St John Trip Report
Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2007 9:34 pm
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.
.