Beaches, Baby and BVI: A Trip Report
Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 2:42 pm
Dates: Saturday, September 25th – Sunday, October 3rd
Rather than go day by day, I will organize this report into specific categories. This report will center widely around traveling with an infant and how that altered our trip from our carefree, child-free days. Please, no one take me wrong – I love my child and am blessed to have him and be able to spend a week in paradise with him. But, it does change your trip and your approach to St. John, sometimes in good ways, sometimes in bad ways.
Pre-Trip
Our trip had been planned for about nine months. The participants were my husband and I, our nine month old, my brother in law and his wife, two friends from Philly, and my parents-in-law, who were to join us from Tuesday- Sunday to help with childcare.
Our trip got off to a rough start before we ever left Atlanta. I was very sick with some sort of throat infection, and then our son came down with an ear infection two days before we were set to leave. Then, to complicate matters, the Thursday before we left we found out that my husband’s 98-year old grandmother was gravely ill and not expected to live through the next 48 hours. We discussed it with the family and it was decided that my husband and his brother would go on the trip. My in-laws would join us if and when they could. Grandma ended up passing away about 12 hours before we left – a peaceful end for a very formidable woman who raised eleven children and saw the birth of 26 grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren (to date). My in-laws had to delay their trip by a day, meaning they came in Wednesday instead of Tuesday.
Flying with Baby
We flew Delta direct from Atlanta. We didn’t purchase a separate seat for our son, and we had to hold him on the way to St. Thomas since we had a full flight. He actually did great on the plane and slept a good portion of the time. However, on the way back, we were able to bring his carseat on board and use the empty seat in our row for our son. He slept almost three hours on the way home. Having done both, we will now always purchase a seat for our infant. We both got to enjoy the flight, and I even took a long nap on the way home.
The Carseat/Stroller Dilemma
We opted to bring our own car seat. We have a great travel bag for our seat, and Delta lets you check infant items for FREE. That’s right folks, FREE. We opted not to bring a stroller, and instead used a backpack carrier and our Baby Bjorn. I wish we’d brought an umbrella stroller. I really think we would have used it, even to push him around the villa deck or down the road when we got fussy.
Blue Agave Villa
I plan to write a separate review for this villa, but I will say we were satisfied and would stay at this villa again. Blue Agave is a nice villa, but it is not an ultra-luxury villa with granite, stainless appliances and state-of-the-art everything. What it IS, however, is a very well maintained island home. The owners spend a lot of time at the house and it shows.
The villa has four bedrooms and four bathrooms and it located in Chocolate Hole up Rock Ridge Road. The upstairs contains one air-conditioned bedroom, a bathroom, and the kitchen/den area. The kitchen/den is not air-conditioned, but does have sufficient cross-breezes to cool things off. There is a substantial amount of covered outdoor space outside, and a small but adequate swimming pool.
The downstairs is reached through a set of exterior stairs, and there are three full en-suite bedrooms downstairs, two with king beds and one with a queen bed. All are air-conditioned and each room has a separate entrance. We opted to take the queen room because it had a little cubby area where we could put the pack and play (provided by the management company, btw), which allowed us some privacy and the ability to turn the lights on in the room at night to read before bed without waking our son.
Blue Agave really has everything you need, including hairdryers in each room, TV/DVD combos in every bedroom, ceiling fans in every room, an abundance of bath towels and beach towels, lots of plates/cups/cutlery, and household cleaning products like dishsoap and laundry soap. The owners were very thoughtful when stocking this villa, and that was very appreciated by our group. We all agreed we would stay there again.
On the minus side, the downstairs bedrooms didn’t have a view and I didn’t care for the driveway. It was just steep enough to make getting in and out of the car with an infant a pain in the rear. The villa also had the world’s slowest coffee maker. It took over 20 minutes to brew a full pot. I’m nitpicking here, but people always want to know the negatives!
Restaurants
We went during the lowest of low season. We knew that, and we knew the price we would pay for empty beaches and flat water was a dearth of restaurants to choose from. There were maybe five or six “tourist” restaurants open while we were there. The Beach Bar, High Tide, Morgan’s Mango, Asolare, La Plancha Del Mar, Da Livio… and that’s about it. We ate at The Beach Bar, Morgan’s Mango, Asolare, Happy Fish, Skinny’s (open the last two days of our trip), Deli Grotto and Baked in the Sun. All were good, but Asolare and Happy Fish were the best. We ate in at the villa three or four nights, which was definitely rare for us. I liked it though, which was a pleasant surprise since we were worried about feeling stuck at home because our infant was with us.
