usvi-on-line
STJ Alive and Well
STJ Alive and Well
With some trepidation of possible disillusionment we returned to STJ after a 3 year absence for our 8th visit. My 1st 10 minutes on-island I met Anthony pecking away at his laptop in the lobby of the Bougainvillia (sp?)car rental lobby (aka the Donald Schnell studio). Anthony's gentle scolding of my meager postings given my tenure on the board motivated this missive to the masses. IN lieu of the day by day travelogue I thought I'd post all the positive evidence we experienced that showed the STJ vibe is alive and well in spite of the scars on the Cruz Bay hillside, the pervasive new construction throughout the island, and the gentrification pressures that our favorite spot on earth is gong through. Our crew was my wife and I, our 14 year old daughter (who has been along on all our trips) and her buddy. The teenagers will get no further mention as that is more appropriate lore of the Ann Landers realm than this piece.....In no particular order here are the highlights of our experience:
1). This was our first mid-summer trip and the sun/heat was brutal in that it started about 8 AM and went though about 7 PM. One particular morning we awoke at 5 AM and rumbled down the Calabash Road (nasty as usual) to the Salt Pond parking lot. Hiked out to Ramshead amid the rising sun panorama of colors. Munched on barrel cactus fruit and had a wonderful hike all to ourselves (Spouse and I...teenagers still passed out). Return trip started to get warm just when a smallish raincloud came over head to cool us off and drift off to the west complete with rainbow farewells - as if Jah sent it upon us.
2). Following a wonderful snorkel at Haulover I wandered into Sputnik's in Coral Bay while women did computer crap at Donkey Diner and shopped at Skinny's. Had a 1 on 1 chat with Julietta at Sputnik's about music, food, and life on the island. Julietta offered to cook us up some fresh Roti's if we were to come back on friday. WONDERFUL food and Julietta is a true treasure. Stop in and say hello and support this place - it truly bridges the gap between the west indian culture and the hording masses of us tourist folks...not to mention she is a great cook!!
3). The day before my Sputnik stop I read with great excitement in the Sun & News that IV would be on-island our last night at Larry's Landing. I spoke of this to Julietta and we were both skeptical of the info given that they were in Maine at the time. I wandered into Larry's to get the facts straight (and have a rummer whilst the shopping was taking place) and was pleased to have the liter bottle of rum and glass of ice presented to me to pour to my delight while watching baseball with some rasta gentlemen at the end of the bar. Of cource the ad in the paper was wrong and they weren't really coming, but the rum and rap with the rasta dudes eased the pain well.
4). Had the opportunity to sit at the bar at Shipwreck's in the late afternoon on day 2 for a couple hours on leave from family duty.....need I say more? The pirate mentality is alive and well in Coral Bay!
5). The pool pump motor at the crib on the hill acted up one night and the neighbor from down the hill came up to see what was up with all the racket. After finding the breaker and turning the thing off we sat back and admired the plantings and the wildlife that teemed through the brush underneath the deck (and had a few rummers). A new best friend.
6). Was welcomed joyously after day 3 by the loiterers outside Love City......the new market doesn't do it for me,,, too darn fancy!
7). Days 3 through 8 I kept running into the local pirate-folk I had met from my 2 hour tenure at Shipwreck on Day 2 and was greeted like a long lost friend.
. Although the constructiuon noise from the affordable housing development at the base of the Calabash road was pretty constant from 7 to 3:30 it was encouraging to see that the govt was trying something to help THE people of the island.
The rest of our trip was the usual drop dead gorgeous beach trips, snokel adventures, and meditative ralaxation at the crib. We'll be back for another checkup in a few years. Enjoy what we have here, good people, it won't last forever.
PS We stopped at Secret Harbor on STT for a couple days prior to the flight back. This is a wonderful spot (our first time at this place). Great beach, friendly staff, lively beach bar, not too big.....we will return there as well.
Peace be with you fellow VI lovers
1). This was our first mid-summer trip and the sun/heat was brutal in that it started about 8 AM and went though about 7 PM. One particular morning we awoke at 5 AM and rumbled down the Calabash Road (nasty as usual) to the Salt Pond parking lot. Hiked out to Ramshead amid the rising sun panorama of colors. Munched on barrel cactus fruit and had a wonderful hike all to ourselves (Spouse and I...teenagers still passed out). Return trip started to get warm just when a smallish raincloud came over head to cool us off and drift off to the west complete with rainbow farewells - as if Jah sent it upon us.
