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Short Trip, Big Fun...a trip report
Short Trip, Big Fun...a trip report
Thanks to all who contribute to this forum and helping make our 8th Virgin Islands trip wonderful!
Day One
Arrived 2:00 into STT with checked bags and easily made the Charlotte Amalie ferry at 3:00. Met by Catered To for escort to St. John Car Rental and Aurora Villa. Aurora is on Contant Point and therefore very convenient to town. This villa has beautiful views, recently updated furnishings, a relatively new kitchen and plenty of outdoor spaces (including a great western view deck off the great room). I would highly recommend this villa if you seek good value, easy accessibility and a very accurate/honest website to preview your stay. We would have preferred that the pool be more congruous to the great room and kitchen, but this might be a plus for those wishing to keep kids and pools segregated. Had very good pizzas delivered in 45 minutes by Ronnies for a tired night #1.
Day Two
Early wake-up call for our party of 4 aboard World Class Anglers with Captain Chris. We had a ½ day charter and fished about 45 minutes out. Caught some tuna and various throwbacks. Make no mistake about it, Chris is a fisherman. You will get wet, you will get tousled, and maybe even blood spattered. But, you will find fish!!! This is not a trip for young kids (unless you fish in-shore) or Grandma’s (as we found out). Spent a peaceful afternoon at Cinnamon. Back to the villa for fresh Tuna three ways: sashimi, seared and grilled. Wonderful!
Day Three
Morning at Hawksnest. Very good snorkeling right off the beach. To the Beach Bar for lunch and then onto Trunk for the afternoon. We had previously checked the St. Thomas cruise schedule to see this afternoon was free of ships which made Trunk a great choice.
Day Four
A full day with Captain John and Palm Tree Charters. Like many before us, this turned out to be the best day of the trip. Our party of 6 ranged in age from 14 to 71 and the captain made everyone feel special, safe and ready for a good time. We started with good snorkeling at Waterlemon, walked around Sandy Spit, then headed to Jost. We normally do Foxy’s for lunch but chose Taboo for a change and I’m glad we did. This is a cool (literally) setting with great service and good food. If you have done Foxy’s once or more, Foxy’s Taboo is a welcome change. On to Soggy Dollar. Wow, what a crowd! Every trip it’s become a bit more popular, but, with the holiday weekend, White Bay was packed. So, therefore, once bar stools were secured… we remained! What punishment
. Wrapped up the day with more interesting tales from Captain John and cleared customs just before closing.
Day Five (July 4th)
Decided against spending the day at Carnival to take advantage of quieter beaches. Began the day at Maho, but did not linger. High tide was in and it was carrying something black. It was also quite buggy. So, we knew there were better choices for this day. Glad we chose to move to Gibney. We practically had the beach to ourselves. This is a great beach for waders, in-water cocktails and a good mix of shade and sun. Snorkeling is also excellent if you walk all the way right and go far out. We drove back through town late afternoon and caught the remnants of the parade and party, before heading to the villa for grilled steaks (which we brought along with other frozen meats). Friends were staying at Sirenusa which proved to be a perfect place for a fireworks viewing party to close the night and the trip.
Now back at work wondering who is going to bring me my breakfast daiquiris
Day One
Arrived 2:00 into STT with checked bags and easily made the Charlotte Amalie ferry at 3:00. Met by Catered To for escort to St. John Car Rental and Aurora Villa. Aurora is on Contant Point and therefore very convenient to town. This villa has beautiful views, recently updated furnishings, a relatively new kitchen and plenty of outdoor spaces (including a great western view deck off the great room). I would highly recommend this villa if you seek good value, easy accessibility and a very accurate/honest website to preview your stay. We would have preferred that the pool be more congruous to the great room and kitchen, but this might be a plus for those wishing to keep kids and pools segregated. Had very good pizzas delivered in 45 minutes by Ronnies for a tired night #1.
Day Two
Early wake-up call for our party of 4 aboard World Class Anglers with Captain Chris. We had a ½ day charter and fished about 45 minutes out. Caught some tuna and various throwbacks. Make no mistake about it, Chris is a fisherman. You will get wet, you will get tousled, and maybe even blood spattered. But, you will find fish!!! This is not a trip for young kids (unless you fish in-shore) or Grandma’s (as we found out). Spent a peaceful afternoon at Cinnamon. Back to the villa for fresh Tuna three ways: sashimi, seared and grilled. Wonderful!
Day Three
Morning at Hawksnest. Very good snorkeling right off the beach. To the Beach Bar for lunch and then onto Trunk for the afternoon. We had previously checked the St. Thomas cruise schedule to see this afternoon was free of ships which made Trunk a great choice.
Day Four
A full day with Captain John and Palm Tree Charters. Like many before us, this turned out to be the best day of the trip. Our party of 6 ranged in age from 14 to 71 and the captain made everyone feel special, safe and ready for a good time. We started with good snorkeling at Waterlemon, walked around Sandy Spit, then headed to Jost. We normally do Foxy’s for lunch but chose Taboo for a change and I’m glad we did. This is a cool (literally) setting with great service and good food. If you have done Foxy’s once or more, Foxy’s Taboo is a welcome change. On to Soggy Dollar. Wow, what a crowd! Every trip it’s become a bit more popular, but, with the holiday weekend, White Bay was packed. So, therefore, once bar stools were secured… we remained! What punishment
. Wrapped up the day with more interesting tales from Captain John and cleared customs just before closing.Day Five (July 4th)
Decided against spending the day at Carnival to take advantage of quieter beaches. Began the day at Maho, but did not linger. High tide was in and it was carrying something black. It was also quite buggy. So, we knew there were better choices for this day. Glad we chose to move to Gibney. We practically had the beach to ourselves. This is a great beach for waders, in-water cocktails and a good mix of shade and sun. Snorkeling is also excellent if you walk all the way right and go far out. We drove back through town late afternoon and caught the remnants of the parade and party, before heading to the villa for grilled steaks (which we brought along with other frozen meats). Friends were staying at Sirenusa which proved to be a perfect place for a fireworks viewing party to close the night and the trip.
Now back at work wondering who is going to bring me my breakfast daiquiris
Last edited by JED202 on Tue Jul 07, 2009 4:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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TravelinTexasGal
- Posts: 28
- Joined: Thu Jun 25, 2009 12:28 pm
- Location: Texas
All the bedrooms in Aurora have a/c. The great room and kitchen do not, but it has windows on three sides and floor to ceiling screened sliders on the 4th side. And, ceiling fans. So, it's very comfortable in the mornings and the evenings. I would imagine it could get a bit stuffy mid-afternoon, but we were boating or beaching every afternoon. Happy to answer any other questions.