The ink doesn't appear to be working. Try this.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bquarre/album?.dir=/5870re2&.src=ph

The first link works. I just watched your pics. Nice! Love the funny commments. Memories of those lovely beaches.... ahhh...
Thanks for posting.

beautiful! Thanks for posting. I so want to go too!

fabulous photos bill

i just booked my trip to St John for the end of Oct, so i can't wait for your trip report. i'm hoping you share your fav snorkel spots, dining spots and your opinions on caneel bay.

a K9 fan,
bluefan

Such great pictures and I loved seeing them in the slideshow format. It was like one of my lovely daydreams. Looking forward to the report. Please hurry!

You got me w/that title!

AWESOME pictures w/titles. I don't have a favorite because they were all so good!! Thanks for sharing.

Okay. Here goes nothin. I tend to be long winded, so be forewarned.

History and Perspective

Prior to this trip I'd never been to the Caribbean. Martin, my partner had been to the USVI/BVI on a bareboat charter with friends around 30 years ago and to Roatan many years ago on another sailing trip with the same friends. My "tropical island" travel experiences has been exclusively Hawaiian. Since I live on the west coast, it is particularly convienient and easy to get to. I've been visiting Hawaii for around 30 years and in the last 4 years have returned every year to Kaua'i. I love the islands and could return again and again without any regrets about missing other experiences at other places.

A few years ago Martin put the Caribbean bug in my ear. He thought that since I loved the waters and beaches of Hawaii so much that I ought to give the Caribbean a try. He also wanted to return again. So, we decided to forego my beloved Kaua'i for a year in favor of someplace in the Caribbean.

I started reading books, magazines, and the posts here and on other boards. We wanted the classic white Caribbean beach, from shore snorkeling, and it could not be a major tourist trap. We're not huge resort people and generally don't like to share our space with too many other people we don't know. After a few months of snooping around, my top choices were Anguilla, The Cayman Islands and St. John. St.John eventually won primarily because the raves here about the snorkeling and the beaches. It ended up being the right choice this time.

The original plan was for 12 days in mid June. We'd leave right after school got out for the summer. Five days would be at Caneel Bay and 7 of them at a villa rental. I figured that would give us the best of both worlds, even though Martin was not entirely crazy about Caneel, we went ahead with it.

Now more research. Which room at Caneel and which villa? There were way to many choices! I'd like to thank xkenx and poss in particular for their comments about which room to book at Caneel. We normally don't spend that kind of money on hotels, so I obsessed about which room category would give me the most bang for my buck. You guys gave me valuable advice. I booked a beachfront room on Hawksnest Beach at Caneel. I ended up finding what seemed like a great villa, apparently close to, what I gathered is a great beach, so I booked it. Yippee. All set.

Somtime last spring I started having second thoughts about staying at Caneel and we eventually decided to spend our whole time at the villa. Luckily, the villa was available for the extra five days. All set.

Then, in late March, United contacted us and informed us that they have cancelled our previously booked flight from DC to STT and have rebooked us on another flight two days earlier! Hmmm...Two more days in St. John was a good thing, but I was irked at United. We tried to change it, to no avail. I don't think it helped our situation that we "purchased" the tickets using FF points. Luckily, we could leave 2 days earlier (a day after school got out)so we went with it. Our villa was not available for those two extra nights, however so I had to scramble around and find something. I really was hoping for Estate Lindholm, but they were already booked. Gallows Point had openings, so I booked an upper harborview unit in building 10. All set, really.

Next, the acutal trip.

Getting There

We flew from SFO to Dulles on a red-eye that arrived at 7am. Our flight to STT left around 9:30am and we arrived in STT around 1:45pm. All flights were around 30 minutes late, but we made up some time on the STT leg. I took half a 10mg ambien or the SFO - Dulles leg and it worked great. I woke up about 45 minutes before we landed. I normally can't sleep on planes, even at night, so this was great.

I was a bit anxious about getting a cab to the ferry in Red Hook, so I reserved ahead of time a private taxi through Freddy at Dynamic Tours on STT. Seeing as I'd never done this before I thought that spending the extra money would make things easier. In retrospect, I am glad that we reserved Freddy ahead of time, it was very nice to have him waiting there for us when we walked outside, but I don't think that doing the private taxi was worth the extra $$. I can highly recommend Freddy though. He, and the drivers we had were great.

We like to travel light and hardly ever check luggage anymore. Boy, am I glad we did not check bags on this trip! It might have looked worse than it actually was, but the baggage claim area looked like a zoo

OOPs.
...zoo. It felt great to be able to bypass that.

For the two of us we had a 21" rolling bag, our snorkel bag, and we each had a small backpack all of which we carried on. It was a little tight, but we only ended up wearing about 2/3 of what we packed, so next time it will be even lighter. I was good though and resisted temptation to pack a lot of shoes. I brought only two pair of sandles and I surived.

