Trip report with a few shout outs and pics
Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 3:24 pm
I’d like to first thank everyone for their free advice and tips….they were heeded and well used. Second of all of your trip reports are so funny and entertaining, I doubt I can do as well so I will keep my report short. Thirdly I can’t spell worth a darn so I apologize in advance.
Our trip was June 20-27, 2 late twenty something year olds as newbie’s. And let me go ahead and get this our of the way: We got it and to prove we got it….the last 2 days we were booked at the Marriot on STT…..we thought it’d be nice to shop some one day there. We immediately knew that plan was terrible and on our one full day we had on STT….we took 3 taxi’s (1 because the 9.00 CA ferry didn’t show, so we had to catch the 10 at Red Hook) and a ferry just to get back to a STJ beach! So for all of you newbie’s out there…don’t split your time between islands…..just stay on SSJ and if you have to visit SST do it as a day trip. Yes we were idiots, but the only way to have a good last day of vacation was to return to STJ.
We generally went to 2 beaches a day, and normally were one of the first to get to our first beach and one of the last to leave our afternoon beach. We snorkeled at all the beaches except Blue cobblestone. My DH is a much stronger swimmer than I, and he normally did more…like swimming out to Waterlemon and around the island at Trunk. I know my limitations and did wear a lift jacket the whole time I was snorkeling…..it’s really the only way I can feel comfortable enough to snorkel. We used Pickle’s picture guide to help us put names with the fish we saw….so Thanks Pickle!
Beaches: Honeymoon-one of my more favorites—except for the naked man down the beach <a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01777.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01777.jpg" border="0" alt="Honeymoon"></a>
Scott-One of our favorites, it had great shade most of the day and the water is ultra calm <a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C02063.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C02063.jpg" border="0" alt="Scott"></a>
Waterlemon-we were the first there, the snorkeling was great, but it’s a smaller beach and got busy after awhile <a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01904.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01904.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Blue Cobblestone—we only hiked here and looked around, but it’s a interesting beach…water was rough though that day<a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01983.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01983.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Trunk-thanks for the cruise ship tip, if more than one is in port..don’t go. It is a very nice beach and the snorkeling is good…just gets busy as the day goes on. <a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01836.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01836.jpg" border="0" alt="trunk"></a>
Cinnamon-a good wading beach, it has a gradual slop into the water, skeeters were bad though<a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01868.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01868.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Hawksnest (Caneel)-one of the more rougher, but still good snorkeling <a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C02007.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C02007.jpg" border="0" alt="Hawksnest"></a>
Caneel-even though this beach is public, it was still quiet and not busy at all. Good place for sunset.
<a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C02095.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C02095.jpg" border="0" alt="Caneel sunset"></a>
Since we stayed at Caneel, our first trip into Cruz Bay was at night for dinner…and since we didn’t know our way around we didn’t stray far from Morgan Mango’s. But once we got our bearings the next day we didn’t feel so out of place. We visited St. John Spice several times…but no Ruth!, sorry we missed you. We got tea and coffee for our parents and some other things….to bad the FTA agents confiscated one thing of steak sauce that was over the 3 oz limit….I had forgot it was even in that bag darn it.
Restaurants: Caneel’s Breakfast Buffet-Started our mornings off on the right foot!<a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01806.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01806.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Morgan Mangos-we had a late lunch so we weren’t that hungry, but the salad and burger we had were good.
Rhumb Lines-we got the pupu platter on a tip from VickiH’s trip report…it was plenty of food to split between the two of us, though a word of warning the Thai noodles are HOT!....good…but HOT.
Crazy Crackers-Good atmosphere, not busy…we had the same waitress as we did at Rhumb Lines the night before…good drink specials. BOGO and ½ price nights.
Deli Grato-we grabbed sandwiches to take with us for lunch on the beach. They were very good and plenty big! Smoothie was good too…MMM Mango
Caneel Dinner Buffet—well long story short we didn’t know where to eat and we’d walked by the dessert’s earlier. So after taking a side trip into Cruz Bay we slid into the buffet with 5 min. to spare threw down a plate or two of dinner, only to help polish off the remaining desserts. We had 7 all together….take that VickiH!!
