your most favorite moment on the rock...

[EagleRayLover]

There are so many but the first two that immediately popped into my head were renewal of of wedding vows with Capt John during this past trip with the message in a bottle witnessed by our boys and all the fun the rest of the day provided on our boat day!!
The day we saw the eight eagle rays in one sighting at Leinster- don't get me wrong the first sighting ever (same trip) of my eagle ray named Cooper was outstanding, but later that week, seeing eight was so totally unexpected and the dance the two performed was breataking!!

Can't wait to see what Augie says!! (3rd and 4th are night snorkel and driving)

[Midas]

With so many wonderful memories on St John, my most memorable by far was our sunset wedding ceremony at Cinnamon Bay with Anne Marie Porter - it couldn't have been more perfect from start to finish!

[hoosierdaddy]

Hiking the Lind point trail to Soloman and spending the entire day there with Hoosiermommy. We had a great snorkel over to Honeymoon and had lunch and crack bars from Deli Grotto. We had the beach to ourselves for the last hour and then hiked back and caught the sunset from the Lind point overlook. As the kids say "Best Day Ever".

[BillVT]

1. Spending sunset with my wife at Trunk. We had the entire beach to ourselves. No bugs. It was ludicrously perfect. My wife thought I'd totally lost it as I started to laugh about how fortunate we were, living where we do and vacationing where we do.

2. Our best friend who had introduced us to STJ almost 20 years ago was suffering from Parkinson's. We were able to get him down to the island twice before he passed away. One afternoon after a stop at Island Blues for happy hour, we headed for our jeep. With his wife and I on either side of him helping him along, we passed a table of apparent newbies. I turned to my friend Dick and said, "We've had way too much to drink Dick. You better drive."

Dick replied, "Yep, Yep, I'm drivin', I'm drivin'." Just then his shorts slipped down around his hips and fell to his ankles. The look of horror in the newbies eyes was priceless. Even in his final days I could get a smile out of him recounting that story.

3. Coming home from Skinnys on a full moon night, we headed down to the north shore road from the smoothie stand. We stopped off for a swim at Big Maho. We got back in the jeep before the bugs found us and stopped at every view point along the way. Just another magical night on the island.

[GotToGetAway]

I have two- 1. lying on the beach at Trunk and seeing my daughter kick me from the inside for the first time at 5 months pregnant. Even today, she counts that as her first trip to STJ. 2. On our most recent trip, swimming at Maho and being surrounded by about 5 stingrays. Life doesn't get any better.

[ncsusan]

My favorite moment on the rock would be a few years ago when we brought our four kids (18, 16, 13 and to St. John for Thanksgiving. It was their first trip, our third. We arrived at Estate Fortsberg after dark and there was no power on St. John due to a fire. We slept the first night outside on the pool deck because it was so warm in the house. During the night we lay there and watched the most amazing show of stars that I have ever seen. My 8 year old turned to me and said "This is so amazing, I could sit here and watch all night, I don't even miss my video games" Quite high praise coming from an 8 year old. The next morning their eyes grew huge as the sun came up and they got to see the beauty of Coral Bay spread out below us. They still talk about the night under the stars on St. John.

[Myheart'sinSTJ]

Waterguy-you gave me chills when I read your post...hugs

I have to say the first time heading over on the ferry from STT looking at the island ahead of me just made me cry, I just felt so fortunate to get there (I know sick, eh ).

[Bigcheeze]

JIMMY,

You should have made it a Top 10(100) list to make things easier. The Rock is my favorite thing...it's pull and effect on me and my family is easy to describe to fellow addicts,,,err I mean enthusiasts. The cumulative experiences are what give me the 'That FEELING' and a peace that makes me smile that stupid St John grin I get...the sensory overload is my fav thing. But you asked for a Moment...OK here's one; Chasing and swimming with turtles in Maho with my 2 kids Little Cheese and her big Bro DJ now 13 and 16 and neither will ever allow any thoughts of going anyplace for Spring Break than St John after 10 consecutive years.( did I mention they are spoiled too)

