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Jan&Mike's Trip Report - Part TWO
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Jan&MikeVa
- Posts: 1084
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 5:32 pm
- Location: The Chesapeake Bay
Jan&Mike's Trip Report - Part TWO
Hoping this doesn’t sound too “whiney”, but this trip was a comedy of errors!
Monday 11/27
I woke up at sunrise and couldn’t believe the sky; it was beyond awesome. There are no curtains on the bedroom doors to OPH, so if anyone considers staying there be prepared to get up with the sun. We’re up early while on Island so I knew it would be no problem for us. I woke Mike up and we enjoyed the sunrise right from our own bed. The new day brought a new attitude and a new beginning, or so we thought. Like a couple of kids on Christmas morning, we were so excited to actually get on the deck and take in the entire view. So we got out of bed and quickly ran upstairs so we could get the whole experience together. It is unbelievable; the view goes on and on and on. We just stood there in awe; the sunrise, the blue water, pinks, yellows, orange, purple the sky was just majestic at sunrise. We made coffee and sat on the deck and took it all in. I thought there were a lot of roosters in Cruz Bay and Gift Hill; there are a lot MORE on the Coral Bay side. Cock-a-doodle-doo’s heard from every direction, very quiet otherwise. I love the animal life on this island, one of my favorite things about STJ!
After a little coffee I’m ready to unpack, explore the villa and get settled in. We had asked Shaun about the pool heater last night and he said the guy would be out this morning to turn it on and set it to a temperature we liked. Hadn’t heard anything from Caribbean Villas so we called them about 11am. Curtis said he’d get the guy out there for us today. We were both pretty tired from the last days so decided to hang out at the villa and enjoy the pool. If you’ve never stayed at OPH, the pool gets 0 sun in the winter, none………zip……zilch. So much for swimming, it was like ice water. But we hung out, got a little sun, lots of naps and I started a good book. We went down to Island Blues for lunch, black & blue burgers for both of us………..delicious as always. Sat at our usual table by the water and took it all in. We then stopped in at Love City Market and were impressed with their stock. Pick up some fruit and vegetables and headed back to the villa. No one had shown up by 4pm so I called the office and talked to a very nice lady. To our surprise she informed us that the pool heat pump was broken and they had been having trouble getting the parts for a couple of weeks.
Why weren’t we told that earlier?? 
She did talk with Curtis who said he would get an electrician out on Tuesday. Now we’re getting the run a round. Patience, just be cool, your on their time, give them the benefit of the doubt.
Had a wonderful dinner at the villa, jerk chicken, rice, salad, we’re relaxing and getting into the limn mode! Candles burning tonight, lots of stargazing, we’re loving it!
Tuesday 11/28
This morning I decided to go ahead and wash our traveling clothes, plus the clothes we changed in to. Put them in the wash, and we left the villa to head out to Trunk Bay. We get there at 7:30am and we’re the only ones there, OMG……… Trunk Bay all to ourselves!!
The whole beach, awesome!! Is this heaven or what??? It only gets better, the water temperature is PERFECT, just cool enough to be refreshing. We love Trunk, all that pure sand and clear water. It was a beautiful morning. Decided not to snorkel, it had gotten a bit crowded by that time. Head away from there and into Cruz Bay. Stop in at St. John Spice picked up our grill rub and Kiss of the Jumbie coffee. I LOVE that coffee, it’s so good! Chat with Ruth and meet Ron, nice folks gang. If you haven’t been into their stores make sure you do, they have great stuff and Ruth is great! Whoops, so is Ron!!
Had lunch at Panini, their cheese pizza………wow it was GOOD! Sat by the rail and enjoyed the various activities. There was a wonderful breeze........ So nice to have lunch by the beach! On to Starfish for the real grocery shopping and then back to Coral Bay. I noticed a better selection of meats at Starfish this trip, also their prices weren’t that much higher than here at home. Dinner tonight is steaks on the grill with the St. John Spice Steak Rub, baked potatoes and salad.
We get back to the villa about 3pm and I go down and put the clothes in the dryer, well whoops the dryer doesn’t work.
Here’s the deal, I SPECIFICALLY asked them about it when they called the Wednesday before we left. I had heard from another forumite that the dryer was broken a few weeks ago when they were there. Caribbean Villas said that as far as they knew it was working they were not aware of any problems. WRONG. Here I go again, WHY didn’t I check it out first before washing BLUE JEANS & SWEAT SHIRTS! Am I getting STUPID??? 
