USVI-On-Line

Today, I met a lady that went to St. John in the 80s. She stayed at Cinnamon in one of the cottages. So interesting! It got me to thinking... Many forumites started in the 80's or earlier. It would be so fun to read about your experiences during those times! Please share them!

I moved to St. Thomas in 1980 when I was 18. I lived there for 3 years. Back then, there was no internet, no cell phones -- you were really "off the grid". The power went out almost daily - many a day I was in the shower with shampoo in my hair and the power cut out - always had to keep a jug of water nearby. I made so many amazing friends and made so many great people. Funny, nobody ever used last names, even your close friends. You were known by where you worked "Portofino Billy" or by some physical characteristic "Bobby One Eye".

I went over to St. John for day trips quite a few times, once for St. John Carnival - we actually slept on the beach that night in Cruz Bay!

I remember Hawksnest when the "Christ of the Caribbean" statue was still on the hill and I would float in the bay, looking up at that white statue. I was young and in love for first time and whenever I go back to Hawksnest a little of that feeling returns. One of the wonderful things about St. John is it's national park status - those beaches look and feel the same today as they did those many years ago.

As I recall, there was a placed called World Bar (maybe) where Morgan's Mango is (maybe)?, the Backyard and a restaurant called A Moveable Feast was at Mongoose Junction (which had fewer buildings). There was a little shack at the ferry dock where you could get a cocktail as you left or arrived. Names/locations are a little blurred by alcohol and time

I moved to the Virgin Islands in 1975 and have stayed here ever since then - St John in the `70's was much quieter and had an island feel to it that reflected the local culture with the National Park just starting to improve the facilities - Cinnamon Bay was a big tourist attraction and Maho was just opening on a small scale, many of the Winter visitors stayed at Caneel Bay, some small guest houses were in Cruz Bay, like Huldahs, Serendip and Sun Fish and I don't remember ever meeting anyone who was staying in a weekly rented house but Holiday Homes had about a dozen houses that were available when the owners were not using them. The last ferry back to Red Hook was around sunset, A few restaurants were in Cruz Bay, like Joes, Oscars, the Upper Deck, Ric's Hilltop, Miss Meadas and The Moveable Feast and the Lobster Hut by the Creek and there were a few bars like Mooies and The Out that were popular, Sputnicks in Coral Bay was a great destination, The Kite above Peter Bay had music and a small camping area on the beach, I was helping some friends build the Cowhorns on the shore in Coral Bay and a small bar called RedBeards opened just behind where the boats were being built, Henry Mongi rented some small boats across from The Creek, the Mongoose Junction was being built in a new revival architectural style based on the old Danish buildings, Gallows Point had a few cottages and a bar with a huge round table, a dartboard on a tree and a happy hour that celebrated loudly for the last ferry for the daytrippers out of Cruz Bay. The Fish Fry out by the Pond on Friday nights was the community gathering not to be missed!
Rental Jeeps were available and hitchhiking was the easiest way to get around the Island, even my Mother would hitchhike when she would visit and she thought that was just a hoot!There were taxis at the dock, some decorated with flowers, that met each ferry and even though it seemed everyone was headed to Trunk Bay the beach there never felt crowded. Most beaches were generally deserted and Jumbie Bay had a dedicated nudist following. There were beautiful wooden sailboats, no moorings outside of Cruz Bay and almost empty anchorages with green hillsides surrounding them and thriving reefs in clear water. I remember many nights anchored in Rendezvous Bay and there were no lights and only one house in sight and Great Cruz Bay when there was just a swamp and a salt pond behind the beach.
The road out east just past Haulover had a big sign - No Rental Cars Past this Sign - and was little more than a donkey trail, the road past Salt Pond was really a rocky trail to Lameshur and you could almost always find a place to park in Cruz Bay, usually right in front of where you were going. Customs was in a wooden building in the Park on the second floor and didn't ever seem to be doing much Official Business.
Yes, things were very different, progress hasn't been particulary kind in many ways, the pace of life and the expectations of the modern visitors are dramatically different, the profusion of multi million dollar houses that no one lives in, that are not 'Homes' to anyone, has created an ever deepening economic chasm and witnessing the changes wrought in just my lifetime here often weighs heavily in my thoughts.

