Back from USVI and BVI, for 2 weeks Any Questions???
Aug 27th, 2005, 04:49 PM
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Back from USVI and BVI, for 2 weeks Any Questions???
Just got back from 8 days on St. John,
3 nites on Tortola, 3 nites on Virgin Gorda... Didn't want to bore anyone with my absolutely heavenly trip, but would love to help anyone trying to make decisions
about where to go, eat, snorkel. P.S. We
took 3 kids with us(10,14,15..all Boys)
Everyone helped me so much, just trying to return the favor!
3 nites on Tortola, 3 nites on Virgin Gorda... Didn't want to bore anyone with my absolutely heavenly trip, but would love to help anyone trying to make decisions
about where to go, eat, snorkel. P.S. We
took 3 kids with us(10,14,15..all Boys)
Everyone helped me so much, just trying to return the favor!
Aug 28th, 2005, 08:59 AM
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Did you find any off-beach snorkeling in Virgin Gorda that was as good as the off-beach snorkeling in St John? I'd be interested to hear a handful of your most "heavenly" details. (Also any disappointments.) Glad the trip was so enjoyable. And thanks for being willing to answer questions....
Aug 28th, 2005, 11:31 AM
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Bill, Favorite snorkling spots on STJ include Waterlemon Cay (great around the little island & worth the short hike in around Leinster Bay, Little Cinnamon & Cinnamon Bay, Salt Pond Bay, Lamesur & Little Lamesur.
Have as great a trip to STJ as you did to Kauai, or better..STJ is a great, laid back spot to relax & enjoy nature! Trish
Have as great a trip to STJ as you did to Kauai, or better..STJ is a great, laid back spot to relax & enjoy nature! Trish
Aug 28th, 2005, 01:06 PM
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Mountain Girl,
I would like some details also, where you stayed, how you compare BVI & St. John, etc. We have kids around the same ages, have been to St. John twice & would like to try BVI. Would alos like to know where the better off-beach snorkeling was.
Betsy
I would like some details also, where you stayed, how you compare BVI & St. John, etc. We have kids around the same ages, have been to St. John twice & would like to try BVI. Would alos like to know where the better off-beach snorkeling was.
Betsy
Aug 29th, 2005, 09:05 AM
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Hi MountainGirl, we will be on VG for a week in Nov staying in one of the villas on Mahoe Bay. We plan on covering the Baths, Spring Bay etc.. What were your favorite beaches to visit on VG? Any spots that are "not to be missed".
Aug 29th, 2005, 03:35 PM
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Sorry for the delay...first day of school for my kiddos!
I'll try to answer the questions in order...
We stayed on St. John in a 2 bed/2 bath
villa called "Blue Tang". We had 5 people, but they brought in a rollaway
for the 3rd son. It was absolutely gorgeous with views of Great Cruz Bay
and the bay towards St. Thomas.We had
"KatiLady" stock our fridge before we got there(Well worth it!), so we didn't have to go back out to get food.
The management company had a person meet us at the dock in St. John and take us to the rental car place(a must for St. John) and then took us to our villa. She gave us the lowdown on everything and even had a very informative book layed out for us.
"Catered To" is top notch mananagement,we will always use them!
After 8 nites, we ferried to Tortola
(Beautiful Boat ride!) and for the first time I really felt like we on a true tropical island! We love the beaches on St. John, but love the
atmosphere on Tortola and VG much more!On Tortola, we stayed at Long Bay Resort. I have to say, even though I thought our villa at St. John was
beautiful, we wished that we had stayed at Long Bay for a week and ferried back to St. John for 3 nites.
(We'll do that next time). Anyway,
Long Bay is situated on the most lovely beach on the island!With Smuggler's Cove running a close 2nd.
The grounds are very british-like
with manicured lawns and towering Palm Trees and inbelievable flowers! The restaurant they have is right on the beach with teak tables and chairs!
It's named "1748" for the year the sugar mill was built.Lavish Breakfast Buffets complete with every tropical fruit,eggs,make your own mimosas and
usually a couple of authentic carribbean dishes!Every other nite the "pasta house" which is above the "1748" opens and has fabulous food!Will finish tommorrow...gotta run!
I'll try to answer the questions in order...