So now, how was I to dry them? Oh yeah, the old fashioned way. No problem, hung stuff on hangers and the lighter shirts were flapping in the breeze. This might work. No. After a quick nap we discover our t-shirts and underwear down below some clinging to tress!!! OMG, what a sight!! Did I mention that it’s VERY breezy up at OPH?? It is. We laughed over this and were very grateful that the stuff went more down than out. We were able to retrieve everything safely and not risk Mike getting back up a ladder! It was really a funny sight. Thank goodness this happened BEFORE the electrician showed up. What would he think of us with our undies clinging to the trees?? So now I decide to crank up the A/C wide open in the other bedroom and hang the clothes up in there with the ceiling fans going. Hoping this will work. 
The electrician showed up about 6pm and couldn’t do anything with the pool heater; he said he’d try again Wednesday. Had a nice chat with he and his girlfriend (she claims to be his helper), very nice people. The pool heater not working doesn’t matter much at this point. We love the villa, Coral Bay, and we can do without the pool. But I’m a little bummed at this point because we pack light and we always wash clothes on island. But they have laundry mats in town. Tomorrow I’ll get this wet stuff over there, and move on with vacation. THIS will NOT slow us down or discourage us.
But I’m really thinking that we’re getting lied to. And it’s Tuesday night, and NO ONE has called to even address us getting stranded at the dock, never mind an apology. It would be nice for Caribbean Villas to acknowledge what happened. What if we had been first timers??? What would you guys do???
We’re having a good time, really, it may not sound like it…………but we are. The island is great, weathers great, and the views are awesome. It’s so good to be back on Island, we love it more each time we come. And we like Coral Bay, a lot quieter than the other side, and the view down the Sir Francis Drake Channel is so pretty. Lot’s of boats and cruise chips to watch. The villa has a very nice telescope that we used, and the stars. WOW, you can see them a lot better on the East end of the Island.
Well, enough for now. Tomorrow turns out to be moving day; we’ll head over to Allesandra for the remainder of our time on Island. Things only get better from here! Honest!
Jan (akaCharlie)
Monday 11/27
I woke up at sunrise and couldn’t believe the sky; it was beyond awesome. There are no curtains on the bedroom doors to OPH, so if anyone considers staying there be prepared to get up with the sun. We’re up early while on Island so I knew it would be no problem for us. I woke Mike up and we enjoyed the sunrise right from our own bed. The new day brought a new attitude and a new beginning, or so we thought. Like a couple of kids on Christmas morning, we were so excited to actually get on the deck and take in the entire view. So we got out of bed and quickly ran upstairs so we could get the whole experience together. It is unbelievable; the view goes on and on and on. We just stood there in awe; the sunrise, the blue water, pinks, yellows, orange, purple the sky was just majestic at sunrise. We made coffee and sat on the deck and took it all in. I thought there were a lot of roosters in Cruz Bay and Gift Hill; there are a lot MORE on the Coral Bay side. Cock-a-doodle-doo’s heard from every direction, very quiet otherwise. I love the animal life on this island, one of my favorite things about STJ!
After a little coffee I’m ready to unpack, explore the villa and get settled in. We had asked Shaun about the pool heater last night and he said the guy would be out this morning to turn it on and set it to a temperature we liked. Hadn’t heard anything from Caribbean Villas so we called them about 11am. Curtis said he’d get the guy out there for us today. We were both pretty tired from the last days so decided to hang out at the villa and enjoy the pool. If you’ve never stayed at OPH, the pool gets 0 sun in the winter, none………zip……zilch. So much for swimming, it was like ice water. But we hung out, got a little sun, lots of naps and I started a good book. We went down to Island Blues for lunch, black & blue burgers for both of us………..delicious as always. Sat at our usual table by the water and took it all in. We then stopped in at Love City Market and were impressed with their stock. Pick up some fruit and vegetables and headed back to the villa. No one had shown up by 4pm so I called the office and talked to a very nice lady. To our surprise she informed us that the pool heat pump was broken and they had been having trouble getting the parts for a couple of weeks.
Why weren’t we told that earlier?? She did talk with Curtis who said he would get an electrician out on Tuesday. Now we’re getting the run a round. Patience, just be cool, your on their time, give them the benefit of the doubt.Had a wonderful dinner at the villa, jerk chicken, rice, salad, we’re relaxing and getting into the limn mode! Candles burning tonight, lots of stargazing, we’re loving it!
Tuesday 11/28
This morning I decided to go ahead and wash our traveling clothes, plus the clothes we changed in to. Put them in the wash, and we left the villa to head out to Trunk Bay. We get there at 7:30am and we’re the only ones there, OMG……… Trunk Bay all to ourselves!!
