Return to StJ Report - Part 1
Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 9:41 pm
I'm a long time lurker (recently come out!) and just returned from STJ last Saturday. I would like to thank everyone on this site who shared there travel experiences. It was so helpful planning my trip! This was my second trip to St. John. The first trip was in May 2005 and my husband Mike and I went with another couple. This time it was just us. So thanks everybody - and off to the trip report.
We got up around 5 Saturday morning and left for O'Hare for our 8:15am nonstop flight to St. Thomas on United. Everything went perfectly - smooth check-in, security lines, etc. I used some frequent flier miles to upgrade us to first class for the trip out so it was heavenly! Our flight was super smooth and uneventful and just 4-1/2 hours later we were walking down the stairs in STT. The weather was great - warm and sunny. It would be like this most of our trip with just a few showers thrown in for good measure. This trip I managed to get everything into my carry on bags so we went right outside and called Dependable Car Rental. They were there 20 minutes later to pick us up and bring us to their rental office. We filled out some paperwork which took only a few minutes and then we were in our Jeep Wrangler and on our way to the ferry. Driving the Jeep is Mike's favorite part of the trip I think so I let him have his fun and did my usual job of naviguessing. We stopped at the Food Center on the way and picked up bottled water, snacks, sunscreen and bug spray. It was very easy to find our way from the car rental place to the car ferry. Soon we were backing on to the ferry and waiting to get moving to St. John! Here's a picture that I took from the car barge of the bay at Red Hook.
The 5 o'clock ferry left Red Hook at about 5:15 and about 30 minutes later we were driving to our condo at Lavender Hill. On St. John at last! We stayed in 11E which is on the side next to the construction. I agonized over this choice but it worked out perfectly. The condo was clean, comfortable and had nice views and the construction noise did not bother us at all. I get up pretty early anyway but unless you are a really light sleeper I can't see that the noise would bother you. Plus we got a discounted rate for staying on that side so how could you go wrong? So we threw our bags down and went out in search of some food. We ended up at the Fish Trap that night. I had some great conch fritters and a mahi-mahi dinner that was very good as well. Also, I had my first of many Virgin Islands Pale Ales! We went back to the condo - here's the view from the dining deck in the evening.
After all of this excitement, I was exhausted and Mike and I went to bed shortly after we got back from dinner. I woke up pretty early the next morning and just chilled, sitting on the deck staring at the sea. I am hypnotized by that beautiful blue water! I think that I spend most of my vacation just looking out at the ocean and relaxing! Anyway, once Mike got up I started packing up for our first day at the beach. Mike took the first load of towels, cooler, etc. out to the car while I kept gathering stuff. It seemed like it was taking him a long time out there so I went outside to see what was up. Or down in this case - the Jeep had a flat tire! I begin to regret my choice to rent a car on St. Thomas as Mike tries to jack up the Jeep but can't get it up high enough to change the tire. This isn't a good start to our trip! So I call Ken, the manager at Lavender Hill, to ask him for the number of a gas station. Instead, he comes right out to the parking lot with some wood for us to put the jack on and proceeds to help us change the tire! How's that for service? I was very impressed. With Ken's help, we were on our way out to enjoy our day! Changing tires is hungry work, so we stopped at Chilly Billy's for a bite first. I had a breakfast burrito which was good and Mike had a skillet that they had just about everything from the kitchen in it! Now that we were full and a little tired, we went on our way to today's beach, Hawksnest. This was my favorite beach from our first trip so I wanted to get back here right away. Can you see why?
I just sat and stared at the view for a while with my toes in the sand. See how happy that makes me?
Then I decided to do a little snorkeling. There wasn't a whole lot of fish here but I did see some interesting a coral and got my feet wet a little bit.
After a couple grueling hours like this, I was hungry again. I wanted to get my bearings again on the island so we were off to Coral Bay for lunch. I should've taken some Dramamine first though - I forgot all of the twists and turns and drops that you make on the North Shore Road!! Luckily I survived and made it to lunch at Shipwreck Landing. This was good but the view was really my favorite part of this place.
After lunch, we spotted these guys. Only on St. John!
Then a stop for the obligatory Coral Bay photo.
Now back to the condo for nap time! I had originally planned on heading to the Beach Bar for the forum gathering, but nap time took a little longer than expected! After nap time, Mike and I watched the end of the Bears game and then headed out for dinner at about 8:45pm. We soon would find that nothing was open for dinner at that time. I didn't realize everything closed so early. Someone at one of the restaurants steered us to the Beach Bar. I was a little disappointed, thinking that I didn't want bar food for dinner. Boy was I wrong! I had the tuna bites which were fantastic! Mike had a great jerk chicken sandwich too. Then we had some more drinks, enjoyed the people watching and were back in bed by 11pm. Our first perfect day!
