USVI-On-Line

I went to STT in 1980 as a high school graduation gift, which included taking a day sailing trip to STJ. (As I recall, there was not a whole lot to see at that time.) I hadn't really given STJ a second thought in all these years, and then a few years ago my husband and I went to St. Croix. I have a friend who has a condo there and she offered it to us and I also have another friend who lives there. We had a great time but we weren't thrilled with the beaches. Now that I had visited both STT and St. Croix, I randomly told him that we should visit the third VI, St. John. Having been there for only 1 day 25 years ago, I really had no idea what to expect. We also had friends who were considering moving to STJ a few years ago, so we figured it must be a pretty decent vacation destination. Well, now, like everyone else, we love the island and can't seem to get enough of it; we're hooked! (P.S. - I love this thread - great stories.) Ali~

I think I may have to replace the wallpaper on my computer (currently Gibney beach courtesy of VickyH) with that ... esp. if the predictions for our area are true!

Thought I'd revive an old post because I never answered and I am waxing nostalgic today. You guys already know I'm long winded, so bear with me....

First you have to understand where my drive to travel comes from. Matt and I both grew up poor. I grew up "city poor" in the suburbs of Atlanta, knowing what it's like to live in a dumpy single-wide trailer playing in the landfill next door, to buy your new school clothes from yard sales and pray on the first day of school that they didn't formerly belong to one of your classmates, and to go look behind the grocery store on the day they toss out the day-old bread and produce to see what you can salvage and take home. Matt grew up "country poor" in a rural community in East TN knowing what it was like to live in a house with no heat in the cold of winter and no a/c in the heat of summer, to grow most of your own food, and to get your first job at the age of 13 and use your paycheck not to buy toys or records but to give to your parents to help buy groceries and gas for the one family car. I didn't go on any vacations as a child. There was no money for college when I graduated, so I worked full time from day one to pay my way and when Spring Break rolled around and all my friends headed to Cancun or Daytona, I worked extra hours to make enough money to pay my next semester's tuition.

Through lean years, sacrifice, hard work, and God's grace, I found myself more successful at the age of 30 than I ever expected I would be. For the first time in my life, I had the freedom to do things. Matt and I started to travel and, I guess to make up for lost time, it became one of our greatest passions. I'd heard of St. John and it appealed to me because Matt and I aren't resort types, we prefer simple, laid back, natural, and "out of the way." I tried to book a trip to STJ in April 2000 for our honeymoon, and anyone who read my Reef Bay hike post knows that I screwed that up and ended up on St. Croix!

In the fall of 2000, one of my best friends was diagnosed with Stage III lung cancer and was given less than 6 months to live. We talked a lot during those 6 months and one of the things she said to me will stick with me forever. I had just seen an airfare special to STT for $300 and was trying to decide whether to buy the tickets. I had just been on a vacation 6 months earlier and had ALL KINDS of excuses why I shouldn't go. Melissa looked at me and said, "Vicki, if you can go and you want to go - GO. The biggest regret I have is that I decided to wait "until...." in my life. I wanted to go to Hawaii but decided to wait "until..." and I wanted to marry and have kids but never did because I was waiting "until...." That day will never come for me, now. Don't wait, don't make excuses, you aren't promised another day. Go."

So, I bought the tickets and a month after Melissa died, I sank my feet into the soft white sand of St. John and I looked out at the impossibly blue water and I felt a peace that has stayed with me since. I’ve never looked back.

Melissa would have turned 49 this week. Next week marks the 6 year anniversary of her death.

Vicki - That is a beautiful story and a great lesson about life that your friend gave to you.

I knew we were kindred spirits --- I grew up Virginia rural poor and my husband, being a refuge of war (his family started over from NOTHING not once but twice, first moving from N. to S. Vietnam and then leaving Vietnam the day that Saigon fell eventually ending up in the US) --- we tend to be "if you want it do it" kind of people. The most important thing I want to give to my children is a lust for life and exploration down deep in their souls and the knowledge that the world is a huge place made up of all kinds.

