USVI-On-Line

I can only think of one thing we wish we had known prior to our first trip. For the first week of our trip, we stayed at Estate Concordia, then the second week on Gifft Hill. Before we arrived, we didn't realize what a long drive it was back to Cruz Bay. We had planned to go out with Capt Phil the first week so we had to drive to Cruz Bay from Concordia. Then we had something else to do in town on another day - can't remember what it was. So we ended up doing a lot more driving than we would have liked. While the drive is pretty, especially the overlook onto Coral Bay near the shops on Bordeaux, we really didn't want to spend that much time in the car. When we plan trips now, we do our grocery shopping in Cruz Bay on the first day, then hang out in the Coral Bay end of the island when we are staying out there. We enjoy the beaches and restaurants at that end anyway, so its really not a problem.

We took newbies to STJ two years ago and everything went great and they loved STJ. (We all hated the frequent rain and mosquitos, but they loved STJ anyway.) We had traveled with them many times over the years, including time in a motor home, so we had no problems and loved having them. It was so much fun to show them all our fav spots, and seeing their enjoyment.

EEK! My son and his fiance saw where we are staying later this month and decided that's exactly what they wanted for their honeymoon instead of an all-inclusive they were looking at. Of course, they will be on their own, not with us, but now it worries me that they won't like their honeymoon pick!

No worries!!!
They'll have the tropical picnic of a lifetime.
Gorgeous..., and so much fun!
Smiles-
MJ

We traveled with the extended family every year for over 20. My MIL had a less than stellar experience on St. Thomas, so she refused to try St. John. Until we all stopped going every year, and she "discovered" Caneel Bay (I'd been recommending it for years) and she loved it. Hey, they could have been taking us there all those years, lol.

That said, the only person I would consider taking to St. John is my brother, and he won't fly. I always tell him, if we ever do manage to move down, I'm putting him on a boat.

You know, not trying to sound Goody-goody-gum droppy, but, because of the forumites on this board, our first stay in Dec '06 was perfect. We had no surprises and it was everything we had hoped and dreamed for.

Looking forward to the same next month!

Also, having had said that...the only people I feel like I could share the island with is our son (who was with us in '06) & his gf. Everyone else I know is too high maintenance.

i wish i'd known how much i would love it and become sort of addicted to it...then i would have set up an appropriate financial plan.....

loria wrote:i wish i'd known how much i would love it and become sort of addicted to it...then i would have set up an appropriate financial plan.....

My husband jokes that we made a huge mistake by coming to STJ/Caneel for our honeymoon as it ruined us for any other location.

Our first full STJ experience was like Coden's. We had the Forum and all the advice from our Forumite friends to prepare us appropriately. We started out going to PR for business trips and extending them to enjoy the island. Then we were told about STT by my company's travel agent. Remember travel agents? She told us to take the ferry over to STJ and spend the day. We did --- every trip. Then we found this Forum and learned how easy it is to stay on STJ. As we prepared to stay on STJ for a week in 2008, we read what we could and asked all sorts of questions. We found a great villa that we have now stayed in for four years. We have found a dive shop that we used all four years and she used during three SOTB trips. Her fourth trip with SOTB is coming up. Because I travel for business, I have met many of you state-side, and even been in your homes. Thank you. We have watched as our Forum friends have had babies and others have left us physically -- but always been with us as we look out over the horizon of our favorite beach or ring a bell in our favorite burger joint. Perhaps the most important thing we have gotten from you our Forum friends is the genuine caring feeling you have for each other and the way you support one another in times of stress and grief.

All the issues you have brought up are real and difficult. We brought our first newbie, our 16 year-old granddaughter two weeks ago. She wanted to go. She wanted to learn how to dive. She expects to become a marine biologist. When she was three I asked her where she wanted to go. Her answer then was "everywhere!" She knew about bugs, water conservation and driving on the left. We never heard her complain. She spent most of the 12 days with a silly grin on her face. As we walked back to the car one day toward the end of the trip, I was asking her about the experience. Her answers told me what I wanted to know. I told her, "you get it."

JIM

Jim - wow thats a nice post. Thanks. I was writing the below as you posted. Your post makes me sound cynical, or, I REALLY need a different family and circle of friends LOL, because that is a soul warming experience you had there.

We do derive a LOT of pleasure and great memories from hearing my daughter exclaim on her first VI trip “that’s the color of the water?! That’s the water?!” or seeing the look on her face when she saw the Alps in Switzerland, so I really get where you and others are coming from on your “newbie quests”, HOWEVER...

There was a topic thread started by Gromit about a year ago with a sort of related theme (at least for those who actually understood her non-literal use of the word “guilty”) located here:
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... ght=guilty
where I chimed in with my “lead pipe” rule about the perils of going on and on about your vacation (or similar) experiences to the point where you actually entice somebody to go where you go.

Sometimes I catch myself thinking “oh wouldn’t it be cool to turn somebody onto to this”, with the practical and enticing side thought of splitting the cost of a better villa etc., but then say nah, my vacation time is too precious to roll the dice on somebody not getting it, blaming me for their disappointment/different impressions, and/or feeling like I am herding cats on vacation, etc. The friends we have that I think would get it believe that they can't afford it.

