USVI-On-Line

As I read the new trip reports that come in, I wish that I had been a member of this board for years to share some of my past trip reports with you. I wonder how many others have stories of just crazy stuff that happened while on St. John. I have two.

1998 - My very first trip to St. John. It was our 3rd day in St. John and we rented a car for the day to explore the island. Since we were newbies we didn't know about Villa's (stayed at the Westin) or that renting a car was prefectly safe - well, that's not how this story turns out but....We spend most of the day driving from beach to beach so that we could get them all in. We finally made our way to the East side of the Island. What a beautiful day. We we coming down this huge hill when the jeep started to thump. What the heck? At the bottom of the hill there was a tree smack dab in the middle of the road. So, we coasted down the hill and pulled into the "tree" area. Flat tire. OK, we can deal with this. My huband began to work on changing the tire, thank God there was a spare. But, the bolts were so tight the spare wouldn't come off. He tried for probably 45 minutes until he finally got it. Now, I was starting to feel my skin burn from the last 5 hours of snorkeling every beach on St. John. I was hot and uncomfortable and he was just pissed. Our day was starting to take a turn for the worst. He just finished up changing the tire and was putting the flat tire where the spare went when I noticed a couple of bee's flying around his sweaty head. The nice wife I am, I decided to save him and started shoeing them off. Now my husband wasn't the only one pissed off. Before I knew it, hundreds of bee's started emeging from the tree to attack ME. I started running. Now I guess I should give you a picture - I'm 5'2", had just had my hair done like Bo Derek in 10, and burned the heck out of my self. So anyway, I'm running around the street screaming my head off, flaying my arms around, trying to get away from these bee's. I see the water only a 100 feet to my right and as I try to run to the water I realize that whoever lives there put barbed wire across their property. I realized it, of course, only as I grabbed the fencing and the barbed wire went into my hand. The bee's have caught up with me and are starting to sting/bite me. I guess I wanted to fight some more so I started running and screaming again. This time, my flip-flops let me down and I fell in the stones. The bee's had their way and finally returned to their whole in the tree. They left me lying in the road, in the stones, sun-burned, scraped up from head to toe, with about 30 stings/bites. My husbands now decided it was safe to rescue me and put me in the car and drove away as fast as he could. I cried the whole way back to the hotel. When he got me to the room, we couldn't believe what we saw. I was burned to the point where I was blistering - but only on my back - snorkeling. This is where I learned my first lesson on snorkeling;) I had 3 puncture holes through my right hand from the barbed wire. I was brush burned from my left shoulder to my left ankel and every place in between. I should also mention that the brush burn was litered with stones that I had to pick out. And finally had approx. 30 stings which were already swollen beyond belief. I was a mess. I refused to go to the hospital so he took the jeep and went back out to the store to get whatever he could. I patched myself up and made it to a nice dinner later that night. We were laughing about the whole thing a couple weeks later. Hey, it's St. John ~ nothing can be bad in St. John;) Can you believe I came back again???

2006 ~ 7th Trip

My husband and I had just finished a lite dinner and decided to walk over to the Beach Bar for a few drinks. We were just about there (walking past Versace) when I hear this "pop". I stopped dead in my tracks cuz the sounds scared me but it was too late. Here comes this local guy, hobbeling towards us yelling "help me, I've been shot". My husband totally doesn't believe him and tries to keep walking but I knew what I heard. Before we know it, blood starts pouring down his pants leg and he falls over right in front of us. The people working a Palm Jewelers grab us, pull us inside, and lock down the place. We're all standing at the window watching him bleed all over the place in just total shock. The blood finally got the best of my hubby and the girl working in the shop. They both had to stop looking and go sit down on the floor before they passed out. The other worker and myself stood there and watched as the paramedics finally got there and start working on this guy. Now, I'm thinking to myself how this can be possible. How this beautiful island that I deemed so safe in not really safe? Someone just go shot for God sake! By the time the paramedics took this guy away and we were released from the jewelery shop we found out that the dumb SH*% shot himself. He was showing off his gun to a friend and when he put it away (down his pants) it went off. He actually shot himself right though his femeral (sp?) artery. They told us he most likely wouldn't make it. But, four days later he hobbeled right by us at Woody's on crutches. Can you believe that???

Those are my two crazy stories. I wonder if I'm the only one that this freaky stuff happens to??? Tell me I'm not alone:)

Michele

Just curious as why if you see a person possibly bleeding to death in front of you, you wouldn't think of helping the guy. Even if he is a dumb $hit.

