WSJ Trip Report (1/31-2/6/09)

St. John Trip report
January 30-February 6, 2009

I’ve never been to anywhere in the Caribbean, so it was a real treat, and a change of pace for me, to trade into a place that was almost in my same time zone. Below is my more-detailed-than-you-probably want Trip Report:

Friday, January 30th – Day 1

Left for the airport at 3:45am in order to make our 6am flight out of Dayton, OH. Glad we left early as the road conditions were pretty bad following the weeklong sub-freezing weather. Made it through the flurries and pulled into one of the only cleared parking spots in long term parking. Wheeled our suitcases through the snow to the airport in lieu of waiting for a van. Temperature reading when we left: 18. Brrr!!

Checked our bags in and walked right up to the TSA screener. This is the upside of leaving before the sun comes up.

Our flight left about 45 minutes late due to de-icing and issues in Atlanta, but we had a 2 hour layover so no issues with making our connecting flight. Checked in with our friends, Don and Sue, who were staying with us but flying USAir. They’d found out that morning that their original flight had been canceled and USAir had re-booked them on a different flight leaving 10 minutes earlier, but ultimately arriving 2 hours later. Since they were now due to arrive at 4:15pm, we were hopeful they’d make the 5:15pm ferry, which was the last Westin ferry of the day. We made arrangements to meet on St. John if either of us missed our last flight. Our connecting flight to St. Thomas departed a few minutes late and the flight was uneventful.

Arrived in Charlotte Amelie airport in St. Thomas around 3pm. It’s such a teeny airport that you have to climb down the stairs to the tarmac.  Retrieved our luggage from the carrousel, changed into shorts in the nearby bathrooms, and checked in at the Westin St. John desk, which was very easy to find as it was in the same room as baggage claim. Paid $97.50pp for the round trip ferry and luggage service. Also took advantage of the duty free shop there to purchase a few bottles of alcohol. We quickly found out that booze is about the only thing that is cheap in USVI ($12.95 for a liter of Absolut Citron; $8.95 for Cruzan Rum)!

We had a few hours to kill before the ferry to St. John, so we took the taxi to the dock ate a nice lunch at Tickles bar/restaurant. I was so hungry that I could have eaten my arm. Instead I ate nachos and downed a few Painkillers. We called home but were alarmed that our Verizon phone indicated it was roaming. I’d called Verizon beforehand to check rates. They said it would cost $2.00/minute with no roaming charges. After a short chat, we decided to put our cell phones away for the remainder of the trip and use our international calling card that I’d purchased at Costco before leaving.

Around 5pm, the ferry began loading up and we lagged a bit, hoping our friends would make it. We finally gave up and were the last two in line when a Westin taxi came screeching in. It had just two passengers: Don & Suzi. 

**

The ferry ride over was absolutely beautiful. It was in the 80’s, the wind was blowing, and the sun was shining. Quite a change from 18 degrees and snowy. It took about an hour to get to St. John. The Westin staff met us at the dock with rum punch and golf carts to haul us to our room. On the way, our driver gave us a quick tour of the very big, very beautiful grounds. When we got to our level, he pointed out the two grills between buildings 25 and 26. Because of the fine folks at Tug, we knew to bring our own meat, so we were looking forward to grilling out that night. We checked into room 2534, which was a top floor 2 bdrm loft in building 25 of the Bayside Villas. The room was new and very spacious. More about that later.

After another attendant brought us our luggage, we quickly unpacked. Tim and Don headed to the onsite market to purchase some sides for dinner. Then Don headed off to grill our meat. He returned in a few minutes, scratching his head. He said, “The grills are gone.”

We all thought that the rum punch must have done its number on him. Tim went out with him to the platform where the attendant had pointed out the grills. He was right. They were gone. How very odd. I wondered if maybe the staff had removed them for the night or taken them for another party, but the ServiceExpress desk rep said that that wasn’t the case. It was a mystery. So we ended up putting the ribeyes in the microwave/convection oven and putting it on “grill” mode. Believe it or not, they turned out perfect.

