Trip Report Nov 29 - Dec 8

jwwj · Post by **jwwj** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 6:07 pm

Back from our 5th trip and it just keeps getting better! Our packing has gotten better each trip as well. I have a Eagle Creek backpack carryon and was able to fit all of our snorkel gear and all my clothes and toiletries and V got all her clothes and toiletries in her carryon. Carryon only has proved to be a huge advantage in the past and was even more so this time.

United changed our itinerary 3 times over the past 2 months and with the final change we were suppose to arrive in San Juan at 1:09 and had a Cape Air flight departing at 4:15. The flight to San Juan arrived at 12:50 and we knew that Cape Air had a 1:10 departure so we ran to their desk and not only were able to get on the flight but we were the only ones on an 8 seat Cessna! Despite the fact that the pilot looked like he was 15 we had a great flight and arrived in St Thomas 3 hours earlier than expected. Would not have worked with checked bags.

Since we were the only ones arriving at ST there was no welcoming shot of rum but we got a hug from Rachel and that was just as good.

We stayed at Cruz Bay Cottage, a charming little cottage perfect for 2 people very close to town. The views from the cottage are beautiful from the comfortable covered porch.

The owners told us that if we rented a jeep from Best Car Rental that the owner, Roosie would give us a good deal and we got an older but perfectly serviceable wrangler for $380/week. Roosie was a delight to deal with and as an added bonus there was no "Rent me from. . ." sticker so driving around in an old, somewhat beat-up jeep made us feel more like locals.

We ate all of our meal out at:
Rhumblines – still pretty good but off our list of "must go" restaurants.
Deli Grotto – never get past the Pink Cadillac on the menu, yum
Lime Inn – 2 dinners, both excellent, will definitely be back next trip, the whole snapper is amazing
High Tide – pretty good but not as good as our last trip in Feb
Ocean Grill – really, really good, will be back
Café livin – breakfast and lunch, both excellent!
La tapa – have been at least once every trip, sometimes twice, never had a bad meal, our best dinner by far!
Skinny Legs – great burgers
The Terrace – we really wanted to love it and everyone there was exceptionally nice and not stuffy and the food was real good but for the price I wanted to be wowed and we weren't. We'll give it another try next trip.
Banana Deck – loved the blackened mahi caesar salad
Beach Bar – lunch and dinner, good bar food
Candi's bbq – gotta love da comeback sauce
Wanted to go to P&Ps and Ekaete Pink Corner but both were closed when we went by.

Beaches
Hawksnest – twice, still one of our favorites but can get very crowded
Trunk – also twice, on 0 or 1 cruise ship days. A beautiful beach when it's not crowded, was one of about 3 people doing the underwater trail.
Francis – nice calm water but as Pam Gaffin says in her book the mosquitoes love it here
Gibney – our first time here and we had the beach to ourselves all day. possibly my favorite beach day

Cinnamon – nice and not crowded
Jumbie – also our first time here, nice beach but were there on a day with rough surf, still got some snorkeling in
Frank – very nice snorkeling but sorta difficult getting in and out of the water over the rocks. also hundreds (not exaggerating) sea urchins

Odd and funny things
Twice went by Hawksnest and there was no parking available in the lot or on the street. Went to Maho once and no place to park. Never saw more than 2 cars at Gibney most often none or 1

Met a gentleman on the way back to Red Hook, he was traveling alone and had been to SJ 8 times in the last 7 years. Was here for a week and had 2 large suitcases, 1 carryon suitcase and a backpack. I wanted to ask him what he brought with him but couldn't figure out a way that wouldn't sound rude

Decided to have Connections pack and send a box back to lighten the load for the hours at the airport. Packed our fins, mask, packsafe, a couple of gifts, and a few other things in a large box late Friday afternoon. They sent it priority mail and it showed up at our house at 10:00 Monday morning. Not expecting it that soon.