/just curious that's all

Last year's trip could was fraught with transportation woes. I had splurged and ordered a limo to pick us up and bring us to the airport. What a great way to start the vacation, right? Well, at 7:10 we have our bags in the foyer and see this big, long, white stretch limo coming down the street. He's here! Wait, he's not stopping. He's gone!! Okay, he missed the house, no big deal. My friend Tom went out on the lawn to flag him down when he turned around. Once again he drove right by!! Did he think Tom was watering the lawn???? Okay, obviously I am going to have to talk this guy to the house. I called the number that the limo company left when they called to confirm my reservation. A woman answered and said her husband (the limo driver) forgot his cell phone at home!! There was no way to reach him. Well, now it's 7:40 and we have to go. Luckily for us, my boyfriend couldn't make the trip last year so he drove us to the airport. En route, I called and gave that limo company what for!!

We arrive in paradise and head to the Budget counter. I had reserved a Jeep Liberty for the four of us. Get to the Budget counter and stand in line - no problem, it's island time. My turn at last!! Oh, no Liberty's left. How many people? Okay, we'll give you a Wrangler - not ideal, but it'll be fine. What's that? It's not ready? Okay, we'll grab a drink at the bar ... almost 2 hours later we get the wrong jeep. We shove my poor 15 year old child in the back seat with all the luggage. Everytime we take a turn (which, as you know, is pretty much all the time!!) the luggage attacks!! This became known as "that f*in jeep".

Once on St. John we decide to just bite the bullet and get another, bigger vehicle, especially because our 4th person is coming in and no way can the f*in jeep get the 4 of us and our beach gear to the beach. We rent a Suzuki 4 door and all is well. We decide to drive over to Skinny Legs for lunch. We stop at the Bordeaux overlook for a photo op. As we are heading down the hill, Tom the driver says "something's wrong, the car is dead" ... as we are careening down the hill!!! I start opening my door as if I am going to be able to stop the jeep Fred Flinstone style with my feet (though Tom to this day claims I was just going to jump and desert them all!) Tom manages to pull off the road using the emergency brake and we all survive. Jeep number 2 becomes known as "the killer jeep".

We get yet another SUV from the lovely folks at Delbert Hill which serves us well for the rest of the trip. Total cost of many jeep rentals, about $800. The laughs we still have discussing f*in jeep and killer jeep ... priceless.

DELETED

Promoguy ~ We'll my answer is we didn't have the chance nor did we want to get shot. By the time we saw the blood we were in the jewelery shop with the doors slammed closed and locked. The people working in the shop did call for the paramedics. I don't think anyone was willing to got out to him since all he said before falling over was "I've been shot". We truly thought someone else shot him and could possibly be out there. It wasn't until they took him away and by the placement of the wound and being the police saw the bloody footprints lead to a bush where they found the gun, did anyone realize that he did this to himself by accident and no one else was running around trying to kill people. I guess everyone around there thought the same thing because there were 3 stores within plain view of the guy and everyone of them just shut and locked their doors.

Michele, WOW - and you still want to go back?

One time five of us went to Waterlemon. On the way back, three of us decided to try snorkeling right by the parking lot while two of us sat on the rocky beach. My sister-in-law and I were the ones sitting on the beach. After a few minutes, a couple walked by with a reallly mangy-looking pit bull. Turns out it wasn't their dog - probably wasn't anyone's dog by the look of it. It was very friendly. By this time, the rest of our group was about 100 yards or more out in the sea. All of a sudden, this pit bull starts taking off out after them. It just kept on swimming. We were on the beach yelling and trying to get their attention, but all we could do was helplessly watch and laugh! You should have seen the face of my brother when this thing caught up to him and started clawing his back! He turned around to see this pit bull face just inches from his mask! You might expect almost anything in the ocean - a turtle, barracuda, even a shark - but a $!%!! pit bull? Way out there? The thing finally swam to shore and ran off into the bushes.

Another time my husband and I were traveling from Seagrape Hill (above Skinny Legs) over to the Island Blues side where we were staying. While driving we came across a donkey chasing another donkey. Apparently it was mating season and these buggers get pretty territorial. It was dark. We continued driving behind them and they got up to 25 mph with the one behind biting the first one as they ran down the middle of the road. We passed the 90 degree turn heading toward Island Blues. Donkeys still running at full speed. There was this group of people standing under a streetlight, waiting for the bus. Maybe it was hard for them to see because of the streetlight, but those donkeys tore through that crowd! You should have seen them jumping out of the way, trying to duck behind trees, etc! It looked like something out of the old Little Rascals movies. Those donkeys just kept on going. We parked our car at our villa and walked down the hill to get a drink. We looked towards Sweet Plantains, and there he was. That donkey was just trotting back towards his lady donkeys - Still in the middle of the road. We always joked that we were going to name our villa - Your A@s or mine.

Jorge, that has happened to a few people on STJ. When I was a realtor, I had to help some guests that were "locked out" of their villa by marshalls.

sea grape: Those are stories that I bet just get funnier each time you tell them. We have a couple of stories kind of like that, but they're like "you'd have to be there" type stories.

