Trip Report!...now with some pictures...snorkel raft too!
Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 10:38 pm
Ok....here it goes. A little background info. I am Holly, and my husband (Adam) and I have been to STJ 7 times now. We have 2 great kids....and lucky for us...they love it too! We have stayed in a condo, camped at Cinnamon, stayed on Water island, and stayed on STT.....this was our first time to stay on the Coral Bay side of the island and our first "villa."
We had an UNGODLY early flight from Boston (5:50am)....so we had wake up the little ones at like 3:45 to get ready for the cab to come and pick us up. Just a side note...my husband was away on a business trip for the 5 days leading up to this trip...he was exhausted and I was exhausted from doing the solo parent thing AND packing. We were up late...very late...and by some grace of God....Adam overslept but woke up on his own around 3:15am! So we scramble....and wait for the cab. ANd wait...and wait. My husband starts pacing and calling the company.....and we are cutting it CLOSE! So we get to the airport and by some grace of god....we didn't have to stand in the oddly long line for 5am! Off we go.....on the second leg of the flight, there was a "medical emergency" and asked for a doctor. Good god.....luckily there was a doc on board. Then they called for paramedics, a nurse, an emt.....All we knew was a woman passed out on the way back from the bathroom and was having trouble coming out of it. So out come the IV bags, and all the peeps working on her. This is where I thought for sure they were going to divert us to San Juan or something. But no.....another break....we landed....the ambulance came and took her away. Hopefully she was just dehydrated or diabetic or something.....but we were also glad to be in STT.....after all that.
So we rented a car from Thrifty....as we've had good experiences with them in the past....and we made it to Red Hook for the 4pm ferry....called the villa rental company and they would be waiting for us. The kids were exhausted....but we made it!
So far, so good! We followed the villa rep to Bay House, in Coral Bay. We were pleasantly surprised, and only had a few questions. We called up the villa rep as we couldn't get the tv to work (sounds silly, but with a 4 and 6 year old....who desparately needed some chill time...this would become important in the near future).We also couldn't find the washer/dryer in the house. Again, not a big deal...but I didn't bring a lot of clothes thinking I could throw in a load of wash if needed. So the villa rep sent someone over to help us fix the tv (wasn't broken..it was us! LOL) and showed us the washer dryer that was outside of the house. So the kids jumped in the pool and the hubby walked down the hill to Lily's to grab some essentials for the night and all was good. Until my daughter started complaining that her "pee was hot" and she was itchy. Great.....I thought it was just from sitting on the plane all day, so I pumped her with water/juice and hoped it would pass. I wonder if the pool had been shocked prior to us coming and maybe it bothered her? Who knows. All I know is that the problem followed us to the next day. SIGH....Now the daughter has a rash on the legs and arms VERY splotchy..is it related to a possible uti? WE shall see.
Day 1: Francis Bay and side trip to Myrah Keating health center (no uti can you believe that?) I made a big breakfast before we headed out (my first food porn! LOL)!
That night, we ate at Aqua Bistro and I had the Mahi Mahiâ..and my husband had the pasta special ! Plenty of drink right/drive left drinks too!
Day 2: Sunday we went to Trunk Bay today because no cruise ships were planned. Daughter is feeling better, but still has weird rash?????? Wonder if it's from the sunscreen. Met forum members at beach bar at 5pm. It was so nice to meet everyone..Ruth and Pia are so so nice !
Day 3: Monday it was our family photo shoot day! We met Bob, the photographer at Hawksnest at 9:30 a.m. in our matching outfits and all great beach, great weather, hopefully some great shots. Afternoon was spent at the villa in the pool. Dinner I think was pizza from Big Belly Deli.
Day 4: Tuesday. Back to Francis to redeem ourselves. We had to leave the beach after only being there about an hour last time, so we had high hopes for a nice time and it paid off!
Day 5: Wednesday. Hike to honeymoon! Yup, we parked the car at Caneel and hiked to the beach. My 6 year old complained the whole time that she was tired and hot...but my 4 year old did it like a champ! Beautiful beach, kids loved playing in the seagrape trees and finding coconuts too. Then we made it over to Woody's for lunch and to get the kids a souvenir at Ruth's store! We bumped into Ruth again! Hi Ruth! Dinner that night was pizza at the donkey diner (they only make it on Wed. and Fridays)
Day 6: Thursday. Maho day...kids were tired this morning and lounged all morning in the pool and in the villa, so we weren't moving too quickly. Made it Maho in the afternoon. Found a stingray and a starfish very close to shore. The water here wasn't as clear as other beaches, and it was a bit buggier too. Back to Aqua Bistro for happy hour and to feed the munchkins.
Day 7: Friday. travel day back to Boston.
A few thoughts:
1. Coral bay is a great side to the island. Very close to north shore beaches!
2. The restaurants really don't have much of a a kids menu, and my kids were hamburgered and chicken fingered out by the end of the week .
3.Lily's market was handy but expensive.
4. Skeeters weren't bad. Francis and Maho seemed to have more of them than the others.
5. I was glad to have AC in the bedrooms at night, but coral bay has great breezes.
6. Donkey Diner had GREAT pizza.
7. We bought snorkel rafts for the kids and I highly recommend them! My kids could snorkel right along with us!
8. We would definitely stay on the coral bay side again and would stay at Bay house. It wasn't fancy, but just right for a family with kids. I was very impressed with the built in gates at every stairway!
snorkel rafts were purchased through isnorkel.com and a huge hit!
