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Family trip report - LONG
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smilesfromMN
- Posts: 141
- Joined: Mon Jan 01, 2007 10:19 am
- Location: MN
Family trip report - LONG
Hi everyone,
I have received so much from all of you and I thought it was time I gave back (to the best of my ability), so here's my first ever trip report. I promise that it isn't as well written or entertaining as many of yours, but here goes...
I’ll begin this trip report with some general background info:
Who? My husband, myself (both mid-thirties), and our two sons (“big bro” age 7, “little bro” age 4). (Traveling with young kids is much different than many of the fabulous, entertaining adults only trip reports on this board… but I hope you enjoy it anyway!)
What? Our third (second for the boys) visit to wonderful St. John
When? March 28 – April 4, 2009
Where? We stayed at Caneel Trailside Cottage. We loved, Loved, LOVED it!!! Please see separate review.
Why? Read on…
Also, many of you are much better photographers than I am and have captured great shots of all of the places that I will write about. In fact, we only have a few pics that aren’t of our kids… so just visualize the places I am writing about because I’m not going to include 200+ pics of my kids in this report.
Day 1 - Saturday
Up at 3am – so excited!!! You all know the feeling… Both of our Delta flights (Minneapolis to Atlanta and Atlanta to St. Thomas) were very bumpy at times – kinda fun, but annoying after thirty minutes of trying to prevent the boys beverages/snacks from spilling all over! We were scheduled to land at 1:45pm and planned on taking the 3pm downtown ferry – maybe, depending on how long it took to get our luggage, which has taken very long in the past. We actually landed at 2:20pm and I thought that there was no way we’d make the 3pm, oh well. Our luggage was actually waiting for us as we walked into the terminal!!! I still can’t figure out how?? We got a taxi, told the driver that we wanted to make the 3pm ferry and he said, “No problem”! I wasn’t sure, but we hopped in and made it just in time! The ferry ride was really rough as well, and by the time we docked in Cruz Bay, I’d had enough large, bumpy vehicles for one day – and I’m not usually one that gets any kind of motion sickness.
Our villa hostess met us at the dock. The boys and I waited on the corner bench in the park (so much fun activity in the park on Saturday afternoon!) as she took my husband to C & C to pick up the jeep. We’ve rented from C & C before and had a great experience once again. They aren’t actually open on Saturday, but they left the keys and a note in the car telling us to come in on Sunday morning to sign the papers. Our hostess returned, followed by my husband, and we loaded up and were on our way out of town to Caneel Trailside Cottage. As I mentioned above, we LOVED this villa! Please see my review on the villa review page. It was perfect for our family of four.
The boys quickly put on their swimsuits and jumped in the pool. My husband hung out outside with them while I quickly unpacked and made a grocery list and we were off . We pulled into Candie’s Delights (BBQ) to place our order for dinner before we went to Starfish. (A really great Forum tip – thanks!!) We had decided that we would do breakfast at the villa everyday (simple, cereal/toast/fruit), pack our own lunches for the beach on some days, and do most of our dinners out. The only vacation food request that my kids had was that I make my guacamole. Unfortunately Starfish was out of avocados on Saturday… the boys would have to wait. But we did load up on breakfast stuff, snacks for lunches, steak, produce, and water. I like Starfish Market. I like the layout and the people that work there. The only other “market” I’ve been to on STJ is Love City – which is special in it’s own way, but Starfish is very convenient and well stocked (except avocados, read on).
We stopped back at Candie’s to pick up our order and went back to the villa for dinner on the deck as the sun set and a cruise ship floated by… simply dreamy. Candie’s chicken, ribs, and chicken fingers/fries were very good and very reasonably priced.
It had been a long day… our boys went to bed shortly after dinner. We watched the Villanova/Pitt game on TV and headed to bed.
Lovely breezes and sounds of critters lulled us to sleep.
Day 2 - Sunday
The roosters started in at 5am – it was still dark. I love the roosters! I’m always too excited to sleep in while on STJ anyway, so the roosters are my friends. I stayed in bed and dozed a little until the boys jumped in our bed at 6am – they were too excited, too! We had breakfast on the deck and had fun watching the very tame and daring birds try to get every crumb we dropped. Big Bro discovered a chess set in the villa, so my husband began teaching him how to play. Little Bro chased the birds for awhile and then watched a little PBS kids. I just sat, drank coffee, and marveled at the beautiful view.
The Caneel Hill Trail and Margaret Hill Trail ran right behind our villa. We decided to take a morning hike to the top of Margaret Hill. WOW!! A great view – a great way to begin our first day! We saw a bunch of very colorful hummingbirds as well, which the boys (and adults) loved. It was a hot and sticky hike, so we jumped in the pool to cool off when we got “home”.
