Groceries in St. Thomas
 

Hi, The 2 of us are getting married and staying at the Secret Harbour Beach Resort second week of June, 2006. We will have a car for ten days. Where is the best deal on the island for groceries? Also can anyone recommend activities...we are in our Forties and love water, hiking, and biking.

congratulations aka, i love secret harbour and hope you both will too. on your way from charlotte amalie to red hook (where sh is), you will pass a large grocery on your left maybe a couple miles before you turn right up road to resort. there is another smaller more deli oriented store in downtown red hook. also i'm told the wal-mart either has groceries or has store next to it. you can buy booze in grocery. its cheaper than milk.
sh has great snorkeling. walk past the blue moon til just before the rocks start, go in and snorkel to the right and around the point. you should see turtles and spotted rays in addition to great fish. more snorkeling at wyhdham sugar bay past red hook. drive right through the gate and enter the last parking lot on your left. park as far forward as possible then walk to the beach down the service lane or through the pool area. you can just buy drinks or burgers by the pool but it is an ai. snorkel off to right of beach.
just up the street from sh is the ritz. they have a wonderful spa so perhaps a couples massage to surprise her.
also on the east end is coki world. check out their web site. they have some cool stuff like feeding stingrays or turtles, snuba, etc.
on the road into coki world is a good restaurant called tony romano's. italian, need reservation. also you must book a table BY THE WINDOW ideally when the moon would be rising at havana blue at the marriott. it is fabulous food in an incredibly romantic setting. not cheap.
drive over to magens beach some morning. its beautiful but gets crowded with cruise ship ppl by 11ish.
i strongly advise against biking on island. the roads are narrow, windy, hilly, full of blind curves, rarely have break down lanes, and have many tourists trying to remember to drive on the wrong side.
you might take the ferry (you can take your car) from red hook over to st. john for a day and do some hiking and see those beaches.
charlotte has pretty good duty free shopping and at the east end of the shopping district they do a vendors market with more crafty local looking goods.
take a ride up the tram located across from havensight mall. beautiful view of the harbor - the water gets all twinkly at sunset - they have a bar.
there is a stunning beach called lindquist. it is hard to find. after you go through red hook towards coki, between pavillions and pools and sappihire beach marina, on your left is a sign with an airplane. directly across the road is a dirt road with a chain link fence across it. the gate is always open. drive down the lane -it's maybe a 1/4 mile, may be a little rough, and you will be at the beach. it is very,very pretty and normally deserted except weekends when locals will be there. not a good place to leave stuff on the beach and do lock your car. you can see reef breaking out to your right. good snorkeling.

I go to a place called "CostULess" Gosh, I think that's what it's called. Anyway, it's next to the Home Depot complex so if you find that, you'll find the place. It's very large and resembles Costco or BJ's one of those big warehouse type places. The food seems less expensive and they also carry a decent wine selection.

They have a 'Home Deposit' on St Thomas????

Boy do I wish they had some kind of customer appreciation card - We'd have enough points for a free trip by now :-d

Thanks so much for your input! We will take this information with us.

There is no Wal-Mart on St. Thomas & K-mart doesn't have much of a selection of food other than chips, snacks, canned goods, etc.

Food Center is the large supermarket on the way to Secret Harbor on the left side of the road across from some boat marinas. The smaller, fancier market in Red Hook is Marina Market.

Cost-u-Less is good as was mentioned as is Price-Smart which is a membership store but they're forever letting people in who don't belong. It's on the way to Cost-U-Less.

There are about 13 days in June with NO cruise ships. Friday is a good day to go to the beaches other than Secret Harbor but avoid Tuesday & Wednesdays. Those days all will have ships in port.

The following days will have no ships so traffic & numbers at the beach will be light (correction, 12 no-ship days):

June 2, 3, 4, 8, 11, 15, 16, 18, 22, 23, 29, 30.

There is only one ship in port on the following days:

June 1, 9, 10, 17, 24, 25, 26.

My wife and I just returned from our 5th visit to STT last evening. The info on the grocery stores from Virginia is correct. I have just one word of warning regarding Secret Harbor. Beware of the iguanas!! (OK, maybe more than one word). I was laying on a lounge chair eating a sandwich and drinking a can of Coke when one of them jumped on my side. My wife screamed and I swatted him off, but his claws drew blood. They are very agressive there and are supposedly attracted to the color red.Watch those painted toe nails!!
We discovered a great place for dinner right next to SH. At the Elysian resort there is a restaurant called "Roberts". It was one of the best meals we have ever enjoyed in all of our visits to STT.Ask to speak to the "Thin Man"!
If you are looking for day sails , we heartily recommend the Winifred. She is a classic sail boat and Captain Sharon Allen makes everyone feel at ease, especially first time snorkelers.

Hi and thanks everyone. We are on our way!!!