St. Thomas Research
 

I am planning a trip for my husband and I in September. We are 27 and 31 and will be interested in doing research on great places to eat, a nice excursion or two, and anything else there is to do on the island for folks our age. We live in NYC so we don't mind paying a lot for a restaurant if it's really good. As most, we are value conscious for other vacation expenditures and would like to find a good deal (not necessarily cheap, but a valued deal) on a day sailing trip. Any suggestions on eateries as well as day sailing options would be apprecited. Also, feel free to refer us to good reserach websites (so far, just found www.st-thomas.com). Thanks!

Frommers.com is a good site to check out.

We went to STT in February and stayed at the Ritz Carlton (which I highly recomend). We chartered a power boat with a captain for the day to take us snorkeling. We have 2 children and, as such, it was not much more to charter our own power boat vs. going on a day sail. Thus, we were able to plan our own itinerary. We went to Norman Island (specifically the caves), Peter Island and several places off St. John. We even ate lunch on Norman Island which is awesome in that the island is unihabited expect for this restaurant opens during the day. We used a company called Naughty Nymph (you can do a web search for their site)and they were very good to work with. They actually picked us up on the beach at the Ritz. We really enjoyed doing our own thing as opposed to being on a schedule. As such, this may be something for you to consider.

Check out www.usvi-on-line.com which has all the info you need and also a very active travel forum.

Another excellent site is www.vinow.com

Hi,

We just got back 2 weeks ago from 10 days there. Stayed in a great villa - Quintessence in Peterborg.

We were given suggestions by lots of frequent visitors as to where to eat - we like gourmet & the best. In our opinion, the restaurants here did not compare to those elsewhere when you are talking about gourmet.

We liked Craig & Sally's in Frenchtown, and also had a wonderful meal and the best service at Virgilio's in town. No view, but elaborately decorated inside, impeccable service and a wonderful menu.

Algarve was recommended - view was good, but while we were there waiters dropped things 3 times.

Banana Tree Grill - also recommended for view was ok, but the restaurant looked in need of updating to us.

Mafolie way up on the hill coming down into St. Thomas offered the very best view -- it's the highest up. Food was good.

Old Stone Farmhouse on the North Coast (just 5 min. from us in Peterborg) also was excellent. Inside but nicely decorated. They have sushi here if you are a fan of that. Also the menu was quite interesting and good food.

Another good place for view would be the tramway to Paradise Point. Excellent view of the Harbor and the cruise ships. We were told it was good for drinks, but lousy food. We only went for the view.

Another thing to note - if the cruise ships are not in, many stores and businesses close down. So while you have more crowds to contend with, if the cruisers are not there, you may not be able to do some things.

We booked a private sailing charter with Daysail. You can find them on the Virgin Islands site, I believe. We had a great time - went over to St. John area and docked off of Hawksnest Beach and another part too - wonderful snorkeling.

The beach we liked best in St. Thomas was Magen's Bay -- calm waters, some snorkeling - crescent shaped beach. It costs $3 each and $1 for your car, but we felt it was worth it. In the summer, tho, there are many day camps & children's groups there so you could not escape the noise. When you are going in September you should be ok.

Hope this helps.

Lois