OK, some more background info… on our two previous trips we’ve stayed at Cinnamon Bay Campground and Concordia Eco-tents. Both of those properties are wonderful and have unique qualities that you don’t find other places, but I will say that we are completely “villa spoiled” now! The modern kitchen, attached bathrooms, normal toilets, real lights, lack of bugs, private pool, regular refrigerator, etc, etc, etc, have completely won us over and I think that it is safe to say that (at least while we have young kids) we are now villa people. While we have visited STJ before, this felt like the first real vacation on STJ. End of background info, back to trip report…
We packed up the car and left the villa around 9am to go sign papers at C & C and then hit the beach!!! Since the north shore swells were up on Sunday, we decided to start our day at Maho. I love Maho. I love the colors, the smells, the sounds, the ten feet you walk from your car. It’s wonderful. Within five minutes of setting our stuff down, we had two new pet chickens! The boys had fun watching them peck around our area and telling them to “shoo” when they tried to take their snacks. We had a great morning of swimming and snorkeling. Big Bro and I swam with a small turtle for quite awhile and then saw three others (one VERY large) feeding later on. The reef at the right side of the beach was very nice and had good variety of fish. Snorkeling is about as relaxing as it gets for me. Love it.
Maho stared getting a little crowded around 1pm, so we left and headed for Cinnamon so my husband could make a reservation for a wind surfing lesson for the next day. Cinnamon was busy and very rough (which we knew it would be), and the boys loved it! They had tons of fun in the waves… I am all about snorkeling in that perfect, clear water and they are all about the waves, so I am glad that they got to experience Cinnamon on that afternoon. We stayed at Cinnamon until about 5pm and headed home. We made a quick stop at Starfish to see if they had any avocados – none yet.
Once home, we unpacked the car and cleaned off all the sand on our stuff and bodies. At times it seems that there is nothing in this world stickier than STJ sand. (As I’m back at home in MN writing this, Little Bro still has some stuck to his scalp!) We enjoyed our dinner of salad, seasoned basmati rice, and grilled steak on the deck. Lovely view once again. No-see-ums started biting my husband as we ate, so we finished our meal indoors. We had a relaxing evening watching basketball, reading, and playing games and then the breezes and critters put us to sleep once again.
Day 3 - Monday
I was up at 6:15 and bid good morning to our resident rooster. I made coffee and sat on the deck as I listened to the island wake up. It was a cloudy, grey morning with drizzle. My husband and the boys were up at 7am and we repeated our breakfast/PBS kids routine from the morning before.
We packed up the jeep and headed to Cinnamon Bay at 8:45. We first hiked the Cinnamon Loop trail which we all enjoyed. The boys loved the ruins and had fun pretending they were (pick one) Indiana Jones/Luke Skywalker/Batman/Spiderman/Sonic the Hedgehog on various points during the hike. We finished the hike and were on the beach by 10am. It was much less windy and the surf was much lower. The sky was now completely blue with bright sunshine. It is amazing how hazy rain can leave so quickly with a full day of sun chasing it! The boys and I played in the surf and sand while my husband took his windsurfing lesson. After his lesson, he had the rig for an additional two hours and really enjoyed his time. He spent most of his time going back and forth between Whistling Cay and Cinnamon Cay. (He windsurfs at home, so he’s not a beginner). It was fun to watch. When he came in for a break at one point he told me that he’d had a large harbor seal swimming with him. Harbor seal??? “I don’t think they have those here, honey, maybe it was a nurse shark or other large fish?” “With eyes on the front of it’s face and whiskers?” Okay, we’ll go with harbor seal… it seemed unlikely, but he knows what he saw. Read on… it will be explained in a few paragraphs…
While he was wind surfing again, a couple near us on the beach decided to have a little photo session. The woman was beautiful and had a very young, attractive body, but this went a little far. She started pulling her bikini in all different directions (away from where it belonged) and then started pouring her Red Stripe all over herself. This is all while she was splashing around in ankle deep water in front of about ten little kids whose families were sitting around her.
Finally it stopped (I guess they ran out of memory in the camera, or Red Stripe) and all of us parents on the beach gave each other looks of disbelief. Take it back to the villa/hotel room people... or hike on over to a secluded beach. It was strange to say the least. Thankfully my kids were too busy rolling in the waves to even notice.
After my husband's windsurfing time was up, we headed over to Hawksnest, briefly, so I could get in some snorkeling. Cinnamon was too churned up. I saw some great coral and fish at Hawksnest. Two very large fish – but, sorry, not sure what type. We headed home around 4pm. Stopped at Starfish, avocados still weren’t in.
We showered/changed/relaxed for awhile at the villa and my husband perused some of the menus in the helpful STJ binder. He decided on Morgan’s Mango for dinner. A great choice! We had seared tuna and coconut shrimp. The boys had a cheeseburger, chicken and fries, and mango smoothies. Very good food and a wonderful atmosphere. Both boys were very tired and began to meltdown toward the end of dinner, so we headed home and put them to bed. We learned our lesson: don’t do too much beach/sun in one day without a rest.
