USVI-On-Line

Hi, everyone!!

Sorry for posting a Virgin Gorda question - but, I am turning to the "pros".

We are THIS CLOSE to firming up a reservation with PERELANDRA for April, 2009 St. John for 6 nights. We are trying to fit in a 3 night stay on Virgin Gorda, as well.

It does not look too hopeful that our schedule is going to match with Guavaberry's availabilities.

Does anyone out there have any experience with either Nail Bay or Mango Bay? Obviously, we will only be on the island for a couple of days & will be wanting to hit the best snorkeling spots, etc. We certainly don't need deluxe accomodations, just a nice place for a good price.

Any advice would be helpful. Again, sorry for posting an "off USVI" question.

Can't wait to set up our ticker!! WooHoo!!

Sue (& Jim)

WOO! Good for you! I haven't been to VG so I can't help but glad to hear you are heading back to STJ.

How was Barbados?

We must have the same tastes and ideas, stayed at Perelandra last year for 9 days and loved it. We are also looking at splitting a trip next year between a couple of islands. I have not been to VG, but I found a villa, Island Dreams, that reminded me of Perlandra. It is 2 bed, good view, private pool, located in Nail Bay. Good Luck.

We'll be arriving at Perelandra in 8 days for our 2nd stay there. LOVE that villa!

Yo....We stayed at Nail Bay a few years ago. Did a week on St John and then took the ferry over and did 3 days on Virgin Gorda. Had to buy a temporary drivers license to drive on Virgin Gorda, don't know if I ws had or not. The road to Nail Bay was pretty bumpy but a great place to stay. Got to fly back to STT from there in a 4 seater. Best flight ever....God bless...Bill

I have been checking on Nail Bay for March 2009 (splitting time with St. John) and they were requiring a 5-night minimum, so you might want to check on this.

Both have nice beaches and snorkeling. May be difficult to get something in Mango or Nail Bay for only 3 nights. Check also the condo offerings in these areas on VRBO.
The road past past Mango to Nail Bay was unpaved and very rutted, although I think this has been paved out more. Maybe someone with more recent knowledge will chime in or search TTOL.
Fishers Cove is cheaper and will rent for < 1 week, is located in between town and Guavaberry and the Baths area, gets mixed reviews.
Leverick Bay accommodations on North Sound are away from best beaches, although island is small and the road up over Gorda Peak is very wide and in very good shape.
I also saved have these links to moderate $ villas that were of interest. DnD mentions one of them - maybe you'll get lucky.

http://www.mermaidsquay.com/

http://www.priorityproperty.com/labella.htm

http://www.islanddreamvilla.com/

We stayed at Guavaberry, so don't have personal experience with either. We got to Mango but didn't go as far as Nail Bay, but I don't think there would be significant difference staying at one or the other except for the distance and the road.

As mentioned, it may be difficult to find a villa for just a short stay. If Guavaberry hadn't worked out, we probably would have stayed at Fischers Cove

http://www.fischerscove.com/

We liked staying on that part of the island. It was convenient to Spanish Town and other restaurants. We were just entranced by the boulder beaches on the southern part of the island and spent most of our time there. We did snorkel at Savannah Bay one morning, but mostly wanted to be around the boulders. In many ways it sounds like Mahoe/Mango and Nail Bays have better snorkeling, but there was just something about those boulders and caves...We'll get to other beaches next time. We did drive to the north sound and went up Gorda Peak, but the southern part of the island really had us in its spell.

Hi, Mary Beth - Barbados was very nice. We stayed in 2 lovely places, ate at some amazing restaurants, saw some beautiful beaches & gorgeous churches.

But...... it wasn't St. John. We are anxious to come back "home" next April. (As you can see - spending more time planning out trip back to St. John than whipping up a little report with very nice photos.) Again, very nice time. Glad we did it for the experience. Very sweet of you to ask.

Thank you all for your comments. I have sent emails off to Mango & Fischers Cove. I put a call in to Nail Bay. The person answering the phone seemed to think that they would do 3 days in April. But, the reservation person wasn't in. So, I left a message for her to call me tomorrow. I also sent an email via the website. (She actually might have been mistaken, as she said it was Summer Season. But, I looked at the website after & it is still Winter.) So, I am not getting overly confident that we will have success. One can only hope.

