Long detailed trip report of St. John part I
Feb 28th, 2005, 01:37 PM
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Long detailed trip report of St. John part I
Hi all you island lovers! My husband and I just returned from 2 fabulous weeks in St. John. Due to the length of the trip and the details I get into, I'll post the report a week at a time. Left JFK at 8am on the 13th. Checked 2 bags, one a suitcase with scuba gear and clothing, the other a 35lb duffle of dry goods food. I live about an hour north of Manhattan and find that the prices of meats and fresh produce are about the same at Starfish market as they are around where I live, but paying $6 for a box of cereal or crackers is a bit much so I brought my own. Pasta,coffee,rice,crackers,cookies,sugar,cereal all travel well if packed appropriately. Carried-on a change of clothes and toiletries (lest the airline lose our luggage) photo equip.,laptop and anything else I didn't want the TSA to steal. Due to high winds we arrived in St. Thomas almost a 1/2 hour early(12:30 instead of 12:52). Met our driver Freddie(great guy.. highly reccomend him) of Dynamic Tours and easily made the 2pm ferry at Red Hook. We rented Happy Moon Villa thru VIVA. The owner and greeter Sharon was supposed to meet us at the dock with a Happy Moon sign. When I called her on the way to the ferry she said she'd be sending her husband instead. Didn't see a Happy Moon sign held by anyone on the dock, called Sharon back and got a description of her husbands'(Doug's) vehicle. Found Doug in the street and Levi from L&L Jeep rental found us. Very happy with L&L and reccomend them. They meet you at the dock for picking-up and returning your jeep, which I think is a great convienience and though we had reserved a 2-door Grand Vitara a brand new Jeep Wrangler with only 340 miles on it was waiting for us. Just a note... L&L has no parking available in town and their office is way over by Marina wine & spirits by Starfish Market. I knew this when I rented from them and didn't care because I stay in and prefer the Coral Bay area. As it turned out I went to Cruz Bay quite a bit this year(went to Woody's 5 days in a row for lunch) and never had a problem getting a parking spot in the Mongoose Junction lot or near there and just wondered about town as needed. I do a lot of walking in Manhattan so Cruz Bay is only a block or 2 to me in terms of distance traveled by foot. We followed Doug to our villa on Ajax Peak. A perfect location in my opinion, right off Centerline road just past the top of North shore road by the smoothie stand,concrete road with a short stretch of dirt and rock, then concrete again to villa. Views up there are outstanding and the location makes it easy to get to north shore, cruz and coral bays, coral being closer. The villa was not luxurious but homey and cozy. It is in need of some TLC and minor maintainence ( toaster oven only worked on broil and had a broken handle that someone had tried to glue back on) Just minor stuff nothing to ruin our stay there, in fact we liked it very much and would recommend it. Happy Moon is a small 2 building unit all on one level. Main house with kitchen,living room, dinning room and bath with a small shower that did not look functional. Second building has 2 equal bedrooms with queen beds and closets. A large bath with 2 sinks and oversize shower stall with a seat built into the wall shared by both bedrooms. The buildings are separated by a large deck with a 8x10 plunge pool with a 4-4 1/2ft depth. Both buildings have ceiling fans and AC(which we never used)and also have covered decks so there are always sun or shade options available. By the way another great point of this location is all day sun and all night moon. Mainhouse covered deck is off the living room and both bedrooms have sliding glass doors out onto covered decks. There is also a utility room with a washer and dryer under the main house. The owners live in the next house up the hill that they are in the process of building. Never got to meet Sharon in person but both she and Doug were very nice and helpful. They called on our 2nd day there to make sure all was O.K. and to see if we needed anything. After getting settled in we ran down to Island Blues for a bite then to Starfish to get the supplies we wanted. Mon and Tue were intermitent clouds and sun. We went to Little Lameshure to snorkle and sun.... lots more people then last year so we didn't stay too long. On Tue. evening we had reservations at Chateau Bordeaux for our anniversary. As we approached the car we noticed something was not quite right...... right front tire was flat. So I went into the house to call the restaurant to tell them we'd be a little late as hubby is changing the tire. Phone rings before I can make a call, it's Doug inviting us to watch the sunset from his place up the hill. I tell him our sitch...he(nice guy) repairs hole in the tire while we're out to dinner on the spare. Dinner at Chateau; food was great, Hubby had Lamb Chops that he said was fantastic and I had a sweet and sour pork dish, excellent food and view ,good service all in all a very good experience. Onto scuba diving....