Again, the breezes and critters did their job…
Day 4 - Tuesday
We were all really looking forward to today because this was our morning to take a half-day sail/snorkel with Captain Phil of the Wayward Sailor. We were up early (hello to the roosters), ate breakfast on the deck once again and left the villa at 8am. We made a few stops for sunscreen and a rashguard (Cruz Bay Watersports is a great store!) for my husband, parked at C & C, and met Capt. Phil and our sailing companions (a really great couple from Maine, they called themselves Maniacs!) at 8:45am in the park by the ferry dock. It started to pour just as we were getting into the dinghy, but we knew better weather would soon be on it’s way. The Wayward Sailor is a very cool, old sailboat. It is in great condition! Captain Phil and his mate, Alice, were lovely hosts and we had a great time! I wish that it had been sunny for our snorkel stop (to better see the colors), but we saw a lot and Capt. Phil is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to sailing, sea life and the Virgin Islands in general. He taught us a lot of things that our boys are still talking about. We bought really cool octopus/Wayward Sailor t-shirts for the boys and I am happy they they will have such fun memories of our morning with Capt. Phil and Alice every time they wear them! A funny story: I asked Capt. Phil if there are any seals that live in the waters around St. John because my husband thinks he saw one when he was windsurfing the day before. Capt. Phil had a surprised look on his face and started laughing. He told us that there are no longer any seals around, but one had recently escaped from Coral World on St. Thomas and no one had seen it since! He was convinced that is the one that followed my husband on the windsurfer and he was excited to tell all of his friends! We all got a fun laugh out of that coincidence.
We were back on shore around 12:30 or 1:00 and we picked up the jeep and drove over to Mongoose Jct. to look around and get some lunch. We had a great lunch at Ocean Grill – mahi sandwiches and quesadillas for the kids. I love the architecture and environment at Mongoose Jct. It was a fun, relaxing lunch.
We headed back to the villa – saw a big iguana on the road leading to our driveway, boys got really excited – and spent the afternoon and evening just “chilla at the villa”. We spent some time in the pool, played some games, read, watched TV, did a little laundry, and enjoyed the view from the deck. We had leftovers from both Morgans Mango and Ocean Grill that we enjoyed for dinner. Before the boys headed to bed we all had a fun time laughing hysterically as we read “Captain Underpants” – a really gross, and pretty dumb, but wonderfully funny book series that my first grader had checked out from his school library. I love books that kids enjoy so much that they actually beg to read!
The boys went to bed happily with visions of snot and booger monsters in their heads… if you don’t know little boys you think we are completely nuts now, if you do know little boys you get it.
The cool breezes and nighttime critters were still around…
Day 5 - Wednesday
Cock-A-Doodle-Doo at 6am!
We did the same morning routine and left around 8:30 am to head to do the Peace Hill hike. It is an easy trail and the views from the end are wonderful. The boys enjoyed playing around in the ruins. We then headed back on the trail and took the Denis Bay trail down to the beach. So cool!! Since it was early, we were the only people on the beach and it felt like we had discovered our own deserted tropical island. We had tons of fun running up and down the beach, looking for sea glass and playing in the water. The snorkeling was fabulous! Beautiful coral, lots of large schools of colorful fish, and HUGE puffer fish. We also found a coconut on the beach and could hear the coconut milk sloshing inside, so we were hopeful that it was fresh and decided to take it home. We spent about two hours there, but then other groups begin to show up, and our boys wanted snacks, so we hiked back to the jeep and headed for Trunk.
We could see from the overlook that the beach was crazy busy (Wednesdays are generally NOT the day for Trunk), but it wasn’t as busy on the far left side, so we went anyway. We had to park off on the side of the road (lot was full) and ended up finding a good spot way to the left. The snorkeling on the left end of the beach is good and not nearly as crowded as the trail area. Trunk Bay really is beautiful. It is crowded and doesn’t have the same “away from it all” feel as many of the beaches, but it isn’t hard to see why it is considered by many as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. I can’t imagine more beautiful myself. The water is just so clear! And that color… my favorite color… it really is indescribable. We enjoyed lunch from the snack bar, and had a great afternoon of swimming, sand construction, snorkeling, racing on the beach and enjoying God’s fabulous creation. We headed home around 3pm. Ran into Starfish, what’s the deal with the avocados??? None yet.
When we arrived back at the villa, we cleaned up and changed and tackled the coconut. Got it cracked, cleaned, shredded, toasted and enjoyed it plain and in coconut shakes that I made for the boys. A very exciting event for them – eating actual “wild coconut” as they called it.
We decided to drive out to Coral Bay for dinner. We first drove out to Concordia to visit our old “tree house” (as the boys called it) that we stayed in for our previous visit. When we first arrived on Saturday, Big Bro was a little dismayed that the villa wasn’t at all like the “tree house”. As we were walking around above Concordia, he turned to me and said, “This is so cool, but I’m glad we are staying at the house this time”. He’s “villa spoiled” now, too! There really is nothing like that view from Concordia, however… gorgeous.
We decided to stop at Miss Lucy’s for dinner. Such a wonderful place. We enjoyed pork tenderloin, teriyaki tuna, and something else (probably chicken tenders and fries) for the boys. Miss Lucy’s is such a lovely setting. The boys loved watching the goats, especially the little ones.
We enjoyed our crazy drive back along Centerline Road and headed for bed shortly after arriving home.
