Meredith

Looking to purchase either "St. John Off the Beaten Track" by Gerald Singer or "Feet, Fins and Four Wheel Drive" by Pam Gaffin. Can anyone recommend one over the other?

Also, Singer's book was written in 1997 and Gaffin's in 2001. Are they still accurate enough to be reliable? Thanks!

lauren27

Both of these were recommended to me by people on a Virgin Islands message board-but Feet, Fins, 4 Wheel, was more highly recommended. I think I'm just going to buy them both.

tpatricco

Gaffin's book is my first choice. I belive it has been updated more recently than 2001 as well.

jofus

I have both as well as "St. John on Foot & by Car" and "Diving & Snorkeling the U.S. Virgin Islands" and I can't say that one is better than the others. The island is so small it's easy enough to explore on your own without a guide book. Having a guide book takes away from the adventure of exploring. The most use the guide books have given me is taking up space on my book shelves at home or in my luggage while on the island. The most useful item I have found for St. John is National Geographic's Virgin Islands National Park Map. I have several different maps of the island, that is by far the best and the only "guide" item that will be packed for our next trip to STJ.

christiegr

Meredith-I just bought Off The Beaten Track..it seems to be a good book for hiking trails,good snorkeling,it also has detailed maps of where to go to find different things.It gives a good map on the hike to a 79 foot waterfall...which looks to be near the villa that we are renting in June.

I would probably get both books..I have heard good things about the other one as well.

Good luck!!!

Dianebridle

Another great choice is "St. John Beach Guide". It contains beautiful colored pictures of eavh beach, directions and suggestions for the best place to enter the water for optmum snorkeilin. In addition, there is an airial photo of the entire island which pinpoints the location of individual beaches.