USVI-On-Line

60 days to go until we are on St John!

Ok, I had to get that out of my system. We are staying in Cruz Bay the first three nights (Thur-Sun) of our 10 day stay before moving to a villa in Coral Bay. We aren't getting our jeep until we head to our villa on Sunday. We arrive in STT about 3:45pm and will go straight to STJ.

Now that all of that is out of the way I'd like some suggestions for the first beach on Friday. I'm thinking of hiking to Salomon that morning and just soaking in the fact that we are finally there. We added 3 days prior to the villa stay so we can adjust to "island time" and thoroughly enjoy our villa. Is Salomon the best walking distance beach to do this? We aren't opposed to taking a taxi elsewhere, but I'd really like to enjoy the Cruz Bay area before heading over to Coral Bay.

We are sailing on the Kekoa Saturday all day so I'd also like suggestions for dinner that night. It should be very casual since we'll be worn out and rummed up from the day! I guess I should mention it's just my boyfriend and I and we are 39 & 41, laid back and open for just about anything new.

Thank y'all so much for posting your knowledge on this forum. It has helped me more than any guide book has!

Last year we did exactly the same as you are doing this year, 3 days in town w/o a car before a week in Coral Bay at a villa and our first day we did the hike to Salomon and I thought it was a perfect first day beach. It's a nice easy hike, we even saw one couple doing it with beach chairs but we just took snacks/towels and snorkels. There were only 3 other small groups when we were there.
You might want to check the SJ and ST cruise ship schedules, sometimes they have excursions to Salomons.

Honeymoon is very close to Solomon and it is a beautiful beach.I believe that you can also use the main Caneel Beach.

Solomon is the closest and a very pretty beach - an easy hike - bring some drinks and maybe a snack - a beach mat or big towels - snorkel gear if you like snorkeling - it will always be less crowded than Honeymoon which is a short walk just past Solomon or you can swim/snorkel to it - very few if any excursions use Solomon but Honeymoon and the reef between them may get some larger sailing catamaran groups.
You can take a taxi to Trunk, Cinnamon or Maho and easily get one back to town - I like Cafe Roma for a casual dinner after sailing.

If you would like to see Caneel, you could hit Solomon first and then walk toward Caneel, passing Honeymoon on the way. At Caneel, you can get a drink at the bar then catch a cab back to town. (there are always plenty of cabs at the taxi stand)

We had a nice late lunch at High Tide, which is on the beach, in February.

We are doing the exact same thing starting this Thursday, we plan on doing the Lind Point/Salomon thing, St Paddy's day parade thing, and a taxi to either Jumbie or Trunk. Then grab the Jeep and over to coral bay next week. Hoping with this plan we can enjoy both sides of the island.

There's a nice beach that's walking distance that no one ever seems to mention. Frank Bay is beautiful, is there some reason people don't go there, or is it just a secret?

I recommend takeout BBQ for the boat day...we got ours at Joe's but they were so unfriendly that I would try Candi's next time.....didn't feel the love at Joe's [/i]

Thanks everyone for the replies! I must look up how to get to Frank Bay and also find Candi's BBQ! I guess I didn't realize Honeymoon was so close as well. Hmmm, we may just have to split the day and add Caneel in the mix!

KidLiggy-- please let me know if adding the 3 days was enough time to get into vacation mode:).

PA Girl-- Thanks for the info about Caneel's bar. I never would have thought of that. For some reason I thought you had to be a guest there to use the bar.

Exit Zero-- Is Cafe Roma an Italian restaurant?

jwwj-- Did you feel the 3 extra days gave you enough time to unwind before heading to the villa?

Thanks again everyone!!!

We snorkeled Frank Bay last October for the first time and saw some great sights including a beautiful eagle ray, squid, southern ray and an array of beautiful fish. You can check out Augie's trip report to see pictures. It was a delightful day under water!!!

This is what we are doing in a couple weeks too. It will be a first for us to stay in Cruz Bay, as we have only stayed in Coral Bay and Catherineberg areas. We will be in a Grande Bay condo the first three nights, before moving to our villa in Coral Bay. I'll make sure to post a TR when we get back!

This is awesome! Great minds think alike!

Florida Girl wrote: "Frank Bay is beautiful, is there some reason people don't go there, or is it just a secret?"

Frank Bay is beautiful, but the beach is quite rocky. Great spot to snorkel (careful: urchins), watch the sunset, visit Coconut Coast Studio.

TM

jwwj-- Did you feel the 3 extra days gave you enough time to unwind before heading to the villa?

TraumaQueen, time to unwind isn't the benefit we get from the 3 extra days in town, it's more that it lets us get started with our vacation a little earlier. We are serious SJ addicts and I'm like a kid a Christmas when it comes to going to SJ, I'm usually so excited that I can't sleep the night before we leave but I start to unwind as soon as our plane takes off. When Rachel meets us at the airport and we listen to her stories on the way to Red Hook we continue to unwind. When the ferry slows down and approaches Cruz Bay I'm overcome with such a feeling of peace and happiness and a feeling that I'm where I am suppose to be that no more unwinding is needed.
It does however allow us to be a the Beach Bar by 4:00 after dropping off our bags and then walking to Rumblines for dinner instead of picking up our car, grocery shopping and driving to the villa.
We've also discovered that we really, really like the staying in town experience, it's totally different than staying in a villa which we also love so combining the 2 is perfect for us.
Next trip we hope to do 3 nights in town, a week at a villa then back to town for 4 more nights.

jwwj-- This will be our first time to actually stay on island and surely not our last! I find it usually takes me a day or two to settle into vacation mode, but then we are usually cruising or doing other "busy" vacations with the kids. Hopefully I'll be able to slip into vacation mode at least by the time we land on STT. Even if I do settle down quickly, I may lie and say I NEED those extra three days