USVI-On-Line

(this installment may be more than you care to know about me but I started on a roll and stuck with it...)

TR Part 1 link: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... php?t=7825
TR Part 2 Link: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... php?t=7833
TR Part 3- http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... php?t=7850
TR Part 4- http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... php?t=7879
TR Part 5- http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... php?t=7903

photos: http://s240.photobucket.com/albums/ff71/sherb/

BEACHES-

I grew up going to the beaches in South Jersey...Stone Harbor, Avalon, and Cape May, we used to love to body surf and watch the pretty girls when I was a young man... I was happy at the beach as a kid...here's me at the Jersey shore in 1963...

The Jersey shore was it for about 11 years and then I moved to Cape Ann in Massachussettes and went to beaches like Good Harbour Beach, Half Moon Beach, and Wingearsheek...wow, compared to Jearsey the water in Mass is COLD, numbing cold! The feel of Good Harbor and Jersey was about the same to me, besides the water temperature.

Then I moved to Georgia when I was about 21 years old and took my first trip to the Floriday panhandle...Panama City Beach...wow! That was the first time I ever saw and felt powdery white sand and beautiful blue water it was PERFECT for someone in their early twenties...I loved that beach. My next step a few years later was the Florida Keys...coral, snorkeling, partying...kicked it up another notch. Next was Hawaii (Oahu) and Mexico (almost 20 years ago now...), both were awesome.

So at this point the Keys and Tulum Mexico were the closest I'd been to the Caribbean...until last year we kicked it up another Notch when we went to Aruba....WOW...tuquoise waters of all hues...blah, blah, blah...that was my intro to true Caribbean Island Beaches and they have some good ones.

So what to do next to take it up another notch......St John! After researching for months I came to the conclusion that St John had some of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean...so we booked our trip. And yes, the beaches of St John are awesome in our opinions....up there with the best of the best...

Our STJ beach visits and thoughts:
Little Maho- small, not great for beauty but good for beginning snorkeling...B
Denis Bay- Small awesome, beautiful, "private", has shade if needed, good coral/snorkeling... A++
Cinnamon Bay- Awesome, huge, beautiful, good snorkeling, showers, restrooms, snacks & food....A++
Leinster (observed)- Very good, medium size, beautiful, shallow, good snorkeling, good for beginners....A
Jumbie- Small, nice view, can get crowded because of easy access, snorkeling isn't great....B++

Denis Bay pic:


Denis Bay #2:


Cinnamon Bay:


Cinnamon #2:


So, what beaches will we review next year.....who knows....not even us yet...but thanks for helping us find STJ.

Very nice...thanks.

Nice to read your (beach) pilgrim's progress to STJ. When I hear people say they don't like "the beach," it's a pretty good bet they haven't seen a Caribbean beach. I've only been to St. John twice, but I have the same problem with beaches that I do with restaurants - when I don't get there very often, I want to go back to my favorites. But then I don't get to try many new ones. Next year we're definitely going to have to try some of the places you enjoyed. Thanks for the encouragement.

Robin

Thanks for the reports Sherban--- Nice assessment of the beaches. We went to Denis Bay for the first time this last trip but it was cloudy and the surf was up---I'm anxious to go back on a sunny, calm day.

Very nice reports. Thank you, sherban. Happy July 4th!

Thanks for your reports and pics. Your trip was one of the better researched first trips and I'm glad that you enjoyed it.

We share a similar beach history. I also was introduced to beaches on the Jersey shore. My family made an annual trip to Stone Harbor. When I was older, friends and I would go to Ocean City. That was the ocean as I knew it----warm, with some surf. I later moved to New England and discovered a different sort of ocean, one that often was too cold to get into even in August.

Then I discovered the tropics and that was that. We still get to Cape Cod and enjoy it thoroughly, but tropical beaches are what I dream about. We've been a few places in the Caribbean and to Hawaii a few times. Years back spent some time on islands off the coast of Thailand. I think about the South Pacific.

A funny thing happened last summer. We went back to New Jersey for the first time in over 30 years. Friends were staying in Avalon and we went to visit there for a few days. We loved it. Avalon is a small, pleasant, sleepy beach town and it was like a return to an idealized memory of childhood. Avalon seemed too good to be true. It had almost a Pleasantville or Stepford Wives calm and pleasantry to it. Beaches weren't very crowded, water was warm and I could body surf just like when I was ten. We had such a sweet time that we'll go back for a few days this summer.

Lex- That's neat we have some similar history.

I share some of your feelings about Jersey and how it is the "same as it ever was"... I've been back twice in the past 6 years, rented little houses in Stone Harbor and Avalon...and yes...some of it seems lost in a time warp doesn't it? The same old stone driveways and the outdoor shower stalls and the beach tags and lifeguard chairs...a walk down memory lane with a trip to Springer's for some ice cream. (then you see a new "mega-mansion" and it's back to the 21st century...)

It was cool to take my kids there and re-live the joy of my childhood with them, teaching my son how to ride the waves, feeling his heart beating a mile a minute from the adrenaline surges of excitement. Ah yes, I remember...it's in there...


It's cool to be able to go somewhere and unlock these memories, it is priceless to be able to do it with your children and actually relive some of those old emotions and discoveries...
Have a great day, thanks for unlocking a few memories!

Great picture Sherban! I used to go to the Jersey Shore all the time as a kid. Have not been back since ages, but I remember it was actually warm enough to get in the water (unlike up here!).

Thanks Sherban, I'm enjoying the nostalgia.

Magic words: "Come on, let's go to Springers." A day that couldn't get any better was going to get even better. A warm summer night at the shore waiting in line at Springers.

It was odd when we went to Stone Harbor last summer. We were staying in Avalon, but Stone Harbor was where I'd always stayed with my family as a boy. I was eager to get a look at it, but once there didn't recognize it at all. 96th Street was like a place I'd never been before. It really has been developed and renovated extensively, so it was more due to that than to tricks of memory. We went out to 105th Street where we had rented a place for years and it I didn't recognize it at all. It was the oddest thing. Pleasant as it was, even Springers was unconnected to my memory of it.

It might have been slightly disappointing were it not for how magical the Avalon experience was for me. Avalon felt like the Jersey shore of my childhood, even though we hardly went there when I was young. (The name "Avalon" does have pretty profound significance in Arthurian legend and our time there seemed special and rare). And it really was a pretty sweet experience of reviving some memories and feelings of a ten year old self. My wife wasn't experiencing any of this on the level I was. She'd never been to south Jersey before, but she also throroughly enjoyed Avalon. I never really gave much thought to getting back to Jersey until last summer, but I really delighted that I did.