St. John Condo recs
 

We are planning our first trip to SJ. While many here recommend a villa, they might be more than what we need (and a bit pricey). Ideally, we'd like to find a nice 2 BR condo for me, hubby and teen daughter, within walking distance of Cruz Bay and good snorkeling and/or beach. We understand there are water taxis at the ferry dock which can take us to other fab beaches on SJ. Daughter will absolutely require pool and lounge chair. We were hoping to budget 350 per night in June, but can probably up that a bit if there is nothing available in that range. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

June is the low season and you could definately find a villa with a pool for under that at that time of year. I don't have any specific ones to recommend as I prefer the Coral Bay side of the island but I saw many in the search for my villa. Check out vivacations.com and caribbeanvilla.com and note the prices for the low season. You should still be able to rent a jeep and go to the beaches yourself and have fun exploring the island.

Jofus is absolutely correct on the villa advise.The following are an example of some of the villas that are available on St. John with pools. They happen to be on the Coral Bay side:

http://www.windspree.com/homes/lasirena/

http://www.bookitvi.com/rhumb.htm

http://www.caribbeanvilla.com/happy_...appy_moon.html

They range in price from $1400 to $1820 per week. This is just a sample. Each of the above rental agencies has listings of probably twenty or more villas. No matter where you stay, pick up a copy a ‘Feet, Fins, and 4WD’.

http://www.caribmart.com/usbritviris.html

For what you mentioned as a budget, you might want to look at Gallows Point. They have a great reputation. The views are supposed to be fantastic, they have a pool, and it's an easy walk to Cruz Bay. Their beach is rocky, but the snorkeling is supposed to be very good. We definitely plan on staying there for our first trip to STJ.

ElleD9, we've not stayed at Gallows Point, but those condos look very nice and are within your budget.

We have stayed at Cruz Views through caribbeanvilla.com and it was all we could want or need. We were in Unit 1 and the loft bedroom would be ideal for your daughter, not to mention the garden shower (ahhhhhh). It has a nice pool area and is within walking distance of Cruz Bay IF you wanted to walk straight uphill. I would recommend renting a jeep . . . it would greatly add to your enjoyment of the island and would open up so many options for snorkeling to you.

We were on St. John in early November and were very disappointed in Salt Pond as a snorkeling location. After we went, we were told that the hurricane season did considerable damage to the coral on that side of the island, so I would recommend staying on the north side of the island for snorkeling. Waterlemon Cay was highly recommended, but the surf was too rough the day we went, so we ended up not going in.

Have a marvelous time. St. John is paradise.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond. Your suggestions are helping to point me in the right direction!