The Much Anticipated Trip Report Octology, Part Last
Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 8:03 pm
Trip Report - Day 8 and some final thoughts
I don't wanna go home!
I'm going to skip the Executive Summary for this report since it is all summary anyway
We had a 1:00 flight on United and after reading some of the airport horror stories we decided to get to the airport early just in case (sound familiar?). We had taken the Red Hook ferry to Cruz bay so we decided to take the 9:15 ferry to Charlotte Amalie on the way back. It was a beautiful morning for a boat ride and the ferry ride went by smoothly. We piled into a cab with some other folks headed to the airport and we were there quickly. One thing that I noticed... The cab fare wa slower than Red Hook, but they are charging $4 for a large bag and $2 for small bags!At the airport we saw about 20 people in one line at United and two people in the other. I asked a gentleman in the shorter line if he knew if it was the line for United Premier and Premier Executive members and he said that is has been on all of his previous trips. There was no signs indicating this so I stood in the short line while Amy held a place for us in the long line and a backup. The United counter opens at 10:45 so we had about 15 minutes to kill. Since we can buy Cruzan rum locally we decided not to carry any home so we spent the time talking with the others in line. We saw the family that we met at Annaburg the day before and met several other families.
At 10:45 the United people came out and started calling people up form the lines. They had two people working the long line and two people specifically working the short line, which did turn out to be the priority line. While we were waiting i had sent the girls to see if they could find customs forms and they had been successful so we were slightly ahead of the crowd in that area as well. There was a short line for customs and a short line for security. I went through first and had collected my stuff when I heard the familiar "Bag check" called out. I turned around to see a TSA Agent looking through Amy's bag. She had her liquids in a clear zip lock and separate, so that wasn't the problem. After a few minutes I see the agent pull out the boxes from St. John Spice with the jars of grill rub and jerk spice. Apparently the jar caught their attention and they wanted to make sure that they didn't contain any liquids. So... If you are carrying home jars from Ruth either put them in your checked luggage or make sure that your SO is carrying them
.
After security we grabbed a sandwich at the snack bar and waited for our flight. The flight to San juan was short and uneventful. I was surprised at the number of people who got off of the plane at San Juan. The family that we met at Annaburg was getting off so i asked them why. Apparently there is a TED flight to Chicago out of San Juan shortly after our flight and a lot of people were booked on the TED flight and had to change planes. Our flight from San Juan to O'Hare was actually early and before long we were back home. The dog was glad to see us!
Random Thoughts
There are a few things that came to me as I wrote these reports and I wanted to share them. Overall, our trip was great and we really enjoyed STJ and the people. There are a few things that stood out, both good and bad.
Pros
The beaches - Even though we didn't get to as many beaches as I had hoped, the beaches and the water are as beautiful as you all had told us they would be. I'm not really one who can lay on a beach for hours, but I think I could actually do that on the beaches of STJ.
The people - We met so many wonderful people. I think I only met two people the whole time who seemed grumpy. one of them was a shopkeeper at Wharfside who made us feel that we were bothering him by being in his shop. We didn't buy anything there. Otherwise, everyone was great. The suggestion of being friendly and greeting them with Good Morning, etc. is a good one and I am keeping that up back at home. Even in Chicago people respond better when greeted with a smile.
The food - We didn't have a bad meal while we were there. Of course some were better than others, but that;s true anywhere. We especially enjoyed Morgan's Mango, Margarita Phil's, Cafe Roma and Uncle Joe's.
Cons
We really couldn't think of many cons. Here's what we came up with...
The weather - We had no control over this (and Ruth couldn't help us either ), but it affected us mainly on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, but just about everyday it had some sort of impact. I did talk to one lady at Francis who told us that the north shore beaches get cloudy almost every afternoon during March. i don't know how true that is, but we may avoid March on our next trip. She also mentioned that the beaches are also more choppy during the week before the full moon. Again, I don't know how true that is, but it wouldn't hurt to check a moon phase calendar before the next trip.
