St. John, US Virgin Islands
Do you like wild nightlife? Noisy discos? Shopping galore? Throngs of tourists on the beach? Then DON'T visit the island of St. John--go to St. Thomas.
St. John is the smallest of the three US Virgin Islands. Each island has a different flavor.
St. Thomas is famous as a stop for cruise ships and shoppers, with plenty of night life. St. Croix shows more of the territory's Danish heritage in its picturesque architecture. St. John's attractiveness comes from its abundant natural beauty: two thirds of the island are part of the USVI National Park and will never be built up by developers.
Pix from our 2002 trip: On St.John
More pictures of many of St. John's beautiful beaches (the pictures can only hint at how lovely these beaches really are): Book It St. John
A map of the island: University of Texas map library
I didn't bother with travelogues for our 2002 or 2004 trips--we spent all our days on the beach and most of our evenings relaxing at Woodrose 99. It's always the same...beautiful.
My favorite Virgin Islands travel forum: USVI On-Line
Excerpts from our 2001 travelogue:
1/29/2001,7:34 AM
"...we are sitting at a Burger King at the Kansas City airport. Our flight to Chicago was cancelled: instead we are flying to Miami via Dallas, and then to St. Thomas.... delaying our arrival to St. John. We'll have to take the 10PM ferry at Red Hook...I just called East End taxi to let them know about our delay. I also spoke with Doug S., our host--he said he would try to buy some half and half for me so I don't have a headache tomorrow morning. The problem is bad weather cutting across the Midwest. I've been grumpy all morning, and Mark is coming down with the cold I just shook off...we have lots of time to kill here.The frozen food looked fine this morning: we put the soft-sided cooler inside our one checked bag. It's dreary, and we are bummed out. I was so sure that our flight would not be cancelled--if I had simply called this morning, we could have had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel. Oh well, my bad... Mark brought a big fat hardback book: ""Confessing the Faith"". Looks like he is going to tackle some systematic theology while we are on vacation. Yuck. The only theology I want to think about this week is ""Lord, thank you for this wonderful beach…”
1/30/2001,12:16 PM
"We got in very late last night- 10PM ferry.... nearly 11PM to cottage.It's rustic, but nice...the kitchen is fairly well stocked with equipment and a few staples.Mark is still getting over a bit of a cold. We got up late and drove into town so that we could sign the papers for the Vitara at Denzil Clyne. After getting that done (note to self: be sure that the gas tank is full when we return the vehicle) we stopped at Mongoose Junction. I got a really good haircut, we had lunch at the Mongoose Restaurant, and we and bought an old-style map of St. Thomas/St. John. After that was done, we drove to the new Starfish to fill out our groceries...better not think about the prices : ) It's so beautiful here! We are going to hit the beach this afternoon--we returned home with the groceries and I boiled some eggs for the next couple days of cooking. I could stay forever--there were some awesome views from the road...I want to be on the water all the time."
2/01/2001,6:38 AM
"It's really 8:38am as we are on island time :) Yesterday's day sail was wonderful, although we were lazy and did not snorkel as much as we could have.Pam & Brian's other guests came from a cruise ship. The women were what I call ""high maintenance"", but nice. A storm had come through the Virgins on Monday (much needed rain) and the water was pretty stirred up on St. John's north side beaches, so we stopped at the St. James cays/islands. Pam told us the story about the very rich individual that bought the island, staffing engineers and complete staff. Lesser St. James is a little more low key--no power generators or desalination plant there! We stopped at Greater St. James at Christmas Bay...near Fish Cay. When we first arrived, a friendly turtle popped up his head near the boat...we saw many juvenile fish near the coral ledge at the beach. I snorkeled out to Fish Cay--on the way back I spied a black stingray with a very long tail--when I returned to the boat, Pam was feeding a big trunkfish. The fish had a flat bottom like an iron, and tiny little fins. The weather was absolutely ideal for the trip--we had a great time. After returning to St. John, we bought a mango-strawberry-banana smoothie and headed home to crash. I made a new chicken recipe (Swiss cheese on the chicken breasts, very good) and we watched the boob tube & crashed. Our place has cable with HBO & Showtime. It rained overnight (again, much needed around here) so this morning we are taking things slowly. I'm sure it will clear up, and then we can go out...or just hang around here.According to The Weather Channel, the Midwest is experiencing 'icy blasts of cold wind'.... ha ha ha!"