We stayed on St. John in a 2 bed/2 bath
villa called "Blue Tang". We had 5 people, but they brought in a rollaway
for the 3rd son. It was absolutely gorgeous with views of Great Cruz Bay
and the bay towards St. Thomas.We had
"KatiLady" stock our fridge before we got there(Well worth it!), so we didn't have to go back out to get food.
The management company had a person meet us at the dock in St. John and take us to the rental car place(a must for St. John) and then took us to our villa. She gave us the lowdown on everything and even had a very informative book layed out for us.
"Catered To" is top notch mananagement,we will always use them!
After 8 nites, we ferried to Tortola
(Beautiful Boat ride!) and for the first time I really felt like we on a true tropical island! We love the beaches on St. John, but love the
atmosphere on Tortola and VG much more!On Tortola, we stayed at Long Bay Resort. I have to say, even though I thought our villa at St. John was
beautiful, we wished that we had stayed at Long Bay for a week and ferried back to St. John for 3 nites.
(We'll do that next time). Anyway,
Long Bay is situated on the most lovely beach on the island!With Smuggler's Cove running a close 2nd.
The grounds are very british-like
with manicured lawns and towering Palm Trees and inbelievable flowers! The restaurant they have is right on the beach with teak tables and chairs!
It's named "1748" for the year the sugar mill was built.Lavish Breakfast Buffets complete with every tropical fruit,eggs,make your own mimosas and
usually a couple of authentic carribbean dishes!Every other nite the "pasta house" which is above the "1748" opens and has fabulous food!Will finish tommorrow...gotta run!
Aug 30th, 2005, 09:22 AM
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MountainGirl - thanks for posting, sounds like a great trip.
I am looking into renting a 2 bed villa at Long Bay for a dive/snorkel vacation, and would love to hear your thoughts on the accomodations and service. I recently read a fairly negative review about the food and the service - so would appreaciate your insight.
I am looking into renting a 2 bed villa at Long Bay for a dive/snorkel vacation, and would love to hear your thoughts on the accomodations and service. I recently read a fairly negative review about the food and the service - so would appreaciate your insight.
Aug 30th, 2005, 10:28 AM
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To Continue on...please let me know if this is boring!!
While staying at Long Bay, we scheduled a day sail with Patouche.
What a fabulous trip!!They pamper you the whole day with food,drinks and even defogging your masks!Took us out to the Indians, Norman and the Caves for the Best snorkeling ever!!Told Pirate stories for the kids and celebrity encounters for the adults!Highly recommend this company!!
We only rented a car for one day to tour Tortola. Long Bay was so nice we
just enjoyed hanging out in the evenings!After 3 glorious nice,
we headed to the ferry to go to Virgin Gorda. Gorgeous Island!Very different
from every other island we had been on. We stayed at Leverick Bay beach resort. It was very nice and clean,
but it was a bit slow for our needs.
We had planned to use their watersports shop to rent a boat, but found out that they were closed on Sunday.So we decided we would spend
the next 2 days at the Baths. We were
very dissapointed to find out when we got there that it was the beginning of "Box Jellyfish" season. Everyone was getting stung, so we decided after seeing about 8 of them in the water after 1 second of snorkeling that we better not risk it! So we ended up
hiking thru the rocks(and water) to go see Devil's Bay. Unfortunately, my oldest son got stung when we took a wrong turn in a cave.He got stung on the leg and reached down to grab at his leg and he got stung on his arm.
So we had to turn around and try to get out of there as quick as possible.They call these "Sea Wasps" and apparently are only on BVI's.
They took one man out by helicopter, because he had so many stings on his chest he passed out.So needless to say we didn't go back to the Baths.
So we decided to tour the Island and went to try to find the ferry for Bitter End Yacht Club. Thank goodness we did, because we had so much fun there!You take a private ferry(it's free)over to their own island. Beautiful beach, Tons to Do with every
watersport known to mankind available.
They will even teach you how to sail.
Anyway, we hung out there for 2 days.
Drank lots of Painkillers, rented a boat and went to Prickly Pear Island
(totally deserted with gorgeous beach
and great snorkeling) and then boated to the "SandBox" a cool Beach Bar and Grill. Had Grilled Anegada Lobsters and watched the Sunset! Unbelievable!
Anyway, It was a Fabulous Trip, but as
always I'm thinking how next time we could do differently. First Off, we like the BVI's better than the USVI's.