We woke to a somewhat sunny day and dove with Jay at St. John Dive Adventures. I am very sorry to say Jay has sold his home and his business is for sale so I don't think I'll have any more dive adventures with Jay. I hope whoever buys his business is at least half as cool as he is to dive with. He will be greatly missed. We did 2 very nice dives at Teketite off the south shore on Wed. Calm clear waters gave me the chance to play with my newest toy.....an underwater camera case for my Nikon Coolpix. Staying still underwater in the ocean to snap a picture is a challenge but I perservere as long as my batteries last. A word of advice to lithium battery users; bring plenty with you cuz they are nowhere to be found on St. John. I used some high quality alkaline ones in a pinch but they don't last long(died before the dive was over)so I had a friend express mail the lithium ones to me. When we got back to the villa that afternoon I had the need to wash some things. My husband warned me of a "poop" smell in the laundry room, I said it was just musty from the dampness that is part of the island environment. He said it was something else and it was. [Just for the record I want it to be known that I don't think this incident is a fault of anyone,nor were we really bothered by it,and I laugh when I think of it now and did then too, it's just part of island life and the environment]I saw something was in the washer as my hand was reaching for it my eyes focused on the object. Dead rat. Hence the smell. I've worked with all sorts of animals over the past 22 years but mostly on horse farms so disposing of rats and other creatures is not new to me. However this was not an activity I or my husband wanted to partake in on our vacation so we called the owners who promptly took care of the situation and apologized for it. Thursday we motored out to Booby Rock for 2 lovely dives. Went to Skinny's for lunch....neither my husband or I would return there(sorry Bill). It's hot and stuffy in there. We think Island Blues has MUCH better burgers and they have fries with them...potato chips just didn't do it for us. My apologies to Painkiller fans but I just don't see the attraction. They taste like rancid orange juice to me but to each his or her own.That evening we went to Chloe & Bernards at the Westin for dinner. Excellent all the way around...... food,service,ambiance, view from window seats. This was our favorite and we had dinner there 2 more times before we left the island. We both had the Beef Tenderloin and I must tell that the only one I've had in my life that was better was in Montana at the wedding of a beef farmers daughter who served his stock at the wedding. On Fridays' dives one of my husbands worst fears were realized. I met a man from the internet. "Bill in VA" from this board was on our dive boat! It was a pleasure to meet and dive with him. We also had another couple, Mark and Elise from MA. Our first dive was Eagle Shoals, were I got a great shillouete picture of Bill in VA. Then we went back to Booby rock for our second dive. That night was dinner at Asolare. Nice restaurant and atmosphere. Although we had a reservation we still had to wait 20-30 minutes for a table. BTW if you make reservations there ask for an outside table, excellent views. Unfortunately right before my appetizer came I started to get a stomach ache. I think it was from the Peach Shnapps & OJ I had at the bar. I had't had one in years and the stomach is probably the reason why. Anyway I had a few bites of my appetizer and exactly 1 bite of my entree and my tummy couldn't take anymore. My husband says his meal was excellent and I can't complain about the service. Our waitress was great and she didn't charge us for my entree. I waited outside while my husband took care of the bill, we took a slow drive up the north shore road and stopped at Maho Bay to hang on the beach in the moonlight, an activity that should not be missed. Of course an hour later I felt fine and famished so we went off to Island Blues for some snacks and drinks before turning in for the evening. Because I love St. John soo much I continued searching around on the internet even after I'd booked my villa and also viewed online some villas that MB posters recommended so....
On Sat. my husband and I made appointments to go and see some other villas that we were interested in for future visits. We both really enjoyed this and went to 4 different places to check them out and noted views,location,ease of accessablity, privacy and legnth of sun exposure and of course rates. At one place we had the good fortunes to meet the owners. You can normally get a discount renting directly from owners since they don't have to pay an agents fee that way. That day helped a lot in making a decision for next year since you can't tell all the details from internet pics. That about sums up our first week. Some where in that week we had Sticky Fingers twice..... good stuff! Our favorite lunch spot was Woody's. LOVE their strawberry short cake;Strawberries,Absolute & Baily's in a blender YUM!!!!! Now I've typed more than enough for one sitting. I have to go unpack. Another suggestion; if you are fortunate enough to have use of a washer and dryer take advantage of it and unpack clean clothes out of your bags when you get home. I find it makes the task of unpacking more pleasant. Part II is soon to follow along with lots of pictures. To Bill in VA- the picture of you and Jay came out great, I'll e-mail you a copy. TTFN
Jofus
We woke to a somewhat sunny day and dove with Jay at St. John Dive Adventures. I am very sorry to say Jay has sold his home and his business is for sale so I don't think I'll have any more dive adventures with Jay. I hope whoever buys his business is at least half as cool as he is to dive with. He will be greatly missed. We did 2 very nice dives at Teketite off the south shore on Wed. Calm clear waters gave me the chance to play with my newest toy.....an underwater camera case for my Nikon Coolpix. Staying still underwater in the ocean to snap a picture is a challenge but I perservere as long as my batteries last. A word of advice to lithium battery users; bring plenty with you cuz they are nowhere to be found on St. John. I used some high quality alkaline ones in a pinch but they don't last long(died before the dive was over)so I had a friend express mail the lithium ones to me. When we got back to the villa that afternoon I had the need to wash some things. My husband warned me of a "poop" smell in the laundry room, I said it was just musty from the dampness that is part of the island environment. He