brenandg

Back from trip to STJ #9 over Thanksgiving. Stayed at The Grande Bay Resort right in Cruz Bay in a one bedroom penthouse condo. This unit was perfect for us with three outdoor decks, two of which face Cruz Bay. We spent much of our time out there. I don't recommend Grande Bay for those who like to out of the way of things where it is very quiet. We happen to like being right in town but we did hear music from The Beach Bar on occasion and the ferry's. Not an issue for us but might be huge for others.

View from one of the decks of our condo. The other way faces STT.



After a very long day of travel and a little too long of a layover in Miami (think bar). We arrived and after some Facebook messaging prior to the trip, we met longtime Fodorite Caribbeansoul for a drink at Castaway's.



Believe me, I felt the effects the next day! We settled in and then were to meet our friends who moved to STT on Saturday. Went to Smith Bay then to see their new condo and finally to dinner at Hook Line and Sinker in Frenchtown, STT.



Brenda (brenandg) and Debbie in Smith Bay.

View from their condo.


By Sunday, our frinds from Virginia that we have traveled with the last three years arrived. They have a time share at The Westin. Beaches we went to: Maho, Vie's, Lamesure, Honeymoon, Solomon, and Cinnamon. There are really so many nice beaches that it is hard to pick! But, since the north shore beaches were rather rough from the Christmas Winds, we tried some on the other side of the island. A note about the weather. This was probably our coolest November trips with a good bit of wind and very low 80's weather. It was actually cool at night with "near record low temps" for this time of year. (69-70). That said, it was a nice change from the usual humidity. Very comfortable and not as buggy as I thought it would be from all of the recent rains. Although I did read pegpaz's post that they thought the bugs were bad. Guess we have just been there when they were worse.

brenandg

Going to start again because I didn't put this to word and didn't want to lose what I started. The first pic is not a view from our condo, but me on White Bay, Jost Van Dyke.

Maho Beach



Vie's Beach


Road to Lamesure



Lamesure Beach from the ruins







Honeymoon Beach



Trail to Solomon from Honeymoon Beach



Brenda on Solomon



Cinnamon Beach



We also did a boat day to The British Vigin Islands with Captain John Brandi of Palm Tree Charters. This was our third time with him and I highly recommend him!!!!

brenandg

In my haste, some of these pices are wrong. The Brenda on Solomon is the view from our condo. Here I am on Solomon.



Boat day

Brenda with Captain John Brandi on White Bay, Jost Van Dyke.



Most of the gang at The Soggy Dollar Bar, Jost Van Dyke.



Places we ate; We are not what I would call foodies at all and went out for three nice dinners. My hands down favorite was Rhumblines. Wish would would have had time to go again. Loved thier steak dish. Favorite meal of the trip. We also went to La Plancha Del Mar because I had read absolute raves about it. We met our friends from STT and some others that were on island.

Pre dinner at The Beach Bar.



The food was good here, but pricey and our meager tastes could have settled for less. None the less, the company was good, food was good and lots of rum and laughs .

We also ate at Hook Line and Sinker on STT with our friends. This is a must do on our trips. I love the food there, beautiful location, and not overpriced. Also very convenient for our on island friends.

Some others that I can think of, remember, we are not really foodies. The Tourist Trap. Love this place. It is way on the southeastend of the island by Salt Pond but worth the trip for us!

Lobster Roll at The Tourist Trap. Nothing fancy here.




Gang at The Tourist Trap



Back to the restaurants; Skinny Leg's. Always a good burger. No fryer, just chips. Nice fresh salads too. Cafe Roma, good Italian and larger portions. We also got take out pizza from here. Good, but not great. The pizza place which I think is now part of Joe's Rum Hut at Wharfside Village was really good! We did take out. Definitely like it over Cafe Roma pizza. Why you might ask do we eat pizza on vacation? Because sometimes it is just darn convenient after a long day at the beach. No more explanations. We also had both breakfast and lunch from Deli Grotto. Really can't go wrong here. Also got some of their curried chicken salad for sandwiches. Wow! Can you say curry? It was a bit strong. We provisioned some from Starfish and Dolphin Markets and ate in some too. On Boat day we had lunch at The Soggy Dollar Bar. We had already been to Spyglass Wall for snorkeling, Soper's Hole, Tortola with a stop at Pusser's, Sandy Cay and Sandy Spit, Soggy Dollar food tastes pretty good, LOL. Not that it is bad, but it is basic.

Well, I think that is about it. STJ is our slice of paradise. We don't feel like we are on a torrid schedule to see and do everythig now. We know there will be a next time. We will be back!!!

brenandg

Just proofread, ugghhh. Had to repost this, Brenda and Debbie on Smith Bay STT.

TPAYT

We love St. John and White Bay, Jost Van Dyke so we loved your photos---even though they were somewhat scattered.

Glad you had a good time.

qwovadis

Nice report/photos makes me miss the USVI a lot..

Jayneann

Thanks for an enjoyable report. We are going to STJ and STT in April and your pictures have me made even more excited.....love that turquoise water!!!!

kellybeaches

Hi brenandg,
Thanks for the tr and sharing your pics! The one of the group from Soggy Dollar cracks me up. I take it the Grande Bay resort is complete now? It was under construction when we were there. How did you like it overall? Does it have a pool? Is it kid friendly? Now I'm missing St. John again (not that we don't dream of moving there everyday!). Thanks again for sharing!

brenandg

Kellbeaches, Yes, The Grande Bay Resort is now completed. I loved our unit, we stayed there last Thanksgiving too. I liked this unit much better because of all of the deck space! We rented through an independent owner on VRBO. I think you can rent directky with GB as well. It has a pool and hot tub (community). They filled the pool while we were there last year. I did notice the pool did not get alot of afternoon sun, but we were mostly at the beaches. We thought the office staff there were great! I believe the gym is open too, we didn't use it, LOL! Overall it is kid friendly, but maybe not too stroller friendly the way it is set up. To get to the penthouse suites in the back, we had to use 2 sets of elevators and one very short flight of stairs. If you stayed in that area you could get around that by going up by the pool area which has a ramp. That would only be a problem if you are in the "back" set of units. I can see why some of the locals are unhappy about the Grande Bay. Our rear deck revealed that the units blocked the view of two houses right behind us . That said, it is not going anywhere and it really works for us.

Glad you liked the pictures. White Bay tends to make us get a little silly! If you can swing a boat day when you go, again I recommend Palm Tree Charters. While he has fun with our adult antics, he is absolutely great with families with kids too!!!

brenandg

'http://palmtreecharters.com/

kellybeaches

Actually, now that I think about it, House Hunters International did a show on units for sale at Grande Bay. They did look really nice. The pool wasn't filled with water yet when they filmed the show. That's great you had such a good time!

I enjoyed the Palm Tree Charters video. We actually took an identical Glacier Bay power cat to JVD too! What a wonderful smooth ride! I can't remember who we chartered it through but our captain's name was Vinnie, and he was a very cool guy.

Well, I enjoyed looking at your pictures! Our next trip in 2011 is to Provo, but I have a feeling we'll be returning to St. John sometime in the next couple years! It's our favorite so far

KVR

Nice report. Love your pictures. I agree about the weather. We've been going to Mexico in a Nov/Dec for the past several years and noted this year it was quite cooler than any other time we've been.

We are looking forward to our Alaska cruise next year instead of a beach vacation. Just hope we don't freeze to death.

So glad you had another great trip.

brenandg

Make sure you bring your fuzzy slippers for the Alaska thing, Kelly ! Cliff, are you finally getting your wish?