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RickG & the Rickettes - 8/4-8/11 2009 - Quick Trip Repor
RickG & the Rickettes - 8/4-8/11 2009 - Quick Trip Repor
RickG & the Rickettes - 8/4-8/11 2009 - Quick Trip Report
This was a last minute trip for us thanks to cheap air fare and a good deal on a place to stay. My daughters Elizabeth (17) and Ana (12) are veteran STJ visitors. We were all put off by the huge spring break crowds in 2008, so we decided to accelerate our planned trip for spring break 2010 to August 2009. It was easy planning on two weeks notice with good airfare, last minute villa discount and no problem getting a Jeep.
We flew Spirit Air (moo!), picked up a Jeep 4-Door Wrangler from Dependable and hopped on the car barge to St. John. It was a smooth groove and we were on Frank Bay having beers with Ruth & Ron before sunset.
Sky Top Villa from Star Villas - http://www.starvillas.com/ - is one house away from Frank Bay with clear views of the water. It is on the top level of the three level house, but has parking at the front door. It was a great place for us - clean and basic. The best part (for RickG and Ana) was walking to early morning snorkeling on Frank Bay. This is a great grassy snorkel with conch and occasional star fish. There are lots of fish on the fringing reefs. The other best part (for Sweet Christine and Elizabeth) was being just past Gallows Point and being able to walk to Cruz Bay. The bedrooms had a/c and we needed it – August is bloody hot.
The highlights of the trip were:
- Ruth & Ron as neighbors
- Seeing friends
- Gorging on ripe genips
- Meals at La Plancha del mar
- Uncrowded beaches (except for Trunk Bay)
- Tour of just completed Anchorage Aweigh villa by the owners
- Horseback riding with Dana at Carolina Corral
- Walking the dogs for the ACC Shelter in Cruz Bay
The only downer for this trip was four expired passports - last minute has a downside; no BVI trip for us this time.
Here's a stream of consciousness serial of this trip:
Tuesday 8/4 – Arrival
Red Hook Barge
Sunset on Frank Bay
Sunset on Cruz Bay
Dinner at Banana Deck was busy, but pretty good. The food here is rarely exciting and rarely disappointing.
Wednesday 8/5
View from Sky Top to St. Thomas
View from Sky Top straight out across Frank Bay
View from Sky Top across Barge Channel
View from Sky Top
View from Sky Top
Attack Chicken
Breakfast Iguana
Genips – from the deck of Sky Top
Iguana Berries
Gibney Girls
Woody’s coveted dumpster table
Walking the ACC Dogs
Then a killer dinner at La Plancha del Mar. Sweet Christine really liked the Passionfruit Cosmo! The food was very well executed, tasty and reasonable. We had a small Neapolitan pizza and it was good by any standard, and very good for STJ.
Thursday 8/6
Breakfast & Cocktails – Yes!
Drive by cowgirls head up Johnny Horn Trail – beats walking!
Anchorage Aweigh drive by – Patty is in the pool and Scott is planting the last palm tree – great place for a shower
Anchorage Aweigh pool bar
We grabbed enormous subs from Big Belly Deli in Coral Bay and headed to Francis Bay.
Francis Bay Girls
Does Genip go with Mt. Gay Rum and Coke? Repeatedly.
Dinner at Rhumblines was good, but the Pad Thai blew the girls palates away with heat – ordered mild it was too spicy.
Friday 8/7 – Slow moving morning
Lameshure Ana
Tourist Trap fun – Mad Fox was here
Frank Bay sunset walk
Happy Hour at La Plancha del Mar – we brought Serrano style ham from Edwards of Virginia for the guys to try out – nice preparation! Serrano-style ham wrapped grilled shrimp with Romesco sauce.
Dinner at the Surly Cantina was a hit with the kids. That’s one tasty good deal for a meal. We played about Cruz Bay for the evening.
Saturday 8/8
Maho Bay early morning fun. First on the beach. Skinny Legs time when the beer runs out.
Howie’s bell at Skinny Legs – great burgers
Afternoon snorkel at Frank Bay, sunset beers with Ruth on Frank Bay and a lazy evening with some carousing around Cruz Bay. Cruz Bay was dead, there was a poker event going on somewhere and we didn’t get the invite!
Dinner at Lime Inn was good. The ingredients are great as is the service, but the food is a bit plain. This was our most expensive meal. La Plancha was better and cheaper.
Sunday 8/9
Gibney Beach with Jay & Deb – watch the coconuts!
Lunch at the Sun Dog Café was a big hit.
The Beach Bar forum event was bloody hot, but it was great to see folks.
Dinner was pizza from Roma. This was a big disappointment with cheese that had an odd almost synthetic flavor – like no fat cheese. Sacrilege – we don’t like this place.