We played the first round of the Nacho Plate Women vs. Men Euchre tournament. The boys won 2-1. Grr.

We finally collapsed into bed around midnight, having polished off most of the bottle of Absolut.

Saturday, January 31st - Day 2
Grocery Shopping & Beach day

We woke up and the boys headed off to to O’Connors Car rental (on site) to rent a car. When they arrived, a woman was arguing with the front desk clerk about a $75 charge for taking off the roof of their jeep. There was a provision that they weren’t to remove the top of their jeep. The woman said she hadn’t taken off the top; she had merely unzipped the sunroof; the O’Connors lady insisted that the sunroof was the top and she’d have to pay the charge. The lady finally left in a huff. Lesson learned: don’t unzip your sunroof.
Tim joked with them about the huffy lady and reports that he got BOTH O’Connors clerks to smile. We ended up with a Dodge Nitro at a rate of around $500 for the week. Yowsa. Much to our chagrin, we realized that there was no parking lot near our villas, so we had to simply leave it in the lot next to the tennis courts.

When the boys returned, we ate breakfast at the Beach Café since we hadn’t done our grocery shopping yet. Don, Tim, and Sue aka The 3 Snorkeling Fools (3SF) each ordered the breakfast buffet ($24pp). I got a turkey wrap for a mere $14. Later Tim and Don visited the water sports shack and inquired about renting a dingy. All day rental was $185. We thought this sounded like a fun thing to do, but we never ended up doing it. You can only go as far as Cruz Bay, I think, because you have to stay in radio range in case you need to get rescued, which incidentally will set you back $40 if they have to come rescue you. 

Back at our building, we ran into to some other people and asked them if they’d seen the MIA grills. They said yes, to look around on people’s porches and we’d find them. Sure enough, in the daylight you could see them sitting on people’s porches. I guess they didn’t want to be bothered going to the common area, so they just took it upon themselves to move them to a more convenient location. What nerve!! So Tim & Don moved them back onto the public area. I was hoping that someone would come out and ask them what they were doing so that I could give them a piece of my mind, but no one stopped us. (Later it dawned on me that the culprits were probably the people we ran into.)

After breakfast, we headed off to Starfish Market. I’m still suffering from sticker shock. A bag of salad cost $7.99. A box of granola bars was $5.99. A gallon of rum is nearly as cheap as a gallon of milk. With our pantry now stuffed, we headed off to the beach!!

Hawks Nest Beach
This spot was the first beach past Cruz Bay, and known to be a good snorkeling spot, so we chose it as our first stop. The water was an incredibly beautiful shade of turquoise and blue. Snorkeling in the Caribbean is much easier than Hawaii because of the gradual incline and protected coves. It was extremely easy getting in and out of the ocean and putting on your fins.

I ventured in for about a half hour and saw some fish, but not a huge variety. Water was very clear, but I was surprised that there weren’t more fish. The 3SFs spent a lot more time in the water. They reported good snorkeling, but lots of shallow coral that you need to be careful where you entered and exited.

Hawks Nest has a little shelter with picnic tables and bbq grills and a few locals were grilling out. However, there were no showers or restrooms. It had lots of shade and a nice, sandy beach.

Cinnamon Bay
Right up the street from Hawksnest, we stopped at Cinnamon Bay. This place reminded me of Paia, Hawaii, because it had a bohemian flavor to it. When you walked in there were tents to the right. To the left were little rental cottages that were nothing but single room cinder block houses with curtains for doors. This would definitely be the way to stay on St. John on a budget. They also offered showers and restrooms. There’s evidence of more facilities coming, but progress is slow on the island.

Here, you could also rent sunfish, surfboards, etc. at the sports shack if you were so inclined. They had a nice, long sandy beach. The 3SF reported good snorkeling around the island (squid, turtles).

