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St John Trip Report
St John Trip Report
I wasn't going to post a TR here because I could never do such a great job as all of you do with the pictures inserted. So, I decided to write a little one for anyone who wants a little read.
Uneventful flights down. We were in our room at Gallow's Point before 4:00pm. This was our third stay at GP and we will return again. It just works well for us. The ferry noise may bother some who are looking for a quieter, villa type atmosphere. We wanted to watch the sunset from Zo-Zo's, but someone had reserved the entire bar. We then went to The Beach Bar for some drinks. We met some locals who tried to convince that it is easy to relocate to STJ
. Finally to The Lime Inn for my favorite mussels dish, then early to bed as I had been up since 3:00am.
Sunday, we made our usual pilgrimage via the ferry to Jost Van Dyke. Met some crazy partiers from TN who were on STJ for a wedding. Made for an interesting day. We claimed the Painkillers that one of my co-workers left for us on the drink board bright and early. We gabbed with Mic, the bartender at Soggy Dollar alot about various JVD issues. We had some excellent conch fritters for lunch. Strolled down to Seddy's to say hi and see their cute little ones. They weren't in their usual playful mode as they were getting over colds. Ruben Chinnery was playing at The Soggy Dollar, so we got to hear him for a bit before leaving. We had a silly, fun time on the way home on the top deck of the ferry with the TN partiers. We were all singing loudly and badly I might add. We didn't disturb anyone, we were the only one sitting on the deck
We then stopped at The Beach Bar for "one more". The jazz band was playing and no offense to others, but it was louder than we were in the mood for after being on Jost all day. Headed home and got China Shack delivered for dinner. We were ready to call it a day.
Awoke early after a good nights sleep and went to Paradise Cafe for one of their breakfast sandwiches which we love. I couldn't finish mine and threw a little bit in the trash and went and sat back down. I saw someone walk up to the trash and pluck it right out and eat it. Guess who? Lindy. After breakfast we went to hike The Lind Point Trail. Stopped at Solomon, Honeymoon and Caneel Beaches. There was only one person at Solomon, so no "Nekkid people" seen. Solomon Beach is a little slice of heaven. I managed to get a picture of the famous palm trees from the water. We took a taxi back from Caneel and had a snack at The Banana Deck. I'll add here that we love The Banana Deck. Very good food at decent prices.
We went back to the condo and DH went out to the pool. When it seemed like he was gone a bit, I went out and found him bonding with "the boys". Several more people arrived and soon this was a party. We called it the six drink minimum (meaning bring your share), four lawyer maximum party. Way too many lawyers there Other than this particular afternoon, that pool was super quiet. I think it was because the lawyers left the next day. I think we broke some of the "quiet, peaceful, pool" rules that day 
We then went to La Tapa for some dinner. Saw Lindy again lurking across the street. We ended up giving him some of our leftover beef broquets (sp?). We joked that Lindy ate pretty good today, Paradise Cafe and La Tapa, not to mention the $5 that hubby gave him. We saw him constantly, he never bothered us. Never did see the famous "Luna".
We had quite a bit of sun the last couple of days, so we decided to do a little shopping. I can barely get my husband to go shopping at home, but he loves to browse in CB. We love The Big Planet in Mongoose Junction. Had a light lunch at The Beach Bar and headed for the pool at Gallow's. The pool was a not very refreshing 94 degrees. My husband decided to swim a bit at Gallow's beach to cool off, but didn't have a snorkel mask. He was about halfway from the the swim platform when he suddenly began swimming in very fast. At first I thought he was joking around, but he apparently ran into the barracuda that hangs out around the swim platform. It freaked him out a little because suddenly, it was just "there" and I think it caught him unprepared as he wasn't actually snorkeling. It was pretty funny. Did I mention that I wasn't in the water
We then got an unexpected call from Debbie from another forum and her husband Rick. They had arrived the night before and were in the lobby. They stopped by for a bit and we walked around the property. Lots more iguanas near the ocean view units. We had a light dinner at The Lime Inn and called it a night.