<a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01896.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01896.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Happy Fish- One of our favorite meals…we had 3 rolls all were very good and fresh. <a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01803.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01803.jpg" border="0" alt="Happy Fish"></a>
Woody’s-was pretty good…we just stopped in for a quick lunch
Skinny Legs—both got burgers that were good….2 dollar beers didn’t hurt either.
Miss Lucy’s—Fish Ruben was very good!
Iggies (STT)—good food…Carabean BBQ sandwich, .but not worth the 31 dollar RT taxi to get there.
Duffies (STT)-love the drinks…and you get to keep the glasses. Food was one our best ones on STT.<a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C02192.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C02192.jpg" border="0" alt="duffies"></a>
Jeep Rental: St. John Jeep Rental—No problems, picked it up on a Sunday, returned it on Thursday. Everything went smooth with them. You can park in their parking lot whenever, but it’s not big and is normally packed so we never used it.
Caneel Bay: It was wonderful and would return in a heartbeat. If we had a larger group I would get a Villa or something but it being the two of us, we wanted something small. Our package had the breakfast buffet included as well as the transfer to and from STT. We felt pampered and enjoyed all their free amenities that the Marriot wanted to charge us for (internet, rafts, chairs, selling a first born if you don’t return a towel). <a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01758.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01758.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Hiking. We did a little hiking. Turtle Point (books name) or Mary’s trail (Caneel’s name) was my favorite. Cinnamon Loop was alright…the trail to Blue Cobblestone was HOT and we were going to go out to Rams Head but decided against it. The hike to Waterlemon wasn’t bad….esp since the payoff is a beach.
Q&A: If weather.com says it’s going to be rainy the week before you go…..don’t believe them. It was suppose to be rainy, but didn’t rain once during the day.
No you don’t need a GPS….our “off the beaten path” map and street signs were enough for anyone
Yes the crazy flower lady will follow you around Cruz Bay yelling at you if prompted so we avoided running into her! And I you know crazy flower lady…sorry but every time we saw her she was yelling at tourist or locals alike about something crazy.
Til we meet again......thanks again to all that advised and reported on their trip...it helped us out alot.
Our trip was June 20-27, 2 late twenty something year olds as newbie’s. And let me go ahead and get this our of the way: We got it and to prove we got it….the last 2 days we were booked at the Marriot on STT…..we thought it’d be nice to shop some one day there. We immediately knew that plan was terrible and on our one full day we had on STT….we took 3 taxi’s (1 because the 9.00 CA ferry didn’t show, so we had to catch the 10 at Red Hook) and a ferry just to get back to a STJ beach! So for all of you newbie’s out there…don’t split your time between islands…..just stay on SSJ and if you have to visit SST do it as a day trip. Yes we were idiots, but the only way to have a good last day of vacation was to return to STJ.
We generally went to 2 beaches a day, and normally were one of the first to get to our first beach and one of the last to leave our afternoon beach. We snorkeled at all the beaches except Blue cobblestone. My DH is a much stronger swimmer than I, and he normally did more…like swimming out to Waterlemon and around the island at Trunk. I know my limitations and did wear a lift jacket the whole time I was snorkeling…..it’s really the only way I can feel comfortable enough to snorkel. We used Pickle’s picture guide to help us put names with the fish we saw….so Thanks Pickle!
Beaches: Honeymoon-one of my more favorites—except for the naked man down the beach <a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01777.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01777.jpg" border="0" alt="Honeymoon"></a>
Scott-One of our favorites, it had great shade most of the day and the water is ultra calm <a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C02063.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C02063.jpg" border="0" alt="Scott"></a>
Waterlemon-we were the first there, the snorkeling was great, but it’s a smaller beach and got busy after awhile <a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01904.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01904.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Blue Cobblestone—we only hiked here and looked around, but it’s a interesting beach…water was rough though that day<a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01983.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01983.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Trunk-thanks for the cruise ship tip, if more than one is in port..don’t go. It is a very nice beach and the snorkeling is good…just gets busy as the day goes on. <a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01836.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01836.jpg" border="0" alt="trunk"></a>
Cinnamon-a good wading beach, it has a gradual slop into the water, skeeters were bad though<a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01868.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01868.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Hawksnest (Caneel)-one of the more rougher, but still good snorkeling <a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C02007.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C02007.jpg" border="0" alt="Hawksnest"></a>
Caneel-even though this beach is public, it was still quiet and not busy at all. Good place for sunset.