2/02/2001,7:43 PM
"Ah, mellow day today. We were a bit unnerved by our driving experience at Lameshur yesterday afternoon; the road was much worse this time on the final downhill. It looks as though there has been a rockslide/mudslide or two, leaving the road a complete mess. We enjoyed our time though, even though we didn't do a whole lot of swimming. There was one family on the beach when we arrived, and a couple of people were leaving.Several sailboats were moored in the bay, and a group of four people came from one of them came ashore on a rubber boat. On the road back I was afraid we would not make it up that first hill! Earlier in the day we stopped at Vie's Snack Shack for a snack of conch fritters and Coke. We'd already had lunch at our cottage after sleeping late. While at Vie's, we struck up a conversation with a young woman there, and we later gave her a ride to Coral Bay. She told us that she was preparing for a trip to the States. She asked us about California and about Arizona. After a little political discussion I learned that she was willing to give Dubya more of a chance than I am : ) It was after we dropper her off at Coral Bay that we made the trip to Lameshur.... On the way home we stopped to check out the gear at Cruz Bay Sports, and decided that we might buy fins the next day. Dinner was chicken salad sandwiches and the potato salad I made in the morning.It came out pretty well, although I had to substitute lemon juice for vinegar.This morning Mark was still fighting his cough. I called St. John Drugs, and the pharmacy recommended Robitussin PE. It worked wonderfully for him. I packed lunch and we left to buy fins and booties for both of us, and then took off for Hawksnest Bay with a mango-strawberry-banana smoothie in hand. The beach was beautiful, and we found a shady spot. It was certainly busier than Lameshur, but very nice nonetheless.We stayed for a couple of hours, trying out our new gear. After our beach time, we went by Coconut Coast Studios. Earlier in the day we saw a sample of Elaine Estern's work and really liked her rendition of a parrotfish. On the way home we picked up some more bread and some pastry at Tropicale, then came home early for showers and some relaxation...then early to bed. "
2/04/2001,7:52 PM
"Ah, dinner is cooking as another beautiful day in the USVI comes to an end. This morning we were up early for church at Nazarene Lutheran in Cruz Bay. After services, we had lunch at Chilly Billy's--good prices, good food. After lunch we ran one load of laundry at the laundromat at the back of the old Lumberyard. It took one hour and 15 minutes. On the way home we stopped for milk and some bakery from Starfish. After relaxing for a bit, we changed clothing and headed out for Jumbie Beach as we figured it would be relatively quiet for a Sunday afternoon. We were right--it was quiet and rustic, and a bit choppy, but the view of Trunk, Tortola, several cays and Jost Van Dyke made it a nice stop. Mark got into the water but did not take his fins or mask--I did, and saw some fish-and one small clear jellyfish. We did see one long skinny fish that reminded me of a barracuda, but smaller, without the visible teeth and markings. I also saw many iridescent flat fish with yellow tails that are not on my fish card.... We made it home relatively early. Yesterday was one of our best beach days. We drove out to the East End and parked at the south side of Haulover Bay. We walked to the north side for a peek: very windy, wild, and scenic. No one else was there. On the south side, the beach is covered with coral and rocks except for a few sandy entry points. The snorkeling was excellent; we saw squid, a stingray, some burrowing sea snakes or eels...the first one we saw was digging into the sandy bottom, and surrounded by a small school of fish, circling as he dug.Another reason why this was such a good day--no crowd, only a few other people on the entire beach.We were able to park our Suzuki and our butts under a canopy of trees, shading us from the sun.(BTW, we haven't burned at all during this trip, as our strategy has been to recline in the shade when we are not in the water.) After Haulover, we had a late lunch at Skinny Legs. I picked up some postcards and Mark picked up two hats. We came home and (what else) relaxed...."
2/05/2001,9:19 PM
"An amazingly beautiful day, probably the best during our whole trip. It rained overnight on and off for the past few days--good for the island, and good timing for us as well--and we have even had the typical showers that last for a few minutes, but there was no hint of rain today. The White Wing mate had to cancel our Tuesday trip, as the captain's father had a stroke back in the States. We really wanted to see Virgin Gorda, so we tried booking another small group trip. Stormy Petrel/Pirate's Penny were recommended over Limnos, but they were booked up. We found one other (small group) trip, but they are working on their boat and are not sure it will be ready to go for Wednesday, our last full day here. We are supposed to call them, Tuesday morning but it doesn't sound hopeful. We went back to Haulover Bay today. The snorkeling wasn't great, but it was OK. Perhaps it was due to the recent rainfall; the bottom was stirred up again and visibility was not that good.We still had a wonderful time--I did see one football-sized jelly fish on the eastern fringing reef, and we saw one very large fish that reminded us of a parrotfish, but the colors were iridescent purples. I think my fish identification card is inadequate for the task here. We picked up our usual mango-strawberry-banana smoothie on the way home, and relaxed (as usual) before and after dinner..."
