Trip Report (with pix)
Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 1:44 pm
We recently returned from our 10th trip to St. John in the last 15 years. Although I have been a lurker on these boards since the old Prodigy days, I have never before filed a trip report. So I'm going to give it a try, provided I can add pictures. If I can, I need to thank sea-nile for her excellent directions on how to use photobucket.
Getting there:
We traveled again this time with some very good friends of ours who have been to St. John as many times, if not more, than we have. After a rather uneventful flight from Chicago, we arrived in St. Thomas about 5:00. We had made arrangements for Christopher to pick us up so as to avoid the crowd trying to get to Red Hook in time for the next ferry. Good plan, but no crowd! Others who had been on our flight arrived at the dock shortly after we did, in plenty of time for the 6:00 ferry. We did come in on a Tuesday, and flew over from San Juan on a small plane, so I guess that explains the lack of people. Anyway, we arrived in Cruz Bay about 6:30 and of course had to wave madly at the web cam to one of our friends back home. Oh, by the way, we heard about that wrecked ferry while on our way to Red Hook. This is a picture I took on the ferry back to Charlotte Amalie.
Accommodations:
This year we stayed at Villa Soleil, one of the Villa Caribe properties right up the hill from Gallows Point. Very roomy, nice pool, brand new grill, interesting decorating. We had stayed there several years ago and were happy to see the Ursula Trudeau paintings on the walls, but missed the neat little drawing by son Garry Trudeau that was no longer there. We usually try to stay in this part of Cruz Bay. We like the quiet and the proximity to downtown shopping and restaurants.
Beaches:
We spent our beachtime on Cinnamon, Jumbie, Maho and Francis. Like many of you, we seem to like Francis the best. We would start out for other beaches, but find them too crowded, not enough shade, too far to carry stuff......and end up at Francis. One day on Francis we had this little visitor. He was not the least bit camera-shy.
Another day on Francis, husband Bob found a rather large, occupied conch shell.
Here is a closer look. The previous day we were on a boat trip with a marine biologist. She picked up a conch shell and showed Bob how to return it to the water without harming the little creature inside.
Food:
We noticed something different this year: no waits for restaurant seating. We were rather pleasantly surprised that we were able to immediately sit down and order when we went out to eat. The long lines are at the grocery stores. We were talking to one of the shop-keepers and she said more people are cooking their own meals because of the high prices at restaurants. We did cook in a few times, but do enjoy the great restaurants of St. John. This year we went to The Banana Deck, The Lime Inn, Cafe Roma, JJ's Texas Coast for breakfast and Pastory Gardens for the annual sundown photo.
And we finally got out to Miss Lucy's for the Sunday Jazz Brunch. Well worth the trip, but get there early. The outside tables were filled well before the 10:00 opening time. The food was great (I had the Crabcake Benedict), the ambience was kind of funky (chickens at your feet and a visiting goat), and the setting was so pretty and serene.
We also stopped at the Tap Room in Mongoose Junction for some Virgin Islands Pale Ale. Great summer taste, too bad it is not available in the midwest. We also liked the deli there, I can't remember the exact name, something like the Deli Grotto. Anyway, I loved their smoked turkey artichoke paninis. But the best meals? Dinner at the bar at Morgan's Mango. We made a meal out of appetizers. The deep-fried flying fish (try saying that real fast) were wonderful. And the other best meal was back at our villa where we grilled big thick pork chops marinated in Ruth's Cruz Bay Grill Rub. Mmmmm, good!
Other stuff:
As I noted before, we were a lttle surprised that we didn't see as many people as we usually see on St. John. It was nice to shop and stroll around Cruz Bay without the crowds, but we're concerned about what it will be like when the two big building projects are completed. The waterfront area on the way to Gallows Point certainly looks different with the new Grande Bay Resort going up. And that 40 unit complex going up above Cruz Bay is really causing a lot of controversy. I'll be curious to see how that round-about works out in place of the Texaco station. Whatever happens, it will be difficult to dispel the charm of St. John. Where else can you go and be surprised by a middle school steel drum band in the park?
Or sit on your neat sheet on the beach outside The Beach Bar sipping Painkillers and listening to a blues band?
Boat trip:
I'll wrap this up with the highlight of our trip. Thanks to a previous link Ruth had provided a few month back, we were able to sign up for a boat trip sponsored by The Friends of the Park. We circumnavigated the entire island, stopping at places we had never seen before. We were shown different types of seagrasses in the Mary Creek area of Leinster Bay, snorkled the reef in Newfound Bay on East End, went into the Water Creek area of Coral Bay to check out the mangrove lagoons, and finally stopped at the Tektite site on Great Lameshur Bay. Paula and Ken, the Friends of the Park volunteers, have been on the island for 19 years and were very knowledgeable about the history as well as current goings-on of the island, Carrie, the park service guide, was a biologist and was the one explaing about the coastline and all the various habitats. She snorkled with us and pointed out the different types of sea life while in the water. The boat captain Ben (of the Sadie Sea) grew up on St. John and had some wonderful stories of his adventures and about various local characters. We've taken several boat trips out of St. John, but this was tops. And the best part? While motoring along the north coast, some yelled "Dolphins!" Two dolphins raced right beside us for nearly five minutes. They would occasionally leap out of the water, but were able to keep right up with us. It was an incredible sight. For those of you who know of "Splash", Carrie said it might have been her and her offspring.
