St. John USVI

Old Oct 20th, 2014, 09:49 AM
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St. John USVI

The temperature fell to 28F in Massachusetts this morning and so after umming and ahhing over whether to go away at Thanksgiving or not my thoughts crystallised and I decided to book flights to the Caribbean.

No rental car booked yet but that's now number one priority.
Should we book on St. Thomas and take a car ferry or St. John? Any recommendations?

We arrive on Sunday afternoon and depart Friday afternoon so 4 full days on the island.
Suggestions on what to do. I've not done much research yet but the photos I've seen are gorgeous. We want to visit a beach or two, a little hiking, a little snorkelling, pool time and relax.

Thanks for any helpful tips!
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Old Oct 20th, 2014, 12:36 PM
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You asked - "Should we book on St. Thomas and take a car ferry or St. John?" - The answer depends on who is giving the response. The thing is 40% of the responses will tell you to rent a car in STT & take the car ferry, 40% will tell you to rent the car on STJ and the remaining 20% will tell you it makes little difference. Sorry but to this question there is no right or wrong answer - only two different options. If it were me, I'd wait and rent the car on STJ.

As far as suggestions on things to do check out these websites:
http://www.visitusvi.com/todo/stjohn
http://www.vinow.com/stjohn/SandL/
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Old Oct 20th, 2014, 01:12 PM
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I say rent it on STJ. Most of the rental places are right there when you get off the ferry. It's easy to use cabs on St Thomas to get from airport to ferry.

I would recommend exploring the north shore beaches to start....with 4 days, you will barely have time for that.
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Old Oct 20th, 2014, 01:14 PM
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Thank you Roams.
I just read something similar on Tripadvisor regarding renting a car and I was already leaning towards renting on STJ.

I think as we're flying into an island we haven't been to before it makes more sense to take it easy on arrival by catching a passenger ferry and taxi to our hotel. Then pick up the car, either that same day or the next morning.

We're staying at the Westin in a villa and the resort renovations are almost complete. The spa and renovation of a pier run into 2015 but the pools are finished so I think it will work for us.

Any restaurant advice? Local food? We will probably try to eat breakfast at our villa unless there are local places nearby that are good. Coffee shop?

Maybe 1 'upscale' meal and 2/4 will want seafood while 2/4 prefer steak or chicken.

The rest of the time casual but good food preferably with reasonably quick service. I know what 'island time service' can be like and don't want to spend 2 hours having lunch or dinner.
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Old Oct 20th, 2014, 04:17 PM
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Thanks Bassguy.

2 for 2 on renting on STJ so that's what we'll do as soon as we arrive.

North shore beaches.. as we have so little time is there 1 or 2 that you particularly recommend or not?
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Old Oct 20th, 2014, 05:07 PM
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sassy: There are lots of restaurants in Cruz Bay. La Tapa and Morgan's Mango are a couple of current personal favorites. As to beaches- drive, stop, visit and enjoy. ;-)
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Old Oct 22nd, 2014, 06:42 AM
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Beaches....depends on what you are looking for.

I haven't been to a bad one yet on STJ!!

Solomon beach is a 10 min hike down a small path, but one of my personal faves...hardly any people, and postcard type setting.

Trunk bay is the busy tourist beach that will be crowded with cruisers. It's a stunning beach, but the crowds were too much for this kid.

Gibney was another uncrowded gem, just a little further past Trunk Bay....very few people, and just gorgeous.

Maho is a great beach that is easy access as it's right along the north shore road. Calm waters....just awesome.

Francis is another beauty. This will have a few people, but easy to find a nice spot.

I highly recommend this book:
http://www.stjohnbeachguide.com/St.%...ch%20Guide.htm

It will help you find all the beaches, and it was very helpful for us.

I recommend just packing up the cooler and chairs and snorkel gear....and just start driving.....you will find them all with a little effort. But you MUST get that book.
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Old Oct 22nd, 2014, 10:12 AM
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eastenderusvi, Thanks for the restaurant suggestions.

Thanks Bassguy! We prefer deserted or quiet beaches over picture perfect ones. At first glance I read that Solomon beach was a 10 MILE hike down a small path and crossed it off my list
But 10mins we can do lol!

I'll check out the book
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Old Oct 25th, 2014, 08:40 AM
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For isolated and quiet, I like Francis Bay. I agree with Bassaguy about Solomon. It was my first beach visit on St. John and remains a favorite. I was in the water 30 seconds and saw a turtle and three squid.

I like the lobster at Lime Inn.

Rhumb Lines is good.

La Tapa is my favorite. Make a meal out of the appetizers there or order the paella.

We stayed at Caneel Bay on our last trip...I think stopping by for a cocktail at around sunset would be nice.
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Old Oct 26th, 2014, 07:21 AM
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Thanks wekewoody! I have a book a friend lent me by Pam Gaffin now so that will help with beach choices.

