usvi-on-line
Gang of 24 STJ Trip Report - November 18-25 - Part 1
Gang of 24 STJ Trip Report - November 18-25 - Part 1
It's been two weeks and I'm finally getting things together. Christine and I have tentatively planned a trip just for the two of us in April and a Halloween trip with our party gang. I miss St. John severely. I came back to a killer work schedule and I've been running since we got back. But, I'm going back soon!
Pictures: http://travel.webshots.com/album/556102917qslZZC
Underwater Pictures: http://travel.webshots.com/album/556039964ChaNdY
Cocotier Villa Photo Walkthrough: http://travel.webshots.com/album/556096531YjwoXz
Summary & Genesis – This trip got started on the beach in Ocean City, Maryland in August of 2004. Christine and I had spent spring break 2004 at Maho Bay Campground with my two daughters and had a wonderful time. When you are lounging on an East Coast barrier island beach with twenty seven folks and the surf is too rough and cold to enjoy, St. John sounds pretty darn good. So, we decided to go. Nearly all of us, including one guy who wasn’t quite born then.
Eight of us had visited St. John for Thanksgiving 1997 and had a blast. With the oldest kid going on the trip in high school, we had to minimize missed school. Thanksgiving again was going to work for us. I picked Thanksgiving 2006, two and a half years out, to give folks plenty of time to plan. In the meantime, Christine and I managed to visit St. John in October 2004 and October 2005. Lots of lead time was key in getting good participation!
How do you plan a trip for 24 people? You can’t. You pick a date, point folks to some villa rental agencies and meet for happy hour on St. John… with lots of chatting and obsessing in between. Based on the questions I received during the planning, I pulled together a new visitors guide to St. John http://www.garvin.us/STJ/New_Visitors_G ... Guide.html. We naturally coalesced into three groups that mapped into three villas. With some guidance, we found three villas that worked for each of the groups. We booked airfare January of 2006 when American’s fares dipped below $500 roundtrip.
Villas – Right up front I decided that we should be reasonably near Cruz Bay with the three villas reasonably close together. This was based on the good availability of villas, being reasonably near to Cruz Bay and being able to pop across Centerline Road via Gift Hill Road, rather than going through Cruz Bay. That put our villa search between Great Cruz Bay and Rendezvous Bay. Our group had two different profiles. Two of the villas needed to accommodate young children. There are actually very few villas that have adjacent bedrooms with an internal hallway or an internal staircase. With young kids, having external hallways and stairways can be pretty scary. Dolphin Run and Le Lapin II through Caribbean Villas both fit this bill. Oddly enough, they had both been owned by the same owners at different times.
The third villa needed to be accessible to Granddaddy with a cane. That comes down to selecting a villa that has the kitchen/dining room on the same level as the bedroom and the swimming pool. Well, no hardship, that is what I prefer in a villa anyway. Having the kitchen on the same level as the pool means there is a short distance between the pool party and the blender in the kitchen! There are a good number of villas that fit these criteria. We selected Cocotier through Destination St. John. Cocotier worked out well for us for this trip. I would select it again if our group needed a high level of amenities. The full Cocotier villa review is at http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/s ... 5529.shtml and a photo walkthrough is at http://travel.webshots.com/album/556096531YjwoXz. The Destination St. John listing is at http://www.destinationstjohn.com/cocotier.htm
Le Lapin II and Dolphin Run were great villas for us, each for their own reasons. Le Lapin II (the Wabbit!) is a new villa that is rather inward looking. It has a great covered party porch and a nice pool area. The entertaining areas encompass three tiers: kitchen/dining room/ living room, party porch and pool patio. The layout allows you to have little kids watching X-Men 3 with their lounging teenage cousin, the blender going in the kitchen, folks arrayed on the party porch eating dinner and grilling with another contingent at the pool watching the bigger kids beat the crap out of each other in a tweener version of blood sport on an inflatable raft. My 9 year old daughter Ana and my 10 year old nephew Christopher pretty much spent the week in the pool or the ocean.