Wow! I am loving this! And even though I am one of the many visitors that stays in those houses for rent, I wish I could have been there for the early days! Thank goodness for the Natl. Park or it would all be crowded. And as much as I hate paying high prices, I get it and in some way it keeps all but those who seriously love STJ away. You have to really want it to forgo alot of things during the year for a little island time.

Thank everyone who is taking time to post these great remembrances!

My cousin's in-laws lived on STJ through the 1960's. From their daughter's description, they owned a house up above Cruz Bay. I remember talking to them around the time we were planning our mid-90's honeymoon. They had very fond memories of their years on STJ. The wife said they and all their friends would spend every Sunday at Caneel.

First time was 1979, and Exit Zero's post pretty much sums up my memories of that point in time!

We only first visited St. John in 1999, but living on a farm in the seventies, we would hear a lot about it. A buddy I went to school with was on the farm with us, and his parents had a friend on St. John and would bring him with them when they visited. The place sounded enticing, but we were too dirt poor to manage the airfare. The parents then built a home in Chocolate Hole, later, alas, to be demolished by Marilyn. During our first trip in 1999, our families traveled together, including the matriarch, who was then in her eighties (Bob's father had passed by then). We rented a villa in Rendezvous Bay, and I prepared some nice multiple course meals for the gang (smoked salmon with capers, etc). Helen was dumbfounded by the sheer variety of food we could choose among, and commented:

" Back when we were first coming here, there was none of this. Word would go out that "There's meat in Cruz Bay!", and everyone would rush to buy some "meat" before it ran out. You kids don't know how easy you have it now"!

How times have changed...

Talking to Kim at Joe's Famous Diner, she mentioned that when they first set up shop there, they had an unimpeded view of Cruz Bay Harbor.

For an even further trip through the Way Back Machine, check out the photos at the St. John Historical Society: http://www.stjohnhistoricalsociety.org/Photographs.htm

All the best,

Kevin

My family lived in San Juan, Puerto Rico from 1967 -1977. I remember we visited St. John several times - the two times I remember were both to Cinnamon bay. We stayed in one of the cottages the first time, the second time was with the Puerto Rican Armada.

So other than the cottages (which don't seem to have changed, lol) I don't remember any buildings at all. I do remember learning how to snorkel and how amazing the colors were. I remember my dad waking me up early in the morning to go see a donkey who was looking for a handout.

Some things changed some things have stayed the same.

-Sandy

@Exit Zero- I remember that place. I think it was called the "End of the World Bar" or the "Bar at the End of the World" or something like that. I also remember the fish fry and I posted on the other forum a while back about that. I was trying to figure out where it was, because that area looks so different today, much different than it did back then. My general sense it that it took place in the area where the desalinization tanks now stand.

My first trip to St John was in the spring of 1987. I remember hitchhiking over to Coral Bay. There was hardly anything at all over there. I remember only one business, sort of a general store on Coral Harbor where Aqua Bistro is now, but not much more. Wish I'd had the foresight (and the money) to invest in real estate back then. My wife went with her family and camped at Maho for many years beginning in the early 80's. She still talks fondly about Miss Meada's restaurant.

I went back several more times in the next few years, culminating in an unbelievable two weeks in 1990 when I got my scuba certification from Low Key. (btw...I went into Low Key about three or four years ago and tried to talk to the employees about those days. I was met with the coolest, haughtiest indifference that I think I've ever encountered. So, I wasn't too surprised when the news of their legal troubles broke.)

Things have changed since then, as they have in many resort towns around the world. It certainly has happened here on Nantucket, where I live. I call it "Aspenizing". Anyone who ever went to Aspen in the 70's will understand.

Our first trip to STJ was in 1998, but I first visited the Caribbean (Grand Cayman) as a 7 yr old in 1981.
Stopped there on a cruise last year and talk about "Aspenized"! What a crowded mess it was!
When I was there as a little girl I believe that the Holiday Inn on 7 Mile Beach (gone now) was the only big resort. I remember that the staff members would blow a whistle when someone spotted a pack of wild dogs approaching down the beach so the few people out on the beach would be aware and could walk up toward the building if they chose to! Crazy!
That trip was my first exposure to snorkeling and I still remember putting my face in the water the first time and seeing a whole new world 20 feet below me. I've been in love with the Caribbean ever since.