After that, we might have played our first round of the St. John Mixed Doubles Tennis Invitational. The Rexes took our friends down in a very close tiebreaker. After that we played Round 2 of the Nacho Plate Euchre tourney. The cards fell our way and the girls beat the boys 2-1. (Boys: 1 Girls: 1). Afterward, we collapsed into bed.

Sunday, February 1st – Day 3
Waterlemon Bay

Don & Sue arose before dawn (4:30am) to watch the Aussie Open final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The match lasted over 4 hours. Tim and I got up in time to see the 3rd set tiebreaker, which Nadal won. Federer won the next set 6-3 and then Rafa won the 5th rather easily. He’d had a grueling match against a fellow Spaniard less than 24 hours prior and everyone predicted he would be spent. But Nadal poured it on and made Roger Federer cry, literally.

Afterward, Don navigated us to a place where we could have a “nice, relaxing snorkel.” After a rather vomitous ride through the mountains, we parked at the Annaberg ruins and started along a little path in search of a good place to enter the water so that they could make it to the cay which was a few football fields away, as that is where the best snorkeling was supposed to be. We walked and walked. Then we walked some more. Turned out that it was a mile walk to get to the beach, which was gorgeous and not crowded at all. It was very shady and was very easy to enter the water. I snorkeled long enough to meet a cute little turtle then camped back out on my towel to read and do puzzles.

The 3SF headed to the island and reported that it was a loooong swim, and rough at times, but an excellent spot for seeing a good variety of coral, turtles, barracuda, squid, and tons of huge star fish.

After that, we hiked the mile back to our car. So much for Don’s “relaxing little snorkel.”

SuperBowl Party at WSJ

Back home, we showered, shaved and actually ran a comb through our hair to attend the Superbowl party that the Westin hosted. They’d put up a huge tent set up next to the Beach Café and installed two seating areas, one under the tent and the other under the stars. They projected the game onto two huge screens. Cost was $30 pp and that included various appetizer stations, such as wings, burgers and sausages, and a taco bar. Later they served desserts and bags of chips, which we grabbed for our lunch the following day. Drinks weren’t included. If you bought Miller products, you got a blue raffle ticket for Westin prizes. We got a dozen or so tickets, but no winners at halftime.

Watched the really close SuperBowl game between the Steelers and the Cardinals along with a few hundred of our closest St. John friends. (Steelers ended up winning 28-24). After the game, most of the people left. I wanted to stick around for the last raffle, and Tim got a little huffy about staying. Of course, I ended up winning one: Dinner-for-2 at the Beachside Café (value $100). Woo hoo!!

Under the stars to the sound of the ocean: what a great way to watch the SuperBowl.

Monday, February 2, 2009 – Day 4
USVI National Park Reef Bay Trail hike

Several weeks before our trip, I booked an all day hike with the National Park Service. It was recommended on vinow.com message boards. You meet at the National Park Visitor’s Center in Cruz Bay. You’re instructed to bring a bagged lunch, plenty of water, and a swimsuit. I recommend taking a taxi to town because parking is so limited. We drove and were lucky to find a spot on one of the side streets.

We all took a 15 minute taxi ride through the windy mountain roads to the Reef Bay trailhead, which is very near Chateaux Bordeaux. I was pretty green around the gills by the time we arrived. Blech. Our guide, Jessica, was new to the USVI. Her prior assignment was in Key West and it soon became clear that she was unhappy with her new assignment. Maybe she’d rather been in the water as she was a marine biologist. In any event, we all learned that from her perspective the island was too small, everyone was drunk all the time, and meeting new people was very difficult. I felt sorry for her as she was obviously pretty miserable. She wasn’t that great a guide either, I’m sorry to say. Some of it wasn’t her fault, as there were far too many people (over 30) for one guide to be effective. But she didn’t know her material well yet and resorted to simply reading the signs out loud or paging through her folder of notes for information. Another volunteer, Grant?, was there to “help out” but it soon became apparent that he was far more knowledgeable, so we hung back to listen to him for the rest of the tour.

