St. John without a Jeep?

[News of St. John]

We're thinking about coming back in a few months and staying in Cruz Bay. We are considering doing this without a Jeep. Have any of you visited for about a week and done so only using taxis? If so, how much did you end up spending on transportation?

Thanks!

[jwwj]

Yeah, we did it sort of. Last February we did a last minute trip, found a deal on flight and a unit in Grande Bay we had rented before that had a last minute cancellation. Since it was only about 2 weeks till we would arrive we couldn't find a jeep but figured we'd just take taxis.
So every day we carried our beach chairs, snorkel bag, cooler, beach bag to the taxis stand and went to one of the north shore beaches.
After a few days we got a little tired of lugging everything to the taxis stand and having to lug everything back to the condo, not really being able to stop by the market or anywhere else since we couldn't carry anything else.
In the grand scheme of things we were on our favorite place in the world so we weren't really complaining about it but it did get old and a little limiting. We also wanted to go to Francis or Maho so we called around and found a car at Cool Breeze that was available for 2 days and took it and immediately drove over to Coral Bay for lunch and then to Francis.
With just 2 of us it was cheaper taking taxis and I would recommend it if you were only going to the beaches a few times but if you take lots of stuff to the beach like we do I'd recommend getting a jeep.

[toni]

We(two of us) did this last month and stayed at lavender hill. First time staying there, normally we rent a place somewhere around the island.

Taxis were maybe in the $6-$8 range/pp to get to cinnamon or trunk which is as far as we went this trip.

We actually really liked this trip (9th) perhaps even more than some of our regular trips which surprised us. Usually I think villa gravity gets us (we rent places with pools) and we end up not leaving the villa much. we don't snorkel so we don't care as much which beach we are at, we just like a great view, and a relaxing place to be. This trip made us much more active.

We walked all over, did our usual salomon hike, taxied to cinnamon one day, trunk another, ate out all the time and hung by the pool some.

I'd highly recommend!

[JJShaw]

We did it back in June, but we stayed at Cinnamon Bay Campground in 10-D this time, so we were already at the beach, we just taxied whenever we wanted to go somewhere and having been several times before we didn't really miss going other places we mainly just visited the North Shore beaches. We had planned on getting a jeep a cpl days at least while we were there but never did...It was kinda nice just to chill out and relax. Im sure we saved a bundle by not having a jeep..because for the most part it would have been parked in the lot at CB. I wouldnt hesitate to do it again...just taxi where you wanna go...

[melmd]

We did it on our last trip down and our up coming trip in a couple of months. (2 of us)

We stayed in town and walked everyhere. I loved it, no hassels for parking, close to everything, no issues with having a couple of drink then driving.

We filled up our back packs with snorkle gear, drinks, towels, etc and walked to the taxi stand or hiked to Saloman. We also met some nice people who gave us a ride one day and got to meet some others on the taxi rides.

If you don't need alot on the beach, this is a great way to get around without the spending the extra money on a jeep.

[Tracy in WI]

My 14 year old and I spent his spring break at Grande Bay last year and only rented a car for one day. We did have alternate transportation though as we brought along our inflatable kayaks. We kayaked several days and went all the way from Cruz Bay over to Trunk Bay one day. We also went the other direction and ended up at the Westin.

It was AWESOME! We had space for a small cooler and brought our lunch along - except for the day at Trunk where we ate there. We usually packed up our kayaks at the beach and took a taxi back but did hitch a ride from Hawksnest one time. And since the current was in our favor, we just kayaked and floated back from the Westin.

Not sure if it is an option, but here is a link to the kayaks we have ( we just took them on a trip to Florida as well!).

http://www.amazon.com/Sevylor-Quikpak-C ... B004QXWK4Q

[scrumblin]

We have done this many times...for a family of 3 if was much less expensive than a vehicle. We stayed in Cruz Bay area and taxied to North Shores beaches. On beach days we called the taxi stand to come pick us up at at our rental so we could bring chairs. And no problem being dropped back at our rental to drop off/clean up before walking into town. That may have cost an extra $1 or 2 but worth it as we are usually up around the hill past Gallows. Loved not having to worry about driving/parking/drinking. Easy walks all around town on pool days and after beach time on those days.

[CT Beach Girls Dad]

YOU NEED A JEEP!!!

[xxjpxx9]

YOU NEED A JEEP!!!

LOL

[waterguy]

It depends where you are staying andwhat you want to do