USVI-On-Line

I put this together in an e-mail for my wife and the two girls earlier this evening. I wanted to get them thinking about some of the stuff we want to do on STJ...

Sunday - Arrive at St. Thomas Airport around 2:00pm. Grab our bags and get a cab to the Charlotte Amalie ferry. Catch the 3:00 ferry to Cruz Bay. Arrive in Cruz Bay at around 3:45pm. Get rental car and drive to villa. Unpack. Figure out grocery list. Wife and I can go shopping, the girls can explore. After putting away the groceries try to catch the end of Sunday night jazz at The Beach Bar then maybe grab Uncle Joe's BBQ carry out for dinner back at the villa.

Monday - Sleep in (a little). Breakfast at villa. Pack lunch and drinks. Head to Cinnamon Bay. Hike the Cinnamon Bay Loop Trail then go to Cinnamon Bay to snorkel. Eat lunch and head to Trunk bay (Monday is the only day of the week without any cruise ships in St. Thomas, so Trunk should be uncrowded.) Back to the villa to clean up and then out to dinner at La Tapa.

Tuesday - Day sail with Captain Phil. Probably dinner at the villa when we return.

Wednesday - Breakfast at villa then head out to the East end to Hansen Bay and Vie's beach. Lunch at Vie's Snack Shack. Stop at Haulover Bay for snorkeling then to Coral Bay to shop and explore. Stop by Coconut Coast Studios for wine and cheese and gift shop (and to visit Godiva and Truffle, the chocolate labs). Dinner at Shipwreck Landing in Coral Bay.

Thursday - Breakfast in Cruz Bay (at JJ's Texas Coast?), then shopping and exploring in Cruz Bay. Lunch somewhere in Cruz Bay and then parasailing. Back to the villa to clean up and then dinner (maybe Morgan's Mango or Margarita Phil's)

Friday (Option 1) - Stay on St. John - Breakfast at Donkey Diner (Coral Bay) then to Francis Bay and Maho Bay for snorkeling and shopping. Lunch at Maho Restaurant or bring from villa. Then to Hawksnest Bay and then back to villa to clean up. Dinner at Lime Inn

Friday (Option 2) - Day trip. We can either take the ferry to Jost Van Dyke and spend the day there (we could go to White Bay and the Soggy Dollar Bar and Ivan's, and maybe the Bubbly Pool if the surf is up, and then to Foxy's), or we can go on a day trip via power boat to Virgin Gorda (the Baths), Guana Island for snorkeling, Marina Cay for lunch and then White Bay and the Soggy Dollar Bar on Jost Van Dyck. Either way, after all of that we'll probably have dinner at the villa

Saturday - Breakfast at the villa, then to Leinster Bay and Waterlemon Cay. Then to Coral Bay for lunch at Skinny Legs and any other shopping. Then we can go to Cruz Bay for any last chance souvenir shopping and hang at the Beach Bar or Woody's. Dinner at Stone Terrace? Pack and clean the villa after dinner. If we do the day trip on Friday, then we may hit Maho and Francis on Saturday instead of Leinster and Waterlemon.

Sunday - Finish cleaning and catch the 9:15 ferry to Charlotte Amalie. Fly home

None of this is cast in concrete. We can change any of it except Tuesday. That's already booked. If we want to take the ferry to Jost, that has to be on Friday or Saturday since those are the only days that the ferry runs.

I know its busy, but most of the time we're at the beaches and in the water, which is what we want to be doing.

Let me know what you think...

All I cansay is don't try and fit something in every min. take time to let the island slow you down and enjoy your time there. Some of my best times there are when I didn't have anything planned and let it happen.
Tom

I agree with Waterguy. Although I am the type of person that confirms arrangements, then calls back and reconfirms things I take a different approach to a STJ vacation.

I would set your "landmarks" like the days that you might want to go to another island, the night you want to eat out at that special place - and let the rest just happen. I think that the pace of the island is so relaxing and if you try to overplan it works against that pace. So when you come back from Jost and instead of the villa you want to grab Uncle Joe's again or pizza - just let it happen...

There are thing that you have to try and schedule around like Vie's and Donkey Diner operating days, the # of cruise ships in town and how it might change the number of people at Truk but try and go with the flow a little.

I did note your breakfast on Thursday, personally I would go to Chilly Billy's. We have eaten there maybe 6 times and have always been happy with the food and the service.

Have fun!

I am going to echo the previous posters.

The magic of STJ is just going with the flow. I planned one dinner and one day sail for our week and that is it. I have a list of things that we would like to do, but if we don't get to them. I am ok with it. Vies and Donkey Diner are only open on certain days and are great but if you miss them, there are other wonderful places.
Also, villa gravity may set in and you may not want to leave.

Make a list of the things that you would like to do and hang it on the fridge on the villa. Every day get up and make a group decision about what to cross off the list. Whatever is left over at the end of the week, put on your list for your next trip.

I am a planner and love plannng almost as much as the trip, but for STJ, I receommned packing your bag and getting there. The plans will fall into place once you get there.

I have to agree with everyone else! If you set an itinerary, you might be disappointed. For example, what if it rains? What if you find you like one beach so much you want to keep going back? What if people want to sleep in one day? Will you find yourself getting annoyed if you go "off list?" I think you should just keep in mind a list of things you hope to see, and do what you can at a relaxed pace.

