Westin St. John [Master Thread]

Do you have a favorite for the local charters?

emuyshondt said:

Do you have a favorite for the local charters?

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I'm afraid I don't. The last trip I was talking with one captain (Lion in Da Sun, I believe), but the only day he still had available, we were already booked on another excursion. So I've left it for our next trip.

If you check out the reviews on TripAdvisor, I'd pick any of the top rated captains with a lot of reviews.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g147409-Activities-c25-St_John_U_S_Virgin_Islands.html

Not used Amalie, but with Avis it's a choice and can't see it being different.

emuyshondt said:

When you rent from Amalie Car Rental, do you have to pay extra for their rental insurance, or can you use your own personal car insurance, like you can with Connor, on St. John?

Are the lines for the car ferries long? In particular, coming back from St. John on a Sunday (May 25, Memorial Day weekend) for a 1:50 PM flight, how early do you have to be at the dock to be sure you can get on the 10:30 am ferry? I have no idea if you need to be there an hour before ferry departure, or if 10 minutes ahead is enough ...

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Thanks for the list, Lisa.

Anyone with experience with the ferry lines?

emuyshondt said:

Do you have a favorite for the local charters?

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I'm not sure if he goes to the Baths, but Capt John of Palmtree Charters is terrific. We went out with him in December and had a great time. I've never heard anything but great things about him.

His wife Sue works at the Westin as well down by the pool. She's also great.

Thanks for the reference!

I just got an updated list of resale prices from Islandia Real Estate. It includes all the listing available through today, April 21. Copy/Paste didn't work for me, and I don't know how to post a pdf file. If interested, PM me and I'll e-mail the file to you.

Here's what the realtor, Lynn Giovanna, had to say regarding the market:

Greetings from Sunny St. John!

I hope you are doing well. We currently have 133 units on the resale market which is the lowest inventory we have had in several years. Attached is the current resale list for your review. The sales activity is picking up some with 22 units sold/pending for 2014 YTD compared to 20 that sold in 2013. There are many motivated Sellers so please contact me if you see anything that strikes your interest. Is one week on St. John not enough?? I can also help you find the perfect villa! I am glad to help with any questions you may have.

Thanks & have a good day! Lynn

emuyshondt said:

Thanks for the reference!

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We are going w/ Capt John this visit, but as mentioned here - The Baths are a good distance away - time, gas=money, sea conditions (?) - you may want a fast, smooth boat. We would take Bad Kitty - even with it's downside. CruzBay Watersports' boat at WSJ (Island Time?) goes there as well. Heck, you could even get to JVD by public ferry... not advised.

As to ferry lines - I do not think this will be an issue, but better to be on early side than late. We ended up being the last car on our return ferry last June - it is about 30-45 mins between runs. If you want to know if there will be lines at that particular time - ask on vinow.com - only locals will have that knowledge.

Charters

emuyshondt said:

Do you have a favorite for the local charters?

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Sailing to JVD: We had a great time with Cloud 9 going snorkeling and to JVD. Two nice boats, helpful crew. Very professional.

Last year chartered the Wayward Sailor. It is an old small boat that is not very fast...but Captain Phil is a treasure. He was a marine biologist or something in a past life and made the snorkeling stop the best we ever had. He took us on a walk through town after lunch at Foxy's and really gave us a history lesson and a connection to the kind folks who live there.

In the past we had a great experience with Jennie Lewis on Dream Weaver. Unfortunately she had some personally issues and let the boat fall into disrepair. I've been hearing she has turned it around and if she gets the boat back into shape, I for sure would go back out with her. She's a great host, person, and sailor. You can ask Terri at the resort concierge desk for an update on Captain Jennie and the boat...she is a great resource.

Power boat to Baths/Caves: We put together our own group of 11 and chartered the Blast through Cruz Bay Water Sports at the resort. Awesome. The staff couldn't do enough for us, the boat was fast and steady, and the private charter cost the same per person as a mass trips with 50+ on board.

Have a great time and please share your experience with whomever you choose.

We have gone to The Baths via Bad Kitty and using the public inter-island ferry.

There are advantageous and disadvantageous to both.

The Ferry is the cheapest option and gives you the most time at the island. By using the ferry, we were able to spend 4-5 hours on the island. To a taxi to the Baths, ate lunch on the cliff top overlooking the Baths, had time to really explore The Baths formation and just relax. We even had time to shop in town before the ferry left to go back to St John.