Le Lapin II (the Wabbit!) sits in a saddle between Hart Bay and Chocolate Hole, so it does not have much in the way of views from the lower party levels of the house. The upstairs master bedrooms sport a nice South facing deck that provides that striking down island view across Rendezvous Bay to Ditleff Point and Rams Head beyond. But, you need to go through the bedrooms to get there. If your bedroom is downstairs your view is a fine shrubbery. One Le Lapin II’s (the Wabbit!) compelling features is that internal staircase that keeps the little kids from wandering about the exterior of the house at the wrong time. Newish, Nicely appointed, user friendly, but I was not excited by the setting. The Caribbean Villas list is at http://www.caribbeanvilla.com/lelapin2/lelapin2.html.
Comments from Sister Maggie/”New England”: “We loved our villa Le Lapin, but I have to agree about the views. Cocotier had the best view! The foliage around Le Lapin has grown a lot compared to the photos and although lovely, blocks much of the view. We had Becky and Russ and two boys upstairs in the two master bedrooms that are very equal. My family was downstairs where both rooms had 2 twins that could be made into kings....my husband and I had our bed set up as a king and it worked nicely. There is a tub in one of the down bedrooms which is nice for small children. Ther is also a gate to the pool that latches.
We found the villa to be nicely furnished and well equipped for cooking. The pots and pans were beaten up a little, but fine. The AC in one of the down bedrooms was not working and they had put in a portable one which didn't cool the room well, but the kids were in there and did not complain.”
Dolphin Run is an older home that I like all out of proportion with its immediate appeal in the catalog at Caribbean Villas http://www.caribbeanvilla.com/lelapin/lelapin.html. The setting between Hart Bay and Devers Bay gives you both sunrise and sunset views. This has got to be one the very few villas with this kind of setting. This house could be called The Cube, and the breeze blows right through it. The breeze (wind, actually) is delightful. In other southward facing houses we have been chilled to the point of avoiding the swimming pool. Dolphin Run’s setting puts the swimming pool in the wind shadow of the house on the West side, no chill problem. Because this is an older villa without all of the bells and whistles the pricing is very favorable. This house held 6 people, with 2 young children, so the pricing was based on 4 people. Dolphin Run ended up being nearly half the price of Cocotier. I expect I will stay here sometime in the future, as long as the contingent can deal with the (largely emotional) issue of no air conditioning in the bedrooms.
Travel to St. John – No problem, how hard could it be? Throw in young children and seniors, departure from three different airports and arrival at three different times, things get exciting. Getting down to St. John is a long stressing day that always has a couple of surmountable snags. The travel hardened veterans enter their travel fugue and wake up at The Beach Bar, unless there are newbies to conduct. Our group flying out of Washington Dulles had it reasonably easy. Starting at 5:30AM we left and followed the taxi cab from McLean, VA to Dulles airport, caught a wheelchair for Granddaddy, flight to Puerto Rico, very tight connection to St. Thomas, quick beers and baggage at STT, cab to Charlotte Amalie ferry dock for the 3:00PM ferry to St. John and then to rental cars. I count seven modes of wheeled transport. Ruth from St. John Spice was on her balcony waving and took a video of us piling off the ferry. It was great to look up and see her smile and wave. I'm the guy on the left by the dinghy dock with the white cooler on top of the big suitcase (not mine). Thanks Ruth!!
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Peggy from Destination St. John. loaded some of our luggage in her Jeep and gave us a 30 second ride to pick up our cars at Conrad Sutton’s. Peggy was great and our Destination St. John villa rental experience was good. The full deposit check was returned a week after we got home.
Rental Cars – We have a great relationship with the Suttons and have always been happy renting from them. When we stopped in Carmen had our paperwork ready for us along with a big smile. Mr. Sutton was out back noting all of the nicks and scratches on our forms. Our group was renting 6 vehicles from them. Carmen had been filled in our story by my sister Maggie who had already arrived with her husband Andy and their two young boys Ryan (3) and Colin (6). We were in and out with two vehicles in less than 10 minutes. Something happened while I was filling out the rental forms – a fellow stuck his head in and very rudely interrupted our conversation with a demand to pickup his car. I stared at him slack-jawed – no “Good Day,” no introduction at all. A lot of people from the continent just don’t understand common courtesy. I got a smile and a great conversation. He got the other end of things. You get what you ask for! We saw some more examples of this attitude – an angry New Yorker berating the cashier at Starfish Market regarding prices and demanding a cab to the Westin. Sheesh, go home New Yawkuh!
