USVI-On-Line

Hi Everyone.
Well, not to rub it in, but we are under the 2 week mark for our first trip to St Thomas.
We are planning on taking a couple day trips.

1)Car ferry to St John. Is it possible to take the car ferry over and leave the car safely and inexpensively on St John and take people ferry back? Return the next day and spend another day and take the car ferry back that day? Not sure I want to do this, but exploring the option.

2) We decided to take the ferry to Virgin Gorda as we believe we will love the baths and want to spend several hours there. I know taxis will be available from ferry to the baths, is the rate per person like in St Thomas? I saw expect 12-15 dollars--but was not specific per person or not.
I want to have enough cash, but not too much.

3) We might, not decided, on a day trip to Jost. I have 2 daughter 16 and 13 that are beach and water lovers. My thought is that the wife and I can get a drink (Soggy Dollar) and we can hang at White Bay Beach. I know this is more of a drinking area and adults, but I would still assume still ok for kids?
Are there some shops in town?


Thanks all!
Paul

Hey there neighbor!

Before I get into specifics can I ask how long is your trip overall?

Gromit,
I just finished reading you day at Jost! And sadly of the metro crash. Great report and it is reports like your that make me want to visit JVD!

We are staying for 9 nights at Sapphire beach on STT.

And please keep in mind, while I do explore possibilities we have been known to change plans at a moments notice on vacation--which is why I don't have much booked.
If something is working for all of us, we stay, not working will find something else.

thank you for not rubbing it in

If this is just a weeklong trip, that's a lot of day tripping to plan. Just saying. There are lots of nice beaches on STT to explore/snorkel.

That said, I can't answer some of your questions, but here are some ideas

1)Car ferry to St John. Is it possible to take the car ferry over and leave the car safely and inexpensively on St John and take people ferry back? Return the next day and spend another day and take the car ferry back that day? Not sure I want to do this, but exploring the option.

I don't think there is any secure overnight parking, but not sure.

If not, maybe you could people ferry over one day and do Cruz Bay and nearby beaches (Trunk, Hawksnest, Caneel - hike to Honeymoon) via taxi. It is also possible (not for me to hike from the dock to Solomon/Honeymoon. Then do the car ferry on a second day (or vise versa).

2) We decided to take the ferry to Virgin Gorda as we believe we will love the baths and want to spend several hours there. I know taxis will be available from ferry to the baths, is the rate per person like in St Thomas? I saw expect 12-15 dollars--but was not specific per person or not.
I want to have enough cash, but not too much.

$12-15pp sounds high for taxi from the dock to the Baths; I don't recall it being that expensive to taxi around VG.

Just a suggestion here. When going to VG, be sure to go on a day that there is a ferry direct to VG; otherwise, you could end up ferrying to West End tortola, cab to roadtown, then ferry to VG - it would be more time in travel than worth it.

3) We might, not decided, on a day trip to Jost. I have 2 daughter 16 and 13 that are beach and water lovers. My thought is that the wife and I can get a drink (Soggy Dollar) and we can hang at White Bay Beach. I know this is more of a drinking area and adults, but I would still assume still ok for kids?
Are there some shops in town?

White Bay is beautiful with or without several painkillers. There are some places to get souveneirs; not sure I'd call them all "shops" - but a good selection of t-shirts, koozies, hats, etc.

Have a great trip - don't worry about missing anything - you will be back

c3p1,

I agree that you might not want to pre-plan too much during your stay. Just settle into island time and find some time to chill right in your own backyard at Sapphire. While much of this forum is all about STJ (and rightly so, it is beautiful) I have stayed on STT both trips to the islands and will stay again (again at Sapphire) next March. I know that I would definately Get It on STJ but my hubby needs more to do than just go to the beach everyday. We choose STT so we have easy access to the additional shopping and people watching. Next March will be a Mom and daughters trip. They will need the shopping too. Take your girls to Havensite and Vendor's Plaza. I find the most reasonable prices there and Vendor's Plaza is just fun to bargain with the vendor's on prices.

You will find the Sapphire beach to be very nice and snorkeling is great. Go straight out from the dive shop and you will see turtles everytime in the grassy area. I also saw a huge eagle ray there. You could also visit Lindquist beach. It is only a couple minutes down the road from sapphire. It costs a couple of dollars per person to get in and is very quiet and lovely. We spent an entire morning there and were with only 3 or 4 other people on the whole stretch of beach.

We always take a trip or 2 over to STJ to visit the beach, snorkle and spend a few hours in Cruz Bay. We like to visit the Quiet Mon for a couple of really cold beers!