Bad Kitty is fast and smooth, but is also expensive. The Baths is one of four stops.....you are on a schedule. The boat and ride is very nice, but we don't like the other stops and did not have enough time at any of them.

CruzBay Watersports and Thomas loses his son to a car accident

As first timers, we took CruzBay Watersports to the Baths/Caves/Willy T's yesterday and had a very good time. It was a long day, but worth it. The Baths were the best part for us. Extremely beautiful area. I can understand why one would take the ferry and spend 4-5 hours.

On another note, we went down town the other day and Thomas for a smoothie. Very good as advertised. I don't recall seeing it on an earlier post, but Thomas lost his son a few months ago to an auto accident. He posted a news article on the side of the building. Thomas was in good cheer, which is normal based on other posts, and was talking with customers during our visit as well as another time we walked by. Sorry to hear about his loss, but he is dealing with it very well.

Mike

ekinggill said:

Sailing to JVD: We had a great time with Cloud 9 going snorkeling and to JVD. Two nice boats, helpful crew. Very professional.

Last year chartered the Wayward Sailor. It is an old small boat that is not very fast...but Captain Phil is a treasure. He was a marine biologist or something in a past life and made the snorkeling stop the best we ever had. He took us on a walk through town after lunch at Foxy's and really gave us a history lesson and a connection to the kind folks who live there.

In the past we had a great experience with Jennie Lewis on Dream Weaver. Unfortunately she had some personally issues and let the boat fall into disrepair. I've been hearing she has turned it around and if she gets the boat back into shape, I for sure would go back out with her. She's a great host, person, and sailor. You can ask Terri at the resort concierge desk for an update on Captain Jennie and the boat...she is a great resource.

Power boat to Baths/Caves: We put together our own group of 11 and chartered the Blast through Cruz Bay Water Sports at the resort. Awesome. The staff couldn't do enough for us, the boat was fast and steady, and the private charter cost the same per person as a mass trips with 50+ on board.

Have a great time and please share your experience with whomever you choose.

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Captain Phil is great. If you are interested in learning about the marine life, there's no better. He'll get in the water with you and explain to you about everything you're seeing. A side benefit - his mate Tarn (sp?) is really nice/helpful and is also one of the hosts at La Tapa - one of our personal favorites and often times hard to get into when the island is crowded.

I wouldn't go a whole day with Capt Phil with any more than 4 ppl though. It can get pretty tight there.

That is so funny that you guys think so highly of Captain Phil and Wayward Sailor. We went on his trip the first year we went, and were less than impressed with his gruff nature. Lunch was delicious, and he did teach us to clean our masks well and how to look for octopi, but his bedside manner definitely needed some work.

Maybe he was having a bad day.

I just got to St. John and wanted to put in another good word for Amalie Car Rental. The jeep we got today still smells like new, and had a grand total of 22 miles on it. Great service so far.

emuyshondt said:

I just got to St. John and wanted to put in another good word for Amalie Car Rental. The jeep we got today still smells like new, and had a grand total of 22 miles on it. Great service so far.

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Good to hear - I was hoping that the new Owners would be as good. Reminds me to call them as a reminder of our upcoming trip. soon come

Next week!

azsunluvr said:

Thank you for the insight! We will definitely check out Bad Kitty!

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My husband ended up contacting Sonic for our day trip. We will have to stay in USVI as the small kids do not have passports and the $35/pp exit fee is ridiculous for a few hours for all of us. Weren't able to rent cars from Amalie...they were sold out for the time we needed. Went with Dollar on the cars. They cannot guarantee car seats for the little ones so we have to drag car seats along.

I've got a checked bag full of snacks and fun for the little ones and we are ready for this adventure with the whole family!

2 weeks till St. John!!

DavidnRobin,
Hoping for some "drinks by the pool" time with y'all again! I think y'all leave next weekend for the islands? I'll text or pm you.


If any other Tuggers are in St. John June 8-15, let me know. Would love to get to know "virtual friends"

ferndale said:

DavidnRobin,
Hoping for some "drinks by the pool" time with y'all again! I think y'all leave next weekend for the islands? I'll text or pm you.


If any other Tuggers are in St. John June 8-15, let me know. Would love to get to know "virtual friends"

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We will see you then - (Jun6-20) look forward to it. Our new neighbors in the adjacent villa to ours may join. He (Eric) ejoys scuba as well. Good folks.

Reef Trail Hike

Last week I did a nice hike with the National Park Service. It is called the Reef Bay Hike. For $30, I thought it was a great value.

