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Maria Bluff area, walking, and Chocolate Hole Beach?
Maria Bluff area, walking, and Chocolate Hole Beach?
Next month, we are renting a house in the Maria Bluff area of Chocolate Hole. We are completely unfamiliar with this area of STJ. Anyone care to share their knowledge?
We are a family of walkers. Is the neighborhood conducive to walking in the early morning? (hills don’t bother us)
The other couple in our traveling party plans of walking to Cruz Bay and taxing home. Does this sound feasible?
Is there a public right of way to Chocolate Hole Beach? The street map of the neighborhood (such as it is) doesn’t show streets leading to the water. Neither does the National Geographic map.
We are a family of walkers. Is the neighborhood conducive to walking in the early morning? (hills don’t bother us)
The other couple in our traveling party plans of walking to Cruz Bay and taxing home. Does this sound feasible?
Is there a public right of way to Chocolate Hole Beach? The street map of the neighborhood (such as it is) doesn’t show streets leading to the water. Neither does the National Geographic map.
Maria Bluff questions
Walking to Cruz Bay from the Maria Bluff/Chocolate Hole area is feasible and would take about 20 min. give or take, depending on your fitness level. Its about a five minute drive. However, once you get on the main road heading to town....BE CAUTIOUS...
Drivers for the most part are observant and highly skilled but there isn't much room for error and with hills and curves it might not be the safest idea. As far as Chocolate Hole, we stayed at Time Out villa, which I think has now been purchased but it is right above Villa St. John which is right on the waterfront at Chocolate Hole and immediately to the west, just before, Villa St. John there is a small road off the main road on your right that leads down to the public access. The road is only like one block long at the most. The beach is mostly stone but on the east side of Chocolate Hole just offshore there's a nice reef for snorkeling and if its a calm day its really quite clear underwater. My wife and son were lazy late sleepers but I'd take a walk most mornings heading east, mostly up the road towards Fish Bay. Its a beautiful and hilly walk and you can get a closer look at the huge home being built at the east tip of Chocolate Hole. You could drop off some floats at the beach access as you pass by then keep walking up and around the hills heading east. You'll catch the wonderful breezes out of the east once you're up the hill and the vista is outstanding. You can see over to Ditliff Point and Reef Bay and it seems like most of the main southern part of St. John. There is little traffic and you'll get a great workout. On the way back to Maria Bluff you can stop back at the beach and float or snorkle...you'll probably have the beach to yourself. The Chocolate Hole area is great. There's usually a dozen boats moored and there's a lot of variety in the water color because of the reefs. Its also close to town but far enough away to be a nice laid back enclave. I'm not sure how to post pictures of the area on this forum but send me an email and I'll send back some that I took then you can see if its what you're looking for.
Drivers for the most part are observant and highly skilled but there isn't much room for error and with hills and curves it might not be the safest idea. As far as Chocolate Hole, we stayed at Time Out villa, which I think has now been purchased but it is right above Villa St. John which is right on the waterfront at Chocolate Hole and immediately to the west, just before, Villa St. John there is a small road off the main road on your right that leads down to the public access. The road is only like one block long at the most. The beach is mostly stone but on the east side of Chocolate Hole just offshore there's a nice reef for snorkeling and if its a calm day its really quite clear underwater. My wife and son were lazy late sleepers but I'd take a walk most mornings heading east, mostly up the road towards Fish Bay. Its a beautiful and hilly walk and you can get a closer look at the huge home being built at the east tip of Chocolate Hole. You could drop off some floats at the beach access as you pass by then keep walking up and around the hills heading east. You'll catch the wonderful breezes out of the east once you're up the hill and the vista is outstanding. You can see over to Ditliff Point and Reef Bay and it seems like most of the main southern part of St. John. There is little traffic and you'll get a great workout. On the way back to Maria Bluff you can stop back at the beach and float or snorkle...you'll probably have the beach to yourself. The Chocolate Hole area is great. There's usually a dozen boats moored and there's a lot of variety in the water color because of the reefs. Its also close to town but far enough away to be a nice laid back enclave. I'm not sure how to post pictures of the area on this forum but send me an email and I'll send back some that I took then you can see if its what you're looking for.
We've rented two houses (Coqui and Belvedere)on Maria Bluff and liked them both. The area is very nice and quiet, and there are good views out over Pillsbury Sound to St. Thomas. To get to Maria Bluff you turn right onto Great Cruz Bay Road.
As far as walking to town, I really don't think this is a good idea. First off, you would have to walk up that huge hill after the Westin on your way in. The roads are narrow and very dark at night. Taxis will come get you if you are staying on Maria Bluff--it's not too far out of town.
For access to Chocolate Hole Beach, turn right on Chocolate Hole East Road (this is the turn before Great Cruz Bay Road if you are coming from town.) Follow the road all the way to the end (go straight)and park.
As far as walking to town, I really don't think this is a good idea. First off, you would have to walk up that huge hill after the Westin on your way in. The roads are narrow and very dark at night. Taxis will come get you if you are staying on Maria Bluff--it's not too far out of town.
For access to Chocolate Hole Beach, turn right on Chocolate Hole East Road (this is the turn before Great Cruz Bay Road if you are coming from town.) Follow the road all the way to the end (go straight)and park.
It's like looking in your soup and finding a whole different alphabet.
We've stayed in Maria Bluff area too---very nice area, and Splendore got lots of great reviews on the "old forum." This is a nice area for walking in the immediate residential neighborhood (which is pretty large). The walk into town could certainly be done, but I wouldn't. Its not a pretty walk, the roads are narrow, the hills steep, and traffic (including lots of large construction vehicles) is not particularly kind to pedestrians. Get a car or Jeep to go into town--- if you like to walk, take a hike on one of St. John's wonderful trails instead.
---Jim
Splendore
PA Girl, PLEASE let us know how you liked the villa upon your return. It's one of the villas on my list we are trying to choose from. Oh and I actually pulled some old Splendore input from the search engine on the old boards. Might want to try that if you haven't already!
Splendore review
There's a review of Splendore you can get to from this, the new forum....hope this works....In the blue bar at top of forum page click on St. John then down to Hotels then to Hotel Reviews.....when that page opens scroll down a little then hit 2001 then scroll about 2/3 down that list and you'll see Splendore. From that page I'm sure you'll find reviews from more recent years too.
My wife and I stayed at Splendore last June for our 25th wedding anniversary. We liked it so much we are going back there this June. It sits very high on Maria Bluff - I think there are only one or two villas higher up and has excellent views to the southwest. The pictures on the VacationVistas website do not do this villa justice. Here are some we took: http://mg.yrci.com/stjohn/splendore/index.html.
I agree with iowaguy - you really don't want to be walking on the main roads - especially going up Jacob's Ladder past the Westin. The roads in the neighborhood around Splendore are very narrow but there is very little traffic and the views are wonderful.
If you have any specific questions about Splendore, let me know.
I agree with iowaguy - you really don't want to be walking on the main roads - especially going up Jacob's Ladder past the Westin. The roads in the neighborhood around Splendore are very narrow but there is very little traffic and the views are wonderful.
If you have any specific questions about Splendore, let me know.