We got up around 5 Saturday morning and left for O'Hare for our 8:15am nonstop flight to St. Thomas on United. Everything went perfectly - smooth check-in, security lines, etc. I used some frequent flier miles to upgrade us to first class for the trip out so it was heavenly! Our flight was super smooth and uneventful and just 4-1/2 hours later we were walking down the stairs in STT. The weather was great - warm and sunny. It would be like this most of our trip with just a few showers thrown in for good measure. This trip I managed to get everything into my carry on bags so we went right outside and called Dependable Car Rental. They were there 20 minutes later to pick us up and bring us to their rental office. We filled out some paperwork which took only a few minutes and then we were in our Jeep Wrangler and on our way to the ferry. Driving the Jeep is Mike's favorite part of the trip I think so I let him have his fun and did my usual job of naviguessing. We stopped at the Food Center on the way and picked up bottled water, snacks, sunscreen and bug spray. It was very easy to find our way from the car rental place to the car ferry. Soon we were backing on to the ferry and waiting to get moving to St. John! Here's a picture that I took from the car barge of the bay at Red Hook.
The 5 o'clock ferry left Red Hook at about 5:15 and about 30 minutes later we were driving to our condo at Lavender Hill. On St. John at last! We stayed in 11E which is on the side next to the construction. I agonized over this choice but it worked out perfectly. The condo was clean, comfortable and had nice views and the construction noise did not bother us at all. I get up pretty early anyway but unless you are a really light sleeper I can't see that the noise would bother you. Plus we got a discounted rate for staying on that side so how could you go wrong? So we threw our bags down and went out in search of some food. We ended up at the Fish Trap that night. I had some great conch fritters and a mahi-mahi dinner that was very good as well. Also, I had my first of many Virgin Islands Pale Ales! We went back to the condo - here's the view from the dining deck in the evening.
After all of this excitement, I was exhausted and Mike and I went to bed shortly after we got back from dinner. I woke up pretty early the next morning and just chilled, sitting on the deck staring at the sea. I am hypnotized by that beautiful blue water! I think that I spend most of my vacation just looking out at the ocean and relaxing! Anyway, once Mike got up I started packing up for our first day at the beach. Mike took the first load of towels, cooler, etc. out to the car while I kept gathering stuff. It seemed like it was taking him a long time out there so I went outside to see what was up. Or down in this case - the Jeep had a flat tire! I begin to regret my choice to rent a car on St. Thomas as Mike tries to jack up the Jeep but can't get it up high enough to change the tire. This isn't a good start to our trip! So I call Ken, the manager at Lavender Hill, to ask him for the number of a gas station. Instead, he comes right out to the parking lot with some wood for us to put the jack on and proceeds to help us change the tire! How's that for service? I was very impressed. With Ken's help, we were on our way out to enjoy our day! Changing tires is hungry work, so we stopped at Chilly Billy's for a bite first. I had a breakfast burrito which was good and Mike had a skillet that they had just about everything from the kitchen in it! Now that we were full and a little tired, we went on our way to today's beach, Hawksnest. This was my favorite beach from our first trip so I wanted to get back here right away. Can you see why?
I just sat and stared at the view for a while with my toes in the sand. See how happy that makes me?
Then I decided to do a little snorkeling. There wasn't a whole lot of fish here but I did see some interesting a coral and got my feet wet a little bit.
After a couple grueling hours like this, I was hungry again. I wanted to get my bearings again on the island so we were off to Coral Bay for lunch. I should've taken some Dramamine first though - I forgot all of the twists and turns and drops that you make on the North Shore Road!! Luckily I survived and made it to lunch at Shipwreck Landing. This was good but the view was really my favorite part of this place.
After lunch, we spotted these guys. Only on St. John!
Then a stop for the obligatory Coral Bay photo.
Now back to the condo for nap time! I had originally planned on heading to the Beach Bar for the forum gathering, but nap time took a little longer than expected! After nap time, Mike and I watched the end of the Bears game and then headed out for dinner at about 8:45pm. We soon would find that nothing was open for dinner at that time. I didn't realize everything closed so early. Someone at one of the restaurants steered us to the Beach Bar. I was a little disappointed, thinking that I didn't want bar food for dinner. Boy was I wrong! I had the tuna bites which were fantastic! Mike had a great jerk chicken sandwich too. Then we had some more drinks, enjoyed the people watching and were back in bed by 11pm. Our first perfect day!
and well worth the piece of mind. I would definitely rent on St. Thomas again. The car ferry was kind of cool too and I think it was a smoother ride than the people ferry.