We did the ferry to JVD on our last trip. It was a fun day too. I wouldn't feel uncomfortable at all bringing the daughters. They will love the beauty of the place and I'm sure they'll find the hammocks and beach chairs fun entertainment. They'll most likely enjoy a walk down the beach just to people watch and stroll while you enjoy your painkillers at the Soggy Dollar.

I hope you have an awesome trip!

1)Car ferry to St John. Is it possible to take the car ferry over and leave the car safely and inexpensively on St John and take people ferry back? Return the next day and spend another day and take the car ferry back that day? Not sure I want to do this, but exploring the option.


Yes, you could do this. You could probably leave your car at Slimmans parking lot. Not sure what he would charge but it couldn't be more than $20.

Question is what would you do for transportation back on STT for that evening?

I'm not sure logistically if this would make much sense. If it were me, I'd probably take the car ferry over one day and do your driving around and exploring. Then if you see soemthing you like and want to go back another day, take the people ferry over and just take a taxi and arrange to have the taxi come back and pick you up at a predetermined time.

2) We decided to take the ferry to Virgin Gorda as we believe we will love the baths and want to spend several hours there. I know taxis will be available from ferry to the baths, is the rate per person like in St Thomas? I saw expect 12-15 dollars--but was not specific per person or not.
I want to have enough cash, but not too much.

I would imagine that is about right in terms of taxi fares. Keep in mind the ferry to VG only gives you a few hours before you have to come back. It's a long boat trip but a short time there. Given the fact that you have 4 people it might be worthwhile to look into doing a day charter instead. Just a thought. Just make sure you are aware of how much time you get for the $$$ and balance that out.


3) We might, not decided, on a day trip to Jost. I have 2 daughter 16 and 13 that are beach and water lovers. My thought is that the wife and I can get a drink (Soggy Dollar) and we can hang at White Bay Beach. I know this is more of a drinking area and adults, but I would still assume still ok for kids?
Are there some shops in town?

A day on Jost by taking th ferry is always a good thing but also keep in mind that you will only have about 5 hours from the time you get there until you have to leave.

Great Harbor (Foxy's) is where most of the shops are. White Bay is mostly for hanging out although there are a few shops.

Even if you opt to stay in White Bay and around the Soggy Dollar bar you will be totally fine with the kids. Plenty of young ones running around and places to sit in the shade or sun.

If you want less festive and more mellow head down to Ivan's further down White Bay. They have a Pour Mans Bar (make your own drinks), chairs and it's much quieter. You can watch the festivities at Soggy Dollar from a distance.

In either case you can use a taxi and just make arrangements at the get go about where and when to meet them to get from place to place and how much it will cost. They are great about this and will get you where you want to go, dropping you off and picking you back up and getting you back to the ferry on time.


The reason I asked about the length of your trip is because of logistics. Keep in ind that certain ferries to VG and Jost only run on certain days.

Also, a nine day trip is really only 7 days since the first and last day are really travel days.

Since this is your first trip down I would encourage you to embrace island time. Things run on schedule - sort of - and it helps to understand that before you go. Weigh your options and pick and choose accordingly.

If it were me, I'd plan to bring the car ferry over to STJ one day and a day trip to Jost or do a charter for VG but IMHO all three might be a stretch for the number of days you have scheduled unless you are a go go go kind of person.

Those are just my thoughts....

Slimmans will park your car over night pertty cheap too. I like this way as you can do some of the nightlife in Cruz bay and not have to worry about make the last car barge

Thank you all.
We do plan to go to St John and Virgin Gorda, but don't have 'set' plans and just looking at the options in case we do find ourselves missing the last car ferry or feeling like we want to go to JVD.

I like to know our options with no set plans. But having ideas ready to go with some reasonable expectation of what it takes to make it happen.

We are choosing the ferry to VG because from the trips I explored they said they allow about an hour at the baths. From the pictures I have seen, that is just not enough for me. I realize it is 90-100 minutes each way, but this should allow us 4 hours. at the baths.

We still may take a full day sail, but it seems we could spend more time at the baths with less money allowing us to also do another activity if we choose.

I have no doubt we will have plenty of chill time. I am good at doing nothing, just ask my wife!

We did a budget trip and stayed in a cheap condo on STT. We did the car ferry twice and people ferry once to be able to stay late for dinner & bars. I don't think you will save much by paying for parking on STJ & taxis to and from the ferry. JVD is just a wonderful beach to chill, not just a "bar beach". I strongly suggest going. Maybe you could swing a trip on New Horizons II. They take you to the baths, a remote snorkeling place, lunch at Pussers on Marina Cay & than a couple hours on JVD. Well woth the money. Add up all your ferry costs to those places and taxi fees..maybe just as expensive. I never felt rushed & they served great drinks on board!