usvi-on-line
Trip report 5/12-5/19 & photo links: Part 1
Trip report 5/12-5/19 & photo links: Part 1
I'll start with the pics because I know most people like those most. 
trip [url]photos: http://www.flickr.com/gp/38521452@N00/1iSM18[/url]
This was our first trip to St. John and doubled as our wedding/honeymoon. We rented Villa Serenity through Terry Witham - it was perfect and Terry was wonderful!
We arrived in St. Thomas and had quite a time getting out of the airport. 2 major airlines had just landed and the belt where the luggage comes through broke. They started hand carrying everyone's luggage to the 'commuter' termial. We were supposed to just walk up there (with about 300 other people) and pick our stuff up. It was insane! People were even getting into fights... We didn't get in a taxi until almost 2 hours after our flight landed. Thankfully our villa rep Terry was completely understanding and even volunteered to pick up our Jeep keys. Luckily St. John car rental stayed open 1 hour later this day so we made it just in time. Our flight landed at 2:15 pm - I got to the car rental place at about 5:45pm... Not a very enjoyable experience, but I had heard bad things about the airport, so I was kind of prepared.
Off to the villa! It was so cool experiencing the North Shore Rd for the 1st time. We drove this so often during our stay, I almost got tired of it. There were a couple sets of switch backs that really had me nervous at first. I found that I preferred being on the road at night - it's easier to see headlights coming around the corners. Terry showed us around the villa and told us all about the water system and how we should conserve. We relaxed for a few minutes and then headed back into town because the rest of our party was arriving and we had to pick them up. Had dinner at Margarita Phil's (enchiladas were very different, but very good in my opinion). We all had $15 margaritas. Also good, but probably wouldn't have gotten them had we know they were $15. hehe They were pretty big, though, and just one did the trick of 2 drinks...
Sunday: I woke up at 6:15am and I am typically NOT a morning person. Tried to sleep for about 15 minutes and then gave up. Going to bed early and waking up early became a trend on this trip. My brother (aka my wedding photographer) thought we should go by Hawksnest Beach around the 8:45am time frame to check the lighting at that time (getting married there Tuesday morning). Decided it would work. We hadn't planned on hanging out here long, but got in the water for a quick swim. Some of the group started to snorkel, so we all ended up snorkeling. I was really impressed with what you could see so close to the shore. I was able to get some cool pics underwater since there is so much light shining through the shallow water. After that we headed to the grocery store and spent almost all our money..
Back at the Villa we decided to walk down to Francis Bay and snorkel. Saw turtles, stingrays, and an ocotopus hiding in the rocks. At one point we were just hanging out near the shore and a stingray swam right up towards my fiance. He was only sitting in about 6 inches of water and moved backwards when he saw the ray coming towards him... It was actually pretty funny... I did think it was a little strange for a ray to be in such shallow water - and it was a part of the beach that was just sand (no rocks or sea grass around)... Back at the villa again, we decided to grill for dinner. Afterwards we went to Skinny Legs for some drinks. I had my first Painkiller. I enjoyed it, but it's not one of my favorites (sorry everyone)..
By the way, YES, the bugs are BAD! We spent every day of our trip lathered with every kind of bug spray and lotion we could find and still ended up with bites. For some strange reason, my bites didn't start itching until AFTER we got back home.. Maybe I just noticed it more now that I don't have such beautiful scenery around to keep my mind of it...
Monday: My fiance and I had to go back to St. Thomas to get our wedding stuff from the court. We took the CA ferry (which I highly prefer over Red Hook). No offense to any St. Thomas people, but we could hardly wait to get back to St. John. Once back at St. John we met up with 2 of our friends at Jumbie. VERY nice little place. I think there were only about 2-4 other people on the beach while we were there. Really enjoyed the snorkeling here as well. Went to dinner in Cruz Bay again this night. I can't think of the name - maybe Banana Deck? It was pretty much right next to St. John Car Rental. Everyone really enjoyed there meals...
Everyone was really having a great time. Before the trip I had been really concerned about the weather since it had been raining a lot. It never rained on us - not even for a second. We had sun every day, but there was that weird haze thing. I think someone said it was dust from the Sahara? I would have liked to seen how far you could see out towards the BVI's and I think the haze limited that a little, but it was still awesome!