So, even though we travel a lot (its our only vice for which we scrimp in other areas to afford), we haven’t taken a trip with somebody else in 20 yrs, and, we stay pretty low key when folks ask us about our trips. Plus, I find that most people are kinda lame about asking a lot of follow up questions about your vacations – they would much rather talk about themselves LOL. I tend to just let my photobooks do the talking if they ask to see it (but then I get the inane questions about what kind of camera do I use etc. LOL)

Recently I had someone say to me before our recent trip to Italy, “oh you guys take such wonderful trips, make sure to give me your itinerary when you get back so that we can replicate it!” In a sure sign that I am getting older, I said “to be honest, no you don’t. You would be better off calling Steve Perillo and booking a tour with them. It’s a lot of work to figure out train schedules and the like in another country etc.” to which they readily (and surprisingly) agreed. Score one for brutal honesty.

Thanks, mahojim, for the encouragement! They're staying in a great house I hear! My first experience was like coden's and jimg's, also. I've only been once and it was perfect! Perfect enough that my husband is returning for a 2nd time and his philosophy is there are so many beaches, we can't do the same one twice! Between TA and stalking this and the vinow forum, I learned a lot. We are very laid back and easy going on vacay anyway and we NEVER vacation with anyone else. It would ruin our vibe! My hubby just goes with the flow, and I research and plan to death sometimes! Although, I wouldn't mind taking all my sons and their gfs. My dream is to retire to St. John or Kauai!

We thought (briefly) about taking friends down to STJ with us, but then quickly decided that it was a horrible idea. We just up and go, flitting from place to place, on a whim....or just perch at one spot for most of the day if we are just too chill to move. It's just whatever we feel like. That allows for much more freedom than you would normally get if you had to cater to someone else's wishes.

We've decided that STJ is OUR place and we value it so much that we don't want to take a chance on marring a trip down there by unhappy/disilllusioned/high maintenance (or whatever other adjective you wish to include here) buds.

Selfish, maybe....but it's our happy place...and NOTHING is going to come between us and our happy place! On that note, though, we are happy to travel to any other place on this earth with other people....just not STJ.

Oh, one thing I wished I'd known......on our last trip, we reserved our dinghy ahead of time and that day ended up being blustery, windy and cold. The water was so rough it was hard to enjoy....so we decided, that as long as our trips weren't in high season, we'd just see how the day's weather was the morning that we wanted to go and just see if one was available that day.

I guess I am totally blessed for sure. We just had a trip with our group of 18. Three of us have stayed on island before and two had visited on a day trip from a cruise, all the rest were newbies. I prepared everyone about every possible aspect I could think of. Ya never know when you have such a large group how everyone will fit in to what you envision as island life or time. Well I can say that one friend describe Hawksnest as the beach that God lives at, another who swore this would be a once in a lifetime trip told me she would definately be back within 40 minutes of our trip on Bad Kitty (she hadn't even been on island for 48 hours), others checked out and seriously considered buying into the Westin's time shares. Everyone loved it! They all want to go back now. I have noticed one friend has found and signed up for just about every link on Facebook that is r/t STJ or the BVI's. It was absolutely amazing, every minute! This was the hottest trip out of my 11 times visiting and even that did not cause any cranking or complaining. It was everything I had hoped for. I am truly blessed to have the friends I have and now to be able to share my obsessive love of STJ with them.

This is actually a great topic. The bottom line is you either get it or you don’t. I love STJ, but will be the first to tell you that it is not for everyone. STJ is like a second home for us and our choice of an island that truly gets us away from the hustle and bustle of this screwed up world we live in.

We have never taken newbie’s with us to the island. A month before this past trip in May my brother and his wife says they are thinking about joining us. INSERT SOUND OF SCREECHING TIRES. I know my brother and his wife inside and out. Trust me; I have been on vacation with them many of times. I told him I would love to have them join us, but they must keep an open mind if they decided to go. True, I tell you and brag about how wonderful it is down there, but your likes and my likes are completely different. They are into the all inclusive big resort type places and love doing all the tourist trap things that these places offer. You know, the massive bucket list of things you got to do and get in while you are on vacation. I just couldn’t see them just kicking it back with nothing to do but sleep all day. Besides, if she just happen to pay a visit to the Skinny Legs bathroom she would have them on the first flight out.

His idea of going was because he wants to run the 8 tuff miles next year. He asked me about it and how the course would be. I told him, 8 tuff miles brother. I know he can do it because he runs the Mt. Washington run every year carrying the Thin Blue Line flag in honor of all the fallen Police Officers. I am proud of him for doing that. I would be proud of him for running the 8 tuff miles also. So I summed up STJ as like renting a beach house at a very large campground and having to drive to the beach every day. Your choice of cologne or perfume would be bug spray. Don’t be afraid to just dive in the pool at the villa as your daily shower in order to conserve water. Keep your patience in check. You will get your drink, it’s not going anywhere and neither are you. If a large bug runs across the floor at a local drinking establishment, don’t worry that’s just Harry. He’s pretty cool. Please tell your wife that no matter how hard she tries, they will not put a curtain up in the bathroom window at Woody’s. Oh yeah, the bathrooms are pretty much unisex. Please make sure you stop and ask the chickens why they are crossing the road.