We didn't go to St. Croix, so I can't tell you about that.St. Thomas was too
Americanized for us, We loved St. John's beaches, but again we were served in the restaurants by American's with attitudes. Obviously,
not liking the tourists.I understand that, I live in a tourist town(Estes Park), but when your sole income is coming from the tourists, you need to do a little sucking up,if you know what I mean! Anyway, we got that in
the BVI's(especially in Tortola).
Surprise Rum Drinks given to us at the reception desk at Long Bay when we
checked in,waitresses and other service personnel(all locals)would be very courteous and helpful and enjoyed talking with you. Also, I finally found some live music to listen to in the BVI's. I was amazed that I couldn't find any in the Usvi's. What's with that? I thought we would walk around and find all kind of music!! Maybe I've seen too many movies!! Let me know if you have any more questions??
While staying at Long Bay, we scheduled a day sail with Patouche.
What a fabulous trip!!They pamper you the whole day with food,drinks and even defogging your masks!Took us out to the Indians, Norman and the Caves for the Best snorkeling ever!!Told Pirate stories for the kids and celebrity encounters for the adults!Highly recommend this company!!
We only rented a car for one day to tour Tortola. Long Bay was so nice we
just enjoyed hanging out in the evenings!After 3 glorious nice,
we headed to the ferry to go to Virgin Gorda. Gorgeous Island!Very different
from every other island we had been on. We stayed at Leverick Bay beach resort. It was very nice and clean,
but it was a bit slow for our needs.
We had planned to use their watersports shop to rent a boat, but found out that they were closed on Sunday.So we decided we would spend
the next 2 days at the Baths. We were
very dissapointed to find out when we got there that it was the beginning of "Box Jellyfish" season. Everyone was getting stung, so we decided after seeing about 8 of them in the water after 1 second of snorkeling that we better not risk it! So we ended up
hiking thru the rocks(and water) to go see Devil's Bay. Unfortunately, my oldest son got stung when we took a wrong turn in a cave.He got stung on the leg and reached down to grab at his leg and he got stung on his arm.
So we had to turn around and try to get out of there as quick as possible.They call these "Sea Wasps" and apparently are only on BVI's.
They took one man out by helicopter, because he had so many stings on his chest he passed out.So needless to say we didn't go back to the Baths.
So we decided to tour the Island and went to try to find the ferry for Bitter End Yacht Club. Thank goodness we did, because we had so much fun there!You take a private ferry(it's free)over to their own island. Beautiful beach, Tons to Do with every
watersport known to mankind available.
They will even teach you how to sail.
Anyway, we hung out there for 2 days.
Drank lots of Painkillers, rented a boat and went to Prickly Pear Island
(totally deserted with gorgeous beach
and great snorkeling) and then boated to the "SandBox" a cool Beach Bar and Grill. Had Grilled Anegada Lobsters and watched the Sunset! Unbelievable!
Anyway, It was a Fabulous Trip, but as
always I'm thinking how next time we could do differently. First Off, we like the BVI's better than the USVI's.
We didn't go to St. Croix, so I can't tell you about that.St. Thomas was too
Americanized for us, We loved St. John's beaches, but again we were served in the restaurants by American's with attitudes. Obviously,
not liking the tourists.I understand that, I live in a tourist town(Estes Park), but when your sole income is coming from the tourists, you need to do a little sucking up,if you know what I mean! Anyway, we got that in
the BVI's(especially in Tortola).
Surprise Rum Drinks given to us at the reception desk at Long Bay when we
checked in,waitresses and other service personnel(all locals)would be very courteous and helpful and enjoyed talking with you. Also, I finally found some live music to listen to in the BVI's. I was amazed that I couldn't find any in the Usvi's. What's with that? I thought we would walk around and find all kind of music!! Maybe I've seen too many movies!! Let me know if you have any more questions??
Aug 30th, 2005, 11:38 AM
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Mountaingirl (and sometimes beach girl!): Thanks very much for your informative report. Glad you had a great time, and awfully sorry the box jellies were in the water when you were there. We'll be heading to Virgin Gorda in mid-December, and if they're there I'm not sure what we'll do since the only thing we're really interested in is snorkeling. (We've been to St John a number of times at the same time of year-- no jellies. I wonder what could account for the fact that they're in the BVI's, but not the USVI's???)