I opted for an older Montero that was fine, if a little tired. The new Jeep Libertys were popular, but I like the option with the Montero of 7 seats with seat belts with the rumble seat up. I don’t know how much longer we’ll be opting for the Montero, though. One mishap we had with our vehicle – the horn switch stuck and we could not get it to turn off. Pulling the horn fuse solved that briskly, but putting my head under the hood with the horn on is not to be repeated.
Off to Villa Cocotier – Christine hit St. John Spice for a hello and our necessary provisions – Jerome’s Hot Sauce, St. John Jerk Spice and Cruz Bay Grill Rub. We were off to the villa following Peggy. It’s always a fun ride with newbies in the car as you drive past the bays and point out the landmarks. We saw Le Lapin II (the Wabbit!) on the way and waved as we called the early group there to say hi. Maggie was already out grocery shopping. Going up Gift Hill Road I heard the groans from folks as they hung from their seatbelts on the switchbacka, I guess it was rather steep?! Driving down into Virgin Grand Estates it was clear that there was a good bit of construction going on. The road in Virgin Grand Estates was great – very nicely graded with a brick textured top.
The driveway was the usual St. John up the steep hill with a switch-back in the parking area. There was room for three cars at the top with blockage. First impression of Coctiera was great. The landscaping, appointments and decor were wonderful. A separate villa review is at http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/s ... 5529.shtml. We got everyone settled and Christine and I hit the grocery store while the kids hit the pool, and stayed there for the rest of the trip when they were not on the beach.
Groceries & Supplies – We hit Starfish Market for our first big buy. We have a pretty structured grocery list that works well for us. We ended up skipping Mixology due to time constraints and bought most of our booze at Starfish with a followup at Pine Peace Market later in the week. Our first haul at Starfish Market set us back $452.02. We usually spend closer to $600 on our first run with eight people.. One big surprise was the quantity of soft drinks that were consumed on this trip. My family focuses on water and beer. The rest of our gang love their sodas the way I love my cold beverages. It’s nice being able to get the Barritt’s Ginger Beer – I had a dark and stormy as soon as we got back to the house.
Day 0 – Saturday Night – Party or Dinner? Party! – Our normal mode on the island is to fire up the blender, get the beer can chicken going in the grill, make some rice and peas and get the party started. The Grandparents are accustomed to eating early, so there is no way they can wait 2 hours to eat, plus we have two other houses to check out and they do not know how to find us. So, we made some sandwiches and went to visit the rest of the gang and check out their villas. The gang in our villa was me (Rick) and Christine with my daughters Elizabeth (14) and Ana (9), my parents Margaret (Granny) and Pat (Granddaddy) along with my brother Chris and his son Christopher (10).
First stop was Le Lapin II. It took us a couple of tries to find the access road off of Chocolate Hole East Road. It is marked Iguana Road, but is listed as something else on maps. Iguana Road looks to be hand poured concrete laid out abut four square feet at a time. I was fine driving up the road as it spiraled up the hill, but the newbies were convinced that I was driving cross country. It was certainly better then the Brewers Bay Road on Tortola, but just only. Le Lapin II (the Wabbit!) has a great presence as you drive up - a big parking area and a large wrap-around porch, very nice. We goofed around with the 8 folks at this villa – Maggie and Andy and their two boys Colin (6) and Ryan (3) as well as Becky & Russ with their sons Russell (9) and Creed (2). Maggie had done a mega shopping trip and the beers were cold and blender was running. The kids were fed and the pool was hoppin’. We counted a half dozen meteors – the Leonids were at their peak tonight. Le Lapin had a great East West view of the sky. There was more light pollution on this side of the island than I remember from previous trips.
Next stop was Dolphin Run with Jeff and Kim with their daughter Gabby (3) and their son Connor (2) along with Grandparents Cherri and Norm. They had hit Pine Peace Market for some quick provisions. I heard for the first, but not the last, that the parking at Pine Peace Market is hellish. I try to park around the corner and avoid the maelstrom. The kids were enjoying their kiddy chow while the adults had cold beers and blender drinks.
