USVI-On-Line

My husband and I just returned June 7 from our 4th trip to St John, a one week stay on the Coral Bay side. We had mostly good weather with a few days of early-mid morning cloudy skies and beautiful afternoons. This was the first visit for us in June... the island was so GREEN, water seemed a little warmer but not always calmer than our spring trips, sahara dust was present.

Transportation:

Our nonstop flight from Dulles to STT on United was a breeze. Rachel picked us up again promptly. On our return, she called a porter for us (for the first time we decided to try it). It was so easy and worth the cost, yet IMO it seems quite unfair to fellow travelers standing in line.

We are repeat customers with Courtesy Car Rental so they gave us a discount (I asked for it). The tire sensors gave a warning early in the week. Our cottage owners had a gauge which assured us the tires were slightly overfilled and not going to leave us stranded somewhere.

Mosquitos:

No bug bites! I read all the horror stories and worried about Dengue etc so I brought 3 spray pumps of 100% Deet. We used it the first morning and not once after that. We purposely avoided Maho and Francis where I knew we would be bitten, and we are typically out in the water, not on the beach.

There were only a few mosquitos at our cottage and we had good screens, an indoor shower, a fan on the veranda, and one of those tennis racquet zappers that worked really well.

Shopping:

We stopped at Starfish Market on arrival but was unnecessary for us because the new Calabash Market is very nicely stocked. Josephine's organic farm in Coral Bay is still awesome with the freshest greens (try the micro greens!) and veggies. They are open everyday til 4:30pm.

Lodging:

We stayed at Romance Cottage in Coral Bay/Calabash Boom. Wonderful choice for us! If you every enjoyed staying at Sailview and miss it, this is the place for you. Here is a link to my review: http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p172974

Restaurants:

Favorite dinners were Sweet Plantains (Sat night curry) and Aqua Bistro (Friday night ponzi tuna).

TIP: the jerk chicken appetizer at SP is huge and delicious. An appetizer size of ponzi tuna is also very generous, enough for one person as an entree. We made reservations for both places.

Favorite lunches: Tourist Trap (pulled pork nachos with veggies) and Shipwreck Landing (still the best fish & chips). TT is closed on Sundays and Mondays.

Favorite Takeout: Coral Bay Caribbean Oasis. This new place posts the daily menu on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/coralbayoasis

We also enjoyed Vie's for lunch once again, as well as Cafe Concordia for dinner.

Highlight of our week:

Our “Lap around St John” with Busy Bee Charters out of Coral Bay. At only $125 pp plus tip, this was such a good deal! We snorkeled 5 sights on our full day circumnavigating St John. Gourmet lunch provided. My review is posted here:

tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147409-d5…

Snorkeling Favorites:

#1: North Haulover was perfectly calm on our second morning. Yay!

#2 and #3: Newfound Bay and the shallow coral garden at Leinster Bay (also snorkeled Salt Pond rocks, Mary's Pt, Flanagan’s Island on the boat charter.)

Yawzi Point was good (and calm enough). An octopus showed its entire self for quite awhile.

We also snorkeled Kiddel Bay twice, South Haulover, Blue Cobblestone, Salt Pond and Princess Bay Mangroves.

Ocean Safety:

Ocean conditions did not allow us to safely snorkel the points around Blue Cobblestone and Kiddel this time, so we discovered other beautiful areas in these bays. Because we each had a couple of safety issues this trip, we will wear snorkel vests for now on. To clarify: even with a snorkel vest, we would not snorkel where ocean conditions are not safe enough.

My husband wears a dive skin and I always wear a 3mm wetsuit. I can stay in the water without chilling, however my scalp got a bit sunburned on the last day.

If anyone wants to know more details about our recent safety issues while snorkeling, I'll be glad to post more.

Thanks for reading my trip report!

Geez... this could nearly be our trip report. Used to stay at Sailview (still miss Mike & Eileen), and as of our last trip we now stay at Romance Cottage. Favorite place to grab dinner is Coral Bay Caribbean Oasis, and bring it back to the deck, plated with some Josephine's greens. Reading your report makes me excited for our trip... in less than six months!

Thank you for posting your report. We were on island that week as well, and on the United non-stop to Dulles on the 7th. Love that flight - its makes coming home a bit less painful.

My hubby and I both wear skins and vests - no sunburn and a bit of warmth. I think vests are really important, although as you pointed out, you can still get in some trouble with currents, rough water, etc. I think it would be great if you could share your ocean safety issues and tips. A word of warning may help someone in the future! Regarding your sunburned scalp - we've had sunburned scalps and ears many times in the past (in spite of using sun block, so I wear a bright pink bandana on my head. Yes, it looks dorky, but no sunburn for me. It also helps my hubby to easily see me when we are in the vicinity of other snorkelers.

We have stayed on the Cruz Bay side for most of our trips. Your report makes me want to stay on the Coral Bay side next time. We would like to snorkel the Haulovers, Blue Cobblestone, Yawzi, Great Lameshur, etc and staying on that side would make for less driving. We also didn't make it to Sweet Plantains this trip, and we have enjoyed their food in the past.

I've never heard of Busy Bee charters. Looked at their website and read your review - it sounds great. We snorkeled Newfound Bay 2 years ago off of a sailboat and loved it. Its on our list for "next time" (which is a long list!)

Thanks again for your report.

Yes snorkel safety issues benefit everyone, please share...
Also, mosquitos and diseases from them are truly a problem, but be careful in how much deet you apply..do your research...just imho.

Safety issues:

This was the first time we tried snorkeling to the rocks in the center of Salt Pond. My husband panicked out in deep water while having an allergy attack to a highly seasoned taco he had for lunch. There was lots of histamine release, nasal congestion, coughing etc. At one point he looked like he was going to pass out. Thankfully, he did not and we were able to swim together over to a rocky coastline to rest.

Coincidentally, the same Salt Pond rocks were our first snorkel stop on the Busy Bee charter the next morning! My husband was thoroughly over the trauma and immensely enjoyed the day.

We should have rented vests from Crabby's because of an additional experience on our last day of snorkeling. I became very tired/probably dehydrated swimming at Blue Cobblestone.

I'm getting ahead of myself though. This happened after swimming out to the point that would bring you over to Salt Pond. I glanced at my husband and it looked like the ocean was carrying him away! I yelled to him to start swimming after me and all was fine. We swam back towards the shore and across the bay to enjoy the entire other side (calm water) almost to the point where Ram's head is. I recall now that he said we shouldn't go too far (but we did because the snorkeling was so good.) Then I became aware of fatigue and thirst. After the hike to Blue Cobblestone and all that swimming, that's what happened. My husband held my hand while we swam all the way back to shore.

We are strong swimmers and fairly experienced snorkelers but I think our age is showing. (I am 60 and he is 62). However, we have had really good luck with calm waters at those particular points at Blue Cobblestone and Kiddel Bays on past trips. Not this time! So now we have a little more experience with ocean conditions and our own limits to how far/how long we can stay out there at any one time. Snorkel vests would have helped a lot.

Thanks for the tip about the bandana! My husband used to wear one before we found him a suitable swim cap for his bald head. My hairdresser also told me there is a product that one can used for the scalp (with hair) to prevent sunburn. I'll have to check that out too. My ears were fine because I used a water resistant sunscreen that obviously worked.

One more change we made this year. We decided not to drink any alcohol at lunch (or at any time during the day) before snorkeling. That frozen drink tasted all the better later on.

I'd like to share a good webpage about snorkeling safety and paying attention to ocean wave sets, currents and surge.

http://www.tropicalsnorkeling.com/ocean ... tions.html