Holly
We had an UNGODLY early flight from Boston (5:50am)....so we had wake up the little ones at like 3:45 to get ready for the cab to come and pick us up. Just a side note...my husband was away on a business trip for the 5 days leading up to this trip...he was exhausted and I was exhausted from doing the solo parent thing AND packing. We were up late...very late...and by some grace of God....Adam overslept but woke up on his own around 3:15am! So we scramble....and wait for the cab. ANd wait...and wait. My husband starts pacing and calling the company.....and we are cutting it CLOSE! So we get to the airport and by some grace of god....we didn't have to stand in the oddly long line for 5am! Off we go.....on the second leg of the flight, there was a "medical emergency" and asked for a doctor. Good god.....luckily there was a doc on board. Then they called for paramedics, a nurse, an emt.....All we knew was a woman passed out on the way back from the bathroom and was having trouble coming out of it. So out come the IV bags, and all the peeps working on her. This is where I thought for sure they were going to divert us to San Juan or something. But no.....another break....we landed....the ambulance came and took her away. Hopefully she was just dehydrated or diabetic or something.....but we were also glad to be in STT.....after all that.
So we rented a car from Thrifty....as we've had good experiences with them in the past....and we made it to Red Hook for the 4pm ferry....called the villa rental company and they would be waiting for us. The kids were exhausted....but we made it!
So far, so good! We followed the villa rep to Bay House, in Coral Bay. We were pleasantly surprised, and only had a few questions. We called up the villa rep as we couldn't get the tv to work (sounds silly, but with a 4 and 6 year old....who desparately needed some chill time...this would become important in the near future).We also couldn't find the washer/dryer in the house. Again, not a big deal...but I didn't bring a lot of clothes thinking I could throw in a load of wash if needed. So the villa rep sent someone over to help us fix the tv (wasn't broken..it was us! LOL) and showed us the washer dryer that was outside of the house. So the kids jumped in the pool and the hubby walked down the hill to Lily's to grab some essentials for the night and all was good. Until my daughter started complaining that her "pee was hot" and she was itchy. Great.....I thought it was just from sitting on the plane all day, so I pumped her with water/juice and hoped it would pass. I wonder if the pool had been shocked prior to us coming and maybe it bothered her? Who knows. All I know is that the problem followed us to the next day. SIGH....Now the daughter has a rash on the legs and arms VERY splotchy..is it related to a possible uti? WE shall see.
Day 1: Francis Bay and side trip to Myrah Keating health center (no uti can you believe that?) I made a big breakfast before we headed out (my first food porn! LOL)!
That night, we ate at Aqua Bistro and I had the Mahi Mahiâ..and my husband had the pasta special ! Plenty of drink right/drive left drinks too!
Day 2: Sunday we went to Trunk Bay today because no cruise ships were planned. Daughter is feeling better, but still has weird rash?????? Wonder if it's from the sunscreen. Met forum members at beach bar at 5pm. It was so nice to meet everyone..Ruth and Pia are so so nice !
Day 3: Monday it was our family photo shoot day! We met Bob, the photographer at Hawksnest at 9:30 a.m. in our matching outfits and all great beach, great weather, hopefully some great shots. Afternoon was spent at the villa in the pool. Dinner I think was pizza from Big Belly Deli.
Day 4: Tuesday. Back to Francis to redeem ourselves. We had to leave the beach after only being there about an hour last time, so we had high hopes for a nice time and it paid off!
Day 5: Wednesday. Hike to honeymoon! Yup, we parked the car at Caneel and hiked to the beach. My 6 year old complained the whole time that she was tired and hot...but my 4 year old did it like a champ! Beautiful beach, kids loved playing in the seagrape trees and finding coconuts too. Then we made it over to Woody's for lunch and to get the kids a souvenir at Ruth's store! We bumped into Ruth again! Hi Ruth! Dinner that night was pizza at the donkey diner (they only make it on Wed. and Fridays)
Day 6: Thursday. Maho day...kids were tired this morning and lounged all morning in the pool and in the villa, so we weren't moving too quickly. Made it Maho in the afternoon. Found a stingray and a starfish very close to shore. The water here wasn't as clear as other beaches, and it was a bit buggier too. Back to Aqua Bistro for happy hour and to feed the munchkins.
Day 7: Friday. travel day back to Boston.
A few thoughts:
1. Coral bay is a great side to the island. Very close to north shore beaches!
2. The restaurants really don't have much of a a kids menu, and my kids were hamburgered and chicken fingered out by the end of the week .
3.Lily's market was handy but expensive.
4. Skeeters weren't bad. Francis and Maho seemed to have more of them than the others.
5. I was glad to have AC in the bedrooms at night, but coral bay has great breezes.
6. Donkey Diner had GREAT pizza.
7. We bought snorkel rafts for the kids and I highly recommend them! My kids could snorkel right along with us!
8. We would definitely stay on the coral bay side again and would stay at Bay house. It wasn't fancy, but just right for a family with kids. I was very impressed with the built in gates at every stairway!
snorkel rafts were purchased through isnorkel.com and a huge hit!
Holly
