USVI-On-Line

ok all you villa experts...and I know you're out there. Been a lurker (and a very addicted one at that) since our first trip back in 2004. Le Lapin II made the short list for our trip this December.

A little worried about the dirt hill part. We'll have 4WD and don't mind normal hills and switchbacks. Jacob's Ladder no problem. But the other hill further out 104 connecting to Centerline (I believe). You know the scary one that defies Newton's law of gravity - don't want any part of it again. Thankfully it's not on the way to La Lapin but wondered what kind of drive to expect. Anyone stayed there?

Comments on Le Lapin II (the Wabbit!) are here http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... ight=lapin.

The road is paved all of the way up to the villa. Now, it may have been paved by hand using 5 gallon buckets of hand laid cement, but its paved quite navigable.

It's a nice house. It is rather inward looking (the view are not great) and the foliage has grown up more than the web site shows. But, it is one of the few houses with (child friendly) internal passages between all of the bedrooms. My favorite feature was the very large covered porch. It also has a large level parking area for entertaining.

Cheers, RickG

We spent a week at this villa in early June and loved it. The design is very kid friendly and well maintained. The two level porch wraps around the entire house and provides a lot of places to get some private time. There are plenty of nice chairs and recliners for use.

The pool was a pleasant surprise. Well maintained and cool water which was the first place we retreated to after a hot day at the beach. The outdoor grill worked well and we spent most nights on the deck overlooking the pool area. It was our first trip to STJ and tried to avoid driving after dark. We did have dinner delivered twice. China Grill (?) very average, Ronnie's pizza was pretty darn good and warmed up nicely the next morning.

The driveway is a little funky but certainly doable. We rented a Grand Vitara and had no problems. One thing though, the house is at the end of the road. Twice during the week we encountered another vehicle going down the path. Luckily, both times they were closer to a place where they could back up to let us pass. Which was a good thing.

The views are good but I'm sure there are villas that have better. The foilage has grown but is beautiful. Only saw a few good sunsets during our stay but the nighttime view from the back of the house was awesome. Never saw so many stars and several cruise ships passed at night which was cool.

The entertainment setup was ok. There was a very good stereo/cd player which was constantly tuned to the mongoose station. The main tv/dvd setup worked well. The cable in one of the bedrooms didn't work but that wasn't particularly important to us. There were 3 or 4 beach chairs that were serviceable. The kitchen was well stocked for us.

In summary, we liked the house. Would we stay there again? Probably not as we would want to try other properties, especially in the Coral Bay area as we just liked the vibe there much better than the whole Cruz Bay scene.

jp

Landlocked, if you're on island during the first two weeks of December, please consider join some of us other forumites for a gathering at The Beach Bar!!

In June my husband and I stayed at the villa right next door to Le Lapin II. It is at the end of a private road called Iguana Rd, and it is a hairy drive. The road is pseudo-paved, and the potholes are big enough to swallow about half of your vehicle...but as long as you have 4-wheel drive you should be fine. 2-wheel drive would not cut it for Iguana Road.

http://stjohntour.com/Villa-Rentals/Blu ... ctions.htm

This link is to directions for the place we stayed next door...actually, the road doesn't look too bad in the pictures

In the second to last picture (#9), our driveway was to the left and the stone posts are for Le Lapin II.

Teresa_Rae, that link is great. We should see more directions to villas done like this.

I did drive the road every day for a week in November. It is definitely hand laid concrete. While you do not want to go fast on this road, it gives great traction when its wet. Iguana Road is a lot like some of the steepest roads on Tortola, like Brewers Bay Road, where they lay down a lot of texture so that you have a good grip in the wet, but not usually quite so much texture. I'd say Iguana Road is easier to get up and down when wet than the switchback between Trunk Bay and Peter Bay, which is smooth and steep.

Notice the Blue Aweigh directions do not reference Iguana Road or Hawk Hi Road, but say turn at the utility pole with the #8? Well Hawk Hi is the name on the maps, but there's no sign. Iguana Road has a sign, but I've always thought the owners of the houses on that road put up their own sign. The villas off this road are some of the hardest to find in the area, if you don't have someone showing the way. I hope no one pulls down the #8!

Cheers, RickG

I'd say Iguana Road is easier to get up and down when wet than the switchback between Trunk Bay and Peter Bay, which is smooth and steep.

Having once slid backwards down the Trunk/Peter Bay switchback in the rain, I'd agree with that. Iguana Road is REALLY bumpy...it'll jostle up your insides, but it isn't smooth enough to get very slippery. Though when two cars traveling in the opposite direction meet on Iguana Road, backing up can be very interesting!

Notice the Blue Aweigh directions do not reference Iguana Road or Hawk Hi Road, but say turn at the utility pole with the #8? Well Hawk Hi is the name on the maps, but there's no sign. Iguana Road has a sign, but I've always thought the owners of the houses on that road put up their own sign. The villas off this road are some of the hardest to find in the area, if you don't have someone showing the way. I hope no one pulls down the #8!

Usually we have a villa rep show us to our villa, but this last time the directions were so good that we didn't need any help. You can see the green Iguana Road sign behind the #8 in the picture...maybe you're right about who posted it

It's always funny to me how people view the roads on STJ- THis coming from paved road surburbia aka. Northern Virginia

In fact I once got into a pissing contest with someone who was posting a review of STJ on that OTHER board (rhymes with FLIP SURMISER)who was saying that "the roads on STJ are treacherous and no one should even THINK about renting a car or driving alone at night." They went on to advise taking cabs ONLY. Huh!?!? Must have been a local STJ cabbie


I couldn't help but respond that renting a car and exploring the island on your own is half the fun!!

I've never had a problem with even the bumpiest of roads on island and just try to enjoy the ride!

That being said however, if you've got little ones prone to motion sickness or people with serious back of neck issues, you may want to stay on the better paved roads on island.

Otherwise, buckle up and have fun with it!!

Ya, funny actually. We were driving in the back country West of Boulder in June. When we told our friends from Boulder where we had been they thought we were nuts for getting on those roads. We just laughed and mentioned that they were less steep and wider than the roads on STJ!

Seriously, after a short acclimation, the roads are fine. We did have one nephew in November that got car sick every day. Their solution was great, spend the whole day on the beach. He fell asleep during the ride home every evening.

Cheers, RickG

I get really sick if I sit in the back seat in STJ, but as long as I'm up front I'm usually ok.

I agree that the roads are part of the fun of St. John...that is one of the reasons we like staying at a different place every trip...the adventure of getting to the villa makes it all the better

Thanks for the info. We're used to flat interstate commutes here in Indy (the land of never ending concrete) but do enjoy the change of pace driving on St John. Just don't want a villa that's challenging to get to after dark.

RickG you can always paint a picture with words. Pouring cement from a bucket by hand - now that's a visual and quite likely! Teresa_Rae - the directions link is great. I can see the guardrails CV said were recently installed. The views (or lack of) may nix this one over the road. Want an awesome view on villa gravity day. Le Lapin II was 4th on our list and we're waiting on availability for a couple more places. Hopefully one of those will come through. If not we'll still be on St John so no worries.

Grommit - yes we will be there during the 1st 2 weeks of Dec and the Beach Bar is one of our favorites. Will check in closer to trip. Wish it was tomorrow.