Trip Report 3/7-3/14
Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 10:26 am
We are recently back from our first trip to St. John and loved it. Fantastic weather all week and just a perfect trip. The water is absolutely gorgeous, the island beautiful and the pace wonderful. I'm sure we will return one day.
Since I used this site a lot in planning I thought I'd give back to so here it goes.
DH,DD (almost 4) and myself flew AA from Miami to St Thomas. It was slightly delayed but not a real inconvenience. We rented a Jeep (4 dr, 4WD but not Liberty we expected) from Budget. The car was dented and scratched up but DH documented it well and I being the lawyer took photos just to make sure we weren't held responsible for someone else's dings. We drove to Red Hook which on a Friday afternoon took about 35 min. We caught the last or second to last car ferry out to St. John (6:30). It was dark by the time we arrived on STJ. A rep for Book-It VI met us at the airport and escorted us to the house.
We stayed at Simply Paradise...a 2bd/2ba villa in Chocolate Hole that we booked thru Caribbean Days. It was perfect for us. The house is a cute beach house and reasonable priced for high season compared to almost everything else in STJ. Definitely a good value stay plus they allow children under 8 which is so rare in STJ. Not elegant but fit us great. It had a short but reasonable driveway. Huge deck with hammock chairs and full hammock, dining table and chairs, two chaises and a great hot tub. Super southern view of Chocolate Hole - so sun all day. I spent every AM out there watching the birds (bannaquits (sp?), writing and reading til DH and DD woke. It had a main room with a side sitting/dining area, a king-bed room, a double twin-bed room (decorated very cute for kids), a huge closet which had a stroller, toys, VHS kid movies for the TV in the kids rm and some snorkel gear. One bathroom was jack-n-jill style (can enter from both bedrooms) and the other was across the main room near the kitchen. Kitchen had blender, left over supply of booze, microwave, coffee maker and stove top no trad. oven. Lots of books, games, DVD player, stereo, and sat TV. There were also beach chairs and coolers. The house had screened windows and doors but also AC which we decided was a must. Only things I would change about the house is to have a mini blind on some covering on the kitchen/front door because it faces the road and there is a direct view thru it into the master bedroom. Not a biggie but would afford a bit more privacy esp at night when the lights are on. And some sort of hose or shower outside to rinse things off from the beach. House also had a washer and dryer. Like I said - not fancy but looks like a beach house and is comfy. The location was awesome. Quiet area. Lots of places to walk but close enough to Cruz Bay to zip in to the stores/restaurants etc..We would stay here again and after driving to Coral Bay a couple of times decided that we prefer the Chocolate Hole area over the east side of the island.
We ate breakfast at the house, lunch a few times out and dinner out every night. We ate at lunches at Sun Dog Cafe and Skinny Legs and dinners at The Banana Deck, The Lime Inn, La Tapa, Morgan Mango's, Candi's BBQ, and Casa Roma. We never had a bad meal. Pricey though. Wow our 1st night dinner at Banana Deck ran $100 for 1 steak, 1 seafood platter, 1 BBC, 1 tea, a kids meal and 2 desserts. Sticker shock but it broke the ice. Most memorable food for taste was at Morgan Mango's. Got our money's worth at the all-you-can-eat shrimp night at Lime Inn. Best service and most welcoming attitude - definitely the Lime Inn, La Tapa tied with Casa Roma for 2nd. Worst attitude service wise was at Morgans.
You read about the steep roads and drives and about the terrible parking situation in Cruz Bay and even then I wasn't prepared for the reality. I got a kick out of how very steep the roads are and find it hard to believe a car can even go up some of those drives esp on the east side. While we always found a parking space we often had to hoof it a ways to the restaurant. We could almost always find a spot down near Mongoose Junction or near the NPS building at night. But with virtually no bugs, no rain and pleasant temps a walk at night was nice.
I think we each got maybe 2 mosquito bites the entire week and did not use bug dope. We did not see any other bugs to speak of which was great.
Beach wise - because we like to snorkel and we wanted an easy access sandy beach for our little one we spent our week at Trunk, Cinnamon, Caneel and Hawksnest. All were beautiful and had nice facilities except Hawksnest - the stench from the bathrooms was horrible and with the breeze coming off land and not sea it really overpowered us. Unfortunately the far section where it might not have been a problem was too sunny and crowded. Caneel was teh quietest. Trunk was never to crowded and was my favorite. We saw turtles, stingrays and of course beautiful tropical fish. When DD is older we will return and explore the other wonderful beaches we saw when driving around the island.
We saw deer, donkeys, chickens and goats but none in abundance.
We took a day trip on New Horizon 2 to the BVIs and that was a great day. We loved the trip and would highly recommend it.
Our sad departure from the island was a smooth as our arrival.Fortunately our trip was not over we went to San Juan to catch a 1 wk cruise to the southern caribbean.
If anyone (newbies esp) have questions for me I'd be glad to try to answer them.
