USVI-On-Line

Well, we're back from 2 great weeks on STJ. What can I say, other than we had a great time... Tom and I are in a big ol' blue funk though, as the weather in here is not good. It's snowed twice since we've been back. Makes me want to chuck it all in and move down there!! We spent our first night on STT, we arrived late afternoon. The next morning we hopped on the Ferry and made our way to Gallows Pt. where we spent our first night due to a glich in the booking of our Villa. Gallows pt is nice and the grouds are beautiful... They let us change and leave our luggage at the office since we were there so early, which was cool. They have a swim raft off their little beach area which we swam out to with a couple cold ones and just layed there on the raft...ah-heaven!! The only issue was the pool or "Peacful Pool" We felt like we had to be quiet as everyone was kind of whispering-a little odd. Especially since we're not quiet people.
The next day we were off to Villa Capiz, our home for the next 12 days. Villa Capiz-nice villa with an awesome view and pool, it's at the top of Gift Hill. Really pretty at night all lit up. (if you want more detail about the villa, let me know) One of the biggest highlights of our trip without a doubt was our time spent with Han @ Sail Safaris. About a month ago we decided to learn to sail, so we bought a Hobie Cat Getaway. Yep, thats right, bought the boat without a clue how to sail. We spent 2 full days with Han on his Getaway and we had a BLAST!! We also learned alot! He's great at explaining things so you're not totally confused. We sailed all around Lovango Cay, over by the Westin and back over to Caneel where we beached and had a drink. The next day we sailed to Jost and beached it right in front of Foxy's. Went in, had some lunch and a couple libations, then made our way to Sandy Spit-very cool! I highly recommend Sail Safaris for a great time. Even if you don't want to learn to sail and just want to go out, he will take you or you can rent the boat yourself if you know how. Sail Safaris is right next to the Ferry Dock, you can't miss em'. Loggod in a lot of hours at the Beach Bar, it's sort of our home away from our villa home.. Met Allan and Cat, the owners-awesome people! Checked out "The Big Happy" band, where Cat joined them on stage and they were great! Our favorite bartender Allie was in attendance again this year. She'll take good care of you. We also rented a Dinghy from Calypso (one of the center console kinds) that was fun too. The water was very rough that day, so if you go out in one of those things DON'T sit in the front seat unless you want to shatter every disc in your back-yes, I'm speaking from experience. Other than that it was great. The center console is the way to go, much more room (there were 4 of us). We cruised up and down the north shore and stopped at Waterlemon to Snorkel where we spotted a couple big turtles. Food and more food...we ate good, thats for sure. I think I gained 5 pounds-yikes!! We did do some grilling at the villa and that was cool too. Bought some huge jumbo shrimp, marinated them and grilled-they were excellent. Went to Lime Inn, Ocean Grill, Cafe Roma, Rhumblines, and Stone Terrace. Also ate @ the beach bar, and ordered pizza from that little place by Joes Rum Hut to take back to the villa. Food was great at all places! We were ticked off with the service we had at Stone Terrace, however. We love the food here and it was one of the people in our groups birthday. We chose this restaurant for the big celebration, as we love their food. Our waitress was HORRIBLE with an attitude to match-bottom line. She basically ruined our night out, I'm sorry to say. Our friends had never been there before and were really disapointed. We did bring it to the managers attention, but he didn't really seem to care to much. The food was good, but couldn't compensate for the service. We had a reservation too and had informed them it was a birthday deal. Anyway, **** happens I guess. Well, my fingers are going to fall off shortly... soooooo

Stay tuned for scenes from Part 2-Beaches, Vibe charters and more food and drink

Thanks for the report. Would love to see any current pictures of V. Capiz as I will be staying there in November.
I actually had a dream last night that we were there and we hated it
So would love to hear more about it. PM me if you'd like. Thanks!

Mary Beth

great report

Thank you for sharing!!!!! It makes the anticipation of waiting that much easier!

Thanks for the report. I am looking forward to the next installment.

Thanks for your report!

Anything you can relate as far as traffic/driving would be interesting to me as we'll be staying at a villa on Gift Hill Rd. also (Villa Capiz was booked, so we got Cielo Vista instead).

Looking forward to the next installment!

Augie - Traffic was pretty congested and as we all know parking is a problem. We used Slimmans lot a few times also we rented from St. John car rental so we used their lot when spaces were available. Gift hill can be a trip when coming from town past the Westen, very steep with two switch backs. I thought it was fun but when the wife was driving we took Center Line road out of town and went back that way. The Villa your staying at is next door and up the hill from Villa Capiz, I think your going to like the view!

Thanks for the fix. Sorry about the snow. Just remember its one more day closer to going back!..God bless..Bill

Thanks. I liked your story about buying the sailboat without knowing how to sail. Good attitude.

iowaguy - We do crazy spur of the moment stuff like that all the time, keeps things interesting. I have to say after spending 2 days with Han at Sail Safaris I got a pretty good handle on sailing, can't say enough about how good he is at explaining how to sail, plus he supplied beer!!! The best day was sailing over to Jost and landing on the beach in front of Foxy's.
All I have to do now is wait for June to get here and see if I can remember everything he taught me, could be a problem.

I laughed when I read you bought a boat without knowing how to sail it! I wish I could be so daring! I'm sure you'll have lots of fun with your new toy.

That's too bad about your experience at Stone Terrace, I would have been mad too.

Looking forward to the rest of your report!

Tom,

Really enjoyed reading your report. I'm so glad you enjoyed Villa Capiz. It is a great villa. I loved it when you mentioned the islands all lit up at night. Simply magical!

mb, I just knew you were stressing over VC. Stop it! Unless you are a total snob (and I know your not chickie), your going to love your time there! It's got charm and character and ambience. Just go into it with an open mind and it will all be fine. For me, there was no better place than standing out on that deck with that view before me with some feel goods sparkling in my glass. Oh the memories, my heart is happy! Hurry up and go on your trip already...I'm dying to read about it!

Chrisn - That is a great view, for that alone we would book Capiz again, can't beat the pool either. My wife and I both agree, we would stay there again. And we are a little/sorta picky too.

HA Chris! I'm not really stressing over it at all. have no idea what brought that dream on!
If you saw where I stay in Maine you would KNOW I'm not a snob! It's as close to roughing it as I will ever get, though

I'm MORE than ready for my trip... bring it on already! Sheesh.