We headed back to Cocotier after a bit - more drinks, hot tub and lounging while watching the St. Thomas light show. Everyone at all three houses was wound pretty tight after a long travel day. Half of our gang got to the villas too late to see the views. The next morning they got a pleasant surprise. Tomorrow we planned on focusing on relaxing and trying to change to island time.
Cheers, RickG
Part 1: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... highlight=
Part 2: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... light=gang
Part 3: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... light=gang
Part 4: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... light=gang
Pictures: http://travel.webshots.com/album/556102917qslZZC
Underwater Pictures: http://travel.webshots.com/album/556039964ChaNdY
Cocotier Villa Photo Walkthrough: http://travel.webshots.com/album/556096531YjwoXz
Summary & Genesis – This trip got started on the beach in Ocean City, Maryland in August of 2004. Christine and I had spent spring break 2004 at Maho Bay Campground with my two daughters and had a wonderful time. When you are lounging on an East Coast barrier island beach with twenty seven folks and the surf is too rough and cold to enjoy, St. John sounds pretty darn good. So, we decided to go. Nearly all of us, including one guy who wasn’t quite born then.
Eight of us had visited St. John for Thanksgiving 1997 and had a blast. With the oldest kid going on the trip in high school, we had to minimize missed school. Thanksgiving again was going to work for us. I picked Thanksgiving 2006, two and a half years out, to give folks plenty of time to plan. In the meantime, Christine and I managed to visit St. John in October 2004 and October 2005. Lots of lead time was key in getting good participation!
How do you plan a trip for 24 people? You can’t. You pick a date, point folks to some villa rental agencies and meet for happy hour on St. John… with lots of chatting and obsessing in between. Based on the questions I received during the planning, I pulled together a new visitors guide to St. John http://www.garvin.us/STJ/New_Visitors_G ... Guide.html. We naturally coalesced into three groups that mapped into three villas. With some guidance, we found three villas that worked for each of the groups. We booked airfare January of 2006 when American’s fares dipped below $500 roundtrip.
Villas – Right up front I decided that we should be reasonably near Cruz Bay with the three villas reasonably close together. This was based on the good availability of villas, being reasonably near to Cruz Bay and being able to pop across Centerline Road via Gift Hill Road, rather than going through Cruz Bay. That put our villa search between Great Cruz Bay and Rendezvous Bay. Our group had two different profiles. Two of the villas needed to accommodate young children. There are actually very few villas that have adjacent bedrooms with an internal hallway or an internal staircase. With young kids, having external hallways and stairways can be pretty scary. Dolphin Run and Le Lapin II through Caribbean Villas both fit this bill. Oddly enough, they had both been owned by the same owners at different times.
The third villa needed to be accessible to Granddaddy with a cane. That comes down to selecting a villa that has the kitchen/dining room on the same level as the bedroom and the swimming pool. Well, no hardship, that is what I prefer in a villa anyway. Having the kitchen on the same level as the pool means there is a short distance between the pool party and the blender in the kitchen! There are a good number of villas that fit these criteria. We selected Cocotier through Destination St. John. Cocotier worked out well for us for this trip. I would select it again if our group needed a high level of amenities. The full Cocotier villa review is at http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/s ... 5529.shtml and a photo walkthrough is at http://travel.webshots.com/album/556096531YjwoXz. The Destination St. John listing is at http://www.destinationstjohn.com/cocotier.htm
Le Lapin II and Dolphin Run were great villas for us, each for their own reasons. Le Lapin II (the Wabbit!) is a new villa that is rather inward looking. It has a great covered party porch and a nice pool area. The entertaining areas encompass three tiers: kitchen/dining room/ living room, party porch and pool patio. The layout allows you to have little kids watching X-Men 3 with their lounging teenage cousin, the blender going in the kitchen, folks arrayed on the party porch eating dinner and grilling with another contingent at the pool watching the bigger kids beat the crap out of each other in a tweener version of blood sport on an inflatable raft. My 9 year old daughter Ana and my 10 year old nephew Christopher pretty much spent the week in the pool or the ocean.