Since I used this site a lot in planning I thought I'd give back to so here it goes.
DH,DD (almost 4) and myself flew AA from Miami to St Thomas. It was slightly delayed but not a real inconvenience. We rented a Jeep (4 dr, 4WD but not Liberty we expected) from Budget. The car was dented and scratched up but DH documented it well and I being the lawyer took photos just to make sure we weren't held responsible for someone else's dings. We drove to Red Hook which on a Friday afternoon took about 35 min. We caught the last or second to last car ferry out to St. John (6:30). It was dark by the time we arrived on STJ. A rep for Book-It VI met us at the airport and escorted us to the house.
We stayed at Simply Paradise...a 2bd/2ba villa in Chocolate Hole that we booked thru Caribbean Days. It was perfect for us. The house is a cute beach house and reasonable priced for high season compared to almost everything else in STJ. Definitely a good value stay plus they allow children under 8 which is so rare in STJ. Not elegant but fit us great. It had a short but reasonable driveway. Huge deck with hammock chairs and full hammock, dining table and chairs, two chaises and a great hot tub. Super southern view of Chocolate Hole - so sun all day. I spent every AM out there watching the birds (bannaquits (sp?), writing and reading til DH and DD woke. It had a main room with a side sitting/dining area, a king-bed room, a double twin-bed room (decorated very cute for kids), a huge closet which had a stroller, toys, VHS kid movies for the TV in the kids rm and some snorkel gear. One bathroom was jack-n-jill style (can enter from both bedrooms) and the other was across the main room near the kitchen. Kitchen had blender, left over supply of booze, microwave, coffee maker and stove top no trad. oven. Lots of books, games, DVD player, stereo, and sat TV. There were also beach chairs and coolers. The house had screened windows and doors but also AC which we decided was a must. Only things I would change about the house is to have a mini blind on some covering on the kitchen/front door because it faces the road and there is a direct view thru it into the master bedroom. Not a biggie but would afford a bit more privacy esp at night when the lights are on. And some sort of hose or shower outside to rinse things off from the beach. House also had a washer and dryer. Like I said - not fancy but looks like a beach house and is comfy. The location was awesome. Quiet area. Lots of places to walk but close enough to Cruz Bay to zip in to the stores/restaurants etc..We would stay here again and after driving to Coral Bay a couple of times decided that we prefer the Chocolate Hole area over the east side of the island.
We ate breakfast at the house, lunch a few times out and dinner out every night. We ate at lunches at Sun Dog Cafe and Skinny Legs and dinners at The Banana Deck, The Lime Inn, La Tapa, Morgan Mango's, Candi's BBQ, and Casa Roma. We never had a bad meal. Pricey though. Wow our 1st night dinner at Banana Deck ran $100 for 1 steak, 1 seafood platter, 1 BBC, 1 tea, a kids meal and 2 desserts. Sticker shock but it broke the ice. Most memorable food for taste was at Morgan Mango's. Got our money's worth at the all-you-can-eat shrimp night at Lime Inn. Best service and most welcoming attitude - definitely the Lime Inn, La Tapa tied with Casa Roma for 2nd. Worst attitude service wise was at Morgans.
You read about the steep roads and drives and about the terrible parking situation in Cruz Bay and even then I wasn't prepared for the reality. I got a kick out of how very steep the roads are and find it hard to believe a car can even go up some of those drives esp on the east side. While we always found a parking space we often had to hoof it a ways to the restaurant. We could almost always find a spot down near Mongoose Junction or near the NPS building at night. But with virtually no bugs, no rain and pleasant temps a walk at night was nice.
I think we each got maybe 2 mosquito bites the entire week and did not use bug dope. We did not see any other bugs to speak of which was great.
Beach wise - because we like to snorkel and we wanted an easy access sandy beach for our little one we spent our week at Trunk, Cinnamon, Caneel and Hawksnest. All were beautiful and had nice facilities except Hawksnest - the stench from the bathrooms was horrible and with the breeze coming off land and not sea it really overpowered us. Unfortunately the far section where it might not have been a problem was too sunny and crowded. Caneel was teh quietest. Trunk was never to crowded and was my favorite. We saw turtles, stingrays and of course beautiful tropical fish. When DD is older we will return and explore the other wonderful beaches we saw when driving around the island.
We saw deer, donkeys, chickens and goats but none in abundance.
We took a day trip on New Horizon 2 to the BVIs and that was a great day. We loved the trip and would highly recommend it.
Our sad departure from the island was a smooth as our arrival.Fortunately our trip was not over we went to San Juan to catch a 1 wk cruise to the southern caribbean.
If anyone (newbies esp) have questions for me I'd be glad to try to answer them.
Thanks for report ! sounds like a good time was had !! Leaving the island is alway's a sad day but leaving & than going on a cruise ! WOW That's Great ! how was the cruise ? was it your first ?? what was your fave stop on cruise ? Thanks !