We are renting a Jeep from STT. My husband gets the casting vote on car hire and after calling a couple of places on STJ and not getting anywhere (busy time of year maybe) he booked with Budget. We also would have arrived in STJ too late to pick up a car on day 1.

In some ways it will make things easier as we'll have the car for the whole trip.
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Old Oct 30th, 2014, 12:51 PM
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Check with Budget to make sure you can take the jeep to STJ.
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Old Nov 2nd, 2014, 07:37 AM
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La Tapa - best food ever!
The Tap Room for great beers and friendly owners.
Skinny Legs for great burgers.
For Beaches, Waterlemon Cay, Jumbie, Hawksnest, and Salt Pond were our favorites.
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Old Nov 2nd, 2014, 04:43 PM
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We liked Rhumb Lines for nice dinner and Francis Bay for beach. Have a great time!! There is a Virgin Islands online forum with tons of advice!
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Old Nov 3rd, 2014, 08:07 AM
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Thanks all! As the weather gets colder here I'm looking forward to this break more and more.
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Old Nov 10th, 2014, 04:32 PM
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LOVE Francis Bay - just perfect sand and water. Also pretty nice snorkeling along the shore to the right (shallow, though), and also some good snorkeling around the point to the left (I think that technically puts you in Maho bay when you go around the point).

One point about Trunk Bay - yes it gets crowded but it is a singularly spectacular beach with excellent snorkeling. Try going there at the end of the day, about 4:00 or so, and it will be uncrowded, maybe deserted if you get lucky. Then you can enjoy one of the best beaches in the world, with very nice snorkeling too.

If you want to snorkel, Waterlemon Key can't be beat, and there is a nice trail from the beach that leads up to some sugar plantation ruins. It's a tougher swim over some deeper water to get to the island, but it's not too far, and very rewarding. But first you have to hike about a mile to get to the beach.
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Old Dec 29th, 2014, 06:16 AM
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sassy_cat, how was your trip?
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Old Dec 29th, 2014, 03:06 PM
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wekewoody, just saw this post again. Here's the brief trip report and I'm happy to respond to any questions...

Flew Jet Blue non stop out of Logan and the flight was short, on time and painless. We actually arrived in St. Thomas about a half hour early around 3.30pm but our 4 door Jeep was not ready on arrival.
It took an hour to get the car and we were a little anxious as it was our first trip and we had to get to St. John that evening.
After that slight hitch everything fell into place.
We stopped to pick up a few essentials at a grocery store near the car ferry and we were almost the last car to drive on board.
Started to relax as ferry headed for St. John as the sun was setting.

Glad we chose the option to rent on St. Thomas apart from the slight delay it really made things easier especially travelling as a family of 4. New jeep was squeaky clean.

Checked into our hillside villa at the Westin about an hour or so later and then went into town for dinner.

With 4 full days on St. John we chose to stick to the North Shore beaches. First morning after an enormous breakfast at the Lemongrass restaurant at the Westin (included in our rate) we set off for the beach. We stopped at Hawksnest, Jumbie, Cinnamon and Maho beaches.
Beautiful beaches! Almost deserted beaches.. at first ..apart from Cinnamon. Trunk Bay looked busy as we drove past the parking lot so we didn't stop.
We also walked the Peace Hill Trail. Beautiful views and the old sugar tower had a large honeycomb inside it. Nice spot for photos.

On day 2 we discovered Francis Bay and spent the best part of the next 3 days there. Picnic beaches nestled in the shady trees, pelicans diving for fish, gentle lapping waves and very peaceful. We were usually the first to arrive around 9am. Loved this beach!

Food
Scoops in Love City for ice-cream. Really liked this place and stopped off every day on the way home from the beach. Ice cream with a shot of rum or vodka

High Tide. Liked the painkillers here. Great sunset view and ok food.

Our grill at the Westin. Right next to our villa was a pool with 2 brand new high end gas grills. We grilled fish one night and turkey breasts another. Hadn't planned to cook but it turned out to be really fun to grill with my son while my daughter prepared some salad. Might have been the painkillers lol!!

I really enjoyed my meal at La Tapa but it was a little too fussy for DH so we didn't get to go twice!

The other place we ate I've forgotten the name of but it was right in front of the passenger ferry.
Food was just ok. Not very memorable. My mahi mahi was meh. I do remember it was number 1 on TripAdvisor lol!

We did spend an hour or so one afternoon by the large pool at the Westin but it was not really our scene.. we preferred the smaller pool next to our villa which was shared but we only saw other people using it one day.

People were friendly and helpful. I hope there's a next time as I'd like to check out Virgin Gorda
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Old Dec 30th, 2014, 05:30 AM
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Sounds like a great trip. Reading it makes me want to go back.

Virgin Gorda is awesome.
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Old Dec 30th, 2014, 10:44 AM
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Thanks! It's such a short flight for us it will definitely be on my radar for the future
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Old Dec 30th, 2014, 04:22 PM
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It is a bit of a slog from the West Coast, but so worth it. Similar to how you feel about Hawaii probably.
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