(Excellent)
This is our third time staying at Coconuts villa and the first time since the renovations were done. We love Coconuts and the renovations have made it even nicer. One of our favorite features is the gazebo on the deck with a fabulous view and comfortable chairs around a big table. We had breakfast on the deck every morning overlooking the beautiful view down to Great Cruz Bay and across the channel to St Thomas. It was breezy and pleasant every morning and evening (we spent most days at the beach). In the evening, we enjoyed sunset views, and watched the twinkling lights appear on St Thomas.
The yard is big by STJ standards and had trees of all kinds - pink flowered, papaya, flamboyant and other flowering trees, and a big purple bougainvillea hedge in full bloom. In the courtyard near the pool, there are plants and trees, and an orchid that was perfectly in bloom. The owner has labeled the plants and trees for those of us who want to know the names of such things.
The new outdoor kitchen is great. You enjoy a wonderful view when you cook on the griddle or grill out there. There is also a big pool table. The pool is now solar heated and quite comfortable for evening swims. One day, we spent the whole day at the villa, and enjoyed using the pool. There are various floatie things to use.
The kitchen is adequately stocked for fixing the few meals we cooked from scratch, (some nice quality pots and pans) and plenty of dishes to enjoy eating at the villa. We heated up leftovers and carry-out several times in the microwave. I actually baked cookies (a new thing for us on vacation - got the idea from a forumite's trip report). There were nice baking sheets there and the oven worked fine. We like that the main kitchen can be opened up to the outside, however, we were careful to not leave out any food so that ants and birds couldn't help themselves.
The living room and dining room are very pleasant - nicely decorated and comfortable. We didn't use the dining room this trip, because we always ate out on the deck, but have used it on past trips. The living room has comfortable furniture and top notch equipment to watch TV or movies. We spent all our time outside and didn't use the TV or projector at all, but it looks like it would be great. The owner has done a nice job of documenting detailed instructions on how to use the electronics in a notebook in the living room. There is also a supply of books, and guidebooks for St John and fish.
We really enjoyed the telescope and seeing Saturn and Venus during out stay. My husband enjoys astronomy, so he made a lot of use of the telescope. Be careful carrying it outside as it's a bit heavy and awkward to carry.
There is air conditioning in 2 of the bedrooms (not the loft BR), but we only used it the first night. The breezes were sufficient to keep us very cool at night. The bedrooms and bathrooms were quite nice and had plenty of closet space. Plenty of bath and beach towels were supplied. It was nice having a washer/dryer since we were there for 2 weeks. The villa was quite comfortable and plenty of space for 2 couples. The owner installed a water purification system (UV), so we drank the villa water. In our past visits to St John, we didn't drink the villa water (from a cistern), and bought water, which meant stops at the water bottling place in Cruz Bay to refill our jugs. It was really nice to be able to drink the water at the villa.
We really like the Gifft Hill location. It provides gorgeous sunset views and a quick trip into town for groceries or restaurants or carry-out. It was about 8 minutes to either Starfish (going South shore route) or Dolphin (going the Centerline route). We like to get carry-out and eat at the villa because it was so nice on the deck, so this is very convenient for us. It was about 10 minutes to our parking spot at Bougainvillea Jeep Rental. The drive to north shore beaches was 15-20 minutes for most of them, and a bit longer for Frances and Waterlemon. It took about 20 minutes to get into Coral Bay. We drove to Little Lameshur and that was about a 45 minute drive.
Check out the photos of Coconuts on the Caribbean Villa website. They accurately show the villa exactly as it is - no trick photography. We can't wait to get back to Coconuts.