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Blue Papaya Trip Report Part 2
Blue Papaya Trip Report Part 2
Part 2 - Wed Nov 10th - We awoke to low hanging clouds and rain. Everyone enjoyed the bedrooms which all had comfortable King beds with soft, high threadcount sheets. The bathrooms were luxurious with the two upper ones located in round turrets on either end of the villa that offered breathtaking views of Great Cruz Bay from windows placed right inside the shower. There were even good sized beach bags provided in each walk-in closet.
There are two bedrooms up and two and a half on the lower level. The half is actually a sitting area (with two daybeds and a small refrig, TV, etc.) off of one of the lower bedrooms, but it does have a large mahogany pocket door that can be closed to make both areas private each with their own doors to the pool area. There was no bathroom inside the sitting area, but there was a half bath just outside the door which was intended for the pool area. The one single person in the group used the sitting area as their room and the half bath as their private bathroom. This worked well for the penny pinchers in the group because we gave them a lower cost toward the rental fees in exchange for the slight inconvenience of sharing a shower.
We checked out the villa a little more in the daylight and were delighted at our choice. Blue Papaya is located in Virgin Grand Estates next door to Cocotier. The villa itself was gorgeous and the whole area was impressively landscaped with a variety of tropical flowers. It is beautifully furnished and offers just about every amenity you can imagine.The kitchen was fitted with KitchenAid applicances, had the largest selection and nicest pots/pans and utensils of any prior villas we've used and there was a vast collection of spices along with basics like sugar, cornstarch, vinegar, oil, etc. There was every type of barware you could possibly want in both glass for inside and plastic for the pool area.
There was a large dining area off the kitchen and a comfortable living area with a huge flat screen TV, DVD player, etc. There was a covered deck off of the upper level with cushioned outdoor furniture and an outside dining area. This deck faced great Cruz Bay, the west end of St. Thomas and St. Croix off in the distance. We had excellent views of the Westin and their mud filled pool - we could watch the process as they drained and cleaned it. There was a good sized pool on the lowel level with another covered area with dining table and plenty of pool chairs and chaises.
We sat on the upper deck for a while with coffee and it was obvious that the weather wasn't going to change any time soon so we had a big breakfast of crispy bacon along with ham aand cheese omelets topped with salsa. The bacon, ham and cheese was all brought in our trusty cooler and the salsa was one of the items in a large basket of goodies left by Destination St. John.
After breakfast about half of the group decided to pop in a yoga DVD for a work-out and the rest of us headed back to Starfish in order to run upstairs to pick up three flat rate boxes that I had mailed to the Mail Center before we left home. We only had to pay $15 for handling on the three large boxes even though I had been quoted $10 when I called them......Sweet! Somehow Mr. Lindy has been charged for four bottles of rum instead of two the night before so he stopped at the liquor store to straighten that out and opted to simply pick two more flavors rather than a refund so we had quite the selection. It was going to be a rough week for Mr. Bill! Not that Mr. Bill is a drinker, but the more the rest of us imbibed the crazier the adventures we cooked up for poor Mr. Bill.
We headed back to the villa just as the yoga "class" concluded and unpacked the boxes. No one could believe how much I was able to cram into them.....spices, marinade, sugar, peanut butter, jelly, honey artificial sweetner, tea, Crystal Light, coffee creamer, instant oatmeal, vreakfast cereal, cookies, creackers, pancake mix, syrup, microwave popcorn (which turned out to be a favorite snack at the beach), honey roasted peanuts, boxed au graten potatoes, rice pilaf, cavatappi, jello, brownie mix, muffin mix, cake mix, coffee cake mixm, twizzlers, potato chips, dip, laundry supplies, mosquito coils and more. I had taken everything out of the cardboard boxes and packed the insides into ziplock bags along with the cooking instructions cut off the back of the box. That way I could pack things tighter and conform the contents into a shape to fill every space. I had spent about $100 on dry goods by shopping carefully at discount stores, along with $45 for shipping and $15 for handling. I hadn't done an item-for-item comparison at Starfish the night before but a spot check of prices on a few items confirmed that I had paid considerably less so I'm pretty sure that we came out ahead even with the shipping and handling fees added.
We had also packed our cooler with beef tenderloins, two deboned turkey breasts, a ziplock bag of homemade meatballs, sliced ham, bacon, sausage, individually wrapped chicken breasts, sliced cheeses, cheese spread and other gourmet cheeses. The meat had been frozen and wrapped in layers of newpaper to insulate so it had arrived in good shape the night before. That meant that we only had to shop for "fresh" items like milk eggs, bread, produce, etc. That turned out to be a huge time saver - I only had to go to Starfish Market once this trip as opposed to once or twice a day on prior trips. Some of the others in the group made a stop here and there for something extra they desired, but only one major expedition was needed this time.
We mixed up a batch of jello shots for later, baked the brownies and let "villa gravity" take over since the skies weren't clearing. We napped, played games, read and the guys got Mr. Bill into a game of craps. For dinner we simmered the meatballs in a couple jars of store-bought sauce, made pasta, salad and garlic bread and had the brownies for dessert. Brad took out his guitar and entertained us with his collection of original songs while we sat on the deck enjoying the lights on St. Thomas. (Take THAT Kenny Chesney!) We were treated with an intensely colored sunset that night and went off to bed hoping that the weather would clear for our scheduled catamaran expedition the next day.