It took us rather a long time to traverse the 2.8 miles to the petrogylph detour. We were getting a little restless at the slow pace. We stopped at the little petroglyph pools and ate lunch by the pools. There we were visited by several mongoose, who could be quite charming. We resisted the urge to feed them, however.

After that, we headed off to see the ruin of a sugar processing plant. Saw several fruit bats inside, which were fascinating. After that we headed towards the beach. It was getting uncomfortably hot, so it was quite a relief to see the water. We took a dip while waiting for the dinghy to transport all of us to the boat which was to take us back to the Visitor’s Center. Tim swam to the boat with his new Boston buddy, Diane. Captain Ben reported that they swam over a black tipped shark, which didn’t bother them.
Cost for the 10am-3pm hike was $21 cash ($6 for taxi ride to the trailhead; $15 for the boat ride back to the Visitors Center).

After the half hour or so boat ride, we returned back to the villas and napped by the pool. Don treated us to some cocktails and “a little snack” which ended up being 3 huge plates of French fries, sweet potato fries, and spinach dip and pitas. Mm mm. After that, we swam out to the trampoline by the bay and hopped around like the drunk idiots we were.

When we returned to the villas, the girls trounced the boys in the second round of our Euchre tournament, 2-1. Woohoo!

Bad news: we ran out of both the rum and vodka!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009 – Day 5

Salt Pond Bay

The boys woke up and played a round of singles tennis. (Don beat Tim in a tiebreaker.) Suzi and I lounged around and made breakfast.

Afterward, we decided to head to the famous Trunk Bay since the 3SFs were going through snorkeling withdrawal. We easily found a spot to park, which I thought was odd because I expected it to be more crowded. We soon learned why: dangerous surf so they weren’t advising swimming or snorkeling. We checked it out just to see what it was like and then Don said he wanted to head to Salt Pond Bay on the other side of the island, so off we drove, with Don navigating.

We found what we thought was Salt Pond Bay but it wasn’t marked. I can’t say that we ever got lost but USVI could sure use some more signage.

Anyway, we hiked down a short hill (1/4 mile?) and found a beautiful bay. Unfortunately it was south facing, so it was full sun, and by far the hottest beach we visited. And there was almost no shade! However, a few picnic tables had been set back into the scrub trees, and we just happened to walk by as another couple was leaving their little “cave.” Sweet! The 3SFs didn’t wait long before entering the water. Two voted it the best snorkeling spot, especially along the far bank, where they saw an octopus, sting ray, turtles, flounder, and huge barracuda. Unfortunately it had no facilities at all except a few picnic tables.

Shopping & Lunch in Coral Bay

Afterward, we drove to the second town on St. John, Coral Bay. I purchased a few trinkets for the girls in the shops and the boys got some more groceries, and liquor!, at the little general market.

We enjoyed a late lunch at an outdoor restaurant called “Rendezvous.” Painkillers went down easily. Lunch was delicious (grouper sandwich for Tim, Don, and Tim; Portabello mushroom sandwich for Lisa.) Since the sun was getting low in the sky, we got on the road so that we wouldn’t be trying to navigate through the mountains (Stay left!) in the dark. On the road back, we saw several donkeys, chickens, goats, and a family of wild boars along with their little piglets. St. John sure is an odd place.

Wednesday, February 4th – Day 6
Wayward Sailor sailboat and snorkeling

I’d pre-booked a sail on the “Wayward Sailor” because I love boating, which is odd because I’m so susceptible to motion sickness. I downed some Dramamine beforehand to prepare and we took a taxi to town ($5pp + tip) to meet Captain Phil.