Rick & Christine went about town bar hopping. There was more going on than Saturday night.
Monday 8/10
Sweet Christine was under the weather so Rick and the girls went beach hopping. Snorkels at Trunk Bay, Jumbie Bay and Hawksnest Bays. By popular request, lunch was at Sun Dog Café. Ana and Elizabeth loved Hawksnest and spent more time free diving than on the surface. Beautiful sunlight, water and white sand between the elkhorn corals. It was one of those “Ah hah!” moments for me – my daughters really can get by okay without their Dad; I’ll try to keep up while I can.
Trunk Bay before the crowd hit. This place has really been crushed by those postcard views!
Walking into town we saw that the palm trees had been planted at Grande Bay. How many years did that take? It looked a lot better!
Our last dinner was at the Banana Deck again. There were a lot of restaurants that were closed and La Tapa closed for the season a week early. One last quiet walk around town.
Tuesday 8/11
Goodbye St. John, until October!
Car barge to St. Thomas and lunch at Gladys’ Café. This is a good place.
Conch in Butter Sauce with Fungi, Plaintains & Provision
Goat Curry with Rice & Peas, Provision, Plaintains & Mac-n-Cheese
When we got home Elizabeth and Ana were missing St. John terribly. Elizabeth is a High School Senior and brought up the University of the Virgin Islands web site and was talking up their Marine Biology program. She was also selling the idea of a semester abroad there… soon come.
Cheers, RickG
This was a last minute trip for us thanks to cheap air fare and a good deal on a place to stay. My daughters Elizabeth (17) and Ana (12) are veteran STJ visitors. We were all put off by the huge spring break crowds in 2008, so we decided to accelerate our planned trip for spring break 2010 to August 2009. It was easy planning on two weeks notice with good airfare, last minute villa discount and no problem getting a Jeep.
We flew Spirit Air (moo!), picked up a Jeep 4-Door Wrangler from Dependable and hopped on the car barge to St. John. It was a smooth groove and we were on Frank Bay having beers with Ruth & Ron before sunset.
Sky Top Villa from Star Villas - http://www.starvillas.com/ - is one house away from Frank Bay with clear views of the water. It is on the top level of the three level house, but has parking at the front door. It was a great place for us - clean and basic. The best part (for RickG and Ana) was walking to early morning snorkeling on Frank Bay. This is a great grassy snorkel with conch and occasional star fish. There are lots of fish on the fringing reefs. The other best part (for Sweet Christine and Elizabeth) was being just past Gallows Point and being able to walk to Cruz Bay. The bedrooms had a/c and we needed it – August is bloody hot.
The highlights of the trip were:
- Ruth & Ron as neighbors
- Seeing friends
- Gorging on ripe genips
- Meals at La Plancha del mar
- Uncrowded beaches (except for Trunk Bay)
- Tour of just completed Anchorage Aweigh villa by the owners
- Horseback riding with Dana at Carolina Corral
- Walking the dogs for the ACC Shelter in Cruz Bay
The only downer for this trip was four expired passports - last minute has a downside; no BVI trip for us this time.
Here's a stream of consciousness serial of this trip:
Tuesday 8/4 – Arrival
Red Hook Barge
Sunset on Frank Bay
Sunset on Cruz Bay
Dinner at Banana Deck was busy, but pretty good. The food here is rarely exciting and rarely disappointing.
Wednesday 8/5
View from Sky Top to St. Thomas
View from Sky Top straight out across Frank Bay
View from Sky Top across Barge Channel
View from Sky Top
View from Sky Top
Attack Chicken
Breakfast Iguana
Genips – from the deck of Sky Top
Iguana Berries
Gibney Girls
Woody’s coveted dumpster table
Walking the ACC Dogs
Then a killer dinner at La Plancha del Mar. Sweet Christine really liked the Passionfruit Cosmo! The food was very well executed, tasty and reasonable. We had a small Neapolitan pizza and it was good by any standard, and very good for STJ.
Thursday 8/6
Breakfast & Cocktails – Yes!
Drive by cowgirls head up Johnny Horn Trail – beats walking!
Anchorage Aweigh drive by – Patty is in the pool and Scott is planting the last palm tree – great place for a shower
Anchorage Aweigh pool bar
We grabbed enormous subs from Big Belly Deli in Coral Bay and headed to Francis Bay.
Francis Bay Girls
Does Genip go with Mt. Gay Rum and Coke? Repeatedly.
Dinner at Rhumblines was good, but the Pad Thai blew the girls palates away with heat – ordered mild it was too spicy.
Friday 8/7 – Slow moving morning
Lameshure Ana
Tourist Trap fun – Mad Fox was here
Frank Bay sunset walk
Happy Hour at La Plancha del Mar – we brought Serrano style ham from Edwards of Virginia for the guys to try out – nice preparation! Serrano-style ham wrapped grilled shrimp with Romesco sauce.