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There are two bedrooms up and two and a half on the lower level. The half is actually a sitting area (with two daybeds and a small refrig, TV, etc.) off of one of the lower bedrooms, but it does have a large mahogany pocket door that can be closed to make both areas private each with their own doors to the pool area. There was no bathroom inside the sitting area, but there was a half bath just outside the door which was intended for the pool area. The one single person in the group used the sitting area as their room and the half bath as their private bathroom. This worked well for the penny pinchers in the group because we gave them a lower cost toward the rental fees in exchange for the slight inconvenience of sharing a shower.
We checked out the villa a little more in the daylight and were delighted at our choice. Blue Papaya is located in Virgin Grand Estates next door to Cocotier. The villa itself was gorgeous and the whole area was impressively landscaped with a variety of tropical flowers. It is beautifully furnished and offers just about every amenity you can imagine.The kitchen was fitted with KitchenAid applicances, had the largest selection and nicest pots/pans and utensils of any prior villas we've used and there was a vast collection of spices along with basics like sugar, cornstarch, vinegar, oil, etc. There was every type of barware you could possibly want in both glass for inside and plastic for the pool area.
There was a large dining area off the kitchen and a comfortable living area with a huge flat screen TV, DVD player, etc. There was a covered deck off of the upper level with cushioned outdoor furniture and an outside dining area. This deck faced great Cruz Bay, the west end of St. Thomas and St. Croix off in the distance. We had excellent views of the Westin and their mud filled pool - we could watch the process as they drained and cleaned it. There was a good sized pool on the lowel level with another covered area with dining table and plenty of pool chairs and chaises.
We sat on the upper deck for a while with coffee and it was obvious that the weather wasn't going to change any time soon so we had a big breakfast of crispy bacon along with ham aand cheese omelets topped with salsa. The bacon, ham and cheese was all brought in our trusty cooler and the salsa was one of the items in a large basket of goodies left by Destination St. John.
After breakfast about half of the group decided to pop in a yoga DVD for a work-out and the rest of us headed back to Starfish in order to run upstairs to pick up three flat rate boxes that I had mailed to the Mail Center before we left home. We only had to pay $15 for handling on the three large boxes even though I had been quoted $10 when I called them......Sweet! Somehow Mr. Lindy has been charged for four bottles of rum instead of two the night before so he stopped at the liquor store to straighten that out and opted to simply pick two more flavors rather than a refund so we had quite the selection. It was going to be a rough week for Mr. Bill! Not that Mr. Bill is a drinker, but the more the rest of us imbibed the crazier the adventures we cooked up for poor Mr. Bill.
We headed back to the villa just as the yoga "class" concluded and unpacked the boxes. No one could believe how much I was able to cram into them.....spices, marinade, sugar, peanut butter, jelly, honey artificial sweetner, tea, Crystal Light, coffee creamer, instant oatmeal, vreakfast cereal, cookies, creackers, pancake mix, syrup, microwave popcorn (which turned out to be a favorite snack at the beach), honey roasted peanuts, boxed au graten potatoes, rice pilaf, cavatappi, jello, brownie mix, muffin mix, cake mix, coffee cake mixm, twizzlers, potato chips, dip, laundry supplies, mosquito coils and more. I had taken everything out of the cardboard boxes and packed the insides into ziplock bags along with the cooking instructions cut off the back of the box. That way I could pack things tighter and conform the contents into a shape to fill every space. I had spent about $100 on dry goods by shopping carefully at discount stores, along with $45 for shipping and $15 for handling. I hadn't done an item-for-item comparison at Starfish the night before but a spot check of prices on a few items confirmed that I had paid considerably less so I'm pretty sure that we came out ahead even with the shipping and handling fees added.
We had also packed our cooler with beef tenderloins, two deboned turkey breasts, a ziplock bag of homemade meatballs, sliced ham, bacon, sausage, individually wrapped chicken breasts, sliced cheeses, cheese spread and other gourmet cheeses. The meat had been frozen and wrapped in layers of newpaper to insulate so it had arrived in good shape the night before. That meant that we only had to shop for "fresh" items like milk eggs, bread, produce, etc. That turned out to be a huge time saver - I only had to go to Starfish Market once this trip as opposed to once or twice a day on prior trips. Some of the others in the group made a stop here and there for something extra they desired, but only one major expedition was needed this time.
We mixed up a batch of jello shots for later, baked the brownies and let "villa gravity" take over since the skies weren't clearing. We napped, played games, read and the guys got Mr. Bill into a game of craps. For dinner we simmered the meatballs in a couple jars of store-bought sauce, made pasta, salad and garlic bread and had the brownies for dessert. Brad took out his guitar and entertained us with his collection of original songs while we sat on the deck enjoying the lights on St. Thomas. (Take THAT Kenny Chesney!) We were treated with an intensely colored sunset that night and went off to bed hoping that the weather would clear for our scheduled catamaran expedition the next day.
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