We’re not sure what to make of Captain Phil. I have no doubts about his abilities as a captain. Shaking his hand was like shaking a well-weathered tree trunk. Life on the water has sure taken a toll on his body. But he was kind of briny, truth be told. He had a huge beef with the government who’d made him abandon living on his boat, and he was still very pissed about it all. And he was very set in his ways. For instance, the other couple with us asked him about good restaurants, and he said, “I’ll get to that later.” He’d obviously taken hundreds of folks out and had his routine down, including when to discuss restaurants.

The trip out was rather torturous for me and Erin (another couple had booked the trip) even though I took Dramamine and rarely have trouble in open air ships. Don, who’s never suffered from seasickness, urped off the side of the boat. Of course, it may have been the vodka.

He did help us out by scrubbing out our masks with SoftScrub. Don was having trouble with fogging and he said that this helped immensely. He also gave us great tips for spotting octopi, but being rather advanced snorkelers, the 3SFs were a bit impatient for him to quit talking and to get into the water already.

Our first stop was off a private island owned by some software bigwig, but the snorkeling there was reportedly “meh.” I didn’t step one toe in the water as I was still suffering from the ride out. So I sat up in front and tried to calm my stomach.

Our second stop was at another marina just off Great St. John. I had stabilized enough to get in the water and Captain Phil led us over some shallow coral where the fish and plant life was very good. Never did see an octopus. 

Back on the ship, we enjoyed delicious lunch made by Tarn, his female first mate. It was dee-lish. Tim enjoyed the beer best. Afterward, we put the sail back up for a very long, and nauseating, trek back to the marina. It just went too slow for my stomach.

I wish that I could report that the trip was wonderful. It wasn’t. It was okay.

Cost: $115pp + tip.
**
Afterward, we stopped for a few $5 Bushwackers at JJ’s Tavern in Cruz Bay. They were delicious. Tim watched our stuff while we went shopping at the shops near the marina. We found out that the prices were higher the closer you got to the marina (no surprise, really). Suzi got some silver bracelets for her kids and a necklace and earring set. I got a silver necklace. I also bought a really cute beach themed bowl that I broke within an hour. 

After showering and shaving, we used up our $100 gift certificate at the Beach Café. Tim had seafood linguine, Don and I had grouper with rice, Suzi had MahiMahi and black beans and rice. Dessert was a mocha crème brulee. Mm Mm.

Later we played Round 3 of the Nacho Plate Euchre tourney. The boys annihilated us 3-1. (Boys: 2 Girls: 1)

Thursday, February 5 – Day 7 (last full day)

Trunk Bay

Since it was the last day for snorkeling, we ate an early breakfast and got to Trunk Bay around 10am. Get there early if you want to parking spot. $4 entrance fee. It was a very beautiful beach, with a huge stretch of white powder sand, but it was by far the most crowded as well. There were tons of novice snorkelers and day trippers from St. Thomas. The underwater trail was nice for kids and novices; meh for advanced snorkelers. Snorkeling was better along the right bank. I ventured out to the point; the 3SFs went past the point. I’m such a wimp.

Had lunch on the beach from the park’s café. It was delish. We all shared an order of shrimp, a cheeseburger, and a chicken sandwich with fries, plus 3 beers. ($40) It is so odd to be able to buy beer in a national park, let alone drive around with one in your hand.

Caneel Bay Resort
Around 3pm, we left Trunk and headed for Caneel Bay, which was the last stop on our Great Snorkeling Tour of the Caribbean. I was not all that impressed with Caneel Bay. The bay wasn’t as beautiful as the others. I sunned and shopped at bit at the gift shop on site. The 3SFs checked out both sides and proclaimed it so-so.

Headed for home around 5:00pm. Stopped and gassed up at the local gas station. ($2.92/gallon) Had to put a bit less than $20 in the tank after a week of driving. That’s the benefit of vacationing on a 14 mile long island.