said it was something else and it was. [Just for the record I want it to be known that I don't think this incident is a fault of anyone,nor were we really bothered by it,and I laugh when I think of it now and did then too, it's just part of island life and the environment]I saw something was in the washer as my hand was reaching for it my eyes focused on the object. Dead rat. Hence the smell. I've worked with all sorts of animals over the past 22 years but mostly on horse farms so disposing of rats and other creatures is not new to me. However this was not an activity I or my husband wanted to partake in on our vacation so we called the owners who promptly took care of the situation and apologized for it. Thursday we motored out to Booby Rock for 2 lovely dives. Went to Skinny's for lunch....neither my husband or I would return there(sorry Bill). It's hot and stuffy in there. We think Island Blues has MUCH better burgers and they have fries with them...potato chips just didn't do it for us. My apologies to Painkiller fans but I just don't see the attraction. They taste like rancid orange juice to me but to each his or her own.That evening we went to Chloe & Bernards at the Westin for dinner. Excellent all the way around...... food,service,ambiance, view from window seats. This was our favorite and we had dinner there 2 more times before we left the island. We both had the Beef Tenderloin and I must tell that the only one I've had in my life that was better was in Montana at the wedding of a beef farmers daughter who served his stock at the wedding. On Fridays' dives one of my husbands worst fears were realized. I met a man from the internet. "Bill in VA" from this board was on our dive boat! It was a pleasure to meet and dive with him. We also had another couple, Mark and Elise from MA. Our first dive was Eagle Shoals, were I got a great shillouete picture of Bill in VA. Then we went back to Booby rock for our second dive. That night was dinner at Asolare. Nice restaurant and atmosphere. Although we had a reservation we still had to wait 20-30 minutes for a table. BTW if you make reservations there ask for an outside table, excellent views. Unfortunately right before my appetizer came I started to get a stomach ache. I think it was from the Peach Shnapps & OJ I had at the bar. I had't had one in years and the stomach is probably the reason why. Anyway I had a few bites of my appetizer and exactly 1 bite of my entree and my tummy couldn't take anymore. My husband says his meal was excellent and I can't complain about the service. Our waitress was great and she didn't charge us for my entree. I waited outside while my husband took care of the bill, we took a slow drive up the north shore road and stopped at Maho Bay to hang on the beach in the moonlight, an activity that should not be missed. Of course an hour later I felt fine and famished so we went off to Island Blues for some snacks and drinks before turning in for the evening. Because I love St. John soo much I continued searching around on the internet even after I'd booked my villa and also viewed online some villas that MB posters recommended so....
On Sat. my husband and I made appointments to go and see some other villas that we were interested in for future visits. We both really enjoyed this and went to 4 different places to check them out and noted views,location,ease of accessablity, privacy and legnth of sun exposure and of course rates. At one place we had the good fortunes to meet the owners. You can normally get a discount renting directly from owners since they don't have to pay an agents fee that way. That day helped a lot in making a decision for next year since you can't tell all the details from internet pics. That about sums up our first week. Some where in that week we had Sticky Fingers twice..... good stuff! Our favorite lunch spot was Woody's. LOVE their strawberry short cake;Strawberries,Absolute & Baily's in a blender YUM!!!!! Now I've typed more than enough for one sitting. I have to go unpack. Another suggestion; if you are fortunate enough to have use of a washer and dryer take advantage of it and unpack clean clothes out of your bags when you get home. I find it makes the task of unpacking more pleasant. Part II is soon to follow along with lots of pictures. To Bill in VA- the picture of you and Jay came out great, I'll e-mail you a copy. TTFN
Jofus
Feb 28th, 2005, 02:24 PM
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Jofus, your report made me so jealous! What I wouldn't give to be sitting in Island Blues drinking a beer right about now. Sorry your Skinny's experience wasn't so good. We love that place too.
I live in Northern NJ and found Starfish quite a bit more expensive than home on all counts. Interesting that you thought their meat & produce prices were comparable to home. In my experience, Dolphin is cheaper & Love City Grocery in Coral Bay is even less expensive than the two in Cruz Bay.
I live in Northern NJ and found Starfish quite a bit more expensive than home on all counts. Interesting that you thought their meat & produce prices were comparable to home. In my experience, Dolphin is cheaper & Love City Grocery in Coral Bay is even less expensive than the two in Cruz Bay.
Feb 28th, 2005, 02:27 PM
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What a timely report for me. I had pretty much decided to book Happy Moon for June for me, my teenage daughter and her friend. Now I want to know what you thought of the other places you visited. Great report so far.
Feb 28th, 2005, 02:40 PM
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cartera, 2 of the places I looked(Winsome and Mason Mielle) at would have been for low season due to cost. Bayview which I really like is right near Happy Moon for about $300 more per week and Drakes Lookout is about the same price range.
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Mar 28th, 2005, 08:45 AM
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Hi petepie,
Didn't see your post or I would have replied sooner. Both places are fantastic but very different. I did a report on my observation of each villa I checked out here's a link to what I had to say about them
http://www.caribline.com/cgi-bin/agn...2005+16766.4.1
If you can't get to it post to me again
jofus
Didn't see your post or I would have replied sooner. Both places are fantastic but very different. I did a report on my observation of each villa I checked out here's a link to what I had to say about them
http://www.caribline.com/cgi-bin/agn...2005+16766.4.1
If you can't get to it post to me again
jofus
