1st time staying on STT

Travel discussion for St. Thomas
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hughepa
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Aug 12, 2013 7:48 pm

1st time staying on STT

Post by hughepa »

Hello everyone. My husband and are celebrating our 20th anniversary and will be staying at Sapphire Beach Resort 1/11-1/18. I know Sapphire has Budget Rental on property which seems to be the most convenient. Are they reliable? Should we book our car in advance or can we just get one when we get there? Should we look at other car rental places? Also, my husband and I would love to take a fishing charter but since its just the two of us it might be pricey any suggestions? One other question since we will only have six full days should we go to the BVI or are we better to spend our time between STT and STJ? Any advice would really be helpful as we haven't done this before?
jimg20
Posts: 1840
Joined: Mon May 28, 2007 11:43 am
Location: Fayetteville, AR

Re: 1st time staying on STT

Post by jimg20 »

Wecome to the Forum!

The reality is that there is so much to do, and you should just pace yourselves. Get on "Island Time" and get into the groove you discover when you get there. You may want to float all day with a boat drink in the bay directly in front of your place, spend a day on STJ, or eat, drink and shop in downtown. Whether you go to BVI is up to you. It is a fairly long ride over to Jost Van Dyke which is the closest of the BVIs. We took a New Horizons II trip to Virgin Gorda and JVD about 7 years ago. It was a very good trip.

Others who have rented on STT can comment on those choices. I would say that if you want to do something in January, you should book ahead to be sure you have a place.

Have a great trip!

JIM
Man it's like some dream we live down here....

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kma27
Posts: 155
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2007 7:36 pm
Location: Winchester, VA

Re: 1st time staying on STT

Post by kma27 »

You will love Sapphire Beach. I have never stayed there but love to visit each year when we come down to Bluebeard's Castle. Anyway, in my opinion you should reserve your car in advance, especially since that is high season. You can get your Budget car at the airport. They are fine to rent from but the lines are long and they never have the car you reserve/but the prices are pretty good. You could also use Dependable Car Rental or Discount Car Rental but they are not on site, however they will come pick you up at the airport. You can either Google them on find them on this website. A visit to The Baths in the BVI's is a must! Let me know if you have any other questions, we have been going down there since 1997. Enjoy!!!
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hughepa
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Aug 12, 2013 7:48 pm

Re: 1st time staying on STT

Post by hughepa »

Thank you so much for the replies. Do you think we need to rent a car for the whole week? Also, do you know anything about the fishing charters? Because there are only two if us we would like to get grouped with others to keep the costs down. I know this may be a hard question but what kind of budget do you think we may need down there. We want to go to STJ, maybe BVI if time allows, a fishing charter, maybe a snorkel tour, and relax on the beach. Also we will probably go out for dinner and lunches. Thanks for your help.
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michigancouple
Posts: 609
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2009 5:37 pm
Location: West Michigan

Re: 1st time staying on STT

Post by michigancouple »

Hello. We've stayed at Sapphire several times. It is a great place. You wake up and walk out your door and you're on the beach! The snorkeling there is nice.

I've seen the Budget office at the resort but have not rented from them so I really don't have any advice on that. If you do decide to rent once you're at Sapphire you will need a taxi from the airport. It will cost about $15 per person to get there. If you decide you don't want a car the whole time you could easily just stay on the resort for a few days. You can either prepare your own food or there is a small beachside restaurant that has breakfast pastries and such and then hamburgs/hotdogs,etc. for lunch. There are also a couple of pizza places in Red Hook that will deliver to you at Sapphire. If you want to taxi into Red Hook (just a few minutes away) you can either take a taxi from right by the resort office ($4 per person, I think). Or you can walk out to the main road and wait for a safari bus to come by. They are only $1 per person. They travel in a large circle clockwise around the island. We usually do that to get to Red Hook and then get a regular fare taxi to get back to Red Hook. Otherwise you would have to continue in a clockwise direction and that would take quite a long time to get back to the resort.

We have not done a fishing charter, but have bought fresh fish from the charter boats when they come into the marina at Sapphire at the end of the day. Double Header is a popular charter company. You could probably contact them and see if they could put you on a charter with other people wanting to help fill a boat.

We've taken Pirates Penny to the Baths and other islands. It is a long but fun day. They will take you on a trek through the Baths. Those large boulders are really something to see. Then you stop at another island for lunch. I think it was Cooper Island. Then they head over to Jost VanDyke for the rest of the afternoon at the Soggy Dollar Bar. Note that you will need a passport to do this trip because it is to the BVI's.

Whatever you decide to do, just relax and have fun! Cheers.

~ Nancy
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