The "crowds" - I put that in quotes because things weren't crowded by any standard except by the expectations I had based on descriptions of empty or almost empty beaches I had read here and on other sites. The parking for Hawksnest and trunk were full every time we drove by and the small parking for Jumbie was overflowing onto the road on one afternoon. BUT.. When we were on the beach at Trunk, Maho and Francis, there was still plenty of room and we never felt crowded. We also noticed some traffic in Cruz Bay at peak times. We hit CB one afternoon when the 4:20 ferry form Red Hook had just arrived carrying the local school children. it took us 15 minutes to get from Mongoose to past the Texaco intersection that afternoon!
What we would do again
Just about everything! Here's some highlights.
Talk to people - As I mentioned above, we met a lot of great people. Besides the people we met in the shops and restaurants, we would start up conversations with folks while sitting at the Beach Bar or Woody's or Uncle Joe's or where ever. We met locals who gave us tips or told us stories about the island and we met travelers from all over, including two couples from Romania! We ran into people that we had met earlier at all sorts of places. It;s really a small island, kind of like being in a small town.
The bars - Take the time to have a drink (or more) at the Beach Bar. Great view and fun people. Same for Woody's. Amy liked meeting "Cute Ryan", the local carpenter, and I enjoyed the bartenders. Also, visit the Tap Room. We really enjoyed the VI Pale Ale and Cheech and Kevin were fun to talk to. A lot of locals pop in there for a beer as well, and they have free wireless!
Trunk Bay - I think that we would go to Trunk bay again. Amy and the girls thought that Trunk was the best snorkeling that we had on the island (not including the boat trips). There was a lot of fish, and the underwater signs helped them identify the different fish and coral that we saw elsewhere.
The Bubbly Pool and Foxy's Taboo - I think the Bubbly Pool was the highlight of the trip to Jost for the girls. They had a lotof fun and it was just a cool place. Lunch at Taboo was great!
Things we might not do again
Not much. We enjoyed just about everything.
Paradiso - Having said that, I don't know that we would go back to Paradiso again. The meal was good, but if we go back to STJ I would want to try some new places, and Paradiso wasn't as good as some of the others so I would skip it in favor of La Tapa or banana Deck or?
Francis and Maho - I'm also not sure if we would go back to Maho or Francis. I really wanted to experience Hawksnest, Jumbie, Waterlemon and others, so on our next trip I would choose some of those over re-visiting Maho and Francis. After we have seen the others then I would put Maho and Francis back on the list.
Things that we did not get to do that are on the list for next time
Other beaches (especially Waterlemon for snorkeling)
Other restaurants
The Baths
White Bay
More hikes (maybe I can get into shape and do the Reef Bay Hike ).
Summary
So... to wrap this Octology up, I want to thank all of you for all of the information you have provided through the various Favorite Beach threads, your trip reports and reviews, and for answering all of my questions. I really felt like an expert when we were on St. John! I keep noticing Amy looking at the pictures and the maps, so i think we'll be back to ST John in the future!
Oh! I almost forgot...
And now... Without further ado... The results of the unofficial painkiller tste test.
Amy sampled Painkiller's at The Beach Bar, Woody's, Morgan's Mango and Skinny Leg's.
Here's her review of each...
The Beach Bar - Good. The mix was premade and was a little heavy on the cream of coconut.
Morgan's mango - Very Good. Served in a fancy glass instead of a plastic cup. Mix was premade. Light on the booze.
Skinny Leg's - Very Good. We didn't see it made so we don't know if the mix was pre-made. Lot's of rum, not enough pineapple juice.
and...
Drum Roll please...
The winner!
Woody's - The painkiller at Woody's was made from scratch instead of a premade mix, so it will depend on the bartender, but Amy sampled two from two different bartenders and both were great! They used a little less cream of coconut so the drink wasn't quite as sweet.
