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Trip Report, Last Leg, St John
Trip Report, Last Leg, St John
Happy New Year Forum Friends,
Sorry for the long time between reports, to borrow a phrase from RickG, "my life is getting in the way of my obsession."
When I left off, we were leaving Virgin Gorda heading to St John for the final seven days of our trip. (I always like to save the best for last.)
After a nice breakfast and a quick e-mail to Destination St John to inform them of our expected arrival time, we drive to the ferry dock. We were told to leave the rental there w/keys over the visor. We catch the 10:30 "fast ferry" to Roadtown in Tortola, taxi to the West End and get on the 12:15 ferry to St John. We arrive at customs shortly before 1:00 in the afternoon. DH looks at me as we are pulling into Cruz Bay and says, "Welcome Home". It feels great to be on our FAVORITE island finally.
After a painfree, quick clearance of customs, we look around the parking lot for a rep from DSJ. A telephone call brings Leslie in no time. We load our luggage into her jeep, get the rental from St John Car Rentals and head out to Miles Away overlooking Fish Bay. (see the review sections for more details on the villa)
We attack the snack basket like starving maniacs, then hit the pool. We have a light rain, then a magnificent rainbow! We are in paradise!
The photo does not do the rainbow justice, but the end of the rainbow is in the valley. (I could not spot the pot of gold) Top left of the photo you will see leaves from the papaya trees just a few feet from the terrace.
I will not bore you with daily details of beaches and restaurants. I will merely mention some of our favorites. We came to St John to relax and just be. We planned no sails, or daytrips. No fancy restaurant reservations. Just limin' and hanging out.
Beaches: Maho, maybe our favorite. Good snorkel on the far left. We visited here twice. First on Sunday, the far right was pretty crowded (locals?) The second visit during the week, was pretty much desserted. Pelicans were very busy fishing. Several rays skated by in the shallows.
Hawksnest, I think we were here twice also. The first time it was late afternoon and we saw a wedding. Second visit earlier in the day, more people and swells, we tried a little snorkeling, not too bad. (this may be our favorite beach)
Trunk, of course the sand and beauty here is hard to beat. I think we went here THREE times. We would go early in the day and leave once the crowds started coming, or stop by late in day as the crowds were going. Also saw a wedding here one late afternoon. Snorkeling out by the cay was very good. If you head to the far left, or right you can find a nice stretch of sand to call your own. Definitely the most photogenic beach we've found.
Here's another shot looking down the left side later in the afternoon:
I think Trunk is our favorite beach. If it were not for the crowds, we would be there all day, everyday.
Salt Pond, Jorge's fave, first visit here. Too dry and scrubby, not enough shade, too pebbly and rocky, too many stickly, cockaburr thingies, stuck to our feet, towels, bag, and anything else that touched the ground. We did swim out pretty far to snorkel. It was OK. Not our favorite beach. Sorry Jorge. I prefer silky sand and some trees.
Honeymoon, nice intimate feel here. Could be a contender for favorite. We were overrun with boaters here, so we left and headed to a previously mentioned favorite.
Not enough days in the week to visit all of our favorite beaches. Another trip is needed!
Restaurants:
High Tide, for a quick bite. You can watch the coming and goings at the ferry dock. Happy excited faces coming, and sad dejected-looking faces going.
Margarita Phil's, it's been said a hundred times over, overpriced. We know full well that it is too high for what you get, BUT, we have to get our Mexican fix. Good food, just pricey. It did not disappoint.
Lime Inn, a favorite, we dined here twice. Gotta love that lobster! DH also loved the smoothies here. Sara at the Ficus Bar out front makes the best on island. DH sampled them everywhere we went, she was the hands down winner. The little stand outside of Wharfside was a close second.
Ocean Grill, in Mongoose. Nice ambience here, food was pretty good.
Skinny Legs, great burgers, they were extremely busy, a long wait, but worth it.
Pannini Beach, nice setting, good food.
Fish Trap, good food and good service. We enjoyed a late dinner the evening of the Governor or Mayor's festival, they had live music which we enjoyed while we dined.
Deli Grotto, great sandwiches and brownies.
Of course we did some shopping. Browsed the shops at Mongoose and Wharfside. Enjoyed meeting and chatting with Ruth and Ron. BTW Ron, I really appreciated the bug patches, wished we had discovered them earlier in our travels. We picked up some Christmas gifts for family and some art for ourselves.
Some final thoughts coming soon and custom shake-down . . .
Sorry for the long time between reports, to borrow a phrase from RickG, "my life is getting in the way of my obsession."
When I left off, we were leaving Virgin Gorda heading to St John for the final seven days of our trip. (I always like to save the best for last.)
After a nice breakfast and a quick e-mail to Destination St John to inform them of our expected arrival time, we drive to the ferry dock. We were told to leave the rental there w/keys over the visor. We catch the 10:30 "fast ferry" to Roadtown in Tortola, taxi to the West End and get on the 12:15 ferry to St John. We arrive at customs shortly before 1:00 in the afternoon. DH looks at me as we are pulling into Cruz Bay and says, "Welcome Home". It feels great to be on our FAVORITE island finally.
After a painfree, quick clearance of customs, we look around the parking lot for a rep from DSJ. A telephone call brings Leslie in no time. We load our luggage into her jeep, get the rental from St John Car Rentals and head out to Miles Away overlooking Fish Bay. (see the review sections for more details on the villa)
We attack the snack basket like starving maniacs, then hit the pool. We have a light rain, then a magnificent rainbow! We are in paradise!