Le Lapin II (the Wabbit!) sits in a saddle between Hart Bay and Chocolate Hole, so it does not have much in the way of views from the lower party levels of the house. The upstairs master bedrooms sport a nice South facing deck that provides that striking down island view across Rendezvous Bay to Ditleff Point and Rams Head beyond. But, you need to go through the bedrooms to get there. If your bedroom is downstairs your view is a fine shrubbery. One Le Lapin II’s (the Wabbit!) compelling features is that internal staircase that keeps the little kids from wandering about the exterior of the house at the wrong time. Newish, Nicely appointed, user friendly, but I was not excited by the setting. The Caribbean Villas list is at http://www.caribbeanvilla.com/lelapin2/lelapin2.html.
Comments from Sister Maggie/”New England”: “We loved our villa Le Lapin, but I have to agree about the views. Cocotier had the best view! The foliage around Le Lapin has grown a lot compared to the photos and although lovely, blocks much of the view. We had Becky and Russ and two boys upstairs in the two master bedrooms that are very equal. My family was downstairs where both rooms had 2 twins that could be made into kings....my husband and I had our bed set up as a king and it worked nicely. There is a tub in one of the down bedrooms which is nice for small children. Ther is also a gate to the pool that latches.
We found the villa to be nicely furnished and well equipped for cooking. The pots and pans were beaten up a little, but fine. The AC in one of the down bedrooms was not working and they had put in a portable one which didn't cool the room well, but the kids were in there and did not complain.”
Dolphin Run is an older home that I like all out of proportion with its immediate appeal in the catalog at Caribbean Villas http://www.caribbeanvilla.com/lelapin/lelapin.html. The setting between Hart Bay and Devers Bay gives you both sunrise and sunset views. This has got to be one the very few villas with this kind of setting. This house could be called The Cube, and the breeze blows right through it. The breeze (wind, actually) is delightful. In other southward facing houses we have been chilled to the point of avoiding the swimming pool. Dolphin Run’s setting puts the swimming pool in the wind shadow of the house on the West side, no chill problem. Because this is an older villa without all of the bells and whistles the pricing is very favorable. This house held 6 people, with 2 young children, so the pricing was based on 4 people. Dolphin Run ended up being nearly half the price of Cocotier. I expect I will stay here sometime in the future, as long as the contingent can deal with the (largely emotional) issue of no air conditioning in the bedrooms.
Travel to St. John – No problem, how hard could it be? Throw in young children and seniors, departure from three different airports and arrival at three different times, things get exciting. Getting down to St. John is a long stressing day that always has a couple of surmountable snags. The travel hardened veterans enter their travel fugue and wake up at The Beach Bar, unless there are newbies to conduct. Our group flying out of Washington Dulles had it reasonably easy. Starting at 5:30AM we left and followed the taxi cab from McLean, VA to Dulles airport, caught a wheelchair for Granddaddy, flight to Puerto Rico, very tight connection to St. Thomas, quick beers and baggage at STT, cab to Charlotte Amalie ferry dock for the 3:00PM ferry to St. John and then to rental cars. I count seven modes of wheeled transport. Ruth from St. John Spice was on her balcony waving and took a video of us piling off the ferry. It was great to look up and see her smile and wave. I'm the guy on the left by the dinghy dock with the white cooler on top of the big suitcase (not mine). Thanks Ruth!!
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hJgHDR9XrVc"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hJgHDR9XrVc" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="600" height="350"></embed></object>
Peggy from Destination St. John. loaded some of our luggage in her Jeep and gave us a 30 second ride to pick up our cars at Conrad Sutton’s. Peggy was great and our Destination St. John villa rental experience was good. The full deposit check was returned a week after we got home.