The breezes were blowing and Big Bro said, “Mom, I really like the sounds from all the critters outside”.
Day 6 - Thursday
Sometime on Wednesday, while reading St. John Off the Beaten Track, we got the idea to hike the Caneel Hill Trail down to Mongoose Jct. for breakfast at Deli Grotto on Thursday morning. So at 7:15am we headed out. About 15 minutes into the hike, Little Bro had had enough, so we hiked back to the villa and drove to Mongoose. Obviously hiking the entire trail would have been way too ambitious, especially the hike back up. Maybe another year…
We enjoyed some good breakfast pastries and ordered some sandwiches to take to the beach. We headed out to Jumbie. Another fabulous, secluded beach. The snorkeling was pretty good. I followed a ray for awhile, but then got a little nervous when he turned his back, and his barb, directly in my direction. Perhaps it means nothing if a ray does a 180 and turns his barb directly toward you, but suddenly I had visions of the crocodile hunter in my head and swam away rather quickly. I’d never had an encounter with a barbed ray before, though, so it was cool.
After an hour or so at Jumbie, we drove over to Cinnamon so my husband could enjoy some more windsurfing time. We had our yummy Deli Grotto lunch on the beach and enjoyed the day. The water was much clearer today at Cinnamon and there was some good snorkeling near the Cay. I saw a 3’ barracuda, which also made me a little nervous as it swam slowly toward me, so I didn’t stay near the Cay very long, but I enjoyed what I saw.
We packed up and walked back to the jeep around 2pm. As we were loading things into the jeep, I tripped on something and twisted my ankle horribly (you should see it now, still deep purple and HUGE), so we headed home to relax and ice it. Since I was in pain, I didn't have the patience to check if avocados had come in yet at Starfish.
After a few hours it was still sore, but I was mobile so we drove into town. We shopped a little at Mongoose again. I found the exact watch that I wanted at Jewels, but I wanted some more time to think about it so we didn’t buy it yet. We went to St. John Spice/Kids and the boys and I picked out some things at both stores. We walked over to Margarita Phil’s for dinner and enjoyed it. We stopped for awhile at the little I-scream stand next to Margarita Phil’s and bought smoothies/ice cream bars for the boys and had a fun conversation with the young man working there. It was a lovely evening and Cruz Bay is such a vibrant town to walk around and there are so many wonderful, interesting people to meet. Eventually we drove home and headed to bed.
Breezes and critters… sleeping in paradise truly is a lovely experience.
Day 7 - Friday
When I first heard the roosters call this morning it made me happy and sad. I was happy that I had another day to spend in St. John, but sad because I knew that the next time I heard them it would be time to head home…
But we still had today… so we did our now familiar breakfast/PBS kids routine and decided to make our last day an easy one and enjoy it at Trunk once again. We were there at 8:30, before the admissions hut was open, so $8 saved. Because Little Bro is such a snacker, we picked a beach spot closest to the snack bar this time. When we arrived there were only 5-6 other people on the beach. We enjoyed the day, doing the typical beach stuff and stayed until about 2:30. We headed back to the villa, spent a little time in the pool and began rinsing all of our snorkel stuff since it will now go into storage until our next trip. We showered and changed and headed into town to shop and get dinner. I decided on a watch at Jewels and bought it. It has a dark mother of pearl face and any time I want to see the water from St. John I just have to turn my watch face toward the light and streaks of “that blue” shine out. I love it. We walked through town for the last time and decided on High Tide for dinner. Another great meal! After dinner we walked over to the Warfside I-scream location and got cones for the boys and walked along the beach and took some pics. A lovely sunset and lovely last evening in St. John.
We headed home, packed, cleaned up around the villa, put the boys to bed and cherished the breezes and critters for the last time.
Day 8 - Saturday
Up early, vacuumed jeep, packed jeep, stopped at Baked in the Sun for lunch to take to airport (once again, a GREAT Forum suggestion),unloaded at dock, my husband returned jeep, waited for 9:15 downtown ferry, walk of woe, nice ferry ride, took taxi to airport, through customs/security fairly quickly, smooth flight to JFK, LONG layover in JFK, delayed flight, snow in Minneapolis as we landed, my parents were gracious enough to pick us up even though we were so late, our Golden Retriever was glad to see us, in bed by 1am.
The Morning After
Today I woke up to an alarm instead of the roosters. I looked out the window and everything was white instead of green and blue. Instead of a cruise ship floating by, my neighbors F-150 drove by. Instead of humid warmth, I felt a dry chill. I love St. John, and re-entry is just a little tough sometimes.
I drove (on the right) to the grocery store and bought some readily available avocados.
Regular life is good, too.
I hope you enjoyed our journey. We all agree that this was our best family vacation yet…
thanks, everyone, for all of the great insight.
Smiles from MN
I have received so much from all of you and I thought it was time I gave back (to the best of my ability), so here's my first ever trip report. I promise that it isn't as well written or entertaining as many of yours, but here goes...
I’ll begin this trip report with some general background info:
Who? My husband, myself (both mid-thirties), and our two sons (“big bro” age 7, “little bro” age 4). (Traveling with young kids is much different than many of the fabulous, entertaining adults only trip reports on this board… but I hope you enjoy it anyway!)
