Trip report from Philly, Part 2, some local color, some food
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 9:16 pm
Dragon Lady:
We rented our car from Conrad Sutton. The car worked great, it was in good shape and pretty new. It had a lot of scratches in the paint, which was fine with us, so we didnt have to worry too much about branches and such. One of the tires needed air when we rented it (more on that in a minute) but once we put air in it, no problem.
The woman who rented us the car seemed to be in the business of scolding her customers like she was their second grade teacher and they were naughty children. Later we were told this is Conrad's wife. She reamed me out for not fitting all of the information on the forms in the designated spaces and writing some of the information just above the line to fit it all in (I'm a doctor, she should be happy she could read what I wrote!), she was upset that our villa had no address, she scolded the man renting ahead of me for not going outside to wait when she ordered him too (rudely, I might add). Her lot is steep and muddy and the jeep was on an angle; my husband with his bad knees, post-call (no sleep going on 36 hours), wearing his crocs (shoes with no support) was slipping in the mud and I feared he would hurt himself. Says dragon lady, "watch out for the mud puddle, you'll get the car dirty!" I'm thinking, if he slips on your property you will have more than a muddy car to worry about!
When we checked out the car for dents and such we wanted her to note the scratches in the paint, in some cases chips and dings so that later we wouldnt be blamed for them. She tried to turn it around and make it seem that we were complaining that the car was in bad shape and she called us crazy.
One of the tires was near flat. She kept insisting that it was the angle it was parked on, a rock it was parked on after we moved it, etc... We had to go get air for the tire at the gas station, but once we did it didnt leak or pose a problem.
Her last shot was to scold me while I was loading the luggage in the car "Why you not tell me you are staying out Salt Pond way?" She didnt ask, why did it matter, etc... Just another excuse to scold.
After that experience, Conrad himself was very nice when we parked multiple times in the lot, the lot is in a good location. Checking out was fine. A young woman was on duty and perfectly pleasant.
We would probably rent from them again, but we will expect the abuse next time.
Captain Phil:
He is quite a character. Very warm, disarming, interested in getting to know you, and very talkative and open about himself, his life past and present, funny stories (sometimes repeated if you see him another day). He is a very nice guy and his snorkle trip on the Wayward Sailor was fun and he taught us some cool things about how to find octopus when snorkling. He gets in the water with you and it is fun to have a guided snorkle tour. Definately worth a day sail with him. We ran into him on our last day, we were having breakfast at the Paradise Cafe and he sat down with us to chat for a while. He is great with kids and snorkelers of all abilities.
The people who run Sweet Plantains were remarkably nice. The owners are a husband and wife team Rose (the chef) and Prince Adams (the host and bartender). Their restaurant is wonderful, excellent food, ambience, a good wine list and very unusual and good cocktails. They clearly put a lot of TLC in their restaurant. They were accomodating when my son wanted something they were out of and they came up with something else for him. Prince took my kids outside on a tour of his garden and frog pond after dinner. I will try to post a review on the restaurant area of the website.
The guys who run Columbos shake stand are very nice. The owner is from Florida, which I guess explains the continuous Jimmy Buffet playing there. They made a shake by mistake for someone and gave it to us on one of our visits because we had become regulars on our week in St John.
There is a man who sells hot dogs and cold sodas from his car in the Salt Pond beach parking lot. We talked to him for a while, he is a St John native, but lived in NY for a while (NY accent!)
We really liked the laid back nice people running Skinny Legs. We caught live music there, twice on this trip, twice last trip and it was good every time. We went on movie night and watched The Illusionist there on their big screen as we ate. The burgers, salads and mahi sandwiches are great and the drinks are strong!
I have to mention here that Zozo's is a wonderful restaurant, excellent food, ambience, what a view of St Thomas, sunset if you time it right, excellent service. Everyone there was spot on with customer service.
I know there are a lot of people on the board who love Lime Inn, which is why we tried it this time out. We found it disappointing. The food and service were not up to par. The service was well meaning but not good. The food was poorly prepared, and we had some fish served that was not fresh. I will post my review on the restaurant area.