The taxi ride from the airport to the ferry at Red Hook was interesting and uneventful. We took the "high road" that went into the hills above Charlotte Amalie and then wound it's way down into Red Hook. The ride took about 30 minutes. We made the 3:00 ferry with plenty of time to spare. As we boarded the ferry, it finally began to feel like we were really on vacation! What a great feeling it was to be sitting on that ferry knowing that we'd be checking out of the rat race for the next two weeks! The travel weariness we had been experiencing was replaced by excitiment and anticipation.

Next, being there!

Love the photos and am so loving your report!

Forgot to add, THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the music! I downloaded so much of what you suggested and my husband and everyone who listed to my iPod (ten people) just flipped!

Enjoying your trip report. Please keep it coming!

GoT,

Thanks. Were you ever able to get any Orchestra Baobab from i-tunes? We left for the airport an hour or so after that whole exhange here and I was wondering how it all turned out. Having the right tunes when one travels is KEY in my opinion.
How was Tortola? We looked at it every day from our rental's deck.

-Bill

Yes, I did download a couple of their songs and the one I particularly love I can't think of the name of!

I can totally relate to the flight mess. United canceled my first flight from MYR to Dulles so I missed my Dulles SJU leg. They finally rerouted me on USAir through St. Martin to Tortola!

Loved Tortola! The groom gave me his house for the week of Christmas!

As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, we loved St. John. All we wanted to do was to flop ourselves a gorgeous beach, snorkel and forget what day it was. It was the perfect island for us.

I'm hunting around for island ideas with the kids and came across your pictures. They were wonderful. Looks like you had a great time. Maybe I should leave the kids home??

dang it. I hate it when I do that. anyhow...

I relax best near the ocean or on the beach.I had just wrapped up a fairly stressful year at school and I was SO ready to just let it all go and forget about my life.

St. John, it's people, it's laid back feel, it's water, it's beaches and it's sea-life allowed me to do that perfectly. I have never swam in ocean water than clear or warm before. I have never been able to float on a raft for hours without worrying about being toppled by a wave, being sucked out to sea or getting cold. I have never seen such a wide variety of fish and colorful coral before. Now, remember, I am not that widely traveled with respect to these things, so there may be better, warmer and clearer out there, but I remain one satisfied and impressed customer by what I found on St. John.

The urge to compare St. John with Hawaii is strong, but I now know what I suspected before: It's an apples/oranges thing, so I am going to avoid the dreaded comparison thread. We're going back to Hawaii at least once next year, so I'm still right with my other paradise.

Our daily routine went something like this: Rise early, go snorkeling somewhere, either stay there for the rest of the day and veg, or move onto another beach to hang out at for the afernoon. It was an informal goal of Martin's to visit a different beach everyday. The amazing thing about that is that there are easily that many beaches on the island to accomplish that on a two week trip. Then we'd go home to rest and refresh. Then head out to dinner. Come home, read or play cards until we were nodding off. Go to sleep and do it again. We're not big partiers anymore, so the early rise/early sleep thing works for us. I slept very well.

We did not do any organized tours or boat charters. I had reservations with New Horizons II to go to the Baths, Jost Van Dyke, etc..., but we were having such a great time doing what we were doing and seeing what we were seeing, I cancelled it. Next time, we'll hit the BVI, maybe for two weeks too! I also had thought about doing the guided hike on the Reef Bay trail, but I was so lethargic by that time that I bagged that too! I usually like to hike a fair amount wherever we go, but this time the thought of doing any hiking made me dizzy. That will have to wait for next time too! Can you say LAZY? Martin and I have this joke that when we are truly relaxed, we are doing the "Thorazine Shuffle". It did not take us long to start shuffling!
Next, where we stayed.

mother,

LEAVE THEM!

-Bill

We stayed the first two nights at Gallows Point Resort in Cruz Bay. They are one bedroom condos. We stayed in an upper "harborview" unit C in building 10. We really liked it here. It was great being so close to town so we could explore Cruz Bay and get the lay of the land before we got our rental car and villa. Our unit was a little long in the tooth and could have used a bit of sprucing up, but it was fine. The bed was comfortable and the unit was very spacious. I might have asked to see another unit if we were staying there for a longer time, but for two nights it was fine. The employees were all very nice, helpful and courteous. The grounds are well kept and there is a nice beach/patio area out front right on the water. We snorkeled there our first afternoon on the island and thought is was pretty good. It is a nice place to watch the sunset. I think it is the nicest place to stay in town. I'd stay there again.