One story that is not too funny, (I hope I haven't already told this one??) On our last family trip, with hubby, Michelle, her friend Taylor, Haley, and myself: Our first morning out to hit the north shore bright and early, we stop at Mongoose to get lunch, ice, drinks, etc. Well, while loading up the cooler and getting everything organized, my husband leaves his wallet on the roof of the car. It had our entire vacation in it. ALL or cash and credit cards, his lisence, etc....Everything but our passports that are back at the villa.

We leave Mongoose clueless of the mistake. We just pass the Caneel Bay entrance when he realizes he doesn't have his wallet. OOMMMMMGGGGGGG!!!! We know immediately what he did. Of course it's my fault for letting him do that. (another reason for girl trips)
We flip the car around and head back to Mongoose not expecting to find a thing. Quickly, we see a woman chasing money all over the middle of the road. There was his wallet, just sitting there wide open with cash pouring out of it like a slot machine. She is stopped in one lane, we are stopped in the other,running around like the proverbial chickens. I think we recovered all but 20. Cars were honking and we felt like total fools.

She told us she worked at Caneel and was going to take it there and try to find the rightful owner. We tried to give her a reward or at least buy her lunch, but she would not hear of it. A few days later we saw her at a beach with her husband and again we tried to buy them dinner. Still a "no thankyou".

I can't imagine how different our trip would have been without that lady. I might be DIVORCED by now. (kidding!)

Our first trip down there was for my SO's daughter's wedding. The morning of the wedding he and I decide to snorkel Salt Pond because some of the others had said they had seen turtles around the rocks, and we hadn't seen any yet.

We snorkel a little while on the right side of the bay if you're facing away from the beach. About 3/4 of the way out, I was feeling bad from too much drinking the night before so we separated (now I know to stay together), and I headed back to the beach. He went on saying he would snorkel a little more and then head back.

I got back to the beach, played around in the water some close to the beach, sat at the picnic table, played in the water some more, sat at the picnic table some more, then started to worry. I thought the yellow snorkel I had been keeping an eye on was his but when it came back to shore, the guy attached to it wasn't my SO.

I started to get really nervous as I didn't see any other yellow snorkels out there. There was a huge yacht moored in the middle of the bay with a dighny that I contemplated swimming out to and asking them to help me find my SO but then worried that if I left and he came back, he would be wondering what happened to me. I sat there freaking out thinking all kinds of horrible things.

I also realized I was going to have to get a ride back to the villa (he had the keys) after the authorities would have deemed him washed out to sea, to tell his family that he had drowned. I started thinking all kinds of horrible things. I didn't know what to do.

I saw this family from Philadelphia that I had talked to earlier and asked them if they saw him out there when they were snorkeling, and they said no. We all started looking.

Next thing you know, I see him walking on the shore along the right side. I have NEVER felt so relieved in my entire life. I grabbed his shoes and ran over there. He had gotten back in the water and I had to yell to get his attention. He gets out and he's all scraped up and bleeding.

It turns out that when he got close to the point the currents were strong and instead of fighting them, he let them take him. He is a strong swimmer and used to dealing with the riptides down in Florida. When they took him to where they calmed down he swam to shore.

He thought there would be another trail like there are all over the rest of the island so he decided to hike out because he was tired. Wrong.

He didn't have shoes and was switching between hiking with his flippers on to barefoot. That part of the island is full of cactus and such so he was all cut up from the cactus and sticky bushes. He said he got to the top of the hill and waved at me but I didn't see him. I asked him why on Earth I would be looking up?

Anyway, we got back to the villa and spent a good amount of time picking out splinters and putting band aids all over him so that he wouldn't bleed through his white linen suit.

The wedding went off without a hitch and he drank enough to kill the pain, but the next day he was sore as hell! His body looked like someone had put him in bed with a few cats and they scratched him all up. I felt so bad for him.

When we got back to town, we were still pulling out splinters from his hands and feet.

On our last two trips, when hiking towards Ram Head and across the bay from where he was, he likes to show us, "His mountain". He will never admit that he was worried but I can tell you we both were.

We will now NEVER split up when snorkeling either.

nothinolose

I wouldn't call this a crazy story, but definitely different..at least for us.

It was our last full day on St. John and we decided to go back to Cinnamon. The whole week, my husband was the "scout" for the best beach spot, while the rest of us followed way behind. Well, we got to Cinnamon and he yelled to us that he'll go left and check things out. Now the beach wasn't crowded at all, and we're kinda just standing there near the bushes waiting for him to give us the go ahead signal. He comes walking back very fast and says, "we're going to the right" with a very determined look on his face. I felt that something was up and whispered "what's going on?" He tells me there is a dead donkey on the beach and the girls shouldn't see it. (we are traveling with 5 girls, ages 3 thru 12). They'd be extremely upset to see this so we immediately head to the right. Apparently it's a big older-looking donkey and stiff as a board. Probably just died of old age.