What? Our third (second for the boys) visit to wonderful St. John
When? March 28 – April 4, 2009
Where? We stayed at Caneel Trailside Cottage. We loved, Loved, LOVED it!!! Please see separate review.
Why? Read on…
Also, many of you are much better photographers than I am and have captured great shots of all of the places that I will write about. In fact, we only have a few pics that aren’t of our kids… so just visualize the places I am writing about because I’m not going to include 200+ pics of my kids in this report.
Day 1 - Saturday
Up at 3am – so excited!!! You all know the feeling… Both of our Delta flights (Minneapolis to Atlanta and Atlanta to St. Thomas) were very bumpy at times – kinda fun, but annoying after thirty minutes of trying to prevent the boys beverages/snacks from spilling all over! We were scheduled to land at 1:45pm and planned on taking the 3pm downtown ferry – maybe, depending on how long it took to get our luggage, which has taken very long in the past. We actually landed at 2:20pm and I thought that there was no way we’d make the 3pm, oh well. Our luggage was actually waiting for us as we walked into the terminal!!! I still can’t figure out how?? We got a taxi, told the driver that we wanted to make the 3pm ferry and he said, “No problem”! I wasn’t sure, but we hopped in and made it just in time! The ferry ride was really rough as well, and by the time we docked in Cruz Bay, I’d had enough large, bumpy vehicles for one day – and I’m not usually one that gets any kind of motion sickness.
Our villa hostess met us at the dock. The boys and I waited on the corner bench in the park (so much fun activity in the park on Saturday afternoon!) as she took my husband to C & C to pick up the jeep. We’ve rented from C & C before and had a great experience once again. They aren’t actually open on Saturday, but they left the keys and a note in the car telling us to come in on Sunday morning to sign the papers. Our hostess returned, followed by my husband, and we loaded up and were on our way out of town to Caneel Trailside Cottage. As I mentioned above, we LOVED this villa! Please see my review on the villa review page. It was perfect for our family of four.
The boys quickly put on their swimsuits and jumped in the pool. My husband hung out outside with them while I quickly unpacked and made a grocery list and we were off . We pulled into Candie’s Delights (BBQ) to place our order for dinner before we went to Starfish. (A really great Forum tip – thanks!!) We had decided that we would do breakfast at the villa everyday (simple, cereal/toast/fruit), pack our own lunches for the beach on some days, and do most of our dinners out. The only vacation food request that my kids had was that I make my guacamole. Unfortunately Starfish was out of avocados on Saturday… the boys would have to wait. But we did load up on breakfast stuff, snacks for lunches, steak, produce, and water. I like Starfish Market. I like the layout and the people that work there. The only other “market” I’ve been to on STJ is Love City – which is special in it’s own way, but Starfish is very convenient and well stocked (except avocados, read on).
We stopped back at Candie’s to pick up our order and went back to the villa for dinner on the deck as the sun set and a cruise ship floated by… simply dreamy. Candie’s chicken, ribs, and chicken fingers/fries were very good and very reasonably priced.
It had been a long day… our boys went to bed shortly after dinner. We watched the Villanova/Pitt game on TV and headed to bed.
Lovely breezes and sounds of critters lulled us to sleep.
Day 2 - Sunday
The roosters started in at 5am – it was still dark. I love the roosters! I’m always too excited to sleep in while on STJ anyway, so the roosters are my friends. I stayed in bed and dozed a little until the boys jumped in our bed at 6am – they were too excited, too! We had breakfast on the deck and had fun watching the very tame and daring birds try to get every crumb we dropped. Big Bro discovered a chess set in the villa, so my husband began teaching him how to play. Little Bro chased the birds for awhile and then watched a little PBS kids. I just sat, drank coffee, and marveled at the beautiful view.
The Caneel Hill Trail and Margaret Hill Trail ran right behind our villa. We decided to take a morning hike to the top of Margaret Hill. WOW!! A great view – a great way to begin our first day! We saw a bunch of very colorful hummingbirds as well, which the boys (and adults) loved. It was a hot and sticky hike, so we jumped in the pool to cool off when we got “home”.
OK, some more background info… on our two previous trips we’ve stayed at Cinnamon Bay Campground and Concordia Eco-tents. Both of those properties are wonderful and have unique qualities that you don’t find other places, but I will say that we are completely “villa spoiled” now! The modern kitchen, attached bathrooms, normal toilets, real lights, lack of bugs, private pool, regular refrigerator, etc, etc, etc, have completely won us over and I think that it is safe to say that (at least while we have young kids) we are now villa people. While we have visited STJ before, this felt like the first real vacation on STJ. End of background info, back to trip report…
We packed up the car and left the villa around 9am to go sign papers at C & C and then hit the beach!!! Since the north shore swells were up on Sunday, we decided to start our day at Maho. I love Maho. I love the colors, the smells, the sounds, the ten feet you walk from your car. It’s wonderful. Within five minutes of setting our stuff down, we had two new pet chickens! The boys had fun watching them peck around our area and telling them to “shoo” when they tried to take their snacks. We had a great morning of swimming and snorkeling. Big Bro and I swam with a small turtle for quite awhile and then saw three others (one VERY large) feeding later on. The reef at the right side of the beach was very nice and had good variety of fish. Snorkeling is about as relaxing as it gets for me. Love it.
