USVI-On-Line

We'll be in St John for the 1st time in about 5 weeks and I'm interested in suggested beach/snorkel & restaurant itinerary. We're staying at Rara Avis in Hart Bay. We have a Jeep for the week. we LOVE snorkeling, beautiful beaches and great food (I'm a planner, so it really helps us to have days laid out where we know what we're doing. I know that's not everyone's style, but we feel we get more out of our vacation time with research and plans).

So for a 1st time trip, how would you plan your days? What beaches or snorkel stops are MUST sees (and can you hit a couple of places in a single day)? Tell me your itinerary suggestions to get the most out of 7 days.

Thanks in advance

Pack a lunch and drinks, grab the beach chairs and jump in the jeep. Drive until you see a beach, jump out and enjoy. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

You can go to a different beach everyday without repeating one...in June we saw a lot of turtles at Francis along with starfish, try a easy hike along Leinster Bay and also visit the ruins, if you are looking for a remote beach with decent snorkeling, Grootpan Bay would be a suggestion (this beach is a good 40-45 minutes) from Cruz Bay. If you can get a parking space Gibney/Oppenheimer is small and quaint, so many to choose from, so little time! I am returning the end of September and so looking forward to it! Enjoy your time on the rock!

our first day we snorkeled Francis, bugs were out so we moved on to Maho...had packed lunches so just chilled after our travel day.

day two...we were on Coral Bay side already..but drove to Salt Pond, hiked to Drunk Bay, ( if I did this again, I would go earlier and hike Ram Head first...come back and chill, then hike to Drunk Bay) snorkeled Salt Pond, then headed back to Tourist Trap for lunch...drove to Lamashur, took pictures of ruin, snorkeled and chilled.

have a charter boat day

hike Cinnamon Bay Trail....and then just stay at Cinnamon Bay with packed lunches.

must have a day to snorkel Waterlemon Cay....then head back to North Shore Beach

enjoy a day at Vie's Beach...arrive by 10...chill or snorkel till lunch..be sure to walk across and order food before she runs out....

pick a day to just beach hop the North Shore

too many wonderful beaches to choose from......too little time....

When we left a beach for the day headed back to the villa...we would usually drop by and take pictures at another beach...leaving Lamarshur we stopped at Great Lamashur....
when we left Cinnamon...we drove on to Haulover North and South.... Charter Boat Day we stopped at Jumbie.....but we were staying on Coral Bay side....

We have places we always go to, but rather than plan out each day, we just go where we feel like it each day and we eventually hit all the favorites. Most beaches have great snorkeling. Just head down the north shore and stop at any beach you feel like exploring that day. We usually visit them all once and then hit the best ones again later in the week. Must snorkel for us is Leinster/Waterlemom and Francis.

We do the same for eating. We have a list of favorites and head into Cruz Bay each evening and stop wherever we feel like each evening. Favorites for us are La Plancha, High Tide, and Morgan's Mango. If we are there in the high season we always go to Zozos at least once at sunset.

My best two pieces of advice:

1. You said you are a planner (as am I).... READ.. READ..READ!!! Go on this forum and read every trip report you can find. You'll not only get a great sense of what the forumites like to do, you'll get pictures along the way. That will get you familiar with all of your options. Get out your St. John map and find the beaches everyone writes about. Become familiar with the island through the map and the stories of those who have visited.

2. My motto (not original): "The best plans for tomorrow are made tonight with a drink in our hand"!!! Be flexible. The only real things you need to plan ahead are any "big events" like a Fishing Trip, a Powerboat Day, or taking the public ferry to the BVI. Otherwise - lime-out (relax) and take it a day at a time.

Good Luck! Have Fun!

.... and our favorite beaches are Cinnamon and Trunk and our favorite snorkel is Waterlemon Cay.

We have been to STJ 10 times and have a number of "must do" itinerary items, and one of them is having dinner at Maho Bay Camps. You don't have to be staying there to eat there, and this could very well be your only opportunity to have the experience of dining at Maho because after many years their lease is up and the land is for sale.

If you look here under the Maho Pavilion Restaurant heading you'll see their menu:
http://www.maho.org/MealsMenu.cfm

We always go on Friday nights for the prime rib and it is amazing! It's a good deal compared to other STJ restaurants and there aren't any servers so you automatically save 20% because you don't have to tip. And the view is stunning. There is also an art shop (it closes at 7 pm so you might want to go there before eating) that has local made crafts including a lot of glass art, made right there at Maho.

It's also a nice place to head after a late day at the beach, nobody will look at you twice if you're covered in sand from head to toe.

I highly recommend the experience!

Thank you for the advice and lists of favorite places. I've been haunting the boards for a few months (trying to make a list of snorkel places that have great photos and such). It seems like a lot more than you can do in 7 days, so thought I'd ask for help narrowing down the options and try to see which beaches or snorkel places can be done together in one day. As I said, we only have a week and want to get the most out of our time there. I know it's not everyone's thing to plan things out this way, but it works for us. I appreciate the insights and ideas.

Although every day was awesome - three things I wouldn't have wanted to miss:

1. Snorkeling at Waterlemon
2. Jumbie Beach
3. Swimming with the turtles at Maho

Get yourself Feet, Fins and Four Wheel Drive - a great book for planning your outings!