For the bulk of our time we stayed at "Honeymoon Cottage" near Francis Bay on the north shore of the island. I included a lot of pictures of it in the photo link. We thought this place was great and it exceded my expectations. From my dealings with the agent, Terry Witham, to the facilities, to the loaction, it was perfect. Terry was easy and fun to work with. She took care of arranging for a rental car from St. John Car Rental. She completely answered all my questions the house. I really liked staying on the north shore. We were only a few minutes drive to many great beaches and the house was a 5 minute walk from Francis Bay. It took us 20 minutes to drive to Cruz Bay and about the same amount of time to drive to Coral Bay. I would highly recommend it for two people. If you like it enough you can buy it, as it is for sale for only $1.6 million.
More tomorrow.

-Bill

Bill,
Thanks for the report thus far. Loved your pictures with the captions. We will be in 10C the end of November. We were in 11C last time. Only minor complaint we had were that the couch cushions looked kind of dirty. Looking forward to the rest of your report.

heh--Thorazine Shuffle. I'm gonna have to steal that term for my upcoming trip.

Still enjoying it, hoping to read more!

Bill,
Thanks for sharing your pictures. St John is one beautiful island. Honeymoon Cottage looks wonderful.

Christie

Yeah...I could use some Thorazine right now! I'm glad you're all enjoying this.

bluefan, I've been warned by all the remaining K9s not gush too much. Am I doing okay?

Let see.....BEACHES/snorkeling!

So, this is the real reason we went to St. John. Here are the beaches we went to in no particular order:

Salomon Bay: We visited this beach two days when we were staying at Gallows Bay. We did not have a car yet, so we walked the Lind Point trail from town to get there. It took about 30 minutes and was a pleasant hike. One could continue on to Honeymoon Beach and Caneel on this trail. Maybe it is because this was the first beach we went to, but it remained a favorite over the course of the trip. It is a small beach, but not to worry, there were only two or three groups of people there both days we visited, so it remained quiet and semi-private. The snorkeing was very good to the right around the point. I was in the water 3 minutes and had my first turtle sighting! This would be the first of many turtle encounters. This one was aggresively tugging and gnawing at some plants in some rock crevices. It was fun to watch. This beach appeared popular with those who had rented zodiac dingys for the day to explore, as two or three pulled up each day we were there.

Francis Bay: As I mentioned in my photos, this was the beach that was closest to our rental. What a fabulous beach and just a short walk from home! It was the calmest of all the beaches we visited. It is a fairly large beach, so it never felt crowded. It has lots of nooks and crannies in the trees that provide shade. We spent several mornings, some afternoons and a couple of whole days here. This was a great place to float. The snorkeling was very good to the right along the rocky shore out to Mary Point. Lots of fish activity. We saw a few small barracudas lurking. No turtles here. One can walk down the beach until it turns rocky and there are some sandy areas that make for easy entry and exit. There were huge "clouds" of fry all over this bay. One day as I was sitting there staring off into space, a fairly large spotted ray jumped out of the water and went flying through the air! It did this twice. What a treat! Later that day, Martin saw one do the same thing.

Leinster Bay/Waterlemon Cay: By far, the best snorkeling was to be found here. The variety and diversity is what really made this place stand out. We went here 3 or 4 times, and because it was so close (3 minute drive) to our villa we could be there in the early morning before anyone else arrived. We'd be leaving just about the time large numbers of people were arriving. We'd head back to Francis or hit another beach with a very satisfied feeling that we'd just experienced something very special.
You can snorkel in the calm bay area and see lots of starfish and turtles grazing or you can swim out to the island and float around the island, which is what we really enjoyed doing. Thanks to Trish for saying that she went around the island counterclockwise. We did that too and it seemed that it was easier negotitating the current that way. We saw several turtles here. One I will never forget. It was HUGE and the design on its shell was like a work of art! I floated above her for a long time spellbound. Amazing. We saw a rather large spotted ray and lots of smaller non-spotted rays. We had a couple of run-ins with full sized barracudas. One was lurking about 10 feet directly in front of us, just below the surface. Who knows how long it had been checking us out! The other one appeared out of the deeper water and swam right past us and away toward shallower water and then circled around again and came past us one more time. Those big, black eyes of theirs freaked me out a bit. The coral here was very nice too. Lots of purple seafans! Go, and get here by 8:30 or 9:00 and you'll have the place all to yourself for a at least an hour.

more beaches later...

Thanks Christie. Yes, the HC worked out great and I would highly recommend it for you and you hubby for any future trips without the kids.

-Bill

more beaches...

Cinnamon: Nice beach, as all are, but this one was the most crowded beach we went to. Which is to say that it was not "cheek to cheek" like Waikiki at Christmas, but... it had the most people on it of the beaches we went to. We visited in the afternoon after a morning at Waterlemon. Mostly families, many of whom were probably staying at the campground on site.