Although...are your girls teenagers? If so, I can see sending them a list like this. Gets them in the frame of mind that they are not going to sleep until 12 PM every day!!

You do have a lot of awesome ideas in your list! Have a great time.

Ron,

Nice to see someone out there who is as "detail-oriented" as me!

I feel more relaxed doing my "homework" before I arrive on the island. I think that there is nothing worse than waking up each day & going through the ole "What are we going to do today?" routine.

As others have said, good to have a plan - but, don't feel badly if you stray from it.

Couple of comments/suggestions:

Definitely go to Stone Terrace! It is a gorgeous setting & food was great.

On your day to Cinnamon - if you don't happen to get stuff for a picnic - they have a "restaurant" there that is pretty basic but, does have sandwiches & burgers & hot dogs, sodas, etc. Service was slow - but, it is under a nice pavilion like roof - so, kind of nice to get out of the sun for awhile. Just thought I would throw that out for you.

Also, another thought. We loved the food at Cafe Roma & the serving sizes were so generous that we had enough to bring back to our villa for another meal. Also, others have raved about their pizza - so, you could always get pizza for take out to eat at your villa one night.

At the end of our last vacation - our biggest regret was that we didn't really spend enough time at the villa that we paid so much for. So, in hindsight - I think we would have had more suppers "at home", at least.

Sounds like you are pretty well set to "hit" all the top spots! Be sure to get to Bordeaux Overlook to enjoy the view out from there & of course, check out the Annaburg Ruins when you head over to Leinster Bay & Waterlemon "Shark" Cay.

Have a great time! Can't wait for your trip report!

I take the same approach as Ron L. I have an activity planned for every day we will be there except for the last day which is open for whatever. I don't plan meals but have a list of places to eat and the hours/days if the place is not open all the time. Most of my activities do not take a full day so we still have a lot of free time.

DELETED

Don’t forget that valuable “Blender Time” at the villa, or maybe that was just implied in your daily itineraries.

I had this conversation with the gange that is going with us in October. They are all STJ veterans. The strong response from two of the folks was that they did not want to plan more than one day for a day-sail or boat rental. Our gang also likes to spend a day at the villa relaxing by the pool.

You have a lot planned your first day. I would consider getting a few things at the grocery and doing a bigger trip Monday morning or skipping the Beach Bar. Uncle Joe's takes about 45 minutes to get an order ready, so consider splitting up for grocery shopping and getting Uncle Joes.

By Maho Restaruant, do you mean the one at the campground? They don't serve lunch. Cold pre-made sandwiches down at the beach shack - 100+ stair steps.

Our routine for the first day is to buy some cold beers, send a crew out for groceries and spend the first night at the villa. We tried eating dinner out the first night once and folks were tired, crabby and hungry.

Cheers, RickG

Thanks, gang! Great input. That's why I threw the plan out there. I tend to go a bit overboard in the planning stages

I hear your messages about keeping things loose. I think we'll probably take the plans that i posted and make them into a wish list as Xislandgirl suggested. After reading all of your comments and looking through the books there are so many great sounding beaches that i would hate to miss one!

Mark and Susan, thanks for the reminder on Chilly Billy's. I knew I had read about another place for breakfast in Cruz bay but i couldn't think of it.

RickG, good suggestion for the first day. I didn't realize the Uncle Joe's would take that long for an order so splitting that up would be good, and since I'm an early riser, if we have a shopping list set up on Sunday i can go get the rest of the groceries on Monday morning while the girls sleep in.

As far as meals, one of the things that i really enjoy when traveling is trying different restaurants (which probably explains my size ). I took some of the places that I have seen recommended and tried to work them into our plans. If we don't make it to some, or if we change to others it won't kill me (but I will whine about it for a while )

Thanks again for the comments, and keep them coming!

What I do for uncle Joes is call ahead and order then pick it up or you could order then go shopping and go back and pick it up and take to your villa

Hi Ron

Sounds like your plans are coming together! I just wanted to add that you can call ahead to Joes for the Barbque and they will have it ready for you to pick up, no waiting necessary. Lunch at Woody's outside is one of my favorite things to do. Check out the coupon for the 2 for one frozen drinks at Morgans Mango
http://www.couponstjohn.com/list.cfm?type=1, there are some other good coupons to print out too.
Don't stress if you can't get it all done, something to look forward to on the next trip!

I remember you were inquiring about shopping in St Thomas in a previous post and I think I discouraged you. The shopping in St Thomas is better then I had remembered in the past, I found a lot of cute things for my 18 year old daughter to bring back. I dont know what time your flight leaves on Sunday, but some people that we took the ferry with were leaving their luggage with the van/taxi services at the Charlotte Amalie ferry dock and coming back after shopping/
lunch and their vans were waiting to take them to the airport luggage loaded. I think you need to arrange that with the man that is in charge of the taxi's at the dock.
Hope you have a wonderful trip and I can't wait for your trip report!

Betty

I go along the same line as Sue. Half my fun is planning what to do. I always plan but don't have a problem straying from the plan and letting loose. You have to know which day is best to go to Trunk if you want to avoid the crowd. Planning makes good for that! Your plan does sound a little whirlwind but like you said a lot of it is beaching then eating which is what you do on STJ! Use your plans if it makes you feel good to do so but don't be afraid to stray from them at any time. Whatever you do will be a good time. Oh and do try JJ's. It was one of our best meals we had all week! Cheap, yummy and fun people watching!