Hello, and welcome!
For a first time visitor I'd recommend not overplanning because the islands atmosphere is overwhelmingly delicious and relaxing. I'd say to stock up the villa with provisions as that's gonna be your home for the week,...then cruise the shores and see what you fancy regarding any crowds,ocean currents/swells,and facilities.-(bathrooms,showers,foods,etc...) then go from there. Can't go wrong with Woody's,Beach Bar, Rhumb Lines,Mongoose Junction shopping and Gecko Gazebo,Uncle Joe's, and the list goes on. There are simply too many options that are all homeruns! Hit some of the local eateries and more secluded joints &beaches for true STJ flavor. Don't get me wrong,lots of great popular spots, but I'm more subdued. Either that or go hit the hotspots and ask the bartenders what they recommend. I've overplanned 17 times to no avail and have no complaints about just losing myself and limin'...
Relax and enjoy!
Smiles-
MJ

After 12 trips I am still working on a "want to do" list!!!! Go with the flow and don't over plan, that's "island time". I suggest one day for exploring, get in the Jeep and drive and explore! Enjoy!

For our first full day we stayed at our Villa and enjoyed the view, made drinks and meal, swam in our private pool . It was the most special of all of our days. Being that you are beach front I would suggest the same. Take time to soak it all in and start with your plans for the second day.

I have to say that I am a planner as well. Every trip we have ever taken I have everything planned out down to even where to eat. St. John was more of take each day as it comes and it could not of been better for us. It gave us the experience of a different type of trip together. Just something to think about. Sometimes it is good to just relax and not have to follow a plan.

Like Lazylane - I am also still working on my to-do list! We will be on STJ for 10 days next trip and it, again, won't be long enough for me to do everything I want to do!

I am a planner. I enjoy it and, with my crew, someone has to tell them which direction to head each morning, it is just the way they are.

I work back from dinner. We go out every night and have our favorite restaurants. A couple of weeks out, I will get on their websites to check their schedules (some close certain days of the week) as well as any special nights. Lime Inn, for example, has a shrimp night that is very popular. Because I don't want shrimp, I will make sure we don't go to the Lime Inn that night. We like Morgan's and always go for lobster night. Knowing these types of things ahead of time helps me.

I will admit to having a calendar with reservation times and restaurant phone numbers as well as where we are going for drinks prior to dinner laying on the villa bar during our STJ trips. (yes, our food and drink experiences are important to us)

Beach days are also "planned" based on what we want to do for lunch. We like to hit the Shipwreck for a late lunch so on a Shipwreck day, we would head to Francis. On an Ocean Grill late lunch day, we would stick closer to town, maybe Hawksnest or Gibney.

My plans are never set in stone but having a general idea about where we are headed each day/evening helps everyone get what they want out of our vacations.

Favorites or must-see beaches are a matter of personal preference. After 10+ trips, I likely will never venture to the Lameshurs or Salt Pond again. I am too lazy to make that drive (to the Lameshurs) or the walk back from Salt Pond. I am a Maho/Francis/Gibney type of beach goer.

Snorkelling is good off of most of the beaches. Search for any of Liamsaunt's trip reports. She and her husband spend a great deal of time snorkelling. She is also a great photographer and a wealth of information about STJ's snorkel spots.

I can relate! For our first trip, I was eager to explore as many of the beaches as possible -- we hit one beach in the morning and one in the afternoon just about every day.

I recommend picking up copies of 'Feet, Fins, and 4WD' and 'St. John off the Beaten Track' -- they were essential to my first trip planning, and I still bring them along every trip (we're planning #8 already...amazing!)

As far as 'combos' go, all of the North Shore beaches "pair" well -- Hawksnest, Gibney, Maho, Cinnamon, Jumbie, Francis, (and yes, Trunk is worth a visit at least once -- it's crowded, there's more 'infrastructure', but it's still insanely beautiful). Francis was my first (you never forget your first, right? ) so it'll always be special for me! We're also partial to swimming at Cinnamon late in the day, sometimes right at sundown -- the beach usually isn't crowded, and the light is so beautiful. (Despite that recommendation, it's definitely smart to stay off the beaches late in the day to avoid bugs! I make an occasional exception for Cinnamon but I always pay for it).

I love Salt Pond and the Lameshurs as well -- the Tektite hike/snorkel was worth doing, but it's definitely an effort. Yawzi is much less of a hike, and it's still a really nice snorkel spot. Grab lunch before or after Salt Pond/Lameshur at the Tourist Trap.

Vie's is a must-do for us every trip (sometimes twice a trip!). We usually don't spend time at her beach -- although sometimes we head down the road to Pelican Rock for a snorkel after lunch.

A quick but fun thing we just did for the first time this past trip was the little NPS loop 'hike' (more like a walk) at Cinnamon -- only takes about 20 minutes, but we really enjoyed it.

For food, I make up a list of meals beforehand and then organize a grocery shopping list -- I even made two copies, so that my husband and I could divide and conquer. It's funny, because in "real" life I'm not the world's most organized person, but when it comes to my beautiful St. John, I'm deadly serious about expediting the "necessary" stuff in order to get down to island mode ASAP! But the truth is that I love everything about STJ so much that I even like grocery shopping there too.

After many trips, there are still places we not yet made it to. The only problem I see with planning your itinerary in such detail is being disappointed by weather or closures. Have you looked at the St John Ice list of restaurant closures since you will be there in slow season- that will help to reduce restaurant notices. Are you eating in at the villa at all or are you planning all meals out?
In terms of snorkeling, we typically plan a two snorkels a day (remember we are huge underwater people.) We typically try to plan the night before based on the predicted weather conditions- the wind, rain expected, etc.
We do however know this can all change by the morning and know we may end up going east when we had planned north!! We aren't huge Lie on the beach people, but if we are with a group, that can change!
Our lunch plans often vary depending on leftovers, stopping by to get a deli sandwich or fruit and granola bar in between. Our key in plenty of fluids to take with us between snorkels!

Hope this helps!! Have a blast and pleas repost a trip report! We love hearing a newbies perspective!!