All in all, it was a fun-filled, yet relaxing week. Exactly what we expect whenever we head to St. John.
Getting there:
We traveled again this time with some very good friends of ours who have been to St. John as many times, if not more, than we have. After a rather uneventful flight from Chicago, we arrived in St. Thomas about 5:00. We had made arrangements for Christopher to pick us up so as to avoid the crowd trying to get to Red Hook in time for the next ferry. Good plan, but no crowd! Others who had been on our flight arrived at the dock shortly after we did, in plenty of time for the 6:00 ferry. We did come in on a Tuesday, and flew over from San Juan on a small plane, so I guess that explains the lack of people. Anyway, we arrived in Cruz Bay about 6:30 and of course had to wave madly at the web cam to one of our friends back home. Oh, by the way, we heard about that wrecked ferry while on our way to Red Hook. This is a picture I took on the ferry back to Charlotte Amalie.
Accommodations:
This year we stayed at Villa Soleil, one of the Villa Caribe properties right up the hill from Gallows Point. Very roomy, nice pool, brand new grill, interesting decorating. We had stayed there several years ago and were happy to see the Ursula Trudeau paintings on the walls, but missed the neat little drawing by son Garry Trudeau that was no longer there. We usually try to stay in this part of Cruz Bay. We like the quiet and the proximity to downtown shopping and restaurants.
Beaches:
We spent our beachtime on Cinnamon, Jumbie, Maho and Francis. Like many of you, we seem to like Francis the best. We would start out for other beaches, but find them too crowded, not enough shade, too far to carry stuff......and end up at Francis. One day on Francis we had this little visitor. He was not the least bit camera-shy.
Another day on Francis, husband Bob found a rather large, occupied conch shell.
Here is a closer look. The previous day we were on a boat trip with a marine biologist. She picked up a conch shell and showed Bob how to return it to the water without harming the little creature inside.
Food:
We noticed something different this year: no waits for restaurant seating. We were rather pleasantly surprised that we were able to immediately sit down and order when we went out to eat. The long lines are at the grocery stores. We were talking to one of the shop-keepers and she said more people are cooking their own meals because of the high prices at restaurants. We did cook in a few times, but do enjoy the great restaurants of St. John. This year we went to The Banana Deck, The Lime Inn, Cafe Roma, JJ's Texas Coast for breakfast and Pastory Gardens for the annual sundown photo.
And we finally got out to Miss Lucy's for the Sunday Jazz Brunch. Well worth the trip, but get there early. The outside tables were filled well before the 10:00 opening time. The food was great (I had the Crabcake Benedict), the ambience was kind of funky (chickens at your feet and a visiting goat), and the setting was so pretty and serene.
We also stopped at the Tap Room in Mongoose Junction for some Virgin Islands Pale Ale. Great summer taste, too bad it is not available in the midwest. We also liked the deli there, I can't remember the exact name, something like the Deli Grotto. Anyway, I loved their smoked turkey artichoke paninis. But the best meals? Dinner at the bar at Morgan's Mango. We made a meal out of appetizers. The deep-fried flying fish (try saying that real fast) were wonderful. And the other best meal was back at our villa where we grilled big thick pork chops marinated in Ruth's Cruz Bay Grill Rub. Mmmmm, good!
Other stuff:
As I noted before, we were a lttle surprised that we didn't see as many people as we usually see on St. John. It was nice to shop and stroll around Cruz Bay without the crowds, but we're concerned about what it will be like when the two big building projects are completed. The waterfront area on the way to Gallows Point certainly looks different with the new Grande Bay Resort going up. And that 40 unit complex going up above Cruz Bay is really causing a lot of controversy. I'll be curious to see how that round-about works out in place of the Texaco station. Whatever happens, it will be difficult to dispel the charm of St. John. Where else can you go and be surprised by a middle school steel drum band in the park?
Or sit on your neat sheet on the beach outside The Beach Bar sipping Painkillers and listening to a blues band?
Boat trip:
I'll wrap this up with the highlight of our trip. Thanks to a previous link Ruth had provided a few month back, we were able to sign up for a boat trip sponsored by The Friends of the Park. We circumnavigated the entire island, stopping at places we had never seen before. We were shown different types of seagrasses in the Mary Creek area of Leinster Bay, snorkled the reef in Newfound Bay on East End, went into the Water Creek area of Coral Bay to check out the mangrove lagoons, and finally stopped at the Tektite site on Great Lameshur Bay. Paula and Ken, the Friends of the Park volunteers, have been on the island for 19 years and were very knowledgeable about the history as well as current goings-on of the island, Carrie, the park service guide, was a biologist and was the one explaing about the coastline and all the various habitats. She snorkled with us and pointed out the different types of sea life while in the water. The boat captain Ben (of the Sadie Sea) grew up on St. John and had some wonderful stories of his adventures and about various local characters. We've taken several boat trips out of St. John, but this was tops. And the best part? While motoring along the north coast, some yelled "Dolphins!" Two dolphins raced right beside us for nearly five minutes. They would occasionally leap out of the water, but were able to keep right up with us. It was an incredible sight. For those of you who know of "Splash", Carrie said it might have been her and her offspring.
All in all, it was a fun-filled, yet relaxing week. Exactly what we expect whenever we head to St. John.
! I do not know how I am going to make it till November!