Tell me why I should stay somewhere other than Coral Bay...

[chicagoans]

I am booked for our next trip! Coming down to do 8 Tuff again next year. (Yes, I know it's a long way away, but I'm still excited.)

Anyway, I've been looking into villas (of course) for either 4 of us or 7 of us, depending on whether I can convince my friend to do 8 Tuff again and bring her family.

I have stayed in Coral Bay 3 times, at 3 different villas. Love, love, love it, partly because I can get to either North or South shore beaches easily, and partly because it feels so comfortable to me.

However, on my last trip, I ended up driving to Cruz Bay every day but one! (To pick up/drop off my friend; to pick up my race #, to do 8 Tuff, to catch a sail charter.) I don't anticipate all that back and forth for my next trip, but I would have more options if I looked beyond Coral Bay. So I'm wondering... what am I missing?

I know some people prefer other parts of the island. If you love another area, would you share why? Feel free to chime in if you're a Coral Bay fan too! (I'm already convinced, but maybe you'll give me more reasons to stay there again.)

OK to be fair, if you're a Peter Bay fan I totally get why, but that's out of my budget, especially for high season.

TIA!

[Pia]

How about Casa Bueno on Bordeaux? 10 minutes closer to Cruz Bay - maybe 15 minutes depending where you usually stay in Coral Bay - but still only 5 minutes to Maho

Perfect location - best of both worlds

Pia

[greyhoundmom]

I can't address why not to stay in Coral Bay again! It feels like coming home to your small space on a small island. Driving up Seagrape Hill at the end of the day, seeing the donkeys bedded down in the fire station at dusk, looking at the boats bobbing in the bay from the pool, nirvana for me! Love the quiet, don't mind the drive to anywhere. Fish Bay, on the other hand, was a not so great memory...

[chicagoans]

Pia great suggestion and one of the first ones I checked! Already booked though, as were Great Turtle and a few others. (Darn those early planners!)

Greyhound: I get what you're saying. I'm feeling like I belong in Coral Bay, but then again I've never tried anywhere else on STJ.

[seagrape]

Love the quiet of overlooking Coral Bay from the Seagrape Hill side. It's very entertaining just watching the world go by...

[PatrickMcc]

We stayed at Hart Bay last Feb and loved. It was certainly quiet. Anywhere between Hart Bay and Cruz Bay is a very easy drive to Cruz Bay. That means that you usually drive through Cruz Bay for the North Shore beaches. We have never minded that drive- even to Francis Bay which is the farthest North shore beach. Most nights we go to Cruz Bay for dinner and love that. If you eat in the villa most nights maybe it isn't worth it to you. We want to go next Feb. Presidents' week which is Feb. 16th-23rd. Is that when 8 tuff miles is? We were going to wait until summer to book but reading your comments is making me nervous.

[michigancouple]

Stay wherever makes you smile but you really need to make yourself a 2nd ticker! And we need to hang signs around our necks for a beach bar gathering next time! We will be at Grande Bay at Tracy's awesome place.

[chicagoans]

michigan you are right! So I made a second ticker, now for finding other forumites at 8 Tuff with a sign... Here's a hint: I'll be one of the slow ones!

seagrape -- sigh... I loved staying up Sea Grape Hill. Love that drive. And my friend and I <i>walked</i> up Sea Grape Hill immediately after 8 Tuff because we didn't want to use the outhouse at the finish line! Then we walked back down to Skinny's. Down was better.

[chicagoans]

PatrickMcc: yes, 8 Tuff will be on 2/23. I wouldn't worry too much about booking now; it seems like there are lots of villas on that side of the island. (But being the anal person I am, I start looking right away.)

You should be aware of a couple things: many of the management companies / villa owners charge holiday rates for Presidents' Week. (Darn!) And leaving on Saturday morning 2/23 could be tricky if you're on the Coral Bay side, since Centerline will be closed for the race. (But if you're staying near Cruz Bay you won't have to worry.) You should just extend your stay until Sunday and do the race with us. You can push me up the hills!

[steve]

We spend our days on the N Shore beaches and evenings in the Villa so we always like to be near the N Shore. We like the cool breezes and not needing AC, love the tropical breeze blowing across the bed at night. We love sunrise and sunset and seeing the white beaches as well as the distant islands, you can get it on the N Shore in the right villa. We go to St John to get away so we enjoy feeling like we are really out on the island not in town or too close to neighbors.

St John has something for every taste for tropic lovers!

[AquaGirl]

We have stayed in Coral Bay twice - once at Bayview, and once at Concordia. We loved the location of Bayview because it was fairly central to every place we wanted to go, but we didn't particularly like the villa due to plumbing issues and a cold pool. We enjoyed the view out to Coral Bay and Bordeaux Mtn, but missed the sunset view.

We loved staying at Concordia (in a studio) with a view from our porch overlooking Salt Pond. It was peaceful out there. However, it was a bit of a drive to almost anywhere, except Salt Pond and the Lameshur beaches. It got a little old driving back over to Cruz Bay for a day charter, water fill-up, grocery store, etc. If we stayed in Coral Bay again, we would arrange our activities differently, so we would have just a few trips into Cruz Bay.

We've stayed several times at Coconuts villa on Gifft Hill and are getting ready for another stay there soon (yeah!). We love this location for several reasons:
- watching the sunset from the deck is wonderful
- great view out to the sea and over to STT from the deck and gazebo; love eating breakfast with that view
- short drive up to Centerline Rd, then 15-20 minute drive to the North Shore beaches, depending upon which one
- quick drive to Starfish for groceries (going down Gifft Hill Rd to the road that goes along the south shore into town)
- quick drive to Sogos to pick up carryout to eat on deck with nice view
- quick drive to/from Cruz Bay for eating out

We enjoy having a sunset view and like the convenience of being able to pop into town for whatever we need. While I plan ahead at home for meals and such, not so much on vacation, so I like having options.

Its a hard choice since both sides of the islands have pros and cons for us, and both sides are fantastic in their own way.

Happy planning!

[Teresa_Rae]

We have stayed on the Cruz Bay side 6 times and the Coral Bay side 3 times (in that order). I am kind of itching to get back to the Cruz Bay side because we greatly prefer the restaurants there and the drive in the dark gets a little old.

[P-600]

We have determined that Coral Bay aka Johnson Bay is just too far away...We have been on the boat when Capt. John refers to it as Vermont... Well it is just that for us. The drive is tooooooo long.. Sorry:)

[seagrape]

chicagoans - Wow! Up the hill AFTER the 8 tuff? I do hike it and the Johnny Horn a lot when staying at our villa. However, 8 tuff worthy I am probably not! Good for you! We also drive down the hill to enjoy dinner, etc. After a few drinks, the walk up the hill would be a "downer".

[toni]

Where's sea grape hill? We bounce around, have stayed the coral bay side 3 times but not on the skinny legs side. More toward Concordia. It is very peaceful out there. Otherwise we like the rendezvous bay fish bay area for the quiet yet convenience to Cruz bay restaurants.