USVI- St. John's
 

I've never been to USVI and I am considering going with the family in August of this year.
I know the island is still in recovery mode and I expect a lot more to be done by summer (I hope). All things considered, those of you in the "know", would you recommend this trip?
I am specifically asking to the condition of the island, which I am not entirely sure of its state, nor would I have a point of comparison (since I've never been).

Greatly appreciated!

Ariel

Ariel: The beaches are fine. The main recovery is rebuilding homes at this point. There are plenty of restaurants and bars. Why do you want to go to St. John? What do you want from your vacation? Maybe I can help you with your concerns...

Eastenderusvi, thank you for your reply.
As to the why do I want to go...curiosity mainly. We have heard USVI, especially St. Johns (Trunk Bay) is beautiful. We love the Caribbean and always like to explore different islands/beaches. We live in Miami, but my wife is originally from Puerto Rico and my family is from Dominican Republic. Island life/Beaches is in our blood.
The last few years we've been to Providenciales, TCI numerous times, Bahamas and Cayman. We want to mix it up and see something new..

Thank you again!

Okay. The biggest thing about St John (no 's) is that there are basically no beachfront accommodations. Villas, some Cruz Bay condo/timeshares, and the Westin which is also a timeshare are the housing stock. Caneel was destroyed and will be slow to return. So you will have to pack up, drive to a beach, take your own stuff (no bars/restaurants on the national park beaches) and enjoy. If you want to stay on a beach, you will need to try St Thomas or St Croix. It is easy to travel between St Thomas and St John by ferry- about 15-20 min. It is more difficult to travel to St Croix from the other two.

AS an aside, I know some people think we are snooty about the "no apostrophe S" on St John, but you wouldn't believe the number of visitors who think they are going to St John, VI and are really going to St John's, Antigua...LOL

Thank you again! Sorry for the oversight with the apostrophe haha.

Is there anything else? St John is a different experience than the other islands you have mentioned.I hope you enjoy researching and visiting the USVI! ;)

One of my top 5 favorite beach trips was staying at the Ritz Carlton St. Thomas. I don't think it's reopened yet since the hurricane. A day trip to St, John was fun.

St. John is beautiful, we are leaving for our fourth visit this Saturday. If you are looking for beachfront hotels/condos like TCI or Grand Cayman this is not the place with few exceptions. To us the lure is that 60% of the island is national park, beaches with trees right up to the sand, very good snorkeling, great views, and good hiking. We love driving to and hanging out at a couple of different beaches every day. There is one roundabout, no traffic lights, and no fast food places on the entire island – a plus for us. Haven’t been since Irma, but hear most of the island except some individual homes/villas (and of course Caneel) are up and running.

Thank you all again.
We booked it and are going for 4 nights in August to St. John. We look forward to this new experience!

Dave- what's your fav beach?

Enjoy, Ariel! August is low season, so the beaches and restaurants will be relatively empty. The water will be warm. :cool:

While Trunk Bay is the picture-perfect beach, we tend to prefer those less crowded and with better snorkeling. Those would include Maho (for turtles), Waterlemon, Francis, Haulover/Hansen on the East end (more stone than sand though), Saltpond, and Great/Little Lameshur. Honeymoon and Hawksnest are also very pretty. Rent a jeep and with four days you’ll have time to see them all.

We just returned from a week on St. John a couple of observations:
- Being a spring break week it was much busier than our previous trips, though with DIL in graduate school our only option. Difficult parking at popular North shore beach’s, though no issue at East end or South shore. Restaurant reservations were a must for nicer places, at least for five adults.
- The fish are back, but the coral has taken a beating. Great variety of the usual fish along with more turtles than past trips and even three eagle rays we’ve rarely seen previous.
- Stayed for second time at Grande Bay that we really like.
- Island looks pretty good post Irma though shade at the beach’s harder to find, have to get there early to secure a spot or bring a tent.
- Best snorkeling on St. John (we found) Great Lamshur and South Haulover. Previous trips it was Waterlemon, not this time though for some reason. Best of trip were the Indians part of a charter to the BVI’s.

We were in St. Thomas few weeks ago with the Caribbean Princess. All cruise ships still continue to visit St.Thomas after they recovered from the hurricane. From St. Thomas, the ships still offer excursion to St. John too, and by looking at St.Thomas's situation, I assume St.John is the same. Beaches and resorts are fine, plenty of restaurants and bars...If you have never been there, you won't notice any changes..They are still a great place for a vacation, however there are many islands that are worth visiting too, like Antigua, Aruba, Bonaire and Grand Cayman. I love the Caribbean islands!

St. John condition
 

Have been since the hurricanes (last May) and St. John was up and running. This trip we rented house that was perched high up on the East End with great views of the BVI. There was lots of reconstruction going on, but the main aesthetic difference from prior trips was the mangrove damage along the north beaches, most evident on the hike out to snorkel Waterlemon (used to be a mangrove canopy for a good portion, but not anymore). Have found the best snorkeling to be out in the middle of Salt Pond where the rocks are protruding from water. Good structure and variety of fish. Turtles and rays can be seen closer in towards the beach. Favorite Beach for relaxing is Jumbie Bay, which has decent structure if you swim out to the rocky point on the west side. Most disappointing trip was to Little Lameshur Bay.

casacruz111-give us a recap when you return from your August visit