My/our first trip was 1980. A friend of mine and i were going to go on a Carribean cruise, his plans changed at the last minute,I still wanted to go, so i asked my girl friend (who i had only known for a few weeks)if she wanted to go.Long story short, the cruise ship stopped at STT and we did the tourist thing, and went over to Trunk Bay for a day of snorkeling. That was all it took, we fell in love with each other(married the next year) AND St John.The island has changed some( more people/traffic) but it is still my favorite place to be. We will be stepping off of the Red Hook ferry onto my "second home" this Thursday....

So, for me it was a colleague. He and his wife came back from vacation back in '84 just raving about this cool island they had visited. It sounded sooo good that I immediately contacted Mary-Phyllis at Private Homes and booked what was probably her least expensive villa - Tree House. When we actually got there, we rented a little Suzuki stick-shift that I frankly couldn't fit in (6'7"), so my wife drove. We were following Mary-Phyllis after she picked us up from the ferry and got our car from Penn's. We were about half way up Gifft Hill, when wife had to slow down for some animals in the road, and the road was so steep that she coouldn't get going again! We coasted backwards about 100 yds before she got to a level enough spot to Get going again. By that time, Mary-Phyllis was out of sight and we had NO idea where to go. Sooooo we just drove around until Mary-Phyllis looped back to find her little lost guests!

That week was so special! STJ grabbed a special spot in my subconscious and I've been back many times since. Have stayed in such comfortable villas - Soft Winds, Tesseract, Poinciana, Sago Palms, Solaris, Cinnamon Ridge (before and after the pool was added). August will find us at Bongo Bongo. Can't wait!

SteveO.

VickiH - Those are heartwarming stories, and I'm sorry about the loss of your friend. That's wonderful advice she gave you.

Steve, Bongo was my introduction to the island! Enjoy!

Hi Vicky
I think your friend and my wife would of got along great.

Thanks for sharing your story, Vicki. I'm getting sort of a hard time about my traveling lately from some people in my life and it's stories like yours that I'm reminded of why I do what I do.

It was a cruise for us as well.

Our first cruise - and first trip to the caribbean was in 1994 and we went to Grand Cayman, Ocho Rios, and Cozumel. There were things i really liked about each of the ports, but I was amused at how much some of the cruisers wanted everything to be just like they were back home!?! For example, when we got off of the tender in Georgetown, Grand Cayman there was a stampede to the Kentucky Fried Chicken, with glorious shouts of "yay! - American food" ringing out in the air. Whatever...

But we had fun, and Leslie got introduced to snorkeling, and I was able to convince her that she'd like diving even more...

1995 we decided to do the eastern caribbean, but due to the damage from Hurricane Marilyn we were diverted back to the western route once again. At least we got to dive in two awesome places.

Finally went to STT in January '97. Still didn't have our act very together so we followed the hordes shopping downtown for the day.

In '98 we took a ship's excursion to do a dive at Coki Beach. Nice beach, lousy dive - at least that day!

'99 and we finally wised up a little. Took a taxi to red Hook and caught the ferry to Cruz Bay. Went to Trunk, loved it, and just missed the ferry we planned to take back, which gave us an hour to kill in Cruz Bay. It only took about 5 minutes to decide that we had to come back to this place!

Next time, we led a group of our cruising friends to "our island" to save them from a day of shopping in CA or braving the crowds at Maegan's or Sapphire.

The time after we rented three jeeps, came over on the car barge and for the first time saw more than the north shore (I have some great pictures of places that I have no idea where they are - it will be fun this fall to try and ID them!).

Last year we did a day sail out of Red Hook and had a wonderful time. But seeing those villas up on the hills must have been the breaking point.

Instead of booking a cruise this year, I (with a lot of insight gained from the fine folks on this forum) took the plunge and rented a villa on STJ for a week in October. We couldn't be more excited about it.

Do I wish we'd done it sooner? Sure, but better late than never, and I feel like it's always been my destination, it just took me longer than most of you all to "get it"!