<a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C02095.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C02095.jpg" border="0" alt="Caneel sunset"></a>
Since we stayed at Caneel, our first trip into Cruz Bay was at night for dinner…and since we didn’t know our way around we didn’t stray far from Morgan Mango’s. But once we got our bearings the next day we didn’t feel so out of place. We visited St. John Spice several times…but no Ruth!, sorry we missed you. We got tea and coffee for our parents and some other things….to bad the FTA agents confiscated one thing of steak sauce that was over the 3 oz limit….I had forgot it was even in that bag darn it.
Restaurants: Caneel’s Breakfast Buffet-Started our mornings off on the right foot!<a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01806.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01806.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Morgan Mangos-we had a late lunch so we weren’t that hungry, but the salad and burger we had were good.
Rhumb Lines-we got the pupu platter on a tip from VickiH’s trip report…it was plenty of food to split between the two of us, though a word of warning the Thai noodles are HOT!....good…but HOT.
Crazy Crackers-Good atmosphere, not busy…we had the same waitress as we did at Rhumb Lines the night before…good drink specials. BOGO and ½ price nights.
Deli Grato-we grabbed sandwiches to take with us for lunch on the beach. They were very good and plenty big! Smoothie was good too…MMM Mango
Caneel Dinner Buffet—well long story short we didn’t know where to eat and we’d walked by the dessert’s earlier. So after taking a side trip into Cruz Bay we slid into the buffet with 5 min. to spare threw down a plate or two of dinner, only to help polish off the remaining desserts. We had 7 all together….take that VickiH!!
<a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01896.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01896.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Happy Fish- One of our favorite meals…we had 3 rolls all were very good and fresh. <a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01803.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01803.jpg" border="0" alt="Happy Fish"></a>
Woody’s-was pretty good…we just stopped in for a quick lunch
Skinny Legs—both got burgers that were good….2 dollar beers didn’t hurt either.
Miss Lucy’s—Fish Ruben was very good!
Iggies (STT)—good food…Carabean BBQ sandwich, .but not worth the 31 dollar RT taxi to get there.
Duffies (STT)-love the drinks…and you get to keep the glasses. Food was one our best ones on STT.<a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C02192.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C02192.jpg" border="0" alt="duffies"></a>
Jeep Rental: St. John Jeep Rental—No problems, picked it up on a Sunday, returned it on Thursday. Everything went smooth with them. You can park in their parking lot whenever, but it’s not big and is normally packed so we never used it.
Caneel Bay: It was wonderful and would return in a heartbeat. If we had a larger group I would get a Villa or something but it being the two of us, we wanted something small. Our package had the breakfast buffet included as well as the transfer to and from STT. We felt pampered and enjoyed all their free amenities that the Marriot wanted to charge us for (internet, rafts, chairs, selling a first born if you don’t return a towel). <a href="http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01758.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... C01758.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Hiking. We did a little hiking. Turtle Point (books name) or Mary’s trail (Caneel’s name) was my favorite. Cinnamon Loop was alright…the trail to Blue Cobblestone was HOT and we were going to go out to Rams Head but decided against it. The hike to Waterlemon wasn’t bad….esp since the payoff is a beach.
Q&A: If weather.com says it’s going to be rainy the week before you go…..don’t believe them. It was suppose to be rainy, but didn’t rain once during the day.
No you don’t need a GPS….our “off the beaten path” map and street signs were enough for anyone
Yes the crazy flower lady will follow you around Cruz Bay yelling at you if prompted so we avoided running into her! And I you know crazy flower lady…sorry but every time we saw her she was yelling at tourist or locals alike about something crazy.
Til we meet again......thanks again to all that advised and reported on their trip...it helped us out alot.
Love the sunset shot with the guys on the float.