Coming up next: The wedding; Day Sail on the White Wing, and the Reef Bay Trail Hike.
trip [url]photos: http://www.flickr.com/gp/38521452@N00/1iSM18[/url]
This was our first trip to St. John and doubled as our wedding/honeymoon. We rented Villa Serenity through Terry Witham - it was perfect and Terry was wonderful!
We arrived in St. Thomas and had quite a time getting out of the airport. 2 major airlines had just landed and the belt where the luggage comes through broke. They started hand carrying everyone's luggage to the 'commuter' termial. We were supposed to just walk up there (with about 300 other people) and pick our stuff up. It was insane! People were even getting into fights... We didn't get in a taxi until almost 2 hours after our flight landed. Thankfully our villa rep Terry was completely understanding and even volunteered to pick up our Jeep keys. Luckily St. John car rental stayed open 1 hour later this day so we made it just in time. Our flight landed at 2:15 pm - I got to the car rental place at about 5:45pm... Not a very enjoyable experience, but I had heard bad things about the airport, so I was kind of prepared.
Off to the villa! It was so cool experiencing the North Shore Rd for the 1st time. We drove this so often during our stay, I almost got tired of it. There were a couple sets of switch backs that really had me nervous at first. I found that I preferred being on the road at night - it's easier to see headlights coming around the corners. Terry showed us around the villa and told us all about the water system and how we should conserve. We relaxed for a few minutes and then headed back into town because the rest of our party was arriving and we had to pick them up. Had dinner at Margarita Phil's (enchiladas were very different, but very good in my opinion). We all had $15 margaritas. Also good, but probably wouldn't have gotten them had we know they were $15. hehe They were pretty big, though, and just one did the trick of 2 drinks...
Sunday: I woke up at 6:15am and I am typically NOT a morning person. Tried to sleep for about 15 minutes and then gave up. Going to bed early and waking up early became a trend on this trip. My brother (aka my wedding photographer) thought we should go by Hawksnest Beach around the 8:45am time frame to check the lighting at that time (getting married there Tuesday morning). Decided it would work. We hadn't planned on hanging out here long, but got in the water for a quick swim. Some of the group started to snorkel, so we all ended up snorkeling. I was really impressed with what you could see so close to the shore. I was able to get some cool pics underwater since there is so much light shining through the shallow water. After that we headed to the grocery store and spent almost all our money..
Back at the Villa we decided to walk down to Francis Bay and snorkel. Saw turtles, stingrays, and an ocotopus hiding in the rocks. At one point we were just hanging out near the shore and a stingray swam right up towards my fiance. He was only sitting in about 6 inches of water and moved backwards when he saw the ray coming towards him... It was actually pretty funny... I did think it was a little strange for a ray to be in such shallow water - and it was a part of the beach that was just sand (no rocks or sea grass around)... Back at the villa again, we decided to grill for dinner. Afterwards we went to Skinny Legs for some drinks. I had my first Painkiller. I enjoyed it, but it's not one of my favorites (sorry everyone)..
By the way, YES, the bugs are BAD! We spent every day of our trip lathered with every kind of bug spray and lotion we could find and still ended up with bites. For some strange reason, my bites didn't start itching until AFTER we got back home.. Maybe I just noticed it more now that I don't have such beautiful scenery around to keep my mind of it...
Monday: My fiance and I had to go back to St. Thomas to get our wedding stuff from the court. We took the CA ferry (which I highly prefer over Red Hook). No offense to any St. Thomas people, but we could hardly wait to get back to St. John. Once back at St. John we met up with 2 of our friends at Jumbie. VERY nice little place. I think there were only about 2-4 other people on the beach while we were there. Really enjoyed the snorkeling here as well. Went to dinner in Cruz Bay again this night. I can't think of the name - maybe Banana Deck? It was pretty much right next to St. John Car Rental. Everyone really enjoyed there meals...
Everyone was really having a great time. Before the trip I had been really concerned about the weather since it had been raining a lot. It never rained on us - not even for a second. We had sun every day, but there was that weird haze thing. I think someone said it was dust from the Sahara? I would have liked to seen how far you could see out towards the BVI's and I think the haze limited that a little, but it was still awesome!
Coming up next: The wedding; Day Sail on the White Wing, and the Reef Bay Trail Hike.
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