USVI-On-Line

While my first love is St. John, I feel that I am limiting myself by going there year after year, so I am considering Eleuthera, in particular North Eleuthera and I have found a secluded rental called Turtle Cove on 4 acres...imagine that!! Anyone have any experience with Eleuthera? It looks heavenly and the pink sand beaches of Harbour Island look amazing. How does it compare to St. John? I know it is considerably larger of course, but in terms of vibe, etc. Thanks for any input!

Hi Jane,

We were there in 2006 (maybe 2007?) Beautiful island, much more undeveloped & "deserted" than St. John, and really lovely secluded beaches. Eleuthera is flat & scrubby and doesn't have the hilly lush beauty of St John, though. Also doesn't seem to have the infrastructure (although maybe we didn't explore), but for groceries, there was nothing like Starfish Market, for example, and the rental cars were...ummm....well-used!! I don't know exactly where the house is, but it sounds like it's up not too far from where we stayed (in our pre-villa days), at a resort called The Cove. We never made it over to Harbor Island, so I can't speak to that.

If you go, I definitely recommend getting the book "The Elusive Beaches of Eleuthera", because some of the most gorgeous beaches really are seriously hidden (like a "This isn't a road...it's an overgrown dirt path that nobody's used for 32 years!" kind of hidden).

I was pretty disappointed in the snorkeling, and the water was chilly, but I think that's because we went in April.

One memorable moment was bumping into Lenny Kravitz on a deserted beach (there were four people total on the entire beach-- me and my husband, and Lenny and his friend). Crazy! I was too shy to talk to him, but my husband asked if he knew where any good snorkeling was. Lenny flashed his rock star smile and said he really didn't know. I didn't ask him if he was gonna go my way.

It's a low-key, charming island! Still, since we discovered St. John the following year, we haven't considered going back because we fell hard for STJ.

Happy to answer any specific questions!

We just returned from the Abacos in the Bahamas and loved it every bit as much as St. John. We stayed on Elbow Cay, which is a tiny island with only 250 people - no cars, only golf carts, and the two main 'streets' are actually only sidewalks--no vehicles at all allowed in town. We rented a boat and explored the other islands too, it was fantastic--the water is not to be believed! Miles of deserted beaches. Google the Abacos and see what you think--feel free to pm me if you have questions. We have never been to Eleuthera so no help there!