We are just lazy today and slept in. Went into town for lunch at The Lime Inn. This time we were very disappointed with our food. The gazpacho was garlicky and I love garlic. The shrimp coctail was a mushy consistency and I actually sent it back. They did take it off the bill though. Have to give them credit for that. My husband didn't like his cheeseburger either, maybe it was just an off day. I think I will just stick with the mussels and maybe lobster there. Like I mentioned, lazy day today. We just spent the day at the pool and hot tub reading. Had dinner at Cafe Roma's and stopped at Woody's. That place is always hopping.
We now have a Vitara and decided to drive around the island We checked out some of the North Shore beaches and drove to the east side. Made it to just before Vie's, but decided to go to Skinny Legs for a burger. Hubby loves a cheeseburger in paradise so he had to have one of these famous burgers. I have read mixed reviews about these burgers and also the sewage smell at Skinny's. Well, I didn't use the restroom, but no sewage smell otherwise. We thought the burgers were fantastic. Piping hot, a little crunchy around the edges and yummy pickles.
I didn't mention that I had a mishap wearing flip flops the night before ( I am not one of those people who are used to wearing them) and broke a toe and sprained all except the "big toe". This was confrimed after we arrived home. My point here is that it is now difficult to navigate around much. The swelling and bruising just accelerated today. Ouch! Hubby said I graduated from "black and blue" to downright purple. We got carry out from Cafe Roma and I sort of parked it.
I'm trying to hang tough here as it is the last day of the vacation. We drove to Annaberg and I hobbled (literally) around the ruins. Everything was so beautiful with the flamboyant trees in bloom. Beautiful views from The Balcony as well. We went into the little National Park Building and got some much needed ice cold water and bread with pineapple jelly. The ladies were cooking lobsters bought in STT for their dinner that night. The weather was pretty much pefection except for one brief shower during the week and today, which rained off and on heavily all day and cleared up in between. On the way back from Annaberg, we stopped at Maho. Nice calm beach. I loved watching the pelicans. There were some mighty vocal seagulls on that beach! We then stopped at Trunk, but no sooner got situated and the skies opened up. We grabbed a snack at Sun Dog Cafe for lunch. We had the personal pizzas which were pretty good, but I will definitely give them a try for some of the other good looking menu items. Later we had a great dinner at La Tapa. This is definitely one of our favorite restaurants. Although we love good food, we tend to not go overboard with the upscale dining. I wanted to try Tage this time, but since Chef Ted left again, we decided not to. Banana Deck has great rib eye steaks reasonably priced with flavored butters, but we missed out this time once due to rain and once too late. We forget that 9:00pm is "late" for dinner on STJ.
The trip home was the usual Saturday mess at STT airport. I won't get into the details of the always crappy day home.
Notice my trip ticker
. We'll be back soon! We "get it". I know I'm not up to caliber with the rest, but hope some of you enjoy.
Uneventful flights down. We were in our room at Gallow's Point before 4:00pm. This was our third stay at GP and we will return again. It just works well for us. The ferry noise may bother some who are looking for a quieter, villa type atmosphere. We wanted to watch the sunset from Zo-Zo's, but someone had reserved the entire bar. We then went to The Beach Bar for some drinks. We met some locals who tried to convince that it is easy to relocate to STJ
. Finally to The Lime Inn for my favorite mussels dish, then early to bed as I had been up since 3:00am.Sunday, we made our usual pilgrimage via the ferry to Jost Van Dyke. Met some crazy partiers from TN who were on STJ for a wedding. Made for an interesting day. We claimed the Painkillers that one of my co-workers left for us on the drink board bright and early. We gabbed with Mic, the bartender at Soggy Dollar alot about various JVD issues. We had some excellent conch fritters for lunch. Strolled down to Seddy's to say hi and see their cute little ones. They weren't in their usual playful mode as they were getting over colds. Ruben Chinnery was playing at The Soggy Dollar, so we got to hear him for a bit before leaving. We had a silly, fun time on the way home on the top deck of the ferry with the TN partiers. We were all singing loudly and badly I might add. We didn't disturb anyone, we were the only one sitting on the deck
We then stopped at The Beach Bar for "one more". The jazz band was playing and no offense to others, but it was louder than we were in the mood for after being on Jost all day. Headed home and got China Shack delivered for dinner. We were ready to call it a day.Awoke early after a good nights sleep and went to Paradise Cafe for one of their breakfast sandwiches which we love. I couldn't finish mine and threw a little bit in the trash and went and sat back down. I saw someone walk up to the trash and pluck it right out and eat it. Guess who? Lindy. After breakfast we went to hike The Lind Point Trail. Stopped at Solomon, Honeymoon and Caneel Beaches. There was only one person at Solomon, so no "Nekkid people" seen. Solomon Beach is a little slice of heaven. I managed to get a picture of the famous palm trees from the water. We took a taxi back from Caneel and had a snack at The Banana Deck. I'll add here that we love The Banana Deck. Very good food at decent prices.
