for the TR
STJ Villa Map:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie ... 2&t=h&z=14
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie ... 2&t=h&z=14
First, I want to thank you Peg for all of the great information about Villa Maddy and PM'ing while you were on-island. I didn't know it was your 25th anniversary then!!! Happy Belated! It looks like you had a great time!!
I have to agree with Randy about the cocktails at Shipwreck...They are the best and quite strong. They have the best bartenders! I sometimes think I should re-name it Trainwreck Landing because I step off that barstool and WHOA!!!
Thanks for the report!!
I have to agree with Randy about the cocktails at Shipwreck...They are the best and quite strong. They have the best bartenders! I sometimes think I should re-name it Trainwreck Landing because I step off that barstool and WHOA!!!
Thanks for the report!!
Great report!
Speaking as an Alabama couple who will be there on our FIRST trip to St. John for our 27th anniversary....WOW thanks for the info! Addressing the Chicago issue, I have now made it a RULE, I don't care HOW cheap the airfare is, I do not want to connect in Chicago at ALL if possible, and NEVER with less than a 2 hour layover. This is after RUNNING from one end of the airport to the other (and that is a big A$$ airport), not knowing where we are going and yes, not getting our luggage. If we EVER get on the Amazing Race (which I really hope to one day), I will never book a flight with less than an hour to transfer! It is funny, we have booked airfare and hoping to get a certain villa (at this late hour) I am finally feeling like we are really going. You all are like family and we hope to meet up with other forumites when we arrive!