The whole beach, awesome!! Is this heaven or what??? It only gets better, the water temperature is PERFECT, just cool enough to be refreshing. We love Trunk, all that pure sand and clear water. It was a beautiful morning. Decided not to snorkel, it had gotten a bit crowded by that time. Head away from there and into Cruz Bay. Stop in at St. John Spice picked up our grill rub and Kiss of the Jumbie coffee. I LOVE that coffee, it’s so good! Chat with Ruth and meet Ron, nice folks gang. If you haven’t been into their stores make sure you do, they have great stuff and Ruth is great! Whoops, so is Ron!!Had lunch at Panini, their cheese pizza………wow it was GOOD! Sat by the rail and enjoyed the various activities. There was a wonderful breeze........ So nice to have lunch by the beach! On to Starfish for the real grocery shopping and then back to Coral Bay. I noticed a better selection of meats at Starfish this trip, also their prices weren’t that much higher than here at home. Dinner tonight is steaks on the grill with the St. John Spice Steak Rub, baked potatoes and salad.
We get back to the villa about 3pm and I go down and put the clothes in the dryer, well whoops the dryer doesn’t work.
Here’s the deal, I SPECIFICALLY asked them about it when they called the Wednesday before we left. I had heard from another forumite that the dryer was broken a few weeks ago when they were there. Caribbean Villas said that as far as they knew it was working they were not aware of any problems. WRONG. Here I go again, WHY didn’t I check it out first before washing BLUE JEANS & SWEAT SHIRTS! Am I getting STUPID??? So now, how was I to dry them? Oh yeah, the old fashioned way. No problem, hung stuff on hangers and the lighter shirts were flapping in the breeze. This might work. No. After a quick nap we discover our t-shirts and underwear down below some clinging to tress!!! OMG, what a sight!! Did I mention that it’s VERY breezy up at OPH?? It is. We laughed over this and were very grateful that the stuff went more down than out. We were able to retrieve everything safely and not risk Mike getting back up a ladder! It was really a funny sight. Thank goodness this happened BEFORE the electrician showed up. What would he think of us with our undies clinging to the trees?? So now I decide to crank up the A/C wide open in the other bedroom and hang the clothes up in there with the ceiling fans going. Hoping this will work. The electrician showed up about 6pm and couldn’t do anything with the pool heater; he said he’d try again Wednesday. Had a nice chat with he and his girlfriend (she claims to be his helper), very nice people. The pool heater not working doesn’t matter much at this point. We love the villa, Coral Bay, and we can do without the pool. But I’m a little bummed at this point because we pack light and we always wash clothes on island. But they have laundry mats in town. Tomorrow I’ll get this wet stuff over there, and move on with vacation. THIS will NOT slow us down or discourage us.
But I’m really thinking that we’re getting lied to. And it’s Tuesday night, and NO ONE has called to even address us getting stranded at the dock, never mind an apology. It would be nice for Caribbean Villas to acknowledge what happened. What if we had been first timers??? What would you guys do???
We’re having a good time, really, it may not sound like it…………but we are. The island is great, weathers great, and the views are awesome. It’s so good to be back on Island, we love it more each time we come. And we like Coral Bay, a lot quieter than the other side, and the view down the Sir Francis Drake Channel is so pretty. Lot’s of boats and cruise chips to watch. The villa has a very nice telescope that we used, and the stars. WOW, you can see them a lot better on the East end of the Island.
Well, enough for now. Tomorrow turns out to be moving day; we’ll head over to Allesandra for the remainder of our time on Island. Things only get better from here! Honest!
Jan (akaCharlie)
Wow. I have to say, I would have been annoyed. I know it's harder to maintain things on St. John, but you are paying a lot of money to be there, and deserve information! We all know that things take a while to be fixed on island, etc., but isn't it better to know up front what is malfunctioning so you can build it into your plans? I think so!
One phone call to you prior to arrival to let you know about the pool and the dryer could have helped a lot in terms of your planning. Those are major items you expect to be functioning--it's not like you are talking about a CD player or a toaster oven!
Our first time to St. John, John and I rented a house direct from the owner--he called about 2 days before we were set to leave to let us know that the pool was broken. He was very apologetic and offered various remedies--discount, attempting to fix it while we were there, etc. (He was very nice, but the best thing he did in that conversation was recommend we eat at La Tapa, yum!) My point is, we had advance notice of the problem with the villa and had dealt with our reaction to it before we got on island.
You say your trip got better, and I am looking forward to reading the rest, hopefully happier, parts of your report!
One phone call to you prior to arrival to let you know about the pool and the dryer could have helped a lot in terms of your planning. Those are major items you expect to be functioning--it's not like you are talking about a CD player or a toaster oven!
Our first time to St. John, John and I rented a house direct from the owner--he called about 2 days before we were set to leave to let us know that the pool was broken. He was very apologetic and offered various remedies--discount, attempting to fix it while we were there, etc. (He was very nice, but the best thing he did in that conversation was recommend we eat at La Tapa, yum!) My point is, we had advance notice of the problem with the villa and had dealt with our reaction to it before we got on island.
You say your trip got better, and I am looking forward to reading the rest, hopefully happier, parts of your report!
It's like looking in your soup and finding a whole different alphabet.
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