That's it. I'm done. Now I can sit back and wait for your trip reports
Complete STJ Photo Album
I don't wanna go home!
I'm going to skip the Executive Summary for this report since it is all summary anyway
We had a 1:00 flight on United and after reading some of the airport horror stories we decided to get to the airport early just in case (sound familiar?). We had taken the Red Hook ferry to Cruz bay so we decided to take the 9:15 ferry to Charlotte Amalie on the way back. It was a beautiful morning for a boat ride and the ferry ride went by smoothly. We piled into a cab with some other folks headed to the airport and we were there quickly. One thing that I noticed... The cab fare wa slower than Red Hook, but they are charging $4 for a large bag and $2 for small bags!At the airport we saw about 20 people in one line at United and two people in the other. I asked a gentleman in the shorter line if he knew if it was the line for United Premier and Premier Executive members and he said that is has been on all of his previous trips. There was no signs indicating this so I stood in the short line while Amy held a place for us in the long line and a backup. The United counter opens at 10:45 so we had about 15 minutes to kill. Since we can buy Cruzan rum locally we decided not to carry any home so we spent the time talking with the others in line. We saw the family that we met at Annaburg the day before and met several other families.
At 10:45 the United people came out and started calling people up form the lines. They had two people working the long line and two people specifically working the short line, which did turn out to be the priority line. While we were waiting i had sent the girls to see if they could find customs forms and they had been successful so we were slightly ahead of the crowd in that area as well. There was a short line for customs and a short line for security. I went through first and had collected my stuff when I heard the familiar "Bag check" called out. I turned around to see a TSA Agent looking through Amy's bag. She had her liquids in a clear zip lock and separate, so that wasn't the problem. After a few minutes I see the agent pull out the boxes from St. John Spice with the jars of grill rub and jerk spice. Apparently the jar caught their attention and they wanted to make sure that they didn't contain any liquids. So... If you are carrying home jars from Ruth either put them in your checked luggage or make sure that your SO is carrying them
.After security we grabbed a sandwich at the snack bar and waited for our flight. The flight to San juan was short and uneventful. I was surprised at the number of people who got off of the plane at San Juan. The family that we met at Annaburg was getting off so i asked them why. Apparently there is a TED flight to Chicago out of San Juan shortly after our flight and a lot of people were booked on the TED flight and had to change planes. Our flight from San Juan to O'Hare was actually early and before long we were back home. The dog was glad to see us!
Random Thoughts
There are a few things that came to me as I wrote these reports and I wanted to share them. Overall, our trip was great and we really enjoyed STJ and the people. There are a few things that stood out, both good and bad.
Pros
The beaches - Even though we didn't get to as many beaches as I had hoped, the beaches and the water are as beautiful as you all had told us they would be. I'm not really one who can lay on a beach for hours, but I think I could actually do that on the beaches of STJ.
The people - We met so many wonderful people. I think I only met two people the whole time who seemed grumpy. one of them was a shopkeeper at Wharfside who made us feel that we were bothering him by being in his shop. We didn't buy anything there. Otherwise, everyone was great. The suggestion of being friendly and greeting them with Good Morning, etc. is a good one and I am keeping that up back at home. Even in Chicago people respond better when greeted with a smile.
The food - We didn't have a bad meal while we were there. Of course some were better than others, but that;s true anywhere. We especially enjoyed Morgan's Mango, Margarita Phil's, Cafe Roma and Uncle Joe's.
Cons
We really couldn't think of many cons. Here's what we came up with...