Smiles

Big Cheezy

[loria]

wow, so many to think about -- like when we put my nine month old on the sand at little maho and he crawled straight into (very QUICKLY ) and under the water.... ok, so i was horrified, but it was clear he 'got it!" , getting our vows renewed with annemarie porter with my kids there-whenmy daughter first learned how to snorkel- the kindness of pretty much the entire maho camps when my very sick kids (who probably kept them up all night crying and coughing) made sure we got ferried to the clinic, evaluated them (a pediatrician and a nurse) and helped us in so many ways as young parents with two very ill kids -- the sense of community from the whole island just amazes me visitors and residents alike, the baby octopus that washed up on water lemon key -- translucent and smaller than my hand totally spread out ( we brought it back into deeper waters...hope he did not get eaten)
-jimmy, this is hard to do coming up with just one!
but i think my favorite moment on the rock was not exactly on the rock (does that even make sense?) My husband knows what a special place STJ is for me and he is a really thoughtful guy.-- christmas rolled around (this is about 7 years ago now) we had had a tough year-- family stuff, work stuff-- unbeknownst to me my husband planned a trip for a week in february-- he set up a scavenger hunt in our house (this is a tradition with him-- usually leading to some really nice, undeserved christmas bling) but this one had two presents--
first i opened the package at the end of the hunt -- two vouchers to STJ! but i looked at the dates (not school vacation week) and immediately was "oh my gosh, we can't go! who will watch the kids ? " (he TOTALLY KNOWS i am uptight about that ) then the kids both yelled "this is the best part" (present #2) "Helle's coming!"
now Helle was our au pair from Denmark and she lived with us for 18 months and was like a second daughter to me-- and loved us and our kids and we love her (she still visits-infact was just here this summer and we took her to STJ with her boyfriend last year for my 50th)-- so my husband called Helle, found out when she was free, and used his miles to buy a ticket for her from Denmark to NY because he knew i would be totally fine and able to relax leaving the kids -- and made sure she was able to stay an extra week when we returned so that we'd have time to spend with her....... It was a great GREAT trip (we stayed in my favorite tent at concordia -- p13 ) i think that is my favorite memory of STJ...the anticipation of that trip and the trip itself.

[augie]

On our first trip, despite my having been driving everyone on the forum crazy with all of my questions for months in advance, we spent most of the time on island with a kind of "I think this is where we are" feeling. One of our "eureka" moments from that visit was our first Waterlemon experience. In true clueless newbie fashion, when we walked out of the Annaberg parking lot we walked in the direction of Francis Bay (that miscue did give us our first donkey encounter though)!

We quickly enough realized our mistake and headed back in the correct direction. We made our way along the trail, and up the Johnny Horn Trail until we realized that it wasn't taking us closer to the water. We backtracked once again, took a right hand turn by the beach, and made our way to the rocks that are adjacent to the cay.

Once we were in the water, all was right. We were delighted at how close to shore there were interesting things to see. As we made our way across the sand into deeper water we saw stingrays, then turtles munching on seagrass - no wonder this place had such a great reputation!

As we approached the cay we ran into a school of fry. A very large school. As we began our circumnavigation, and got to the end closest to the BVIs, we found ourselves imbedded in such a thick school of the shiny little guys that we could scarcely see through them! We were transfixed, watching them react as we waved our arms, etc. Time just kind of stood still, and we probably stayed right there for close to half an hour - convinced that this was one of those magical, once in a lifetime kind of experiences, and that we should enjoy it as long as it lasted.

Well, it lasted longer than we could remain in that one spot. We eventually decided to finish our tour of the cay and the bay. Subsequent schools that we encountered, on that same snorkel, and a number of times since have dis-proven the "once in a lifetime" uniqueness of the event, but nothing could dull how magical it was for us at the time!

[mnfun2bme]

Hugs to Waterguy!

A moment I will never forget:
A visit to the Annaberg Ruins. Standing and looking out over the beautiful bays below and over to Tortola... appreciating every color of blue. I had just read a great deal about the history of the island and I was overwhelmed with thoughts of the slaves that once worked on the island and how they were treated. The thought of living in such an incredible place and not be able to enjoy it had tears streaming down my face. It was one of those moments that I will NEVER forget.
I told my family that when I die, I want a park bench constructed on that bluff in my memory. Love that spot!

[mahojim]

Wow. thanks for sharing thus far, y'all. My Sweet Amy on Maho is just the most beautiful sight. Can't have perfection without her around!
Please keep the momories flowin'...
Smiles-
MJ

[sea-nile]

There are so many for me too but the best had to be when I went SCUBA diving for the first time. It was in STJ with Six Paq scuba in 2007.

[EagleRayLover]

There are so many for me too but the best had to be when I went SCUBA diving for the first time. It was in STJ with Six Paq scuba in 2007.

I liked 2008 with six paq with you!!!

[BreakawayBarb]

Thank you for sharing, everyone. These are all touching and personal. My favorite moment is getting married to my sweet husband Marc on Trunk Bay at sunset on Christmas Eve...almost 15 years ago...by the incredible and one-of-a-kind Anne Marie Porter. I cried my eyes out, but have never been happier. Champagne followed at our villa on Gift Hill, and then an unforgettable dinner at Asolare. Never to be repeated, and never will! But we shall return this year for our 15-year anniversary (earlier in dec to get the low-season rates! ) I can't wait. Again, I thank everyone for their amazing stories.