How long could you stay?

[Knolmom]

To dream of being on St John for longer than two weeks is pretty unrealistic, unless you are really low maintenance. If you are there on vacation, there are costs for dinners and boat rides, both sailing, power and ferries to Jost or the Baths. There is the cost of the jeep, or taxis, and if you are going get rid of the jeep early to hang at the pool for some villa gravity days, you ought to have a decent villa. Three weeks even in off season can really add up. We used to do 2 weeks, every year,with 8 people renting villas one week on St John and another on either Tortola, VG or STT. These were times when the upscale villas went for between $3000 and $4000, so we were doing a few thou per couple way back then for 2 weeks. Can't even count what a nice villa, jeep, boat trips, food, plus booze and entertainment would cost for a couple for 3 weeks. And in high season. Maybe a once in a lifetime 3 week stay.

[Bigcheeze]

We have some limits....kids time off during spring break(they still miss a few days), my wife and I are both self employeed...and costs. But we have found 10 days is good for us currently. I do think 2 weeks would be great.

The future 'Dream' includes spending Jan-April in an apartment and Captain or Crew a day Charter Boat, produce Videos for Villa owners while my wife works waiting tables or doing Real Estate...or probably both. I'm sure as prevoius posts have indicated, vacationing is much different than actually living on the island for an extended period of time. Some old timers who live there hate it.

[ski2play]

We are working towards (5 years baby) spending our winters (Nov-March) in St John, and the rest of the year in the 1000 Islands area of NY State. Best of both worlds IMO.

So I guess my answer will be 5 months. Til then, 7-10 day trips will need to get this girl by.

[DonnaM]

PA Girl, too funny! My husband is just like that. He needs to be kept busy all the time. Fortunately, there is lots to do on STJ! I would love to stay for 2-3 weeks but since hubby has his own business, 10 days vacay is usually his max ( though our longest on STJ has only been a week so we still have lots to discover ).
Now that we have a house there, he can find stuff to do in the yard. I have also threatened to tell people about the enormous amount of tools he insisted on bringing and that fact that he is a mechanical contractor, ensuring his popularity all over the island. I will supervise all of this from the pool deck!

[melmd]

I want to do the winter season when I retire. I have a long way to go, but it's a dream that I plan on fulling. For now I have to stick to week long visits as that is all our time off allows.

[lazylane]

Our longest stay has been 2 weeks and our shortest, 5 days. We usually do 10 days and I think that is just about right! Our dream though is to be able to spend winters there, January, February and March. I think much longer than that and St. John would lose its charm for me. I really have no desire to move there for that reason and getting older I also think about health care, etc.

[piscesgirl0314]

We've been traveling to St John for ten years...married on Trunk in 2003. We have continued to vacation there since. Our 11 year old daughter in tow...We are getting ready to celebrate our 10 year anniversary with ten days. This will be our second trip doing 10 rather then 7 days. The first time was back in 2009. We really loved 10 days VS 7. We didn't feel as rushed...that said...we could actually live there...STJ is our style and pace. However, pulling our girl out of her nice school just to fulfill our desire is not an option at this point. Her education is far more important. So, we continue to vacation on STJ as much as possible...and maybe one day our island dream will be come a reality...

[liamsaunt]

Our longest stay was 21 days, our shortest was a week. We could not go for 21 days now. John and I both have very generous vacation policies, but he just cannot be gone that long anymore. We are coming with our family group for 16 nights this summer. It's two weeks out of the office because of the holiday, and that's pretty much the limit for what John can do. I am going to be curious to see if the kids get bored. They say they are not going to be bored but we will see

In an ideal world I would come for a month in the winter, but magically the water temperature and conditions would be like St. John in the summer--flat and warm. Oh, and I would not have to do any housecleaning, epecially dusting!

I admire those who say they want to retire on St. John. I love St. John, but I would not want to retire there. I would be concerned about access to medical care.

[Diana2]

We've done varying lengths of time (from ten days to a month) over the twenty some years we've been loving this island. We've decided that three weeks (plus a day or so) is perfect. For us a month is just a little bit too long

[GotToGetAway]

I've never had the pleasure to find out how long is enough, we've only been able to afford a week at a time. Just wondering how those of you who stay for long periods deal with a rental vehicle? If you are there for 3 weeks is there a deal on the vehicle? What about for 1-3 months? For me $600/week for a Jeep in high season adds up quickly.

[shoemak38]

I would settle with going one week a years vs the current once each 5 to 10 year plan only 16 months to go till next visit, hopefully yearly after that

[tochin]

Our longest trip has been 2 weeks which for me is just about right but my wife could stay a month or more. She never gets tired of the St John beaches. A week is way too short and 10 days is good but I also feel like I didn't get to do something I wanted to. 12-14 is ideal I think. Villa and Rental Car for 2 weeks gets very costly on top of food. Hence why I play the lottery! You just never know.

[psufan]

We have been experimenting with the length of our stays to see when we might get tired of being there. 1 week - not long enough. 10 days - not long enough. This trip we are staying for 2 weeks so we will see how we feel afterwards. I fear that we will not be able to afford the amount of time we would like to stay

[ToonMann]

We started with a couple of one-week stays on STJ, but for the last three years we've done one-month stays. No, we're not retired or rich.

Here's how we do it. We use frequent flier miles, bring groceries that are expensive on STJ (cereal, coffee, etc.), stay within walking distance of Cruz Bay and rent a car only when we need it. Since we're staying a month, we negotiate a quantity discount on the condo fee.

And, since we can work remotely, we work. Maybe not a full day, but about half a day . . . enough to offset the cost of the condo. Not for everyone, sure, but it works for us.

Over a month's time, I think some aspects of the STJ buzz do fade a bit. Downtown and noisy bars become less inviting, for instance. But the natural aspects -- the warmth, the breeze, the vistas, the beach -- remain just as compelling for us on the 31st day as on the first.

TM

[cindygad]

Our first trip was a week in Tortola and a week in St John.The next year 17 days and the last 2 years 3 weeks. Next year do to other plans we can only stay 2 weeks. My DH is already complaining it won't be enough time. With 3 weeks I really relax and never get board. We have yet to do a Villa day. Too many beaches and things to see.

My dream would be to stay Jan and Feb to get out of Midwest for the winter when we retire. I as of yet have failed to find anything we could afford to allow us to do this.I wish places would give you a break if you stayed longer. The rental of Jeep is another problem costing so much for weekly rentals. Oh well I can always dream!