On to planning our next trip. We like to try different things, we've stayed at luxury villas on the south shore (Bongo Bongo, Esprit de la vie), Villa Tiffany in Coral bay, Grande Bay twice and now this cottage close to town. Thinking maybe a Gallows Point trip in March, new place, new month, same wonderful island.

mindehankins · Post by **mindehankins** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 6:42 pm

A trip report! Yay! Sounds like a great trip, minus the mosquitoes and the lack of parking spots. Judging by your view, was your cottage up on Pocketmoney Lane?
I don't know why that picture of Gibney is not how I recall Gibney at all. We've only been once, and we loved it. Did you walk far to the right, beyond the building?
Thanks again, for making a report

loria · Post by **loria** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 6:46 pm

sounds like a great trip-- i think we were a villa tiffany right before or right after you almost 2 years ago in february, right? gallows is a great spot too!

jwwj · Post by **jwwj** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 7:07 pm

Mindy, the cottage is right on centerline road, It is on the right when you get to the first time the road turns to the left. Just past Samuel's cottage. As Pia said in a post that I read when we got back, the mossies were really really bad, we went thru 2 cans of Off.

Loria, yes I believe you were right after us, on your honeymoon right? We've decided we aren't Coral Bay people as far as staying there. Love to visit but like being close to the restaurants in Cruz Bay and enjoy walking around town.

luvinsun · Post by **luvinsun** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 8:10 pm

love a trip report! Sounds like a great time! Thanks for sharing.

Caw954s · Post by **Caw954s** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 8:22 pm

Jwwj, I really enjoyed your trip report! Thank you for posting...

drd434 · Post by **drd434** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 10:18 pm

Finally a trip report! I was starting to think everyone was boycotting the island!

Sounds like a great time...

~DRD

toni · Post by **toni** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 9:05 am

Thanks for sharing

We were on island some of the same days and we noticed too that there weren't any cars at Gibney. Of course this is the one trip we didn't have a rental and couldn't take advantage of it!

The mosquitos really were en masse on some of the beaches. No problems at Trunk or Salomon but Cinnamon to the left by the buildings was awful -to the right we didn't have any issues luckily. It was nasty waiting for the taxi though. I can't imagine anybody tenting there didn't get swarmed.

We thought the Lind Point trail would be bad but had no skeeter issues there. We brought some Repel mosquito wipes and they did the job just fine.

Food wise, if you want to try new things, try Jakes for breakfast-we ate there twice-good corned beef hash and potato pancakes

jwwj · Post by **jwwj** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 1:48 pm

Minde, I'd missed the question about Gibney earlier. We went to the left, facing the water all the way to the rock outcropping separating Gibney from Hawksnest. The tides were very high when we were there and had to walk thru the water in front of the Gibney beach cottages until we got to the beach area.

StJohnbum · Post by **StJohnbum** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 8:37 pm

Jwwj

What did you think of Bongo Bongo. We are there in 10 days. Thanks

PA Girl · Post by **PA Girl** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 8:47 am

thanks for the report. Great picutre of Gibney. That whole grilled snapper at Lime Inn is my favorite, we will be there in a few weeks.

jwwj · Post by **jwwj** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 9:06 am

stjohnbum, we loved Bongo Bongo! the large outdoor living area is amazing and all the furnishings are top notch. The way the kitchen/living area opens up on two sides it's like the only time place "inside" is the bedroom. The large pool with waterfall is great. The most luxurious place we've stayed. No negatives I can think of.

mindehankins · Post by **mindehankins** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 9:08 am

Thanks for the info! That's a really beautiful perspective I hadn't checked out before - but will now

StJohnbum · Post by **StJohnbum** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 10:22 am

Thanks for the update on Bongo Bongo Jwwj. We're really looking forward to spending Christmas and New Year's there. We read a trip report here where someone stayed at a villa named Wings over Water. We checked it out and fell in love with the location and have booked it for May 2013. It's going to be a great Year visiting STJ.

PaminMaine · Post by **PaminMaine** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 8:03 pm

I swear we had the same pilot 2 years ago this coming May!! It took him 3x of pushing the propeller before the plane finally started. I was a bit nervous to leave the ground. LOL . He looked very young, and I was sitting right behind him. Half way to STT he grabber a manual down beside his seat and started reading...

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