Aug 30th, 2005, 12:12 PM
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Mountaingirl: Wow! Those sea wasps sound terrible. Luckily, we've never encountered them. You would think the authorities would exterminate the ones in so traveled an area as the Baths. Too bad you missed out on Devil Bay. (Did you miss out?) Anyways, you can access Devil Bay by swimming around the boulders, and in fact, that is a wonderful snorkel adventure.
Aug 30th, 2005, 12:56 PM
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Christie:
Maybe there wasn't any music because it was low season. But we asked around
town in St. John and they said not too many places have music.There was a beach bar by the dock at St. John that was going to have music, but it sounded
like it was going to be hard rock(didn't start until 10 pm, past my bedtime HA!). I like that, but I was really looking for some "Bob Marley" or "Jimmy Buffett" type stuff. Even when we went to Miss Lucy's for Full Moon Party, it was a rock n' roll band, no caribbean tunes at all!
poss and tuxedocat:
I don't know why the usvi's don't have sea wasps? They have those big jellyfish(with what looks like a big purple flower in the middle of it)that
the snorkelers and dive guides just push out of the way. Apparently they don't sting you.When we went to Bitter End Yacht Club, they had some in a
plastic cup, so you could see what they looked like. They said you could
really get sick if you got stung. My son had shortness of breath about 1 hr about the sting, which was pretty scary. By the way, the treatment, per the locals: vinegar mixed with meat tenderizer to form a thick paste,put on raised skin for 30 minutes, then rinse with salt water or vinegar. Don't take shower with fresh water or sting will come back.(wait at least until next am when stinging stops).By
the way the urine directly on the bites helps "temporarily" until you can get to the vinegar.(My son would kill me if he knew I was writing this!Ha!)
Maybe there wasn't any music because it was low season. But we asked around
town in St. John and they said not too many places have music.There was a beach bar by the dock at St. John that was going to have music, but it sounded
like it was going to be hard rock(didn't start until 10 pm, past my bedtime HA!). I like that, but I was really looking for some "Bob Marley" or "Jimmy Buffett" type stuff. Even when we went to Miss Lucy's for Full Moon Party, it was a rock n' roll band, no caribbean tunes at all!
poss and tuxedocat:
I don't know why the usvi's don't have sea wasps? They have those big jellyfish(with what looks like a big purple flower in the middle of it)that
the snorkelers and dive guides just push out of the way. Apparently they don't sting you.When we went to Bitter End Yacht Club, they had some in a
plastic cup, so you could see what they looked like. They said you could
really get sick if you got stung. My son had shortness of breath about 1 hr about the sting, which was pretty scary. By the way, the treatment, per the locals: vinegar mixed with meat tenderizer to form a thick paste,put on raised skin for 30 minutes, then rinse with salt water or vinegar. Don't take shower with fresh water or sting will come back.(wait at least until next am when stinging stops).By
the way the urine directly on the bites helps "temporarily" until you can get to the vinegar.(My son would kill me if he knew I was writing this!Ha!)
Aug 30th, 2005, 01:03 PM
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Wow, I had a lot of typos in that last post..Sorry!! It may been confusing what I said!! The jellyfish in the cups
(sea wasps) were the ones that sting, not the large jellyfish(with the flower)
Also we did make it to Devil's Bay, but couldn't snorkel there because of the wasps..It was a real bummer about the snorkeling there! Thank goodness we
found the protected beach on Prickly Pear Island(no jellyfish there) so we did get to snorkel there. It was so bad everywhere else they cancelled Day sails and when the guides were helping people out with rented boats, they didn't want to get in ankle deep for fear they would get stung! I was as bad
as when I saw the movie "Jaws!".
(sea wasps) were the ones that sting, not the large jellyfish(with the flower)
Also we did make it to Devil's Bay, but couldn't snorkel there because of the wasps..It was a real bummer about the snorkeling there! Thank goodness we
found the protected beach on Prickly Pear Island(no jellyfish there) so we did get to snorkel there. It was so bad everywhere else they cancelled Day sails and when the guides were helping people out with rented boats, they didn't want to get in ankle deep for fear they would get stung! I was as bad
as when I saw the movie "Jaws!".
Aug 31st, 2005, 03:44 AM
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EE-GADS! Must have been something going on with water currents or something. I've never encountered anything like that...hope I never do. At least, it sounds like it did not completely mess up your trip.