Trunk Bay: A truly gorgeous beach with excellent snorkeling. We went early on a day when no cruise ship were scheduled in STT. I loved the cove/lagoon area to the right of the island. We snorkeled around the island and besides the ususal colorful reef fish, we saw a gigantic lobster trying to hide under a rock ledge. It was big!
The coral was pretty here too and there were yellow sea fans that I do not remember seeing anywhere else.

Salt Pond: Very nice beach with a wilder/more remote feeling than the north shore beaches. Very few people. Good snorkeling around the left side out to and beyond the point. We wanted to go out to the rocks out in the center, but we had already been out for almost an hour and were too tired to attempt it.

Hawksnest: Beautiful beach with great snorkeling over the shallow reef in front of the beach and to the sides. We visited in the afternoon and it was still pretty packed.

Jumbie: One of my favorites! It is a spectacular, quiet, small beach. Very private and secluded. There is a very small parking lot across the street that only holds four cars, so this beach never gets too many people on it. It has great shady spots. Apparently this beach is a bit more exposed to the breezes, so it can be a little windier and wavy than others. We laughed at the "huge" waves that were rolling in and I complained that it was too bumpy to float comfortably in. It did not take me long to get spoiled by the beaches here! While out snorkeling we saw several squid! Yikes, are they funny looking in the water. It was like this huge nose was sitting there staring at me with these big bulging eyes! I couldn't stop laughing at them. I followed them around for a few minutes cracking up. I also saw a red bearded fire worm. It looked like a huge centipede. It was a little creepy looking.

Maho: It is a lovely bay with a narrow stretch of beach that is very nice. Very calm waters. We bobbed and schmoozed there one afernoon after spending too much time in Cruz Bay shopping and snooping around. Lots of boats were tied up on the mooring bouys here.

Gibney: Another favorite. We spent two full days here swimming, snorkeling and relaxing. It is just to the left of Hawksnest, but is much quieter and less visited. The beach is lovely and there are a lot of shady places to set up shop for the day. Very good snorkeling to the left and along the coastline.

Beach regrets: We never made it out to Lameshur and we did not make it into Caneel Bay to snorkel there. Next time!

food next...

My family and I just returned from a week on STJ - our sixth trip but the first time with the kids. I can relate to all your snorkeling adventures! Thanks so much for the report - I am now heading to see your pictures (as if I didn't take enough of my own!)

Tracy

Bill -

One thing I noticed about your slideshow - it's titled St. John 2007.....Subliminal message I think about your return trip!

Enjoyed it!

Tracy

Tracy,
Yikes! You are right! LOL. I guess I have to go back next year now! I just changed it. Thanks!
-Bill

What a fun report. I never get tired of reading these reports. It's wonderful to get a chance to see the place I love through other eyes. Can't wait to read more.

Thank you so much for your wonderful, and greatly detailed, trip report and the fab pictures!! Reports such as yours makes my wait "just" a little be easier!!

Bill: Thanks ever so much for the terrifically detailed report. I'm so glad you and your partner loved your visit to one of my favorite Caribbean islands (I'm also in love with Kauia, by the way. An even more beautiful island and awesome hiking, but snorkeling--a primary passion with us-- not as great, we think.)
Quick question: Am I correct in remembering that Honeymoon Cottage has a queen size bed, not king? The place sounds wonderful, and I'd love to do a villa for a change (we usually split our time between Gallows Point and Caneel-- I'm sorry, by the way, that you didn't make it over to Caneel: really lovely grounds and wonderful snorkeling), but, alas, we really do need a king size bed.
Thanks again for a cheering and informative report.

Thanks all. I just spent over an hour typing up the rest of this damn thing and lost it somehow!

Sometimes I really hate this website!

I'm gonna give it a rest and try it again tommorrow.

poss, yes the HC has a queen size bed. Those king size beds at Gallows are HUGE!

-Bill

Bill,
How is the construction going at the place next to Lavender Hill? I think it will be called Grand Bay Resort or something like that. We were there the end of March and things were going strong. Said it was going to open 2006. It will be interesting to see how this will affect Cruz Bay when it opens. I have no idea how many units they will have.

bren,
It didn't look like things were moving to swiftly to me. We looked a bit at it as we walked back and forth to Gallows and we did not see that much activity, but that was for only two days and one of them was a Sunday. I saw a postcard in one of the shops taken in 1994 and I can tell you that hill looked a lot better then than it does now. It seems like it will be the most upscale thing in town once it's done.

-Bill

My family and I are planning a week trip to STJ in May 2007. Would you mind commenting on the driving conditions? We'll have a 3.5 year old with us. Also, would you consider staying in the Great Cruz Bay harbor area? I'm trying to get various perspectives on what it is like to rent a villa there. I just can't seem to narrow down the location for our villa.