Afterward, went home and grilled out some hamburgers and chicken fillets for our ride home. Played the final round of the Nacho Plate Euchre Tourney. The girls trounced the boys 3-0, evening the score to 2 all. Ha!

Friday, February 6 – Day 8
Packing and traveling day

Got up early (7:15am), packed up, ate some breakfast, filled up the dishwasher, and got our bags outside our room before the 9:30am deadline.

Showered and walked to the marina to wait for our 11am ferry back to St. Thomas. The ferry ride was wonderful, but we forgot to put on sunscreen, so we all go burnt. But it was a beautiful ride back to St. Thomas, which honestly wasn’t all that beautiful. Got through customs without a hitch and sat down to wait for our flight out at 3:15pm. We finally arrived back in Dayton at almost 11pm. Got home just before midnight. Shwew!!

End of Trip Report
(And if you read the whole thing, I owe you a Rum Punch!)

Misc notes/comments:
WSJ – stayed in a 2 bdrm loft villa (#2534), which means that it was two stories:

First floor

• Very nice full bathroom
• Stacked washer/dryer
• Full kitchen (except no oven - microwave/convection oven only)
• Table that seats 7.
• Living room with plasma tv and a Bose radio
• Small balcony (maybe 8 feet x 5 feet?)
• View: tops of trees with a glimpse of the bay (bummer)

Top floor

• Work desk
• Low table and 4 chairs
• A huge sitting room outside master bath with a pull-out couch, fridge, phone and tv
• Master bed with king bed and plasma tv
• Bathroom with huge tub, toilet, glassed-in shower and 2 vanities
• Guest bedroom with 2 full beds and its own bathroom with tub/bath and vanity

Minor annoyances

• No parking near our room. We had to park in the tennis court lot and haul all our gear up the hill to our room. Occasionally we were offered rides but that meant another gratuity. We certainly got our exercise walking around the campus to our units to the pool/tennis courts.
  
• Ice maker in the room didn’t work. We called the 2nd day to report it but no one ever showed up to fix it. Since Tim is handy, he fixed it by pulling out the fridge, unkinking the plastic line and turning the water on. A few hours later, we realized it was leaking all over from inside the fridge. Why didn’t they simply tell us the truth, that it was broken, from the get-go or better yet, replace it? They did send up a bucket of ice, but we weren’t about to pay a tip every time we needed ice. We ended up visiting the ice machine on the first level of the hotel several times.
  
• Coffee carafe’s lid didn’t properly fit so you kept spilling the coffee
  
• Sink was recessed too deeply for a short person
  
• Lighting – Okay, who is in charge of the lighting in this place? It’s awful. There were 10 different lights in the kitchen alone, which is great in theory. However, only 4 had the appropriate lightbulb for the fixture. One halogen kept going in and out because the replacement bulb overheated and would kick out. The chandelier going up the stairs had 2 of the 4 specialty bulbs out. The guest bathroom had no working lights in it at all when we checked in. (Did the maid not notice this?) Only two of the seven tennis courts had all their night lights working. Several of the lights on the path down to the main lobby were out. There were no lights at all in the hot tub area or in the hot tub itself.
  
• View – We would have had a killer view from our loft of the bay, but no balcony. And the windows were set so high that you had to stand on a chair or the bed to see out. Why oh why did they waste that million dollar view??
  
• Form over function – the glass tile around the sink was already cracked. The laminate on the table was already melted from someone setting something hot on it. As they did with WKORV-N, they opted for cheap press board and laminate in lieu of real wood. Not smart for a high traffic unit.
  
• The concierge would not take a hint. We got the initial voice mail to come by for a “5 minute chat” and a welcome gift. I’ve never attended a TS presentation in my life and don’t intend to start now, so I ignored it. I continued to ignore it each night as they persisted in calling me.
  
• Doors to the bathroom on the main floor had a sizeable gap. Not great for modesty.
  
• The second trampoline was missing its mesh center and needed to be repaired.