The weather - We had no control over this (and Ruth couldn't help us either
), but it affected us mainly on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, but just about everyday it had some sort of impact. I did talk to one lady at Francis who told us that the north shore beaches get cloudy almost every afternoon during March. i don't know how true that is, but we may avoid March on our next trip. She also mentioned that the beaches are also more choppy during the week before the full moon. Again, I don't know how true that is, but it wouldn't hurt to check a moon phase calendar before the next trip.The "crowds" - I put that in quotes because things weren't crowded by any standard except by the expectations I had based on descriptions of empty or almost empty beaches I had read here and on other sites. The parking for Hawksnest and trunk were full every time we drove by and the small parking for Jumbie was overflowing onto the road on one afternoon. BUT.. When we were on the beach at Trunk, Maho and Francis, there was still plenty of room and we never felt crowded. We also noticed some traffic in Cruz Bay at peak times. We hit CB one afternoon when the 4:20 ferry form Red Hook had just arrived carrying the local school children. it took us 15 minutes to get from Mongoose to past the Texaco intersection that afternoon!
What we would do again
Just about everything! Here's some highlights.
Talk to people - As I mentioned above, we met a lot of great people. Besides the people we met in the shops and restaurants, we would start up conversations with folks while sitting at the Beach Bar or Woody's or Uncle Joe's or where ever. We met locals who gave us tips or told us stories about the island and we met travelers from all over, including two couples from Romania! We ran into people that we had met earlier at all sorts of places. It;s really a small island, kind of like being in a small town.
The bars - Take the time to have a drink (or more) at the Beach Bar. Great view and fun people. Same for Woody's. Amy liked meeting "Cute Ryan", the local carpenter, and I enjoyed the bartenders
. Also, visit the Tap Room. We really enjoyed the VI Pale Ale and Cheech and Kevin were fun to talk to. A lot of locals pop in there for a beer as well, and they have free wireless!Trunk Bay - I think that we would go to Trunk bay again. Amy and the girls thought that Trunk was the best snorkeling that we had on the island (not including the boat trips). There was a lot of fish, and the underwater signs helped them identify the different fish and coral that we saw elsewhere.
The Bubbly Pool and Foxy's Taboo - I think the Bubbly Pool was the highlight of the trip to Jost for the girls. They had a lotof fun and it was just a cool place. Lunch at Taboo was great!
Things we might not do again
Not much. We enjoyed just about everything.
Paradiso - Having said that, I don't know that we would go back to Paradiso again. The meal was good, but if we go back to STJ I would want to try some new places, and Paradiso wasn't as good as some of the others so I would skip it in favor of La Tapa or banana Deck or?
Francis and Maho - I'm also not sure if we would go back to Maho or Francis. I really wanted to experience Hawksnest, Jumbie, Waterlemon and others, so on our next trip I would choose some of those over re-visiting Maho and Francis. After we have seen the others then I would put Maho and Francis back on the list
.Things that we did not get to do that are on the list for next time
Other beaches (especially Waterlemon for snorkeling)
Other restaurants
The Baths
White Bay
More hikes (maybe I can get into shape and do the Reef Bay Hike
).Summary
So... to wrap this Octology up, I want to thank all of you for all of the information you have provided through the various Favorite Beach threads, your trip reports and reviews, and for answering all of my questions. I really felt like an expert when we were on St. John! I keep noticing Amy looking at the pictures and the maps, so i think we'll be back to ST John in the future!
Oh! I almost forgot...
And now... Without further ado... The results of the unofficial painkiller tste test.
Amy sampled Painkiller's at The Beach Bar, Woody's, Morgan's Mango and Skinny Leg's.
Here's her review of each...
The Beach Bar - Good. The mix was premade and was a little heavy on the cream of coconut.
Morgan's mango - Very Good. Served in a fancy glass instead of a plastic cup. Mix was premade. Light on the booze.
Skinny Leg's - Very Good. We didn't see it made so we don't know if the mix was pre-made. Lot's of rum, not enough pineapple juice.
and...
Drum Roll please...
The winner!
Woody's - The painkiller at Woody's was made from scratch instead of a premade mix, so it will depend on the bartender, but Amy sampled two from two different bartenders and both were great! They used a little less cream of coconut so the drink wasn't quite as sweet.
That's it. I'm done. Now I can sit back and wait for your trip reports
Complete STJ Photo Album
I managed to finish mine, but not my friend!