About 30 hikers met at the NPS Headquarters in Cruz Bay. From there they take you by taxi up to the trail head on Centerline Rd. The hike The NPS guide tells you about the history of some of the ruins you encounter, as well as something about the various trees and flora of the area.

The hike is almost all downhill, except for a few stone steps to go look at some petroglyphs. At the end, you get to some ruins of an old sugar mill. A boat picks you up at the beach to take you back to NPS Headquarters. All in all, a nice activity on the island. You could do the hike on your own, but then you'd have to climb back up the several hundred feet you drop from the road to the beach.

You do have to make reservations well ahead of time. I think they have hikes Tuesdays and Thursdays, and are almost always sold out. We called a couple of weeks before we got to St. John and gave them a credit card number to secure our spots.

The only downside to the whole event was the amount of mosquitoes. This year it seemed everywhere on the island there were more mosquitoes than when we were there last year. I guess all the rain in the last couple of weeks stirred them up.

It is the rain - following rain mosquitoes thrive. I hope it stays dry in the next couple of weeks.
The Reef Bay NPS hike is a great bargain. They are doing other tours as well iirc.

There is also another hike called L'Esperance, but I think it is much more strenuous. Unfortunately, it appears it will only go through June as the person that does that hike is leaving his or her position at the NPS.

I would have liked to do that one too, but I didn't know about it ahead of time and didn't have time during this trip. Both my daughter and I caught some nasty virus and were feeling rather under the weather the last couple of days.

Sailing trips

Last year we took the Cruz Bay Watersports trip to Virgin Gorda. This year we went with Bad Kitty, based on reports here. Here are my thoughts about them:

The Island Time boat from CBWS picks you up right off the dock at the Westin. Very convenient, but it only takes 5 minutes by car to get to Cruz Bay to take Bad Kitty. Bad Kitty actually moors it's boat in front of the Westin, but they are not allowed to pick anyone up there.

Island Time is a little slower than Bad Kitty (18 knots vs. 23 knots). Bad Kitty is able to make an extra stop at Jost van Dyke (Soggy Dollar). That stop was lots of fun this year.

I preferred the way CBWS drops you off at the Baths, and let's you explore the Baths on your own. Bad Kitty had the whole group stay together and felt a little more rushed. However, it was still a nice tour. They drop you off on one side of the park, and pick you up on the other. With CBWS, you get dropped off on one beach, and are picked up at the same place.

With Bad Kitty, your only option is to swim to shore and back onto the boat. With Island Time, they have a dinghy for those that don't want to get wet or for some reason can't make the 50 or 60 yard swim to shore.

CBWS provides a dry bag to get your camera and phone to shore, with Bad Kitty, you have to provide your own dry bag. You can buy one inexpensively in Spanish Town (neither Spanish, nor an actual town), where Bad Kitty clears customs on Virgin Gorda. You are allowed to get off the boat there. CBWS clears customs on Tortola, and you stay on the boat the whole time the process takes place. I liked the Bad Kitty stop better.

On our trip we had 28 people on board out of a maximum 33. It felt a little crowded on Bad Kitty but still it was lots of fun. If it had been totally full, it might have been uncomfortable. There was hardly enough space for everyone to sit as it was.

The snorkeling stop Bad Kitty did at The Wall at Peters Island was a lot nicer than the stop CWBS did last year.

Bottom line, both outfits provide a nice excursion. I'll probably use Bad Kitty next time, but if I needed the dinghy ride to shore, I wouldn't hesitate to go with CBWS.

One thing I didn't like this year is that the Coast Guard now requires everybody to wear a snorkeler's vest when you are in the water. You don't necessarily have to inflate it, but you have to be wearing it when swimming to shore at the Baths or when snorkeling. I would have preferred for this to be optional, but those are the new rules within the last year or so.

Thanks so much for the review. We are going on Thursday with Bad Kitty. We snorkeled Maho and Hawksnest today. I saw the biggest starfish that I have ever seen. Also got DH hooked. He had a great time and can't wait for tomorrow.


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There are some interesting reefs at Hawksnest. I also like swimming near the islands/cause at Trunk and Cinnamon.

I still need to make it out to Waterlemon Caye. Maybe next time.

Have a great time. We sure did.

Is there any good snorkeling on the south side of the island? My fiancee and I are taking our 4 kids (not all have passports) so we were going to rent a private charter to snorkel only US spots.

Actually can you snorkel off any of the BVI islands without doing a customs clearance if you don't dock?

Just wondering what my options are.