What they did right

• Ferry system ran great. It was relaxing and so nice to have a dedicated ferry.
  
• Table sufficient for # of people
  
• Bed was awesome
  
• Tons of space. Tons and tons of storage space.
  
• 4 flat screen tv’s were great for watching the Aussie Open.
  
• Unit was clean and decorated nicely.
  
• Staff was all friendly.
  
• Pool was great; bar drinks had actual alcohol in them, unlike WKORV.
  
• Having 7 tennis courts and a sign-up sheet was great.
  
• Taxi service was pricey, but well run and very convenient.

Great report Lisa, sounds like you had a fantastic trip. Reading it brings back memories and makes me want to go back soon.

Your trip report was very good!

So, what do you think at St John.....Would you go back again? Did it meet your expectations?

We did not buy the two bedroom loft specifically because of that second floor view. Why oh why they would not put in a window on the second floor to see the bay?

Great review!
However, once again it seems that maintenance is not on top of things! We have friends who own the pool villas and for the last three years we have gone with them and found items not repaired from the last visit.
How can bulbs go without being changed?? Doesn't it seem cleaning crews should replace these?
And the ice maker not working--give me a break--with the maintenance fees we pay this is really not acceptable.
I don't mean to whine but I had a few similar issues at Harborside and I don't think we should have to report issues--their staff should report them before we do!

Lisa, it sounds like you had a great vacation! I loved reading all of your trip report - and look forward to the drink someday!

It's so true... for what we pay in MFs, there should be little to no maintenance issues.

Lisa -- Loved the report. Are you sure you had the Euchre score right? And were the tennis courts nice? Did you bring your own rackets? Did you play tennis in Hawaii, too? We're trying to decide if we should take our rackets to Maui this June. I don't think the courts at Lagunamar are done. I know there are courts at Atlantis somewhere -- I just couldn't find them. The courts at SBP are actually quite nice, and there are a ton of underused clay courts at SVR.

Hmmm --maybe a *Wood TUG Tennis Tourney is in our future? Who needs golf when you can play TENNIS?

Thanks, Lisa, for the awesome trip report. I learned a lot about WSJ and--while I'm not sure if we'll ever try to trade in to it--it sounds spectacular for those of you in the Eastern Time Zone.

With regard to the length, breadth, and amazing detail of your report, I have just one comment: you're exactly the kind of person I hated to compete with for grades in college!

Nice job!

Thanks for the trip report - sounds like you made the most of it. Just 4 months away for us...

Too funny about people taking the BBQs - what is this world coming to? All about "me, me, me..."

I am glad we are on the Hillside vs. the BV units - especially with our own pool and parking (and grills).

You never made it to Maho Bay? - next time...

Thanks Lisa- Any Pictures?

Taking the BBQS to from the public area to you patio ranks way up on the obnoxious scale.

clsmit said:

Lisa -- Loved the report. Are you sure you had the Euchre score right?

Click to expand...

LOL. No, I'm not sure of anything. We went through several bottles of vodka and rum. I'm so glad I can't afford to be a drunk on the mainland. My liver is still recovering.

clsmit said:

And were the tennis courts nice? Did you bring your own rackets? Did you play tennis in Hawaii, too? We're trying to decide if we should take our rackets to Maui this June. I don't think the courts at Lagunamar are done. I know there are courts at Atlantis somewhere -- I just couldn't find them. The courts at SBP are actually quite nice, and there are a ton of underused clay courts at SVR.

Click to expand...

The courts were a fake grass and sand combination. The balls skidded a lot more and took funny bounces, but real grass courts do that. Only complaint is that only two of the courts had a full set of lights. It was gorgeous weather to play in!

We take our tennis rackets and a can of balls most places. We took them to Hawaii but were disappointed that there are only two courts for both complexes, and no sign-up sheet. We ended up playing on the public courts across from the Sheraton most days.