Rental Cars – We have a great relationship with the Suttons and have always been happy renting from them. When we stopped in Carmen had our paperwork ready for us along with a big smile. Mr. Sutton was out back noting all of the nicks and scratches on our forms. Our group was renting 6 vehicles from them. Carmen had been filled in our story by my sister Maggie who had already arrived with her husband Andy and their two young boys Ryan (3) and Colin (6). We were in and out with two vehicles in less than 10 minutes. Something happened while I was filling out the rental forms – a fellow stuck his head in and very rudely interrupted our conversation with a demand to pickup his car. I stared at him slack-jawed – no “Good Day,” no introduction at all. A lot of people from the continent just don’t understand common courtesy. I got a smile and a great conversation. He got the other end of things. You get what you ask for! We saw some more examples of this attitude – an angry New Yorker berating the cashier at Starfish Market regarding prices and demanding a cab to the Westin. Sheesh, go home New Yawkuh!
I opted for an older Montero that was fine, if a little tired. The new Jeep Libertys were popular, but I like the option with the Montero of 7 seats with seat belts with the rumble seat up. I don’t know how much longer we’ll be opting for the Montero, though. One mishap we had with our vehicle – the horn switch stuck and we could not get it to turn off. Pulling the horn fuse solved that briskly, but putting my head under the hood with the horn on is not to be repeated.
Off to Villa Cocotier – Christine hit St. John Spice for a hello and our necessary provisions – Jerome’s Hot Sauce, St. John Jerk Spice and Cruz Bay Grill Rub. We were off to the villa following Peggy. It’s always a fun ride with newbies in the car as you drive past the bays and point out the landmarks. We saw Le Lapin II (the Wabbit!) on the way and waved as we called the early group there to say hi. Maggie was already out grocery shopping. Going up Gift Hill Road I heard the groans from folks as they hung from their seatbelts on the switchbacka, I guess it was rather steep?! Driving down into Virgin Grand Estates it was clear that there was a good bit of construction going on. The road in Virgin Grand Estates was great – very nicely graded with a brick textured top.
The driveway was the usual St. John up the steep hill with a switch-back in the parking area. There was room for three cars at the top with blockage. First impression of Coctiera was great. The landscaping, appointments and decor were wonderful. A separate villa review is at http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/s ... 5529.shtml. We got everyone settled and Christine and I hit the grocery store while the kids hit the pool, and stayed there for the rest of the trip when they were not on the beach.
Groceries & Supplies – We hit Starfish Market for our first big buy. We have a pretty structured grocery list that works well for us. We ended up skipping Mixology due to time constraints and bought most of our booze at Starfish with a followup at Pine Peace Market later in the week. Our first haul at Starfish Market set us back $452.02. We usually spend closer to $600 on our first run with eight people.. One big surprise was the quantity of soft drinks that were consumed on this trip. My family focuses on water and beer. The rest of our gang love their sodas the way I love my cold beverages. It’s nice being able to get the Barritt’s Ginger Beer – I had a dark and stormy as soon as we got back to the house.
Day 0 – Saturday Night – Party or Dinner? Party! – Our normal mode on the island is to fire up the blender, get the beer can chicken going in the grill, make some rice and peas and get the party started. The Grandparents are accustomed to eating early, so there is no way they can wait 2 hours to eat, plus we have two other houses to check out and they do not know how to find us. So, we made some sandwiches and went to visit the rest of the gang and check out their villas. The gang in our villa was me (Rick) and Christine with my daughters Elizabeth (14) and Ana (9), my parents Margaret (Granny) and Pat (Granddaddy) along with my brother Chris and his son Christopher (10).
First stop was Le Lapin II. It took us a couple of tries to find the access road off of Chocolate Hole East Road. It is marked Iguana Road, but is listed as something else on maps. Iguana Road looks to be hand poured concrete laid out abut four square feet at a time. I was fine driving up the road as it spiraled up the hill, but the newbies were convinced that I was driving cross country. It was certainly better then the Brewers Bay Road on Tortola, but just only. Le Lapin II (the Wabbit!) has a great presence as you drive up - a big parking area and a large wrap-around porch, very nice. We goofed around with the 8 folks at this villa – Maggie and Andy and their two boys Colin (6) and Ryan (3) as well as Becky & Russ with their sons Russell (9) and Creed (2). Maggie had done a mega shopping trip and the beers were cold and blender was running. The kids were fed and the pool was hoppin’. We counted a half dozen meteors – the Leonids were at their peak tonight. Le Lapin had a great East West view of the sky. There was more light pollution on this side of the island than I remember from previous trips.