Thank you!

hi bill,

i love, love, love your pics and captions and am thoroughly enjoying your trip report, as well. it makes me miss stj a LOT. you may have mentioned it (my eyes are tired and i could have missed it), but how much a night, or a week, was the honeymoon cottage? did it have a bathtub (important for me...i love baths)? i definitely can't afford to buy it! i know you don't want to compare kauai to stj, but i think stj blows kauai out of the water (for certain things, of course...calm, turquoise water being one of them). stj reminded me a little bit of bora bora, and since you are from SF (i lived in san jose for years), you may want to try bora bora, tahiti, since you enjoyed stj so much. the travel time is a lot less (7 1/2 hours from LA, i believe). well, glad you ahd a great time, and thanks for an outstanding trip report.

We stayed in a villa in Great Cruz Bay and loved it ! Had a small pool, easy access to the beach ( although we visited a different one each day ) close to town= excellent best trip ever !

kcapuani,
I can't comment on Great Cruz Bay as we never made it over to that part of the island except to drive past the Westin one day. There are fewer rentals on the north shore and they are a bit more expensive, but if we go again, we will try to stay in that area again for sure.

Driving was interesting. I'm a better driver than passenger, so I did all the driving. I was a bit of a basket case for the first day or two, but after a while I got used to driving on the other side. The roads are narrow, hilly and winding, but just drive carefully and slowly and you will be fine. Negotiating around Cruz Bay was a little confusing and frustating at first. It helped having a calm and supportive navigator.

jackie,
The HC is $200 a night low season, $300 a night high season. It does not have a tub, just the outdoor shower. There is a hot tub though!

Funny that you should mention Tahiti. It is on our radar screen for either next year of the year after. Where did you go, where did you stay, what time of year did you go and how long were you there? You can e-mail your answers when you have time to me at bill.quarre@comcast.net. Thanks.

Bill

Bill,
I'm loving your report and your pics are fantastic, the humor makes them even more enjoyable. I'm hoping to get to STJ in May/June 07. Honeymoon Cottage sounds great. Do they have a website? I tried Google, but no luck. Thank you for all of the info you are sharing. It's really helpful.

Ellao,

Here is the link:

www.stjohnusvi.org

-Bill

iamq,
Looks like St. John really is that great!
I'm in Jamaica and I wish I was in St. John right now!

Oh, this is where you trip report is!

And the first link worked for me too.

Bill, on the next GTG you must give a presentation on packing! Seriously!

Beautiful pictures!

You notice they have given me the credit on Fodor's Travel Forum page for this thread ...
I wish!!!
I do wish I had been there instead of iamq though!!

Wow, I've never had a thread featured on the front page before. Does this fall under the heading "My fifteen minutes fame"?

Survivor,
The algorithim I've started using is I put out what I want to pack and then trim it back by 30% - 50% and I still end up with packing too much. It is a painful process. I ended up packing a pair of dressy short I did not wear, a dressy shirt I did not wear, and two t-shirts I did not wear. Granted, St. John is not exactly fashion plate central, and you can wear shorts and a nice t-shirt at even the better restaurants. We did not eat at Asolare, Caneel or Chateau Bordeaux and that is what I packed the dressy shorts and shirt. If we had planned to eat in more all I could have gotten by with packing even less. I will probably end up freaking out and way overpacking when we go to Rome next year, so I won' t be giving any powerpoint presentations, unless it is about how to properly float in a raft while sipping a cool drink withour spilling any.

-Bill

Okay, time to wrap this puppy up.

Carnival
We got there on the June 18th and left on Jluy 2nd. Carnival pre-festivities were in full swing for most of our visit and things got more and more "festive" as the 4th approached. We went to the food festival held dwon by the ferry dock. There were about 15 food booths set up selling everything from mango tarts, to whelks (what are these?) to lobster in butter. Caribbean soul food! Yum. We grazed on fried chicken, marcaroni/cheese, collared greens, and cornbread. We also picked up stewed mutton, crab and rice, conch fritters and mango,pineapple and coconut tarts and took it home for a pigfest later that night. The mutton was definitely the sinner

Hey Bill,
They even have now given YOU credit for the report.
Fifteen minutes of fame indeed!
I believe it's now time for your thank you speech?

Oh $%#^%&%$#@$! What is wrong with this website? I again just spent another hour typing the food portion up and what got posted is not what I was working on.

Boy, oh boy.

I'm done now.

If you have any food questions, or for that matter, any questions at all, please ask.

Thanks.

-Bill

I have read that in the NYTimes 2 months ago that nearly 40% of the coral in the US V.I. is dead (turns white) and most of the fish eat off the coral so in turn less number and variety of fish. We visted Caneel 7-8 times in the late 1980's and early 1990's and then again in 2001 and did not see the problem the article referenced.
Is it accurate jamg and others based on recent (2005-2006) visits to St. John and/or St. Croix?

