USVI-On-Line

Can anyone tell us if it will be helpful to have a GPS? We are staying in a villa so will have a rental jeep while we are on St. John....would a GPS be helpful in getting around the island?

I guess it all depends on how good your sense of direction is. My wife could benefit from GPS in a mall...she always seems to turn the wrong way when coming out of a store.

But, seriously, there only are a couple of main roads on the island. Getting to and from your villa from those roads is pretty simple, I think. If it were me, I'd leave it at home and do what the original settlers did...go by landmarks..."honey, weren't you supposed to turn right at the dumpster and then left at the leaning telephone pole?"

Do you even know of a GPS system that has a map of St. John on it? You can check, but most may only have Puerto Rico.

If anyone knows of a portable system with a map of St. John, please let us know.

A GPS is definitely not needed unless you want to do geocaching.

I love my GPS at home but honestly you'd be hard pressed to get lost on STJ. When you get there you'll laugh out loud and giggle at yourself for thinking about bringing it -- when you get there you'll know what we mean!

Honestly, no one goes by road names or building numbers... so there's nothing to enter into the GPS -- it's totally about the landmarks and they are usually pretty obvious.

Just grab one of the little free STJ maps when you get to the ferry dock and that is all you will ever need.

This forum also sells a pretty cool road atlas but that's just if you feel the need to have one and are interested in the nooks and crannies of STJ. The little free maps work just fine for first timers.

Another thing to consider getting is Feet Fins and 4 Wheel Drive. The free map and this book will get you just about anywhere you need to go!

You're gonna have a blast!

Only if you think you will be out after dark, have more than one driver and/or if you are directionally challenged. You can waypoint your villa, routes and intersections if you bring one and it might help once or twice. My advice is to leave it at home and use something else to fill the luggage space.

We brought our Garmin GPS last month and St John was in there. Putting in addresses was pretty useless for obvious reasons but it had a lot of 'places' on St John in it and that helped. 'Course we had already practically memorized the island before we came so we didn't use it much. It was more of a novelty.

Gromit has it just right...One of the little maps they give you coming off the ferry will get you every where you need to go. I looked at anything else as just directionless exploration that might lead to some cool surprises over the next hill. We did that for a whole day... Where the heck are we? I dunno...But damn aint that a nice picture...

We like the map that is put out by the park service. It is very detailed.

And, you can get it along with the book, "St. John Off the Beaten Path" for the low, low price of $27 (see the top right of this page). How was that Anthony?

We went to St. Croix for the first time last week and brought along the Garmin GPS. It came in very handy and had all the addresses and maps in there.

You would not need the GPS in St. John. It's pretty easy to get around.

Why would you not want to be lost on STJ?

I would say no but what I would suggest is that you take notes on your way to the villa - it might not be necessary but some villas can be very hard to find the first time you leave for grocerys/Beah Bar (especially after time at the BB ) especially after a long day of travel and your first time on STJ and you experience all the hilly winding roads we have.

By notes I mean notes taken the island way - turn right at the tree with red flowers, left at the house with a beat up car infront, right at the goat trail and left at the dumpster etc - these are the directions you will receive if you ask someone how to get somewhere.

I still remember someone asking me if I could direct them to Route 10 - I had no idea (as most local don't on island) that 10 was Centerline so I just looked at them with this blank look on my face (OK, that look is usually there but that is beside the point ) we don't use numbers here only names of roads - Centerline, Northshore, Southshore etc.

Pia