We went back to the condo and DH went out to the pool. When it seemed like he was gone a bit, I went out and found him bonding with "the boys". Several more people arrived and soon this was a party. We called it the six drink minimum (meaning bring your share), four lawyer maximum party. Way too many lawyers there
Other than this particular afternoon, that pool was super quiet. I think it was because the lawyers left the next day. I think we broke some of the "quiet, peaceful, pool" rules that day We then went to La Tapa for some dinner. Saw Lindy again lurking across the street. We ended up giving him some of our leftover beef broquets (sp?). We joked that Lindy ate pretty good today, Paradise Cafe and La Tapa, not to mention the $5 that hubby gave him. We saw him constantly, he never bothered us. Never did see the famous "Luna".We had quite a bit of sun the last couple of days, so we decided to do a little shopping. I can barely get my husband to go shopping at home, but he loves to browse in CB. We love The Big Planet in Mongoose Junction. Had a light lunch at The Beach Bar and headed for the pool at Gallow's. The pool was a not very refreshing 94 degrees. My husband decided to swim a bit at Gallow's beach to cool off, but didn't have a snorkel mask. He was about halfway from the the swim platform when he suddenly began swimming in very fast. At first I thought he was joking around, but he apparently ran into the barracuda that hangs out around the swim platform. It freaked him out a little because suddenly, it was just "there" and I think it caught him unprepared as he wasn't actually snorkeling. It was pretty funny. Did I mention that I wasn't in the water
We then got an unexpected call from Debbie from another forum and her husband Rick. They had arrived the night before and were in the lobby. They stopped by for a bit and we walked around the property. Lots more iguanas near the ocean view units. We had a light dinner at The Lime Inn and called it a night.
We are just lazy today and slept in. Went into town for lunch at The Lime Inn. This time we were very disappointed with our food. The gazpacho was garlicky and I love garlic. The shrimp coctail was a mushy consistency and I actually sent it back. They did take it off the bill though. Have to give them credit for that. My husband didn't like his cheeseburger either, maybe it was just an off day. I think I will just stick with the mussels and maybe lobster there. Like I mentioned, lazy day today. We just spent the day at the pool and hot tub reading. Had dinner at Cafe Roma's and stopped at Woody's. That place is always hopping.
We now have a Vitara and decided to drive around the island We checked out some of the North Shore beaches and drove to the east side. Made it to just before Vie's, but decided to go to Skinny Legs for a burger. Hubby loves a cheeseburger in paradise so he had to have one of these famous burgers. I have read mixed reviews about these burgers and also the sewage smell at Skinny's. Well, I didn't use the restroom, but no sewage smell otherwise. We thought the burgers were fantastic. Piping hot, a little crunchy around the edges and yummy pickles.
I didn't mention that I had a mishap wearing flip flops the night before ( I am not one of those people who are used to wearing them) and broke a toe and sprained all except the "big toe". This was confrimed after we arrived home. My point here is that it is now difficult to navigate around much. The swelling and bruising just accelerated today. Ouch! Hubby said I graduated from "black and blue" to downright purple. We got carry out from Cafe Roma and I sort of parked it.
I'm trying to hang tough here as it is the last day of the vacation. We drove to Annaberg and I hobbled (literally) around the ruins. Everything was so beautiful with the flamboyant trees in bloom. Beautiful views from The Balcony as well. We went into the little National Park Building and got some much needed ice cold water and bread with pineapple jelly. The ladies were cooking lobsters bought in STT for their dinner that night. The weather was pretty much pefection except for one brief shower during the week and today, which rained off and on heavily all day and cleared up in between. On the way back from Annaberg, we stopped at Maho. Nice calm beach. I loved watching the pelicans. There were some mighty vocal seagulls on that beach! We then stopped at Trunk, but no sooner got situated and the skies opened up. We grabbed a snack at Sun Dog Cafe for lunch. We had the personal pizzas which were pretty good, but I will definitely give them a try for some of the other good looking menu items. Later we had a great dinner at La Tapa. This is definitely one of our favorite restaurants. Although we love good food, we tend to not go overboard with the upscale dining. I wanted to try Tage this time, but since Chef Ted left again, we decided not to. Banana Deck has great rib eye steaks reasonably priced with flavored butters, but we missed out this time once due to rain and once too late. We forget that 9:00pm is "late" for dinner on STJ.