As a note, I saw a sign in front of La Plancha del Mar that said they are relocating to the old Paradiso spot in Mongoose Junction.
BVI Boat Charter – VIBE Charters
The highlight of our group trips is always a private boat charter. This year I had a difficult time finding someone from St. John to take us. Capt. Brandi had his boat out of the water and I knew Lion in Da Sun had been sold (and the prices were higher than I recalled), so I looked to St. Thomas. I need to mention two charter outfits here, because one had to cancel but did the stand-up thing by finding a replacement before he called to let me know about the conflict.
We originally booked with Nate’s Custom Charters before we left. We left our dates a bit open-ended, and said either Wednesday or Thursday. Because of the situation with my in-laws and because my phone had issues when we got to the island, I didn’t connect with Nate until Monday. By then, he had booked Thursday thinking we’d go Wednesday. We I told him we needed to go on Thursday, he said “I can’t take you, but here’s the number of someone who can. I already spoke with him, he’s available and his boat is just like mine.”
We went with Sam of VIBE Charters (http://www.caribbean-vibe.com/index.html). I cannot recommend Sam highly enough. His boat was a 26’ power catamaran in great condition. Sam is a great captain, a super nice guy and has lots of good ideas for places to visit.
Six of our group of nine set off on Thursday (obviously the babe was at the house). It was mommy and daddy fun day! We went to two snorkel stops, one running along the Leinster Trail that is inaccessible by land and Henley Cay. We went to Sandy Spit, Smuggler’s Cove on Tortola and White Bay on Jost. I had never spent any time on Tortola before, but we loved Smuggler’s Cove. It is a gorgeous strip of sand with a couple of small beach bars. We went to Stephen’s bar, where “rum is the answer” and had homemade smoothies with, what else, rum. He powers his blender off of his jeep battery. Island economy at its best.
Dinghy Days
We did two half-day dinghy rentals from Noah’s Little Arks. As always, from the water is the best way to see St. John. The best part about this time of year is the flat seas. Conditions are perfect for dinghy rides. We always start by driving to Waterlemon first, doing our long snorkel, and then we make our way back down the North Shore, stopping wherever we feel like that day. We had great snorkels at Waterlemon, full of turtles and rays.
The Heat and the Mossies
I am from the South. As I am known to say, I am on intimate terms with both heat and humidity. But the weather on this trip was stifling. The humidity was thick, and we were honestly relieved when it rained. We had mostly sunny conditions during our trip, with only one full day of rain. Several of the days were so bad our baby got a heat rash. Thank goodness for the water.
The mosquitoes and little gnatty things were terrible this trip. I am still covered in bites, despite regular application of 98.11% deet. This stuff kept me from getting a single bite in Costa Rica, but it was no match for the St. John mosquitoes. They are relentless and ruthless.
Traveling with Baby
A common question on this board is “should I travel with my baby/toddler/kid to St. John?” After doing it, my answer is… it depends. On what, you ask? On your child’s temperament, your temperament, the time of year and if you will have any help with you. I will never take our child back during August-October. The heat is just too bad, and so are the mosquitoes. I will go back during other times of the year. I personally advise bringing a sitter or family member along to help and give you a break if it is at all financially possible. At the end of the day, it’s your vacation and you will exhaust yourself trying to entertain a child who is in unfamiliar surroundings and is uncomfortable in the heat.
Our son is nine months, and he is just starting the really awesome separation anxiety phase. At home he is really one of the easiest babies I’ve ever been around, but while on St. John he became whiny. It was partially the heat, partially the heat rash but mostly being in unfamiliar surroundings. He didn’t nap as well as usual and he was up with the sun every morning at 6:00 am. We had to take him to Myrah Keating one day because we thought his ear infection had recurred (it didn’t) and my husband and I laughed and said he enjoyed going to the doctor more than the beach! There was crinkly paper, air-conditioning and a gaggle of people fawning over him.
All that being said, I couldn’t have imagined anything more amazing than seeing how much he loved the ferry ride. Even a nine months, he has his mother’s love of boating. I can’t wait until he’s bigger and I can take him out for longer rides. I think St. John will be incredible once he’s swimming and frolicking in the water more. We saw lots of 2-4 year olds who seemed to be having a great time, and spoke to a few parents who said the heat wasn’t an issue once the kids could spend all day in the water.
Food and other tips: bring formula from home if you need it, as it is very expensive on St. John; bring a stroller; don’t expect to find a wide variety of premade baby food on St. John; most restaurants do not have high chairs, so plan accordingly; and expect your baby to not like the outdoor restaurants if it’s too hot.
Wildlife
Yes, I saw donkeys and so did my baby. We also saw goats by the dozen, cows, pigs, cats, dogs, iguanas, bright green flying grasshoppers, millipedes (ew), mongoose and of course, chickens. Always with the chickens.
As an interesting side note, we went to Maho on our first Sunday. It was local day at Maho, and this woman was there with her pet goat, a four month old little one called “Norma.” It was ridiculously adorable and baby Wyatt got to pet her. Of course, he grabbed her neck fur and pulled, but all in all it was a successful meeting.
Conclusion
We had a great trip, though definitely not as relaxing as before baby. I didn’t read a book once while I was there, mostly because I was so busy keeping up with the baby, entertaining the baby, feeding the baby or finding food for the baby. Lest you think my husband was being a bum, he wasn’t. We both seriously looked at each other at one point and admitted exhaustion. Then we napped and it was better. I was so happy when my in-laws arrived and we had a few hours each day to spend as a couple. Our day trip to the BVI was incredible, as was our time on the dinghy. We were happy to learn that early indications point to our son loving the water and boating, and we will be excited to take him when he’s older.
Our next trip will likely be this winter, a couple’s getaway for 5 nights. I think we’ll go somewhere different, but we’ll definitely return to St. John and/or the BVI soon. We never stay away for long.
Rather than go day by day, I will organize this report into specific categories. This report will center widely around traveling with an infant and how that altered our trip from our carefree, child-free days. Please, no one take me wrong – I love my child and am blessed to have him and be able to spend a week in paradise with him. But, it does change your trip and your approach to St. John, sometimes in good ways, sometimes in bad ways.
Pre-Trip
Our trip had been planned for about nine months. The participants were my husband and I, our nine month old, my brother in law and his wife, two friends from Philly, and my parents-in-law, who were to join us from Tuesday- Sunday to help with childcare.
Our trip got off to a rough start before we ever left Atlanta. I was very sick with some sort of throat infection, and then our son came down with an ear infection two days before we were set to leave. Then, to complicate matters, the Thursday before we left we found out that my husband’s 98-year old grandmother was gravely ill and not expected to live through the next 48 hours. We discussed it with the family and it was decided that my husband and his brother would go on the trip. My in-laws would join us if and when they could. Grandma ended up passing away about 12 hours before we left – a peaceful end for a very formidable woman who raised eleven children and saw the birth of 26 grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren (to date). My in-laws had to delay their trip by a day, meaning they came in Wednesday instead of Tuesday.
Flying with Baby
We flew Delta direct from Atlanta. We didn’t purchase a separate seat for our son, and we had to hold him on the way to St. Thomas since we had a full flight. He actually did great on the plane and slept a good portion of the time. However, on the way back, we were able to bring his carseat on board and use the empty seat in our row for our son. He slept almost three hours on the way home. Having done both, we will now always purchase a seat for our infant. We both got to enjoy the flight, and I even took a long nap on the way home.
The Carseat/Stroller Dilemma
We opted to bring our own car seat. We have a great travel bag for our seat, and Delta lets you check infant items for FREE. That’s right folks, FREE. We opted not to bring a stroller, and instead used a backpack carrier and our Baby Bjorn. I wish we’d brought an umbrella stroller. I really think we would have used it, even to push him around the villa deck or down the road when we got fussy.
Blue Agave Villa
I plan to write a separate review for this villa, but I will say we were satisfied and would stay at this villa again. Blue Agave is a nice villa, but it is not an ultra-luxury villa with granite, stainless appliances and state-of-the-art everything. What it IS, however, is a very well maintained island home. The owners spend a lot of time at the house and it shows.
The villa has four bedrooms and four bathrooms and it located in Chocolate Hole up Rock Ridge Road. The upstairs contains one air-conditioned bedroom, a bathroom, and the kitchen/den area. The kitchen/den is not air-conditioned, but does have sufficient cross-breezes to cool things off. There is a substantial amount of covered outdoor space outside, and a small but adequate swimming pool.
The downstairs is reached through a set of exterior stairs, and there are three full en-suite bedrooms downstairs, two with king beds and one with a queen bed. All are air-conditioned and each room has a separate entrance. We opted to take the queen room because it had a little cubby area where we could put the pack and play (provided by the management company, btw), which allowed us some privacy and the ability to turn the lights on in the room at night to read before bed without waking our son.
Blue Agave really has everything you need, including hairdryers in each room, TV/DVD combos in every bedroom, ceiling fans in every room, an abundance of bath towels and beach towels, lots of plates/cups/cutlery, and household cleaning products like dishsoap and laundry soap. The owners were very thoughtful when stocking this villa, and that was very appreciated by our group. We all agreed we would stay there again.
On the minus side, the downstairs bedrooms didn’t have a view and I didn’t care for the driveway. It was just steep enough to make getting in and out of the car with an infant a pain in the rear. The villa also had the world’s slowest coffee maker. It took over 20 minutes to brew a full pot. I’m nitpicking here, but people always want to know the negatives!
Restaurants
We went during the lowest of low season. We knew that, and we knew the price we would pay for empty beaches and flat water was a dearth of restaurants to choose from. There were maybe five or six “tourist” restaurants open while we were there. The Beach Bar, High Tide, Morgan’s Mango, Asolare, La Plancha Del Mar, Da Livio… and that’s about it. We ate at The Beach Bar, Morgan’s Mango, Asolare, Happy Fish, Skinny’s (open the last two days of our trip), Deli Grotto and Baked in the Sun. All were good, but Asolare and Happy Fish were the best. We ate in at the villa three or four nights, which was definitely rare for us. I liked it though, which was a pleasant surprise since we were worried about feeling stuck at home because our infant was with us.
As a note, I saw a sign in front of La Plancha del Mar that said they are relocating to the old Paradiso spot in Mongoose Junction.
BVI Boat Charter – VIBE Charters
The highlight of our group trips is always a private boat charter. This year I had a difficult time finding someone from St. John to take us. Capt. Brandi had his boat out of the water and I knew Lion in Da Sun had been sold (and the prices were higher than I recalled), so I looked to St. Thomas. I need to mention two charter outfits here, because one had to cancel but did the stand-up thing by finding a replacement before he called to let me know about the conflict.
We originally booked with Nate’s Custom Charters before we left. We left our dates a bit open-ended, and said either Wednesday or Thursday. Because of the situation with my in-laws and because my phone had issues when we got to the island, I didn’t connect with Nate until Monday. By then, he had booked Thursday thinking we’d go Wednesday. We I told him we needed to go on Thursday, he said “I can’t take you, but here’s the number of someone who can. I already spoke with him, he’s available and his boat is just like mine.”
We went with Sam of VIBE Charters (http://www.caribbean-vibe.com/index.html). I cannot recommend Sam highly enough. His boat was a 26’ power catamaran in great condition. Sam is a great captain, a super nice guy and has lots of good ideas for places to visit.
Six of our group of nine set off on Thursday (obviously the babe was at the house). It was mommy and daddy fun day! We went to two snorkel stops, one running along the Leinster Trail that is inaccessible by land and Henley Cay. We went to Sandy Spit, Smuggler’s Cove on Tortola and White Bay on Jost. I had never spent any time on Tortola before, but we loved Smuggler’s Cove. It is a gorgeous strip of sand with a couple of small beach bars. We went to Stephen’s bar, where “rum is the answer” and had homemade smoothies with, what else, rum. He powers his blender off of his jeep battery. Island economy at its best.
Dinghy Days
We did two half-day dinghy rentals from Noah’s Little Arks. As always, from the water is the best way to see St. John. The best part about this time of year is the flat seas. Conditions are perfect for dinghy rides. We always start by driving to Waterlemon first, doing our long snorkel, and then we make our way back down the North Shore, stopping wherever we feel like that day. We had great snorkels at Waterlemon, full of turtles and rays.