We are really trying to do Virgin Gorda FIRST for 3 nights - then 6 nights on St. John and finishing up with 1 night at Secret Harbour. We like the way that this works out with ferry schedules. And we like the way that it "flows".

Anyway, nothing is easy. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

So nice to "talk" with our old friends, again.

Hi Sue,
We just got back last night from a week on VG and 5 days on Tortola. Loved both islands and will post a TR at some point. We stayed at Guavaberry and spent 2 afternoons at Nail Bay. We liked it there because the snorkeling off the beach was really good (saw a school of 14 squid and were able to hover over them a foot away for a long time - really cool). The coral there was in nice shape too - lots of fans and soft corals. They have nice lounge chairs and shade huts. We ate lunch twice at the restaurant next to the pool (Sugar Cane). Just loved the food there. The new owners were very pleasant, the atmosphere was nice and it has beautiful landscaping. The road is partially paved now, only a few rough sections and not too bad. (I understand the road used to be really bad.)

We looked at the Mango Bay area and it also looks nice, but didn't spend any time there. The beach is pretty and water is gorgeous shades of turquoise and blue. Talked to someone who stayed in a unit on the beach and they really liked it. The restaurant (Giorgios) is supposed to be very good, but is pricey.

Its really not far to town from either place, although Mango is closer. It depends on what your main activities will be. The island was very quiet and low key when we were there. Loved the "walk"" through the baths. Highly recommend doing it early (we did it at 8am and were alone), or late in the day (after 4) because it is VERY busy during the day with day trippers.

The beach at Savannah Bay (on your way from town to Mango) is a beautiful beach - nothing there but some shade huts, white sand and turquoise water. Also had good snorkeling there.

We ate dinner at Fisher's Cove and really enjoyed it - romantic atmosphere right on the beach. Didn't look at the accommodations, but its on a nice beach. Very close to town. I have the impression (from looks and prices) that Mango and Nail Bay are much more upscale than Fishers).

We found driving around the island very easy - every place was close. The longest drive from Guavaberry is to Leverick and even that only took about 30 minutes with nice views along the way because you go up over the mountain. We didn't care for the Leverick Bay area as much. There are lots of villas close together and the beach is postage stamp size. But there are beautiful views of the North Sound area and you can rent a boat for cruising around the sound. The Friday night Jumby Show is great and the BBQ for $25 per person was good.

I hope you will enjoy your time there. Feel free to ask any specific questions and let us know where you decide to stay.

Bill, thank you so much for all of the info. We will be awaiting your trip report. Sounds like you had a wonderful time. Congrats on the squid sighting - that sounds amazing.

Well, we have made our choice. Since there is "no room at the inn" at Guavaberry - we just kept going back to what is our primary concern. That being, preferrably, great snorkeling off the beach. We just keep coming back to Mango Bay. We have read very often that snorkeling at Mahoe Bay & Savannah are the best. So, when we found out that Savannah is just "around the bend" literally from Mango - it kind of "sealed the deal". Plus, free kayak use at Mango & we can just "paddle" our way to what has been called the most beautiful beach on the island. Also, have seen references to sea turtles off of Mahoe. So, for me that is all I needed to hear.

We also liked the idea that it is a smaller type resort & we were able to secure a beachfront studio. The accomodations at Nail Bay seemed more luxurious & restaurant & pool, etc sounded lovely - but, we kept coming back to the beaches.

Fischer Bay sounded interesting as well. Again, having breakfast at a nice little oceanfront restaurant each day would have been great. But, again, we kept coming back to the snorkeling right out our front door.

We just finally decided that we would probably get more water time by being beachfront on a great swimming & snorkeling beach. Also, Gino the property manager has been amazing to work with. So, to make a long story short. We are all booked for 3 nights at Mango Bay - then 6 nights at Perelandra (thanks to all of your wonderful recommendations)! Then, we will spend our last night at Secret Harbour - just in case I haven't gotten my turtle sighting in by then.

Thank you all.

Time to get our "ticker" going. WooHoo!!

Ticker test - YIPEE!!