Maho stared getting a little crowded around 1pm, so we left and headed for Cinnamon so my husband could make a reservation for a wind surfing lesson for the next day. Cinnamon was busy and very rough (which we knew it would be), and the boys loved it! They had tons of fun in the waves… I am all about snorkeling in that perfect, clear water and they are all about the waves, so I am glad that they got to experience Cinnamon on that afternoon. We stayed at Cinnamon until about 5pm and headed home. We made a quick stop at Starfish to see if they had any avocados – none yet.
Once home, we unpacked the car and cleaned off all the sand on our stuff and bodies. At times it seems that there is nothing in this world stickier than STJ sand. (As I’m back at home in MN writing this, Little Bro still has some stuck to his scalp!) We enjoyed our dinner of salad, seasoned basmati rice, and grilled steak on the deck. Lovely view once again. No-see-ums started biting my husband as we ate, so we finished our meal indoors. We had a relaxing evening watching basketball, reading, and playing games and then the breezes and critters put us to sleep once again.
Day 3 - Monday
I was up at 6:15 and bid good morning to our resident rooster. I made coffee and sat on the deck as I listened to the island wake up. It was a cloudy, grey morning with drizzle. My husband and the boys were up at 7am and we repeated our breakfast/PBS kids routine from the morning before.
We packed up the jeep and headed to Cinnamon Bay at 8:45. We first hiked the Cinnamon Loop trail which we all enjoyed. The boys loved the ruins and had fun pretending they were (pick one) Indiana Jones/Luke Skywalker/Batman/Spiderman/Sonic the Hedgehog on various points during the hike. We finished the hike and were on the beach by 10am. It was much less windy and the surf was much lower. The sky was now completely blue with bright sunshine. It is amazing how hazy rain can leave so quickly with a full day of sun chasing it! The boys and I played in the surf and sand while my husband took his windsurfing lesson. After his lesson, he had the rig for an additional two hours and really enjoyed his time. He spent most of his time going back and forth between Whistling Cay and Cinnamon Cay. (He windsurfs at home, so he’s not a beginner). It was fun to watch. When he came in for a break at one point he told me that he’d had a large harbor seal swimming with him. Harbor seal??? “I don’t think they have those here, honey, maybe it was a nurse shark or other large fish?” “With eyes on the front of it’s face and whiskers?” Okay, we’ll go with harbor seal… it seemed unlikely, but he knows what he saw. Read on… it will be explained in a few paragraphs…
While he was wind surfing again, a couple near us on the beach decided to have a little photo session. The woman was beautiful and had a very young, attractive body, but this went a little far. She started pulling her bikini in all different directions (away from where it belonged) and then started pouring her Red Stripe all over herself. This is all while she was splashing around in ankle deep water in front of about ten little kids whose families were sitting around her.
Finally it stopped (I guess they ran out of memory in the camera, or Red Stripe) and all of us parents on the beach gave each other looks of disbelief. Take it back to the villa/hotel room people... or hike on over to a secluded beach. It was strange to say the least. Thankfully my kids were too busy rolling in the waves to even notice. After my husband's windsurfing time was up, we headed over to Hawksnest, briefly, so I could get in some snorkeling. Cinnamon was too churned up. I saw some great coral and fish at Hawksnest. Two very large fish – but, sorry, not sure what type. We headed home around 4pm. Stopped at Starfish, avocados still weren’t in.
We showered/changed/relaxed for awhile at the villa and my husband perused some of the menus in the helpful STJ binder. He decided on Morgan’s Mango for dinner. A great choice! We had seared tuna and coconut shrimp. The boys had a cheeseburger, chicken and fries, and mango smoothies. Very good food and a wonderful atmosphere. Both boys were very tired and began to meltdown toward the end of dinner, so we headed home and put them to bed. We learned our lesson: don’t do too much beach/sun in one day without a rest.
Again, the breezes and critters did their job…
Day 4 - Tuesday
We were all really looking forward to today because this was our morning to take a half-day sail/snorkel with Captain Phil of the Wayward Sailor. We were up early (hello to the roosters), ate breakfast on the deck once again and left the villa at 8am. We made a few stops for sunscreen and a rashguard (Cruz Bay Watersports is a great store!) for my husband, parked at C & C, and met Capt. Phil and our sailing companions (a really great couple from Maine, they called themselves Maniacs!) at 8:45am in the park by the ferry dock. It started to pour just as we were getting into the dinghy, but we knew better weather would soon be on it’s way. The Wayward Sailor is a very cool, old sailboat. It is in great condition! Captain Phil and his mate, Alice, were lovely hosts and we had a great time! I wish that it had been sunny for our snorkel stop (to better see the colors), but we saw a lot and Capt. Phil is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to sailing, sea life and the Virgin Islands in general. He taught us a lot of things that our boys are still talking about. We bought really cool octopus/Wayward Sailor t-shirts for the boys and I am happy they they will have such fun memories of our morning with Capt. Phil and Alice every time they wear them! A funny story: I asked Capt. Phil if there are any seals that live in the waters around St. John because my husband thinks he saw one when he was windsurfing the day before. Capt. Phil had a surprised look on his face and started laughing. He told us that there are no longer any seals around, but one had recently escaped from Coral World on St. Thomas and no one had seen it since! He was convinced that is the one that followed my husband on the windsurfer and he was excited to tell all of his friends! We all got a fun laugh out of that coincidence.
