USVI-On-Line

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First time 2002 - SO's daughter's wedding - we stayed at Hakuna Matata (the wedding and the reception were also there) - didn't get away from the villa as much as I would have liked so I had to go back and it became an obsession.

Forum - started on Anthony's "old" forum within the week after I got back from the first trip

1. My wife and I made our first visit to the Caribbean for our honeymoon in 2002. We went to St. Maarten and enjoyed it, but didn't fall in love with it. A couple years later we wanted to go somewhere with our good friends, and I'm the obsessive trip planner. I looked at the usual suspects -- Aruba, Caymans, Bahamas, Jamaica -- before seeing the beautiful water and mountainous terrain of St. John. I started looking at villas, and I just knew I'd found our place.

2. As someone mentioned earlier, I used TTOL to plan the STM trip, and I'm a big fan of forums for every destination I visit. Didn't take long to find the main ones for the USVI, and then to see that this one was focused on STJ.

1) The Barnako's (News of St. John) owned Over the Rainbow. I know the Mrs. She used to own a great knitting shop in McLean, VA. When we got married in 02, we stayed at Over the Rainbow for the honeymoon. Our 10th trip will be this June. Can't imagine a year without St John.
2) The Bongo Bongo construction blog.

when i got the chance to break the cycle of vacation cruises in'91 i made sure i had found a very cool place...no cruises since.

someone from the forum with the owl was talking up viol...no owl since

1. My daughter's piano teacher a.k.a. Pianogrl on forum
2. My daughter's piano teacher

1- Was sitting at a live charity auction in August of 07' and just felt I had to bid on the STJ trip. Knew absolutely nothing about the island, or even precisely where on the map, just knew I had to go...First trip in Jan. 08', second trip in May of 08', completely get it and it made me change my life completely...I left the corporate job, house, car, life and am now a gypsy working on boats!
2- Found the forum in a google search, drill down, figuring I'd at least find generic info about the place. Was pleasntly surprised when finding this special forum and felt like I was going home on that first ferry approach after having spent months reading the forum with moments of obsessiveness. This has been fun and I can't wait to return, though each time risks me never leaving....

Next door neighbors went to St. John in 2000 with rave reviews.

We went on a Disney Cruise with a day excursion to Cinnamon Bay in 2002. First painkiller at Woody's. Love at first sight!

Rented a villa (Beija Flor) in 2003. Love grows stronger!

Found the forum somehow. . .

2004 ~ Rented Sapphire Breeze villa. Addiction sets in~

2006 ~ Gatehouse at Peter Bay for my B-day! Sweet~

2007 ~ Let's take the whole f-n family!! (Cloud 9)

2008 ~ Secluded paradise at Sea Spirit~ there's no turning back now~

2009 ~ Ready to take the next flight to STT. In the meantime I stay focused & energized on the forum and on-stjohn! B-Back-Soon~

Spent one year planning a trip to Mexico for hubby & me, he was not in. I didn't want to stay in a resort, I wanted a villa on the beach in an area that is not very touristy - but we don't speak Spanish, so he was not in the least bit happy. Saw a commercial for the Virgin Islands - 2005, the rest is history, we are hooked.

Started on the other forum and someone referenced a trip report on this forum and I"ve been hooked ever since. The trip reports are so detailed with pictures that are gorgeous. All of our trips have been really great, but the info I've gotten from here have helped to make that happen. I am now totally obsessed and check the forum several times a day. I will attempt my trip report this year - I just feel the standards are so high to live up to, I'll try.

Actually found St. John 11 years ago while booking our honeymoon. We were looking at St. Martin and St. Thomas as the location and St. John was going to be a day trip if we stayed in St. Thomas. Long story short, got married and stayed on St. Martin even after a hurricane wiped out our hotel. Always kept an eye on St. John as our top priority but some things kept getting in the way of going. Finally made it there last year and said "this is my heaven".

We used to go to Tortola and would stop at Customs on STJ. Cruz Bay looked kind of cool so in 99 we finally came to STJ and have been hooked ever since....although we still love Tortola and sneak in a trip there when we can.

Went on vacation to St. Thomas in 1978 (yikes) with a friend. When we came home, she said "We should move there". So we did!! I was 18 years old, we rented a house over the phone, had $100 between us and Kraft Mac N Cheese packed in our suitcases!! Ahh, youth! Lived on St. Thomas for 3 years.

When I was planning a trip in 2000 I was google searching and found this site.

Around 2000 we took a cruise and my obssesion with snorkeling began while visitng Coki on STT. Wanted to hit St John but the gals wanted to shop while on STT.
FF 2007 I'm fully addicted to snorkeling after hitting many islands. Researching places to go I read about St John seemed like a perfect fit. Wow I'm in snorkeling Nirvana and my honey loves the place too

While researching St John what a nice little bonus it has become.

Friends of ours invited us to join them in their ST. Thomas timeshare back in 1997 in celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary. We did several day trips to St. John during that trip and we have been hooked ever since. There is not a day that goes by that my thoughts don't wander to St. John.
I have been a daily lurker on this forum since the old days when JSS3 and Howie posted. It is my morning ritual/relaxation before going to work.