The Heat and the Mossies
I am from the South. As I am known to say, I am on intimate terms with both heat and humidity. But the weather on this trip was stifling. The humidity was thick, and we were honestly relieved when it rained. We had mostly sunny conditions during our trip, with only one full day of rain. Several of the days were so bad our baby got a heat rash. Thank goodness for the water.
The mosquitoes and little gnatty things were terrible this trip. I am still covered in bites, despite regular application of 98.11% deet. This stuff kept me from getting a single bite in Costa Rica, but it was no match for the St. John mosquitoes. They are relentless and ruthless.
Traveling with Baby
A common question on this board is “should I travel with my baby/toddler/kid to St. John?” After doing it, my answer is… it depends. On what, you ask? On your child’s temperament, your temperament, the time of year and if you will have any help with you. I will never take our child back during August-October. The heat is just too bad, and so are the mosquitoes. I will go back during other times of the year. I personally advise bringing a sitter or family member along to help and give you a break if it is at all financially possible. At the end of the day, it’s your vacation and you will exhaust yourself trying to entertain a child who is in unfamiliar surroundings and is uncomfortable in the heat.
Our son is nine months, and he is just starting the really awesome separation anxiety phase. At home he is really one of the easiest babies I’ve ever been around, but while on St. John he became whiny. It was partially the heat, partially the heat rash but mostly being in unfamiliar surroundings. He didn’t nap as well as usual and he was up with the sun every morning at 6:00 am. We had to take him to Myrah Keating one day because we thought his ear infection had recurred (it didn’t) and my husband and I laughed and said he enjoyed going to the doctor more than the beach! There was crinkly paper, air-conditioning and a gaggle of people fawning over him.
All that being said, I couldn’t have imagined anything more amazing than seeing how much he loved the ferry ride. Even a nine months, he has his mother’s love of boating. I can’t wait until he’s bigger and I can take him out for longer rides. I think St. John will be incredible once he’s swimming and frolicking in the water more. We saw lots of 2-4 year olds who seemed to be having a great time, and spoke to a few parents who said the heat wasn’t an issue once the kids could spend all day in the water.
Food and other tips: bring formula from home if you need it, as it is very expensive on St. John; bring a stroller; don’t expect to find a wide variety of premade baby food on St. John; most restaurants do not have high chairs, so plan accordingly; and expect your baby to not like the outdoor restaurants if it’s too hot.
Wildlife
Yes, I saw donkeys and so did my baby. We also saw goats by the dozen, cows, pigs, cats, dogs, iguanas, bright green flying grasshoppers, millipedes (ew), mongoose and of course, chickens. Always with the chickens.
As an interesting side note, we went to Maho on our first Sunday. It was local day at Maho, and this woman was there with her pet goat, a four month old little one called “Norma.” It was ridiculously adorable and baby Wyatt got to pet her. Of course, he grabbed her neck fur and pulled, but all in all it was a successful meeting.
Conclusion
We had a great trip, though definitely not as relaxing as before baby. I didn’t read a book once while I was there, mostly because I was so busy keeping up with the baby, entertaining the baby, feeding the baby or finding food for the baby. Lest you think my husband was being a bum, he wasn’t. We both seriously looked at each other at one point and admitted exhaustion. Then we napped and it was better. I was so happy when my in-laws arrived and we had a few hours each day to spend as a couple. Our day trip to the BVI was incredible, as was our time on the dinghy. We were happy to learn that early indications point to our son loving the water and boating, and we will be excited to take him when he’s older.
Our next trip will likely be this winter, a couple’s getaway for 5 nights. I think we’ll go somewhere different, but we’ll definitely return to St. John and/or the BVI soon. We never stay away for long.
Our first trip to STJ we had a 4y.o, 3 1/2 y.o and an 18mo. It certainly wasn't a trip that we would have had sans kids but it was incredible.(we only at out once and that was at Skinny Legs!!!) To see STJ through their eyes was amazing. We will be making our 4th trip in March and every year it gets easier and more rewarding. You have many more years of fun on STJ with your little one to look forward to, I wouldn't change it for the world. 