Next stop was Dolphin Run with Jeff and Kim with their daughter Gabby (3) and their son Connor (2) along with Grandparents Cherri and Norm. They had hit Pine Peace Market for some quick provisions. I heard for the first, but not the last, that the parking at Pine Peace Market is hellish. I try to park around the corner and avoid the maelstrom. The kids were enjoying their kiddy chow while the adults had cold beers and blender drinks.
We headed back to Cocotier after a bit - more drinks, hot tub and lounging while watching the St. Thomas light show. Everyone at all three houses was wound pretty tight after a long travel day. Half of our gang got to the villas too late to see the views. The next morning they got a pleasant surprise. Tomorrow we planned on focusing on relaxing and trying to change to island time.
Cheers, RickG
Part 1: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... highlight=
Part 2: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... light=gang
Part 3: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... light=gang
Part 4: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... light=gang
Last edited by RickG on Tue Feb 19, 2008 12:42 pm, edited 5 times in total.
S/V Echoes - Coral Bay - St. John, VI
first day report
I really enjoyed your report! 
I want to check out your STJ guide further.
I will be looking for the reports from the rest of your trip!
I want to check out your STJ guide further.
I will be looking for the reports from the rest of your trip!
-
Xislandgirl
- Posts: 4163
- Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 4:03 pm
- Location: Slightly left of center
-
New England
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Sun Aug 13, 2006 12:36 pm
Comments from Maggie...Rick's sister
Rick,
Job well done!!!! I very much enjoyed reading your post and it brings back memories of a wonderful trip!
Our trip to the island went very smoothly and was nicely uneventful! I do think the airport's welcome rum punch cups should be larger though. I needed a reward after traveling from Boston with a 3 and 6 yr old and being up since 2 AM.
We loved our villa Le Lapin, but I have to agree about the views. Cocotier had the best view! The foliage around Le Lapin has grown a lot compared to the photos and although lovely, blocks much of the view. We had Becky and Russ and two boys upstairs in the two master bedrooms, that are very equal. My family was downstairs where both rooms had 2 twins that could be made into kings....my husband and I had our bed set up as a king and it worked nicely. There is a tub in one of the down bedrooms which is nice for small children. The is also a gate to the pool that latches.
We found the villa to be nicely furnished and well equipped for cooking. The pots and pans were beaten up a little, but fine. The AC in one of the down bedrooms was not working and they had put in a portable one which didn't cool the room well, but the kids were in there and did not complain.
I have to admit that I did find the food prices in the grocery store hard to deal with. I think I paid about $6 for 12 juice boxes that I pay $1.97 for at home, but it is what it is and if you don't want to pay it don't buy it right? If I get it together I will post some of my grocery receipts since I had a ton of questions about that before going.
I hadn't been to St John for nine years (I was on the trip Rick mentioned in Thanksgiving 1997)but once I got into the car I was suprised how much I remembered as far as where everything was. It was just as beautiful as before, maybe even better!
Rick, I can't wait for more on the trip report!
Job well done!!!! I very much enjoyed reading your post and it brings back memories of a wonderful trip!
Our trip to the island went very smoothly and was nicely uneventful! I do think the airport's welcome rum punch cups should be larger though. I needed a reward after traveling from Boston with a 3 and 6 yr old and being up since 2 AM.
We loved our villa Le Lapin, but I have to agree about the views. Cocotier had the best view! The foliage around Le Lapin has grown a lot compared to the photos and although lovely, blocks much of the view. We had Becky and Russ and two boys upstairs in the two master bedrooms, that are very equal. My family was downstairs where both rooms had 2 twins that could be made into kings....my husband and I had our bed set up as a king and it worked nicely. There is a tub in one of the down bedrooms which is nice for small children. The is also a gate to the pool that latches.
We found the villa to be nicely furnished and well equipped for cooking. The pots and pans were beaten up a little, but fine. The AC in one of the down bedrooms was not working and they had put in a portable one which didn't cool the room well, but the kids were in there and did not complain.