This was my first visit, so I have nothing to compare my observations on. We saw lot of beauftiful coral. You might be referring to the "bleaching" that is occurring due to unusually high water temps for long periods of time. I think last summer and fall is when a lot of "bleaching" occurred. The way I understand it, bleaching doesn't actually kill the coral, but it kills something in the coral that creates the color? Hopefully someone with more knowledge well jump in here. Please correct me if I'm wrong. The water temp when we were there was already around 83/84 degrees which is what it should be normally in August I am told.

-Bill

I am bummed to hear that the water temps. are already so high. That was the problem last year and the bleaching does damage the coral itself. I think the bleaching is caused by the coral expelling a coating due to the prolonged high temps, kind of like sweating, and it cannot keep it up for very long without permanent damage. (Totally amateur understanding of it) But I do know coral can recover but there is a point of now return after which it dies. It's a phenomenon that's happened only over the last year. (Has happened before years ago and in other places around the world) I'm not sure if this means the reef system is going to suffer again this year in which case, it could be disasterous. I wish Robert would give us some thoughts on this.

Bill,
Something IS wrong with this website.I have typed and retyped stuff that never posted.

Christie

Bill, try putting it in Word or some other word processing program, and then paste it here.

I'm sure someone really smart like PM should be able to help you if you are so challenged!

I'2,

I said it was the website, not me! Jeez. However, I've not quite been myself since I've gotten back from that hellish place. I'm glad you enjoyed reading my report.

-Bill

Loved your report. Wheels up in 12 days. I must have missed something, but I can't find anything about the music you downloaded on your i-pod. Can you recommend some great tunes for me? I agree the right music is soooo important.

Check the US board. I just topped a couple of threads that have to do with music.

We listened to a lot of blues and jazz on this trip.

Have a great trip!

-Bill

Full moon alert, Mr. Iamq!

I know Mrs. Iceu2! My fingernails grew an extra inch this morning and my stubble beard is a bit thick. Uh-oh, are we bantering? Gotta stop that.
-bill

Hi Bill,

I just responded to your question regarding where to stay on the Big Island - then saw your post about St. John (small world - I mean internet). Loved the photos and after reading your trip report and looking at the photos of Honeymoon Cottage I'm comfident you would love House of Merriment on the Big Island.

I'm equally convinced that we would love Honeymoon Cottage in St. John. I've research St. John several times but haven't been there yet (we are also on the west coast so getting to St. John is a bit of a hassle). Also -- hadn't really found a place to rent that looked special and in our price range. I suspect Honeymoon Cottage fits our needs. I can't seem to find it via google -- would appreciate it if you could send me the link. Thanks!

Carol

Carol,

Small world indeed! It was the combination of price, location and features that sold us on the HC too. It is very comfortable. Here is the url:

http://www.stjohnusvi.org/

I love that house on the Big Island! It is exactly what I was looking for. The other homes on that website look great as well. The Tara cottage is also a possibility, but it would be nice to be able to walk to two-step. Thanks again.

-Bill

Excellent report & pix bbq!!! St. John is one of those places that makes my beat a lil faster when I think of the times Mr. mak & I have spent there. Special times... special place.

As you were describing Carnival in your report, it made me think of our time in the Cruz Bay square... weekend after Thanksgiving... all the Christmas decorations just went up and there was a big local party with dancing to live holiday reggae music... what a fun time.

Thanks for the memories... I also loved snorkeling Waterlemon AND the conch fritters at Vies... num!

Thanks Bill. Oh this web site is really feeding my travel planning obsession - I think I have vacations planned through 2010! Michael at Black Bamboo will give you good advice about his properties - they all seem very special. House of Merriment isn't exactly walking distance to two step but a very short drive. Enjoy!

Carol

aloha makai!

Soooo, conch fritters at Vie's were very delish, and it is a fun place, BUT I must say the the fritters that we bought from the lady at the Carnival food festival were the best in all the island! They were huge and had big chucks of conch in them. Vie's were a close second and Vie's Shack wins hands down on the ambience scale!


On the 28th, they erected the "Village" which is a bunch of food and booze booths built around a music stage in the parking lot in town. We saw some great bands play! I loved it. The lighlight were the two youth steel bands. One was called the Pan Dragons and I forget the name of the other one. They were hot! They were having such a blast playing. It was fun to watch and groove. Since we left on July 2, we missed the major festivities, but the town was definitely gearing up for it.

Where to next makai?

-Bill

I'm not gonna try to explain it, but I just noticed that one whole section that I typed that I thought had been lost actually shows up, BUT only when you "post a reply". Strange. I cut and pasted it from that and here it is. Lordy, what a mess this report is!