We rented our car from Conrad Sutton. The car worked great, it was in good shape and pretty new. It had a lot of scratches in the paint, which was fine with us, so we didnt have to worry too much about branches and such. One of the tires needed air when we rented it (more on that in a minute) but once we put air in it, no problem.
The woman who rented us the car seemed to be in the business of scolding her customers like she was their second grade teacher and they were naughty children. Later we were told this is Conrad's wife. She reamed me out for not fitting all of the information on the forms in the designated spaces and writing some of the information just above the line to fit it all in (I'm a doctor, she should be happy she could read what I wrote!), she was upset that our villa had no address, she scolded the man renting ahead of me for not going outside to wait when she ordered him too (rudely, I might add). Her lot is steep and muddy and the jeep was on an angle; my husband with his bad knees, post-call (no sleep going on 36 hours), wearing his crocs (shoes with no support) was slipping in the mud and I feared he would hurt himself. Says dragon lady, "watch out for the mud puddle, you'll get the car dirty!" I'm thinking, if he slips on your property you will have more than a muddy car to worry about!
When we checked out the car for dents and such we wanted her to note the scratches in the paint, in some cases chips and dings so that later we wouldnt be blamed for them. She tried to turn it around and make it seem that we were complaining that the car was in bad shape and she called us crazy.
One of the tires was near flat. She kept insisting that it was the angle it was parked on, a rock it was parked on after we moved it, etc... We had to go get air for the tire at the gas station, but once we did it didnt leak or pose a problem.
Her last shot was to scold me while I was loading the luggage in the car "Why you not tell me you are staying out Salt Pond way?" She didnt ask, why did it matter, etc... Just another excuse to scold.
After that experience, Conrad himself was very nice when we parked multiple times in the lot, the lot is in a good location. Checking out was fine. A young woman was on duty and perfectly pleasant.
We would probably rent from them again, but we will expect the abuse next time.
Captain Phil:
He is quite a character. Very warm, disarming, interested in getting to know you, and very talkative and open about himself, his life past and present, funny stories (sometimes repeated if you see him another day). He is a very nice guy and his snorkle trip on the Wayward Sailor was fun and he taught us some cool things about how to find octopus when snorkling. He gets in the water with you and it is fun to have a guided snorkle tour. Definately worth a day sail with him. We ran into him on our last day, we were having breakfast at the Paradise Cafe and he sat down with us to chat for a while. He is great with kids and snorkelers of all abilities.
The people who run Sweet Plantains were remarkably nice. The owners are a husband and wife team Rose (the chef) and Prince Adams (the host and bartender). Their restaurant is wonderful, excellent food, ambience, a good wine list and very unusual and good cocktails. They clearly put a lot of TLC in their restaurant. They were accomodating when my son wanted something they were out of and they came up with something else for him. Prince took my kids outside on a tour of his garden and frog pond after dinner. I will try to post a review on the restaurant area of the website.
The guys who run Columbos shake stand are very nice. The owner is from Florida, which I guess explains the continuous Jimmy Buffet playing there. They made a shake by mistake for someone and gave it to us on one of our visits because we had become regulars on our week in St John.
There is a man who sells hot dogs and cold sodas from his car in the Salt Pond beach parking lot. We talked to him for a while, he is a St John native, but lived in NY for a while (NY accent!)
We really liked the laid back nice people running Skinny Legs. We caught live music there, twice on this trip, twice last trip and it was good every time. We went on movie night and watched The Illusionist there on their big screen as we ate. The burgers, salads and mahi sandwiches are great and the drinks are strong!
I have to mention here that Zozo's is a wonderful restaurant, excellent food, ambience, what a view of St Thomas, sunset if you time it right, excellent service. Everyone there was spot on with customer service.
I know there are a lot of people on the board who love Lime Inn, which is why we tried it this time out. We found it disappointing. The food and service were not up to par. The service was well meaning but not good. The food was poorly prepared, and we had some fish served that was not fresh. I will post my review on the restaurant area.