Hmmm --maybe a *Wood TUG Tennis Tourney is in our future? Who needs golf when you can play TENNIS?

Click to expand...

Preach it, brother!

tomandrobin said:

So, what do you think at St John.....Would you go back again? Did it meet your expectations?

Click to expand...

We'd absolutely go back, but probably not every year. My husband loves to snorkel. I get seasick. So once every three or four years will be plenty for me.

St. John was just about what I thought it would be: gorgeous beaches in a rather rural setting. Cruz Bay wasn't scary. Some people on other travel boards complained how they were harrassed by the locals. We didn't experience anything remotely scary aside from my husband's driving. We did notice that racism appears to be live and well, however. Most of the menial jobs (taxi drivers, bellboys, housekeepers) were black, and all of the shopkeepers and small business owners were white. Most husband opines that they deliberately keep their liquor prices so low in order to anesthetize the blacks so that they don't realize that economically speaking they are still riding the back of the bus.

That's not to say that whites had it all that easy. Every mainland transplant we met was vocally disenchanted with the island. The captain from Michigan went on and on about the government and politics. His first mate from Pennsylvania went on about how justice is MIA. (An aquaintance of hers was nearly beaten to death and his friend was murdered and the police never conducted a thorough investigation.) A shopkeeper from Georgia was saving her money to get back to "civilization." The tour guide from Illinois was pretty miserable. So it's not a place we'd ever consider moving to. (Hawaiian transplants have similar complaints about xenophobia, so I think it's a fairly universal thing.)

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I'd easily recommend St. John to folks who love the outdoors and especially snorkeling. The zero entry beaches were fabulous for getting in and out of the water and the visibility was incredible. There were still tons of beaches that we simply didn't have time to hit. And we would have loved to take advantage of the dinghy rental. Next time.

I wouldn't recommend St. John to the "Disney" crowd. There are some people who go on vacation to be entertained and wined and dined. There are some children who are used to being amused. This is not the place for that. If you're not content just sunbathing, hiking or snorkeling, you might well be bored on St. John. There's not a lot of canned entertainment. I don't even think there's a movie theatre. But, boy oh boy, is the scenery beautiful!

We did not buy the two bedroom loft specifically because of that second floor view. Why oh why they would not put in a window on the second floor to see the bay?

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Someone should be hitting himself.

Lisa: As I read your report I was praying you didn't have the experience we had with our rental car in St. John. We got a flat out in the middle of nowhere, carefully drove car to a cafe we had just left. Couldn't find the spare tire or the tools. Were shown tools are under passenger seat and the spare was bald. The cafe owner helped us put the tire on (we are old) and we scaringly inched our way back to the car rental. She had NO excuses, no discounts. Lesson learned: Always check the condition of your spare and where the tools are kept!!!

LisaRex said:

I wouldn't recommend St. John to the "Disney" crowd. There are some people who go on vacation to be entertained and wined and dined. There are some children who are used to being amused.

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Wait a minute.....I am the Disney crowd! I think you are stereotyping "us" men of the mouse!

You see this stuff...Katherine?

tomandrobin said:

Wait a minute.....I am the Disney crowd! I think you are stereotyping "us" men of the mouse!

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I may be stereotyping, but it wasn't meant to be an insult. I like Disney as much as the next guy (though not quite as much as some of y'all), but St. John is the antithesis of Disney IMO. If your kids can't imagine vacation without their iPods, then St. John might bore them.

It's kind of like Vegas vs. Key West. Or Oahu vs. Kauai. Paris vs. renting a villa in the south of France. All different, and distinct, flavors that might not appeal to everyone.

LisaRex said:

I may be stereotyping, but it wasn't meant to be an insult. I like Disney as much as the next guy (though not quite as much as some of y'all), but St. John is the antithesis of Disney IMO. If your kids can't imagine vacation without their iPods, then St. John might bore them.

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Just yanking your chain...............