Dinner at the Surly Cantina was a hit with the kids. That’s one tasty good deal for a meal. We played about Cruz Bay for the evening.
Saturday 8/8
Maho Bay early morning fun. First on the beach. Skinny Legs time when the beer runs out.
Howie’s bell at Skinny Legs – great burgers
Afternoon snorkel at Frank Bay, sunset beers with Ruth on Frank Bay and a lazy evening with some carousing around Cruz Bay. Cruz Bay was dead, there was a poker event going on somewhere and we didn’t get the invite!
Dinner at Lime Inn was good. The ingredients are great as is the service, but the food is a bit plain. This was our most expensive meal. La Plancha was better and cheaper.
Sunday 8/9
Gibney Beach with Jay & Deb – watch the coconuts!
Lunch at the Sun Dog Café was a big hit.
The Beach Bar forum event was bloody hot, but it was great to see folks.
Dinner was pizza from Roma. This was a big disappointment with cheese that had an odd almost synthetic flavor – like no fat cheese. Sacrilege – we don’t like this place.
Rick & Christine went about town bar hopping. There was more going on than Saturday night.
Monday 8/10
Sweet Christine was under the weather so Rick and the girls went beach hopping. Snorkels at Trunk Bay, Jumbie Bay and Hawksnest Bays. By popular request, lunch was at Sun Dog Café. Ana and Elizabeth loved Hawksnest and spent more time free diving than on the surface. Beautiful sunlight, water and white sand between the elkhorn corals. It was one of those “Ah hah!” moments for me – my daughters really can get by okay without their Dad; I’ll try to keep up while I can.
Trunk Bay before the crowd hit. This place has really been crushed by those postcard views!
Walking into town we saw that the palm trees had been planted at Grande Bay. How many years did that take? It looked a lot better!
Our last dinner was at the Banana Deck again. There were a lot of restaurants that were closed and La Tapa closed for the season a week early. One last quiet walk around town.
Tuesday 8/11
Goodbye St. John, until October!
Car barge to St. Thomas and lunch at Gladys’ Café. This is a good place.
Conch in Butter Sauce with Fungi, Plaintains & Provision
Goat Curry with Rice & Peas, Provision, Plaintains & Mac-n-Cheese
When we got home Elizabeth and Ana were missing St. John terribly. Elizabeth is a High School Senior and brought up the University of the Virgin Islands web site and was talking up their Marine Biology program. She was also selling the idea of a semester abroad there… soon come.
Cheers, RickG
S/V Echoes - Coral Bay - St. John, VI
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mindehankins
- Posts: 3014
- Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:21 am
- Location: Western NY State
sounds like a nice time....wish we could go that often; however november will be here before we know it. My daughter & husband have been looking at the university for awhile now; he is a Prof and she wants to start her freshman college year there (she's a junior in high school this year) we'll see what the future holds.
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msgcolleen
- Posts: 1497
- Joined: Thu Oct 05, 2006 8:33 am
- Location: Allen, Texas
Once again, great trip report Rick! I like your thinking about taking your "Spring Break Trip" 7 months before Spring Break!
Hey~ What's a genip? Is that a fancy word for lime? Hope to try some NEXT WEEK!! Woo-Hoo!!
Thanks for sharing and looking forward to your next trip report in what? 6 weeks?
Hey~ What's a genip? Is that a fancy word for lime? Hope to try some NEXT WEEK!! Woo-Hoo!!
Thanks for sharing and looking forward to your next trip report in what? 6 weeks?
I've got 2 tickets to paradise~Pack your bags we'll leave tonight!
[url=http://www.TickerFactory.com/]
[url=http://www.TickerFactory.com/]
Thanks for the report! Where you stayed must be right across the road almost from where we were in March at Casa Blanca above Blue Marlin. The views look pretty close-loved sitting out looking at the water 
Pictures of your family were very nice-memories you'll always have. And Gladys' is a must stop for us on STT, mmmm thanks for the food pictures!
Toni
Pictures of your family were very nice-memories you'll always have. And Gladys' is a must stop for us on STT, mmmm thanks for the food pictures!Toni
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greyhoundmom
- Posts: 978
- Joined: Mon Jul 30, 2007 3:06 pm
- Location: Columbia South Carolina
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lpowmacback
- Posts: 517
- Joined: Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:33 pm
- Location: Jersey Shore
Aug trip
Long anticipated trip report was awesome! It was great having Becks with you guys in the newly christened pool. Something tells me our paths will cross on STJ again!
Hope you guys have a great trip next month!!
Seagrape
Hope you guys have a great trip next month!!
Seagrape