We were back on shore around 12:30 or 1:00 and we picked up the jeep and drove over to Mongoose Jct. to look around and get some lunch. We had a great lunch at Ocean Grill – mahi sandwiches and quesadillas for the kids. I love the architecture and environment at Mongoose Jct. It was a fun, relaxing lunch.
We headed back to the villa – saw a big iguana on the road leading to our driveway, boys got really excited – and spent the afternoon and evening just “chilla at the villa”. We spent some time in the pool, played some games, read, watched TV, did a little laundry, and enjoyed the view from the deck. We had leftovers from both Morgans Mango and Ocean Grill that we enjoyed for dinner. Before the boys headed to bed we all had a fun time laughing hysterically as we read “Captain Underpants” – a really gross, and pretty dumb, but wonderfully funny book series that my first grader had checked out from his school library. I love books that kids enjoy so much that they actually beg to read!
The boys went to bed happily with visions of snot and booger monsters in their heads… if you don’t know little boys you think we are completely nuts now, if you do know little boys you get it.
The cool breezes and nighttime critters were still around…
Day 5 - Wednesday
Cock-A-Doodle-Doo at 6am!
We did the same morning routine and left around 8:30 am to head to do the Peace Hill hike. It is an easy trail and the views from the end are wonderful. The boys enjoyed playing around in the ruins. We then headed back on the trail and took the Denis Bay trail down to the beach. So cool!! Since it was early, we were the only people on the beach and it felt like we had discovered our own deserted tropical island. We had tons of fun running up and down the beach, looking for sea glass and playing in the water. The snorkeling was fabulous! Beautiful coral, lots of large schools of colorful fish, and HUGE puffer fish. We also found a coconut on the beach and could hear the coconut milk sloshing inside, so we were hopeful that it was fresh and decided to take it home. We spent about two hours there, but then other groups begin to show up, and our boys wanted snacks, so we hiked back to the jeep and headed for Trunk.
We could see from the overlook that the beach was crazy busy (Wednesdays are generally NOT the day for Trunk), but it wasn’t as busy on the far left side, so we went anyway. We had to park off on the side of the road (lot was full) and ended up finding a good spot way to the left. The snorkeling on the left end of the beach is good and not nearly as crowded as the trail area. Trunk Bay really is beautiful. It is crowded and doesn’t have the same “away from it all” feel as many of the beaches, but it isn’t hard to see why it is considered by many as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. I can’t imagine more beautiful myself. The water is just so clear! And that color… my favorite color… it really is indescribable. We enjoyed lunch from the snack bar, and had a great afternoon of swimming, sand construction, snorkeling, racing on the beach and enjoying God’s fabulous creation. We headed home around 3pm. Ran into Starfish, what’s the deal with the avocados??? None yet.
When we arrived back at the villa, we cleaned up and changed and tackled the coconut. Got it cracked, cleaned, shredded, toasted and enjoyed it plain and in coconut shakes that I made for the boys. A very exciting event for them – eating actual “wild coconut” as they called it.
We decided to drive out to Coral Bay for dinner. We first drove out to Concordia to visit our old “tree house” (as the boys called it) that we stayed in for our previous visit. When we first arrived on Saturday, Big Bro was a little dismayed that the villa wasn’t at all like the “tree house”. As we were walking around above Concordia, he turned to me and said, “This is so cool, but I’m glad we are staying at the house this time”. He’s “villa spoiled” now, too! There really is nothing like that view from Concordia, however… gorgeous.
We decided to stop at Miss Lucy’s for dinner. Such a wonderful place. We enjoyed pork tenderloin, teriyaki tuna, and something else (probably chicken tenders and fries) for the boys. Miss Lucy’s is such a lovely setting. The boys loved watching the goats, especially the little ones.
We enjoyed our crazy drive back along Centerline Road and headed for bed shortly after arriving home.
The breezes were blowing and Big Bro said, “Mom, I really like the sounds from all the critters outside”.