The photo does not do the rainbow justice, but the end of the rainbow is in the valley. (I could not spot the pot of gold) Top left of the photo you will see leaves from the papaya trees just a few feet from the terrace.
I will not bore you with daily details of beaches and restaurants. I will merely mention some of our favorites. We came to St John to relax and just be. We planned no sails, or daytrips. No fancy restaurant reservations. Just limin' and hanging out.
Beaches: Maho, maybe our favorite. Good snorkel on the far left. We visited here twice. First on Sunday, the far right was pretty crowded (locals?) The second visit during the week, was pretty much desserted. Pelicans were very busy fishing. Several rays skated by in the shallows.
Hawksnest, I think we were here twice also. The first time it was late afternoon and we saw a wedding. Second visit earlier in the day, more people and swells, we tried a little snorkeling, not too bad. (this may be our favorite beach)
Trunk, of course the sand and beauty here is hard to beat. I think we went here THREE times. We would go early in the day and leave once the crowds started coming, or stop by late in day as the crowds were going. Also saw a wedding here one late afternoon. Snorkeling out by the cay was very good. If you head to the far left, or right you can find a nice stretch of sand to call your own. Definitely the most photogenic beach we've found.
Here's another shot looking down the left side later in the afternoon:
I think Trunk is our favorite beach. If it were not for the crowds, we would be there all day, everyday.
Salt Pond, Jorge's fave, first visit here. Too dry and scrubby, not enough shade, too pebbly and rocky, too many stickly, cockaburr thingies, stuck to our feet, towels, bag, and anything else that touched the ground. We did swim out pretty far to snorkel. It was OK. Not our favorite beach. Sorry Jorge. I prefer silky sand and some trees.
Honeymoon, nice intimate feel here. Could be a contender for favorite. We were overrun with boaters here, so we left and headed to a previously mentioned favorite.
Not enough days in the week to visit all of our favorite beaches. Another trip is needed!
Restaurants:
High Tide, for a quick bite. You can watch the coming and goings at the ferry dock. Happy excited faces coming, and sad dejected-looking faces going.
Margarita Phil's, it's been said a hundred times over, overpriced. We know full well that it is too high for what you get, BUT, we have to get our Mexican fix. Good food, just pricey. It did not disappoint.
Lime Inn, a favorite, we dined here twice. Gotta love that lobster! DH also loved the smoothies here. Sara at the Ficus Bar out front makes the best on island. DH sampled them everywhere we went, she was the hands down winner. The little stand outside of Wharfside was a close second.
Ocean Grill, in Mongoose. Nice ambience here, food was pretty good.
Skinny Legs, great burgers, they were extremely busy, a long wait, but worth it.
Pannini Beach, nice setting, good food.
Fish Trap, good food and good service. We enjoyed a late dinner the evening of the Governor or Mayor's festival, they had live music which we enjoyed while we dined.
Deli Grotto, great sandwiches and brownies.
Of course we did some shopping. Browsed the shops at Mongoose and Wharfside. Enjoyed meeting and chatting with Ruth and Ron. BTW Ron, I really appreciated the bug patches, wished we had discovered them earlier in our travels. We picked up some Christmas gifts for family and some art for ourselves.
Some final thoughts coming soon and custom shake-down . . .
Patr
~~Longing to be back on St. John~~
~~Longing to be back on St. John~~
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nascarfan59
- Posts: 509
- Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 9:24 pm
- Location: Central IL
Sarah, bug patches are a all natural (B-11, I think), transdermal patch that last up to 36 hours. You apply a patch 2 hours before you need it to work. It really worked for me, it stayed on through the pool and salt water even!
The down side was the tape residue was difficult to remove.
We were really getten eaten up by the mosquitos late in the afternoon at dusk. After applying the patch, no more bites!
Nascarfan, we are from Freeburg, about 30 miles east of St Louis.
The down side was the tape residue was difficult to remove.
We were really getten eaten up by the mosquitos late in the afternoon at dusk. After applying the patch, no more bites!
Nascarfan, we are from Freeburg, about 30 miles east of St Louis.
Patr
~~Longing to be back on St. John~~
~~Longing to be back on St. John~~
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Jan&MikeVa
- Posts: 1084
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 5:32 pm
- Location: The Chesapeake Bay
Nice Trunk Photo!
Thanx for sharing the great Trunk Bay Photo! I felt like I could walk right through those trees into that gorgeous blue water!! (Can't wait til April for us!!)
We only set foot on Trunk - one late afternoon & quickly learned why everyone Raves about this beach.
I agree - Salt Pond didn't "do it" for me & my husband, either. Agreed - I kind of felt like I was in Arizona - not St. John.
LOVE Honeymoon! Absolutely one of our favorites!
Glad you had such a wonderful trip!
Thanx for the reports!
We only set foot on Trunk - one late afternoon & quickly learned why everyone Raves about this beach.
I agree - Salt Pond didn't "do it" for me & my husband, either. Agreed - I kind of felt like I was in Arizona - not St. John.
LOVE Honeymoon! Absolutely one of our favorites!
Glad you had such a wonderful trip!
Thanx for the reports!
Patr I (Rob) am originally from Mt. Vernon just a few miles down the Rt. 15 from you! Lots of folks from Illinois on this forum...cool!patr wrote: Nascarfan, we are from Freeburg, about 30 miles east of St Louis.
Cindi is a native of Northern Cal...my Cali Girl
Now we are both stuck in Texas wishin we were somewhere other than here!!! 143 more days...and counting