I have to admit that I did find the food prices in the grocery store hard to deal with. I think I paid about $6 for 12 juice boxes that I pay $1.97 for at home, but it is what it is and if you don't want to pay it don't buy it right? If I get it together I will post some of my grocery receipts since I had a ton of questions about that before going.
I hadn't been to St John for nine years (I was on the trip Rick mentioned in Thanksgiving 1997)but once I got into the car I was suprised how much I remembered as far as where everything was. It was just as beautiful as before, maybe even better!
Rick, I can't wait for more on the trip report!
Thanks RickG for the start of what seems to be a series of great reports to come.
“Island Invasion”
RickG (senior ranking officer) invades St. John with 24 unsuspecting souls. The group arrives in waves onto St. Thomas. Rick’s invasion party consists of everyone from a 3 year old on up.
The invasion force first hits Conrad Sutton’s and takes out 6 of his vehicles. The group is like a flock of iguanas as they spread over the island and settle into 3 strategic locations.
The young ones hit the water (pool) like ducks – the older ones hit the blenders. An advance groups decides to assault Star Fish Market to get provisions, but with minor damage to their wallets.
The first night sees the group apt to party and the blenders continue to whirl through the night.
Thanks again Rick.
“Island Invasion”
RickG (senior ranking officer) invades St. John with 24 unsuspecting souls. The group arrives in waves onto St. Thomas. Rick’s invasion party consists of everyone from a 3 year old on up.
The invasion force first hits Conrad Sutton’s and takes out 6 of his vehicles. The group is like a flock of iguanas as they spread over the island and settle into 3 strategic locations.
The young ones hit the water (pool) like ducks – the older ones hit the blenders. An advance groups decides to assault Star Fish Market to get provisions, but with minor damage to their wallets.
The first night sees the group apt to party and the blenders continue to whirl through the night.
Thanks again Rick.
FlaGeorge
"Swim Against The Current - Even a Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow"
"Swim Against The Current - Even a Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow"
Great start! I am really looking forward to reading about your large group trip. I don't know if I would have been capable or coordinating all those people, but it sure sounds like fun!
Too funny about the New Yorker in Starfish. I actually think the NYC prices are higher than on St. John. NYC is the most expensive place I've ever been--we just got back from Paris and even THAT was cheaper than NYC!!
Too funny about the New Yorker in Starfish. I actually think the NYC prices are higher than on St. John. NYC is the most expensive place I've ever been--we just got back from Paris and even THAT was cheaper than NYC!!
It's like looking in your soup and finding a whole different alphabet.
Oh Rick....I'll be watching & reading on how you all did that trip cuz I'm thinking there will be about that many going down next fall for our son's wedding! But I will make it a short trip with all them...& then plan to stay on for a few days after to get a break!!
Man....I am thinking I'll have to learn to drink alot B4 then to cope with all those people on vacation!!
Man....I am thinking I'll have to learn to drink alot B4 then to cope with all those people on vacation!!
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nothintolose
- Posts: 1960
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 10:36 pm
- Location: New Orleans, LA
RickG - your report is EXCELLENT and so detailed!!!
I am definitely taking notes for the next time Cat and I get our krewe back.
How do you cook beer can chickens? Sounds interesting.
Can't wait to read more soon.
nothintolose
p.s. I had to laugh out loud when you made the comment about not fixing the horn problem with your head under the hood again...it must've been horrible. That entire situation would have caused me to stay less than calm; although, I would probably be laughing too.
I am definitely taking notes for the next time Cat and I get our krewe back.
How do you cook beer can chickens? Sounds interesting.
Can't wait to read more soon.
nothintolose
p.s. I had to laugh out loud when you made the comment about not fixing the horn problem with your head under the hood again...it must've been horrible. That entire situation would have caused me to stay less than calm; although, I would probably be laughing too.
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Bill in Va
- Posts: 442
- Joined: Thu Aug 10, 2006 3:56 pm
- Location: Lake Gaston, Va
Trip report buffet....
Great stuff my man. Your gang owes ya for making the deal work. Super details that are so helpful. Suggest you start making a book series titled : "48 feet,48 fins, and 3 4x4's"....God bless...Bill