2). Following a wonderful snorkel at Haulover I wandered into Sputnik's in Coral Bay while women did computer crap at Donkey Diner and shopped at Skinny's. Had a 1 on 1 chat with Julietta at Sputnik's about music, food, and life on the island. Julietta offered to cook us up some fresh Roti's if we were to come back on friday. WONDERFUL food and Julietta is a true treasure. Stop in and say hello and support this place - it truly bridges the gap between the west indian culture and the hording masses of us tourist folks...not to mention she is a great cook!!
3). The day before my Sputnik stop I read with great excitement in the Sun & News that IV would be on-island our last night at Larry's Landing. I spoke of this to Julietta and we were both skeptical of the info given that they were in Maine at the time. I wandered into Larry's to get the facts straight (and have a rummer whilst the shopping was taking place) and was pleased to have the liter bottle of rum and glass of ice presented to me to pour to my delight while watching baseball with some rasta gentlemen at the end of the bar. Of cource the ad in the paper was wrong and they weren't really coming, but the rum and rap with the rasta dudes eased the pain well.
4). Had the opportunity to sit at the bar at Shipwreck's in the late afternoon on day 2 for a couple hours on leave from family duty.....need I say more? The pirate mentality is alive and well in Coral Bay!
5). The pool pump motor at the crib on the hill acted up one night and the neighbor from down the hill came up to see what was up with all the racket. After finding the breaker and turning the thing off we sat back and admired the plantings and the wildlife that teemed through the brush underneath the deck (and had a few rummers). A new best friend.
6). Was welcomed joyously after day 3 by the loiterers outside Love City......the new market doesn't do it for me,,, too darn fancy!
7). Days 3 through 8 I kept running into the local pirate-folk I had met from my 2 hour tenure at Shipwreck on Day 2 and was greeted like a long lost friend.
. Although the constructiuon noise from the affordable housing development at the base of the Calabash road was pretty constant from 7 to 3:30 it was encouraging to see that the govt was trying something to help THE people of the island.The rest of our trip was the usual drop dead gorgeous beach trips, snokel adventures, and meditative ralaxation at the crib. We'll be back for another checkup in a few years. Enjoy what we have here, good people, it won't last forever.
PS We stopped at Secret Harbor on STT for a couple days prior to the flight back. This is a wonderful spot (our first time at this place). Great beach, friendly staff, lively beach bar, not too big.....we will return there as well.
Peace be with you fellow VI lovers
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California Girl
I really enjoyed reading your report. I'll remember to stop and see Julietta and see if she'll cook for us, too! 
Thanks for the report. We seek out a similar kind of vacation experience when we're on STJ and frequent some of the same places. Glad to hear that kind of vacation is still possible. I really appreciated the IV story. That's one of the first things we do on STJ--find out if they'll be playing while we're there. And, like for you, the process of finding that out often turns into an interesting journey.
billyD, enjoyed your report. yes, stj is still alive and well, just a few more pocks on the face of paradise are added each year. but she's still a baeuty.
nicolle, your ref to "off the beaten path" IS stj. this board allows us to take it all in while away via all the experiences reported, the pics posted, the inner beauty depicted in dave-o-roni video posted a little earlier today and of course billyd's post.
can you tell i'm about 2 stj quart's low? man's it been 5.5 months and i'm in withdrawal.
good weekend to all.
papabou
nicolle, your ref to "off the beaten path" IS stj. this board allows us to take it all in while away via all the experiences reported, the pics posted, the inner beauty depicted in dave-o-roni video posted a little earlier today and of course billyd's post.
can you tell i'm about 2 stj quart's low? man's it been 5.5 months and i'm in withdrawal.
good weekend to all.
papabou
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msgcolleen
- Posts: 1497
- Joined: Thu Oct 05, 2006 8:33 am
- Location: Allen, Texas
Colorful writing!
STJ= meditative ralaxation
59 days soon come~~~~~~~~
STJ= meditative ralaxation
59 days soon come~~~~~~~~
I've got 2 tickets to paradise~Pack your bags we'll leave tonight!
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