USVI-On-Line

Has anyone experienced any intestinal discomfort while on STJ? Is Traveler's Diarrhea a problem at all? When my husband and I were there last year we did not have any trouble but this year we are bringing our kids and our 19 yr. old daughter tends to have problems when she travels out of country and eats out. She is worried about eating on STJ and I'd like to allay her fears.

I've never had problems from the water on St. John or any other Caribbean islands, but I've certainly had intestinal distress. I blame it on too many restaurant meals, richer food than I eat at home, break from routine and too much alcohol (oops). I always bring something to start and stop things (I don't want to be too graphic, but you know what I mean) as well as antacid tablets.

Hubby always has issues when he drinks from the tap on STJ. He's just sensitive. His tummy, that is!

Nothing a little Immodium can't fix!

After 4 trips, we realized he was just not taking well to cistern water. Odd considering that we drink well water at home and visited 4 different villas. Maybe it's all in his head.

I've never had gi issues on STJ though.

We've never had any problems either, but we always order our food 'well done' and we only drink the bottled water - oh and make your ice cubes out of the bottled water too. No problem mon. Jenrale

If you’d ever seen the inside of a cistern you’d know why it was worse than well water.

Picture a rotting belly-up iguana floating in your drinking water

I drink well water all the time but I won’t even brush my teeth with cistern water. I have seen some nasty stuff in cisterns and I don’t trust the filtration systems at villas.

If you're staying at a resort like the Westin you won't have problems with the water. But, if a home has an older cistern and does not have a good filteration system then you may want to invest in a personal water purifier bottle. Also, one of the main reasons people get intestinal complications is from accidentally swallowing too much sea water when playing in the ocean. Sea water can act like a laxative and cause massive cramping if you drink too much. Avoid swimming at certain beaches after a major storm because of run off. That can also cause problems. Although, that is a rare occurance on St. John, but it occassionally has happened.

Overall, the drinking water in the USVI is fine!

Thanks for all the reassurances. We are not too worried about the water since we will be getting bottled water on arrival. It's the food and food prep areas that we were wondering about. My daughter is worried about meat, salad fixins', mayo, etc. I hope to get some antibiotics before the trip, just in case, and she takes acidophilus to keep her tummy happy. Hopefully all will go well.

Oh, no worries then! STJ isn't like the old saying "Don't drink the water".

We always use cistern water for ice cubes and never have problems with blender drinks or food prep etc.

It just takes a day of the Big D to remind hubby not to drink the tap water for dehydration purposes. Once he switches to bottled for drinking, all's good!

I have an allergy to gluten (an ingredient in wheat, barley, oats and rye) so I have to be careful about what I eat. I did not encounter any problem while on STJ last summer, nor do I anticipate one later this summer.

bayer40601 - Do you have full blown Celiac Disease or are you just intolerant of gluten? I got my diagnosis on March 1st and my life hasn't been the same since! This June will be my first time dealing with the disease on vacation. I emailed several restaurants asking about gluten-free options but so far have only heard back from Cafe Roma.

Mine was what I would call "full blown" (no pun intended) when it was diagnosed 3 1/2 years ago. I had lost about 35 pounds and was initially diagnosed by blood test, later confirmed by biopsy.

I changed my diet and within 3 weeks was seeing a difference. My only problem now is that since I do not eat wheat-based products, I tend to overeat to get full, so now I have to watch how much I eat as well a what I eat. I am probably not as intense on asking restaurants as some people are, but I still try to watch what I take in fairly closely. When on the road, I try to stick closely to fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, and fresh meats with not coatings or seasonings other than salt and pepper.

I too got the diagnosis via biopsy. My doctor was shocked that I had it because my symptoms were pretty much the opposite of the usual Celiac Disease signs. The only reason she did the initial blood work was because my iron was extremely low.

I see that you called it an "allergy" even though it is not an allergy...I've noticed that lots of celiacs do that because it's just easier than explaining that it's an autoimmune disease where your body attacks and destroys your small intestine if you eat gluten

A belly up iguana in the cistern? Holy crap! I wonder how it got in there? If that was the case then I'd be worried...
Anyway, I checked our Cistern when we got to our villa, and it was all clear.
I'd just check them and if it looks good I'd probably wouldn't really worry about it. I personaly think us adult Americans worry too much about germs in general. It's just the Carribean, not 3 world Africa or India. I'd only go bottled water if you HAD to, the less waste (plastic water bottles) made on my trip, the better!
Eating out though, I don't see why that'd anymore of a problem than any other vacation location, that is unless your going to India! My friend has several times for his studies (cultural anthropologist) and you can't escape the dreaded "Delhi Belly".

Cheers!

My job is supplying potable water for about 150,000 people if the villa has a reverse osmosis sytem or uv I don't worry about it if it doesn't I buy bottled water.