Later on, my husband and other friend walk over to the "surf shack", for lack of a better term, and tell the guys working there about the donkey. The two surfer dudes working there look at each other, then at our guys, and ask them "dude, do you think it was Francis?" "Oh no, dude, I hope it wasn't Francis." and proceed to take off from their shack and run over to check it out. Well, our guys are just left standing there chuckling, wondering whether it's "Francis" or not.

I felt bad for the poor donkey, but the sufer dudes sounded rather funny.

Ok - just how common of an occurance is it to get locked out by Fed. marshalls? Until this thread, I only heard of this once.

My neighbor's son was married on St. John. A number of family members travelled to the island and rented seperate villas. (the bride and groom had their own rental villa.)

The day of the wedding, their rental villa was seized and sealed by marshalls while they were at the beach. They managed to get their belongings out of the house. (I think they may have broken a window.)

They had rented the house from the "owner", who wasn't really the owner at all. Turns out, it was a friend of the owner. The real owner had the feds chasing him for one reason or another.

The couple got married as planned, spending the first few days of their honeymoon with the in-laws.

Amazingly, they took this all in stride and chalked it up to an interesting event.

Our First trip was two years ago. I have been dreaming about going for over 15 years but because of starting my own business I just didn't have a chance to go before then. I met my fiance 3 years prior and he always insisted on going to Florida for vacations. I really hated it because I lived in Ft. Lauderdale while attending photo school. I had a a real "been there done that attitude" He is from Michigan, so any where that is warm and sunny is fine with him. So that year I said, I am treating you to vacation, I had just sold the condo and moved in with him and had extra money for vacation. The catch was I pick the destination.
I did not realize he had anxiety about the whole thing. He never has left the country other than Canada which does not count. I kept telling him it is still the US, but did not matter to him. Still worried.
We traveled all day and he was getting pissed off by the moment. The real drama started when we had to follow our Villa guide through St. John to get to our Villa, Cinamon Bay Estate. It was after dark and was raining. The roads were slick and driving on left really freaked him out. We were on the nice little dirt road through the National Forest of Centreline road to get to the Villa. We were slipping down the road having it Four wheel drive and he was screaming at me the whole way there. Your trying to kill me! What were you thinking. Your never planing a vacation again! I was in tears saying I'm sorry. I did not know. Well, we ended up at the Villa, it was better than any of photos I previewed and I was happy but he was still in a bad mood. It was dark out so he could not see the view yet. The next morning we awoke to the most incredible view I have ever seen. Our Villa was sitting on a side of the mountain over looking Cinnamon Bay. He could not believe his eyes. The whole next day he was so nice to me and begged for my forgiveness. After the week on paradise, I asked him where he would like to go next year, he said St. John. He said, when you get it right why go anywhere else. This Dec. we are going back for our third trip and he bought a timeshare at the Westin for us, so we could alway own a piece of St. John. We are getting married on Oct. 20th of this year and every Decemember we will be on St. John.

I am totally loving all of these stories!!! Let's hear some more!!!

nothintolose

Ok. SO our most random experience was on our last full day of our last trip. We decided to try Gibney for the first time. A lovely beach by the way.

We pretty much headed straight into the water. The mini Flip had taken to entertaining herself by beaching herself repeatedly - float on, walk out waist deep, lay down & wait for the wave, ride it in, squeal with delight, end up sprawled flat out face down on the beach. REPEAT! About 20 times!

Anyway ... my husband and I are out just floating around chatting when I notice a local guy on the beach. He's well built and starts stretching and generally looking like he’s getting ready to do something. Though I have no clue what. Maybe a beach workout? I watch. Then I notice him bend over and grab a machette. Now, Gibney at this point in the morning consisted of us and this guy. If I were anywhere else I think I would have FREAKED out, but for some reason I just kept watching.

Next thing we know he literally runs up a coconut tree. Literally RUNS up the tree! I have never seen anything like it! Seconds later he’s back down, coconut in hand, slicing it open to enjoy. I think now that’s cool.

Not quite crazy,,,but the first time hubby and I rented a jeep on St John we rented a jeep convertible for the day from Conrad Sutton downtown..after waiting almost an hour, someone finally brings a car around.. not a convertible and clearly the car had seen better days,,dented all over the place and holes in the floor..with no other options we took it and headed up over to the north shore beaches,,the car barely made it up the hill but just before the Trunk Bay overlook it just died at the top..it was going no where..someone called the car rental agency and the kid who they sent more or less accused my husband of not taking care of the car and adding a dent to one of the MANY dents in the car and aksed if we had been in an accident.. I thought hubby was going to just blow..lol He did calm down and demanded the boy they sent to fix our car switch cars with us..Since then , the only place he will pick up a car is at the Westin..lol..