Okay...Food!

We shopped at the Starfish Market in Cruz Bay and bought food and drinks for breakfasts and lunch and ate dinners out. We usually packed sandwiches and munchies with us when we went to the beach for the day.

In Cruz Bay we ate at: The Fish Trap, Inn at Tamarind Court, Uncle Joe's, Lime Inn, La Tapa, and Margarita Phils.
In Coral Bay we ate: Shipwreck Landing, Sweet Plantains, and Aqua Bistro.

We had fresh Caribbean lobster at the Lime Inn. It was DELISH! They grilled it and it had an amazing flavor. Great chowder too. We ate here twice. I liked it there.

I highly recommend a trip out to Sweet Plantains in Coral Bay! Excellent Cariibean influenced dishes. Loved the plantain chips! Order the flan for dessert. It was unlike any flan I've ever had.

We had an excellent meal at La Tapa. We had the Paella and it was very good. Interesting and delicious desserts too. The service here is awesome.

The fresh fish specials at the Fish Trap are very good. Good conch fritters too.

We were lucky enough to eat at the last Greek night of the season at the Inn at Tamarind Court. OMG! I could have made a meal alone out of the dolmas. It was fabulous Greek food. They have even had a belly dancer. "How does she do that?"

We went to the prime rib night at the Pavillion at Maho Bay Camp. It was a little strange eating Prime Rib in this hot, humid, tropical environment, but I have to say that it was very good, and for only $20, it was a great value. I wanted to go back for their other theme nights, but we never made it. It is a great place to watch the sunset as you eat.

Martin had a great hanger steak at Shipwreck Landing. It was better than expected for dinner. Good fried shrimp.
We actually ended up eating here twice. The dinners specials were interesting and tasty.

The Auqa Bistro is worth a try if you find yourself hungry in Coral Bay. We had a good meal.

We ventured out to Vie's Snack Shack in the East End for her garlic chicken and conch fritters. She was open, but was out of the chicken, so we had very tasty beans and rice with her famous fritters. They were very tasty!

We were there just at the start of Carnival, so we were able to partake in the food festival. There were about 15 booths set and we grazed and sampled. Lots of interesting things I had never heard of before like whelks. We had good fried chicken that was served with yummy collared greens with smoked turkey. We picked crab and rice, braised mutton with mac/cheese and rice, and conch fritters which we broght back home for a pigfest. The conch fritters were the best we had the whole trip and the mutton was GREAT! Caribbean soul food! Yum.


-Bill

Bill,

Thanks for the link HC. Once I confirm my dates I will call Terry. I'm sorry to see your trip report come to an end, I was really enjoying your installments.

Ella

Bill,
Thanks for a great report, it's been inspirational for us and helped us decide on villa rentals.
Would appreciate some advice on car rentals, would it be easier (and less expensive) to rent at the St Thomas airport?, does the ferry ay Red Hook you mentioned take cars?

Thanks.
I don't know about renting a car in St. Thomas as I did not consider it. You might want to start a new thread here and ask that question. Some of the more experienced St. John travelers here would probably be able to help you out. There is a car ferry from Red Hook.

Here is some ferry information from Terry's website:

http://www.stjohnusvi.org/gettingaround.htm#carferry

-Bill

Idratherbesailin,

I would rent a car on St John at Conrad Sutton's.They are a short walk from the ferries and you can park in their parking lot while in town.(which is great as parking is very limited in Cruz Bay).

We rented from St. John Car Rental and would use them again in a heartbeat. You can park in their lot too.

-Bill

Great report! I know you love Hawaii so I am glad to hear that St.John fulfilled your need to visit a different locale that still shared the things that make Hawaii so special. I too love Hawaii, except for that stinking K-island, and being a West Coaster find it easy to get to. However now that I have read your report I am putting St John on my trip list. My requirements are similar to yours so I think my DH and I would really like it. Thanks for taking the time to type and retype your report! And the pics really were the icing on the cake, or the lime in rum or whatever!

Mary,
Thanks. I would not let the travel time keep you away from St. John or other Caribbean destinations. It was not that bad. You going back to Kaua'i anytime soon?
-Bill

Well it is up in the air (no pun intended)right now. I am 95% sure I am going to Japan in October and my husband thinks we should stop in Hawaii on the way back. I have been looking at airfares and it looks like it will be really expensive to do it that way. DH needs a Hawaii fix soon so I know a trip is in the future. We would like to see the Big Island because we have never been there and we also love Oahu so I am not sure where we will wind up. I gave my husband the link to your photos of St John so maybe he will get the itch to go there. Those secluded beaches look fabulous. I told him your trip sounded so great I would just use that as my planner and go where you went!

Lots of great info here!! Sounds like an incredible time.