Day 6 - Thursday
Sometime on Wednesday, while reading St. John Off the Beaten Track, we got the idea to hike the Caneel Hill Trail down to Mongoose Jct. for breakfast at Deli Grotto on Thursday morning. So at 7:15am we headed out. About 15 minutes into the hike, Little Bro had had enough, so we hiked back to the villa and drove to Mongoose. Obviously hiking the entire trail would have been way too ambitious, especially the hike back up. Maybe another year…
We enjoyed some good breakfast pastries and ordered some sandwiches to take to the beach. We headed out to Jumbie. Another fabulous, secluded beach. The snorkeling was pretty good. I followed a ray for awhile, but then got a little nervous when he turned his back, and his barb, directly in my direction. Perhaps it means nothing if a ray does a 180 and turns his barb directly toward you, but suddenly I had visions of the crocodile hunter in my head and swam away rather quickly. I’d never had an encounter with a barbed ray before, though, so it was cool.
After an hour or so at Jumbie, we drove over to Cinnamon so my husband could enjoy some more windsurfing time. We had our yummy Deli Grotto lunch on the beach and enjoyed the day. The water was much clearer today at Cinnamon and there was some good snorkeling near the Cay. I saw a 3’ barracuda, which also made me a little nervous as it swam slowly toward me, so I didn’t stay near the Cay very long, but I enjoyed what I saw.
We packed up and walked back to the jeep around 2pm. As we were loading things into the jeep, I tripped on something and twisted my ankle horribly (you should see it now, still deep purple and HUGE), so we headed home to relax and ice it. Since I was in pain, I didn't have the patience to check if avocados had come in yet at Starfish.
After a few hours it was still sore, but I was mobile so we drove into town. We shopped a little at Mongoose again. I found the exact watch that I wanted at Jewels, but I wanted some more time to think about it so we didn’t buy it yet. We went to St. John Spice/Kids and the boys and I picked out some things at both stores. We walked over to Margarita Phil’s for dinner and enjoyed it. We stopped for awhile at the little I-scream stand next to Margarita Phil’s and bought smoothies/ice cream bars for the boys and had a fun conversation with the young man working there. It was a lovely evening and Cruz Bay is such a vibrant town to walk around and there are so many wonderful, interesting people to meet. Eventually we drove home and headed to bed.
Breezes and critters… sleeping in paradise truly is a lovely experience.
Day 7 - Friday
When I first heard the roosters call this morning it made me happy and sad. I was happy that I had another day to spend in St. John, but sad because I knew that the next time I heard them it would be time to head home…
But we still had today… so we did our now familiar breakfast/PBS kids routine and decided to make our last day an easy one and enjoy it at Trunk once again. We were there at 8:30, before the admissions hut was open, so $8 saved. Because Little Bro is such a snacker, we picked a beach spot closest to the snack bar this time. When we arrived there were only 5-6 other people on the beach. We enjoyed the day, doing the typical beach stuff and stayed until about 2:30. We headed back to the villa, spent a little time in the pool and began rinsing all of our snorkel stuff since it will now go into storage until our next trip. We showered and changed and headed into town to shop and get dinner. I decided on a watch at Jewels and bought it. It has a dark mother of pearl face and any time I want to see the water from St. John I just have to turn my watch face toward the light and streaks of “that blue” shine out. I love it. We walked through town for the last time and decided on High Tide for dinner. Another great meal! After dinner we walked over to the Warfside I-scream location and got cones for the boys and walked along the beach and took some pics. A lovely sunset and lovely last evening in St. John.
We headed home, packed, cleaned up around the villa, put the boys to bed and cherished the breezes and critters for the last time.
Day 8 - Saturday
Up early, vacuumed jeep, packed jeep, stopped at Baked in the Sun for lunch to take to airport (once again, a GREAT Forum suggestion),unloaded at dock, my husband returned jeep, waited for 9:15 downtown ferry, walk of woe, nice ferry ride, took taxi to airport, through customs/security fairly quickly, smooth flight to JFK, LONG layover in JFK, delayed flight, snow in Minneapolis as we landed, my parents were gracious enough to pick us up even though we were so late, our Golden Retriever was glad to see us, in bed by 1am.
The Morning After
Today I woke up to an alarm instead of the roosters. I looked out the window and everything was white instead of green and blue. Instead of a cruise ship floating by, my neighbors F-150 drove by. Instead of humid warmth, I felt a dry chill. I love St. John, and re-entry is just a little tough sometimes.
I drove (on the right) to the grocery store and bought some readily available avocados.
Regular life is good, too.
I hope you enjoyed our journey. We all agree that this was our best family vacation yet…
thanks, everyone, for all of the great insight.
Smiles from MN
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What a great trip report...thanks for sharing your vacation with us. We've done STJ without our daughter but its not the same...shes 7 and will be returning for a second time in June. We will do other vacations without her, but St. John has become her island too...she asks me every day to get on the spice cam so she can see what the weather is like...shes looking forward to our June trip as much as her dad and I...
Thanks for the report, just what I needed on this COLD April PA morning.
I liked reading about your activities with the Bros. I look forward to the trips when our son is old enough to hike the trails.
Caneel Trailside interests me for a future grandparent trip. (Nana is a hiker) I have heard complaints in the past about neighborhood noise. Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?
I liked reading about your activities with the Bros. I look forward to the trips when our son is old enough to hike the trails.
Caneel Trailside interests me for a future grandparent trip. (Nana is a hiker) I have heard complaints in the past about neighborhood noise. Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?