2/07/2001,8:00 AM
"This is beginning to sound monotonous, but yesterday was again a beautiful, perfect day.We went back to Hawksnest and lit for the east end of the beach where there were few people.The visibility was especially good, and we went in several times.We saw our first big octopus (as opposed to squid).There was also an elongated, striped fish that liked to hang out on the bottom, apparently trying to camouflage himself into his surroundings.We also saw a nice variety of coral (especially elkhorn) and a big school of parrotfish.We were out so much that I got a bit of a burn--most days we are only out in short stints, then we spend the remainder of our time under the shade of a tree.After coming home to shower and relax, we were about to go out for dinner (to the Lime Inn) when we met Ann S. on the way out.She gave us a tour of the upstairs unit and showed us a bit of the stone house.She and Doug are building, and eventually will move into a home right on Fish Bay. They will rent out our place and the stone house or sell them if someone should come along and give them a really good offer. They aren't in any hurry to sell, though, and it may not happen.The upstairs unit is larger and has a larger sitting area, two full bedrooms and baths.Very nice, and a really good price—about the same price as the smaller unit we rented from Mr. & Mrs. P. during our first trip. Our hosts will be adding a hot tub or splash pool later this year.Afterwards the tour, we went to the Lime Inn.--a 45 minute wait, so we shopped The Pink Papaya (bought a funky egg timer) and a place that sold hand painted clothing (I bought a floppy hat).Dinner was excellent.We always enjoy the minted iced tea.I chose a half-Caesar salad to start, and we both had the pasta special--linguini in a white sherry sauce, with shrimp, tuna, and perhaps mahi-mahi ...very good. We crashed at home... "
2/07/2001,9:24 PM
"Sadly I write this as we are packing up our stuff.Another perfect day.We were up and at it slowly today, packing lunch.We stopped in Cruz Bay to look at jewelry and to stop at St. John Editions, the shop owned by our hosts.After some futzing around, I drooled over the same rainbow sapphire bracelet as I drooled over during our last visit.We picked up a t-shirt, and then headed out again for Hawksnesk.What can I say...perhaps we are boring, but we know perfection when we find it.Although we brought out snorkeling equipment, we did not snorkel: we spent most of our time swimming in the bay and staring out into the water, to Tortola....As we were leaving, I remembered that I had to call East End to advise them of a pick up time in Red Hook.We got the number from directory assistance at the entrance to Hawksnest (free) but then the phone would not take our money.We drove into Cruz Bay and found a phone at Mongoose Junction.The folks at East End told me I would be just fine if I took the 10am ferry to Red Hook.After the phone call, we walked out to leave, and I must have looked so pitiful that Mark decided to buy me the bracelet.It's beautiful!We stopped at Starfish for some buns, breakfast muffins, half & half, and a side dish for dinner.We returned home and grilled some burgers for dinner."
2/08/2001,7:48 AM
"Well, we are mostly packed.Next time we will be brining another bag, as our rolling footlocker was exactly 70lbs on the way here. We think that we should be under the limit on the way home, as we don't have the food.But we DO have the fins now--they are bulkier, but they should not weigh as much as the food we used."
2/08/2001,10:37 PM
"Well, I'm trying to be productive as we sit on flight number 437...first we were delayed for about an hour, waiting for the plane to arrive from Phoenix.Then we had to wait for clearance from the tower...we taxied for a damn long time. Finally it looked as though we were going to make it out of here when the crew noticed that the A/C was making some strange sounds...so now we are back at the gate, four hours after we were supposed to have left.This sucks!On the bright side, as we were leaving St. John we stopped for one last smoothie at our favorite stand. We asked our smoothie man if we could take his picture...he offered his name (Thomas) and gave us a freebie smoothie for being such good repeat customers!It was difficult to leave St. John...I'm already looking forward to next year's trip...."