The trip home was the usual Saturday mess at STT airport. I won't get into the details of the always crappy day home.
Notice my trip ticker
. We'll be back soon! We "get it". I know I'm not up to caliber with the rest, but hope some of you enjoy.Going "home" again October 26th!
That was a great report and I enjoyed reading it and look forward to being your Gallows villa mate for a while in November!
I can't believe that about your toe! Sounds painful! Hope you are feeling better soon!
I notice a trend lately of a lot of people saying that are inadequate about one thing or another - photos, trip reports, cooking, LOL I say ah who cares around here! We all share what we have to offer.
I for one don't really know how to snorkle, don't know where the best sites are and I am usually not that interested in any sort of trail or hike
But I'm returning to St. John anywho - so do I get it or not? Don't really care just can't wait to get back!
St. John... take me away!
See you on STJ, Brenda!
I can't believe that about your toe! Sounds painful! Hope you are feeling better soon!
I notice a trend lately of a lot of people saying that are inadequate about one thing or another - photos, trip reports, cooking, LOL I say ah who cares around here! We all share what we have to offer.
I for one don't really know how to snorkle, don't know where the best sites are and I am usually not that interested in any sort of trail or hike
But I'm returning to St. John anywho - so do I get it or not? Don't really care just can't wait to get back!
St. John... take me away!
See you on STJ, Brenda!
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Kentuckygirl
- Posts: 1903
- Joined: Sun Oct 08, 2006 10:17 am
- Location: Kentucky
-
obsessedmuch
Ouch! I feel your pain, I've broken my toes a bunch of times. Never on vacation--yet--though I did walk into a sliding glass door while rushing out to the deck to watch the sunset. 
I really liked your report, I wish everyone would write one!
I really liked your report, I wish everyone would write one!
It's like looking in your soup and finding a whole different alphabet.
Ha ha! At least I am not alone. Thankfully I did not cause any damage, except to myself. I had a nice egg on my head for the rest of the trip.PA Girl wrote:Liamsaunt, I walked through a screen slider doing the same thing! Our friends are making me put up the security deposit this year! (we were not charged for the screen repair.)
I am the worst when it comes to self-inflicted stupid vacation injuries. The all time most horrible was while on vacation in Florida. A combination of high heels, a hyperextended ankle joint, an area rug and a wet floor led me to fall forward at full speed into the edge of a cement wall! That one required a trip to the emergency clinic.
It's like looking in your soup and finding a whole different alphabet.
Re: St John Trip Report
Sounds like you had a great trip - thanks for sharing.
Yeah, people from TN are a little nuts. I'll tell Bandit he needs to tone it down next time....brenda wrote:Met some crazy partiers from TN
Nice trip report – thanks for posting it.
You said,” I didn't mention that I had a mishap wearing flip flops the night before ( I am not one of those people who are used to wearing them) and broke a toe and sprained all except the "big toe". This was confrimed after we arrived home. My point here is that it is now difficult to navigate around much. The swelling and bruising just accelerated today. Ouch! Hubby said I graduated from "black and blue" to downright purple.”
Just remember for the next time – Painkillers are good for broken toes. Hope your healing fast.
You said,” I didn't mention that I had a mishap wearing flip flops the night before ( I am not one of those people who are used to wearing them) and broke a toe and sprained all except the "big toe". This was confrimed after we arrived home. My point here is that it is now difficult to navigate around much. The swelling and bruising just accelerated today. Ouch! Hubby said I graduated from "black and blue" to downright purple.”
Just remember for the next time – Painkillers are good for broken toes. Hope your healing fast.
FlaGeorge
"Swim Against The Current - Even a Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow"
"Swim Against The Current - Even a Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow"