USVI-On-Line

Hello,

I'm planning a trip to STJ, and wondered about the roads. Specifically, I am not so good with cliff-side driving. I live in Colorado, and grew up in California, and can handle many of the mountain roads here. As long as the slope is not too steep, as long as there is vegetation on the downslope side (trees, good sized bushes), and as long as the car fits onto the road with a few feet to spare, I'm generally ok. What gets me are the cliffside roads with vast expanses on the down hill side. Is it possible to drive from Cruz Bay over to Coral Bay without cliffside driving? I can drive, say, the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia without any trouble. I can drive passes like Berthoud Pass or Hoosier Pass here in Colorado. I can't drive Trail Ridge Road here in Colorado, or many stretches of the Pacific Coast Highway, however. I'm thinking the rain forest will help me with the roads in STJ.

Also, some of the houses I've been looking at are near Coral Bay, described as being "several sharp switchbacks up the hill", the hill being that hill that slopes up to the southwest of the town. Is that hillside difficult to drive up? Would I be better off in one of the neighborhoods on the hills that slope down to Coral Bay from Route 10? Or maybe I should just stay in Cruz Bay? Years ago, I took a taxi from Cruz Bay to Trunk Bay, and don't recall that road being problematic at all. Are there any roads I should be careful to avoid?

Any thoughts would be welcome.

North Shore road should be fine for you all the way out to Leinster. Some spots on Centerline going to Coral Bay though, they even make me a little nervous, and I don't usually get bothered by that sort of thing. Don't want to discourage you from visiting Coral Bay though, all my favorite places are out that way (Aqua Bistro, Miss Lucy's, Salt Pond, Lamshur), just trying to be honest

Daniel - Do you have someone else along who can take over the driving if you can't handle it? There are usually trees, plants, etc. on the downhill side most of the time, but do you realize that you drive on the left on STJ? That means that when you are going UP hill you will be sitting on the side closest to the drop off - will that freak you out even with trees for perspective? I'm not acrophobic but I do have to admit that I found it quite daunting the first few days of driving my first time on the island. First of all you have to concentrate on driving on the opposite side from what you are accustomed to, but you also have to develop a new frame of reference for how close you are to the center line or the edge of the roadway when you are not steering from the side of the car that is closest to the center. It also takes some time to adjust to the switchbacks, especially the ones that have a sharp incline followed by a sharp decline - I'm not overly tall so I would get to the top and have a moment of panic when the front of the car was pointing up and I wasn't able to see over the front end to tell which way the road goes once you're over the top. The speed limits are pretty low on the island, but you will find that you want to slow down even more on some of the trickier areas and you WILL get locals riding right on your tail which can add another whole layer of anxiety. I normally stay closer to
Cruz Bay and my perspective is that overall there are more switchbacks and steep roads at the Coral Bay end of the island - that might be because I'm not as familiar with the roads at that end. Once you've driven on STJ a few times you get much more comfortable but I'd recommend maybe riding with someone else first to see if you can handle the acrophobia part. The rest you can adjust to gradually. Mindehankins just drove there recently for the first time so she might be able to give you some more updated input.

Hello Danielm, we just got back from our first trip to STJ and we stayed on the tippity top of sky top in fish bay which I was nervous about. Plus driving on the left, I wasn't too sure how it would be if another car came along as we were making our way up, up, and up! All I can say is in two days we were driving like we had been there all our lives . The cliffs that you speak of...there was one spot on fish bay road where the dirt washed out under the road by a "cliff"...but it was marked and we went out around it. North shore and centerline road were no problem, plus the speed limit is 20 mph. As long as you have a 4wd I wouldn't worry, stay where you want to stay. Personally, the next time we go, my husband and I would stay in Cruz Bay mostly because we didn't get to spend very much time there and we want to try more restaurants and do the trails that start in town. We really enjoyed Coral Bay, Salt Pond was one of my favorite snorkels, we had a great lunch at miss Lucy's, Coral Bay is much quieter than Cruz bay. Just depends on what your'e looking for..? Bottom line, don't limit yourself because you're nervous about the roads...if we can do it, you can too !

Go to www.on-StJohn.com and do a search on Jeep Cam.
Take a look at the videos to get a better idea of what you will deal with.

Hi Daniel! My husband has a terrible fear of heights but has driven all of the island except South shore without a problem. The only time he expressed any nervousness was when we had a multiple-generation family from France in our vehicle, who's car had broken down on the furthest end of the island from Cruz Bay.
I just drove all over with my newbie daughter, a couple of weeks ago. I don't have any specific fears - I'm just generally anxious LOL. I had no problems at all, but I had seen most of the roads we drove on, before, and asked about the ones I wasn't familiar with. The speed limit is very low - 20-25mph. I treated it as sort of a carnival ride sort of experience. I prefered the North Shore Rd. to Coral Bay because there are more visitors than locals driving that road. The section from where the North Shore Rd. ends and you use Centerline isn't bad. Whenever there was a local person behind me (you can tell because they don't have a rental sticker on their windshield) I would pull over at my first opportunity, and let them pass.
My daughter felt nervous a few times, in the passenger seat, when we took Centerline all the way to Cruz Bay. Sometimes there's someone coming around a curve and they're not completely in their lane. I just plain stopped, and let them get past us. Again, we were driving VERY slowly, and no one was behind us. I wasn't nervous about the other people because I figure they know these roads and have to drive despite us crazy visitors. Just like I'm wary of deer here at home, and know how to drive in snow, they know how to get about their island.
In short, I am the most nervous person I know, and I had my only child with me. I'm confident you'll be fine. Stick to the North Shore Rd as much as possible. It takes a little longer but the going is slow. If I can do it, anyone can....so sayeth the forum neurotic

We are going for the first time in May and staying near Coral Bay. Have been alternating between excitement and terror...dread the driving! MOSTLY feeling a better now...except for the bit about us shorties not being able to see over the front of the car coming around a switchback with a sharp incline...could sit on a phone book but expect the St. John version wouldn't be much help!

Welcome to the Forum and to STJ, SanyPants. You'll be just fine. You are right. The STJ phone book will not help. You would do better with the local newspaper. When in May are you going?

The roads are not that bad. I have a bigger problem with some of the villa diveways. The driver has to focus on the road and keeping left. You'll do fine.

JIM

Sandypants, it IS wierd when the road disappears, but you're going very slow. Just move forward slowly and it reappears - there's never a sharp turn on the disappearing roads, in my experience.

Thanks, Jim and Minde--am definitely feeling better about the whole thing (I think I can, I think I can....well, I sort of have to). We are going at the end of May/early June. The driveway for the villa doesn't look too bad, long and steep-ish but paved, I think, and no one has made mention of it in the reviews.

Thank you to everyone who replied. The suggestion to take the north road over to Coral Bay sounds promising. It looks like there is just one mountain to cross. How is route 20 from the north shore over to Coral Bay, by the way?

On a side topic, one of the authors I used to read to my kids when they were younger is Homer Hickam, who wrote about growing up in southern West Virginia, and who has a house on STJ. Once, for fun, on a long road trip from Roanoke to Louisville, we decided to drive through that area...what a mistake, lol. It took FOREVER to make that drive. I wonder if St. John is a little like that area? Windy, narrow roads in very hilly country. I was able to do Highway 50 through McDowell County without any palpitations.

Acrophobia is such a ridiculous thing. As if one were going to fall off a road going 20 miles an hour. A real problem for me, however. Prevents me from doing certain things. Oddly, I like to fly. Weird, eh?

Not wierd at all Danielm, I also don't mind flying. I was once alone going over a narrow bridge in VA. I almost had to stop at the top. The worse part is knowing I had to go back the same way. I managed to talk myself though it with white knuckles. Since then I have used the following method that I had read about. When faced with a high bridge or mountain cliff side, start talking (yes even by yourself, out loud). Describe things, like the car in front of you, the color and size of a tree/bush. Just keep up a running description of the area. It really works.

As a sidenote... if you're ever traveling from Michigan's lower penninsula to the upper peninsula you will need to go over the 5-mile long Mackinaw Bridge. For those not comfortable driving this long suspension bridge, they have people that will drive you across in your vehicle. You just need to ask.

I never knew they would do that for you at the Mac Bridge, that's cool. I have a friend who freaks out when driving or riding over bridges. Her rules are 1) all car windows must be open no matter what time of year it is and 2) no radio on and no one can talk. And that's AFTER she has taken a Xanex. It's a bit rough in the winter, but we humor her

I couldn't drive up Haleakala on Maui, but I have not had any problems on St. John.