Funny you should raise this question today. After we returned from St John in February my wife put together a family album: St John 1983-2013. We started at Cinnamon Bay in 1983 with my daughters who were 1 and 3, continued until the late 90's, returned alone in 2001 and the last two years returned with both daughters, son-in law, boyfriend and 2 year old grandson. My son-in-law's comment when he looked at the album was how it hadn't changed- 2012 was his first visit. Of course most of the pictures are inside the national park at the beaches so that really hasn't changed much. However my wife and I have noticed all the changes others have talked about and many additional changes. Arrival in Cruz Bay is very different now. In 1983 Gallows may have been there- can't remember for sure but the rest of that hillside had no condos- Lavender Hill, Battery Hill, and of course Grande Bay were not there- just houses. Wharfside Village didn't exist but half of Mongoose Junction was there. The first several years we only rented a car or jeep for one day and ate our meals at the cottage or dinner at the Cinnamon dining area every night. The only market that I remember in Cruz Bay had mostly snacks and liquor. The Lime Inn did appear in the 80's and we still eat there. The view from Cinnamon beach did not include Peter Bay or most of the other homes that you can see now. Cinnamon and Maho (we stayed there one year) had a bus to fish fries in Coral Bay and Cruz Bay which we attended. I believe we paid $75 a night for four in a Cinnamon Cottage and remember saying people at home would think we were crazy to pay $75 for this camping cottage and cold water showers down a path in the forest. You could probably get a motel at home for $15 or $20 a night then. Not to mention air fare. Believe it or not air transport has improved since then. We had some long long flights and holdovers on both Capital Air and PrinAir(Puerto Rican International Airways) There were no direct flights from Boston so we always went through Puerto Rico- the old airport. We also heard rumors of a place called Holiday Homes that rented houses and by the 1990's we graduated to condos in Cruz Bay and houses where we are now. However we have friends who started at Maho in the 1980's and went there every years until this year. Bottom line- it is the parts that haven't changed that I think still draw us all back to St. John.

[quote="wanackmamak"]@Exit Zero- I remember that place. I think it was called the "End of the World Bar" or the "Bar at the End of the World" or something like that.

That was @psw+ that mentioned the bar -- It was called World Headquarters.

i first went in the mid 80's stayed at Maho and thought i stumbled upon paradise. -- Loved playing music at and hanging at 'the kite' dancing and music at sputniks (and the ball field ) ....met a guy on a sailboat who was going to sail to India (with his 4 year old son) I was very close to signing on for that trip-- one of my big regrets is not doing that....would have loved having that experience.

My first trip to St. John was a day trip in 1978, that has stayed with me to this day...... I was in college and spent my summers waitressing saving all my change.... my best friend at the time and I plopped our money down on a Caribbean cruise (my one and only - come on now I was only 20 ..... I wanted an island vacation and my girlfriend and I were talked into a cruise to see 4 islands...lol) At any rate - St. John was a day trip and I remember we took the ferry over - and we hitch-hiked over to Hawksnest and then to Trunk Bay, which had no real facilities - a restroom of sorts (no snack stand) as I recall.... I was in awe - I had never seen water that color before... I had never felt sand like talcum powder between my toes..... the palm trees swaying in the breeze... it was mezmerizing..... I vowed to myself while looking up at fluffy white clouds as I floated in that crystal clear water, that I would come back again. I remember seeing my first mongoose and saying "What the heck is that?...." . Cruz Bay itself was small as I recall - no Mongoose Junction - not a lot of places to eat - but there was a bar near the ferry where my girlfirend and I got a bit tipsy and almost missed getting back to our ship. I came back to STJ in 2001 when I re- married (I found someone who got STJ the way I did), for the 2nd of what has turned into many, many trips, and was awed by STJ all over again..... There have been quite a few changes since 2001 as well.... but I still feel like I've arrived "home" everytime I step off the ferry and onto the Cruz Bay dock.

I am enjoying this so much! When I was a child my father would often dream of moving to the Virgin Islands. It was so exotic to me. I was amazed that you could actually own a place in the Virgin Islands... only millionairs did that! He never got to visit. To practical in reality or too involved in spending any time off with family. (we were military and lived away from family). This is the VI of his dreams... Early 70's and on. Last year we took my mom. Partly as a tribute to my dad. She loved it! She is a spunky 82 year old with a good deal of physical problems, so that may have been her last trip (but who knows! ), but for what it is worth no matter what, she will always remember how wonderful it was! Thanks agian for the insites!