Just heard from Terry Witham. She said that several people inquired recently about renting the Honeymoon Cottage and mentioned my report and pictures. She was has offered a "well deserved" discount next time we decide to rent from her! What a nice surprise. Thanks fodorites!

-Bill

That was me!! I just talked to Terry last night and she was incredible. Gave me lots of good info and was a pleasure to talk with. The cottage sounds incredible and compared to rates for other accomodations on the island, the price there seems pretty good. I'm trying to figure out how long to stay there. I'd be going in January when the rates are high. We want to do 6 nights but each night adds up. Do you think 5 nights would be too few?

Thanks!
Terry is very sweet.
I'd do whatever you can to stay as long as you can. If you can afford it, stay the extra night for sure. But hey, 5 nights will be better than 4!
-Bill

luved it luved it luved it....great report my amigo --- conch fritters.....yummm!!!

ttt

What a fun read! I've enjoyed many of the places that you spoke of - so it was like re-living my own trips. Am going again over NYE. Yippie!!!

For the person asking about driving conditions.... Driving is not tremendously difficult. And you have to have a car to enjoy a lot of the beauty of the island. The primary thing is to not speed. The roads can be curvy with some sharp, blind turns. If you have a villa that is off of a paved road - definitly get a 4-wheel drive. Also if staying in Great Cruz Bay, Chocolate Hole or others areas in this direction, be careful of the road when/if it rains. There is a steep hill from Cruz Bay towards this area and I've seen lot's of people slip and slide here. I personally don't like driving up towards Chateau Bordeaux and from the east to the west side (or vice versa) at night. In the national park areas, it's just very very dark and difficult to see. During the day, no problem. You may occasionally run up on goats or a small rock slide, so just drive carefully and stay alert.

ttt

Bill -- This is a great report! Unfortunately the photo links at the beginning no longer work; it says they've migrated. Is there a new link to all of your pics? We have just booked 10 nights at the Honeymoon Cottage over New Year's.

Lisa,
Do try to get over to Jost Van Dyke to Foxy's for their big New Years Party they have every year. I hear its a great time! Also, I posted a bunch of pictures from our trip to St. John a month ago. Did you get a chance to see them? Enjoy your trip!

kellybeaches -- I did see your trip report and pics, they were great!

Thanks for the tip about NYE, hadn't even thought about that actually!

Hi Lisa,

Here are active links to those photos. I've moved them to Kodak. Have a great time on St. John! The second link just of pictures of Honeymoon Cottage.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=10y7ihr9.wuuqz7x&Uy=-yjc7y9&Ux=1

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=10y7ihr9.138r0y05&Uy=-m0wsp3&Ux=1

Great report, and would love to see your photos!

Don't know if you're still around or interested, but your first two links lead to Kodak, and the Kodak site is "in service."

If there's any way to actually see them it would be great!
Many thanks...

The new links work. Kodak is doing maintainence, which I have no control over. Try back later.

Bill, thank you so much, I really appreciate it. We can't wait!

Bill -- The floats that are in your pictures, were those provided with the cottage or did you buy them on the island?

Bill - The link now works. Thank you!! We've been to St. John 5 out of the last 6 Octobers, but alas we are not going this year. Long vacation planned in May. I've decided to look at photos, trip reports, order a new Calendar and read Off the Beaten Path. I'm so glad your report came up to the top of the postings. Great photos and report. Again thanks.

Lisa,
The floats were already there, but were a little long in the tooth. I wouldn't be surprised if there were new ones by now. I literally spent hours at a time in that damn thing. It was great.

I've got a "big" birthday coming up and I am strongly considering going back to St. John to celebrate. I really regret not staying at Caneel, so that's what I'm thinking for this time.

Can't blame you for wanting to stay at Caneel -- it looks gorgeous -- but we can stay 10 nights in the Honeymoon Cottage for the same price as 3 nights at Caneel so we didn't really even consider it. I am sure we will check out the beaches at Caneel while we're there though! Thanks for all the great info, it is really helpful.

You really should splurge and stay at Caneel. In fact, I highly recommend the split between Caneel and Little Dix on Virgin Gorda that is offered. If you like St. John you'll love Virgin Gorda as it still is more like the "old" days of St. John before the crowds! And there are lots of choices of wonderful accomdoations and villas right on magnificant beaches!

Since trip reports are more easily accessible now, I thought I would update the photos as the original yahoo link is no longer valid. Here is the new link.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=10y7ihr9.qtrujc5&x=0&y=tkpyuv&localeid=en_US

Bill -- thanks for reposting. Great images -- but, where are your photos of Honeymoon Cottage? It is on our short list of places to stay on St. John.

Hi cm, Here ya go.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=10y7ihr9.138r0y05&x=0&y=oi3mno&localeid=en_US