Since the VI is not geared towards children, with an infant you may find some dificulties. Sure, some people will "Oooh" and "Ahh" at your baby, but others will resent the intrusion on "their" vacation. Kind of like on an airplane. You may not hear them, but they may give dirty looks to you and yours. I realize that your child is the love of your life, but your vacation will not be nearly as 'serene' with Jr. along. Personally, I think the VI is a great destination for all, but I just thought you might like an honest answer.

Alison...Marty & his wife would be glad to take care of Jr. while you enjoy the baot trip!! While they don't own one of their own, I can assure you they would be great parents!!

You will both enjoy your trip with the baby along, & trust me, you will miss him greatly if you leave him at home, (I have 4 of my own), but Marty is right, there are gonna be activities that you will wish you could do had you not brought the baby along.
One of you is always gonna be holding on to him while the other is on the water snorkeling, or swimming.
Hubby & I stayed at Sapphire Beach end of November, & we left the children at home....there are nice quiet walks on the beach at nite together, sitting at the point watching the sunset & sunrise...laying on the beach together...snorkeling, walking out in the water at Megans Bay together. Get the point?
Your baby is young enough so that he will not hate you forever for leaving him behind...like mine were!! But I am sure after taking this trip with him along, you'll both be planning another trip back without him next time!!

IMO

Alison: One hint, from watching small sunburned children, is to lather him/her up with sunscreen AND clothes/hat AND keep him/her in the shade. The sun is VERY strong and sunburn happens before you even know it on tender skin. I would check in advance with the day charter of choice, I don't know if there are any age restrictions. I hope you have fun!

We took a small umbrella stroller and a Kelty (backpack-type) carrier. Both came in very handy. Also insulated sippy cups are great for the beach.

Have fun!

We took our daughter to STJ for the first time when she was six months. The most helpful item I can recommend is buying one of those baby "tents" which block 98% of the UV rays. See the catalog or website for onestepahead.com. She loves the tent so much, and it gave her nice place to nap in the shade. It's also a good place to store gear out of the wind.

STJ is a great place for vacationing with family; yeah, you might wish you had more time alone, or that you could go on a snorkel trip, but hey, plan on coming back when your child is older and can join in the fun. By the way, there are vacation babysitter services on the island, and if you're staying at the Westin, the Kid's Club (although I think they have to be 2).

Have fun, and your child will too

Lori

I would reccommend staying at a villa/condo/efficiency rather than a hotel. A fridge is a neccessity with a little one!:-) We tried a hotel but it was so difficult, running down to the resturaunts for an overpriced bottle of cold juice/water/milk, and eating out every meal was difficult for us.

Were taking our 2 yr old in July.:-) Have fun!

We took our toddler along, and we are so glad we did! Sure, it was more work, but I didn't have to worry about him here at home, either. And Babies Sleep!! You and your husband can sit up late and enjoy the quiet evenings. We took Kai on the Doubloon for a snorkel trip. There were a bunch of us with our group, and it was a lot of work, but we took turns. With two of you, I would reccommend Trunk Bay for snorkeling, and bring one of those baby floats with the seat. And just keep them with you. I also saw lots of younger children on the islands. And talked to lots of other parents. They all were happy they brought them.
Tips I would give are...get Sunwear from onestepahead. It's one piece, lightweight and blocks the rays. You can keep baby in one anytime in the sun. LOTS of Sunblock and a HAT! If you nurse, I would bring lots of water, as YOU can get dehydrated very quickly, and if you bottle feed, bring LOTS of water for those. And remember, there is no flouride in bottled water,(except nursery water sold at many stores) so it's good to put regular water in bottled water containers.
Don't stress out, and just have fun. If you experience people giving you dirty looks for bringing your child on the vacation you paid for, ignore them. Some people are selfish. And Marty, I have agreed with most that you have said on here, but telling someone to leave their baby at home to not inconvienience others is ridiculous and selfish. I remember a post recently where you said

I'm not sure what business you are in, or which one supports your family, but the majority of STT's income is from visitors. Please don't try to keep visitors from visiting! That will hurt us more than having some people cut loose and have fun.

By encouraging people, who may not be ABLE to leave their child at home to NOT bring them is not very supportive to people. Others will read what you have written here and decide to go elsewhere! They didn't ask whether to bring them, just suggestions when they DO.

Allison, if you have any questions, pm me or SIOTHA (my SIL, she took her 11 month old)
Thanks
Tina

Myemi26again,

Did you even READ my post? I was merely telling them what to expect from some idiots. And then I wrote "Personally, I think the VI is a great destination for all." Please, in the future, read my words, don't try to assign meaning to them. I mean what I wrote, I stand by it, and that's it. I think most people are too timid to write the absolute truth, so I try to be as honest as I can. As unfortunate as it is, some people WILL resent the child for intruding on "their" vacation. It's just a fact of life, and we can't change it. Some people think the world revolves around them. With Jr. along, these same idiots are the ones that may intrude upon your serenity. How did you read into it that I recommended leaving him/her at home?

"And acceptance is the answer to ALL my problems today..."

Yes, Marty, I did read your post. You must remember that the WAY you post them on a message board will be construed the way a reader reads them. I found your post completely negative towards them bringing "jr" along. (btw just by calling their baby "jr" came off as slightly rude. This is a forum, and there is no "face to face" so you must be careful on your wording.) The OP did not ask your opinion on the serenity of their vacation. Your sentence about their baby being the love of their life, and ending with a "but...." was the main reason I read into that you were encouraging a vacation without their baby. I realize you said you were open to all visitors, but it's also like telling someone "I don't want to hurt your feelings, but...did anyone ever tell you your hairy back needs a waxing?"
This is a message board, and things will NEVER come out the same as if you were talking one on one.

So, lastly, if you did not mean to come off as I read it, then I apologize.
I found these forums to be a great help with my vacation.

Myemi,
I read and re-read marty's post and saw absolutely nothing wrong with it. I am a father of a small child (17 mo) and he has been on 2 vacations with us. Florida and Aspen. Everything he says is the truth and again, saw nothing negative in his post.

Allison,

They say that the first 6 months is the most senstitive time for a babies skin. And being (what is it 12 or 18 degrees away from the equator) the uv rays are going to be much more intense there than they are anywhere else.

Childrens eyes are also very sensitive. Your eyes develop up until 12 yrs of age.

I took my 6 month old daughter to Breckenridge and besides a little bit of sledding and shopping we spent most of our time in the condo.

Not trying to rain on your parade but nothing worse than a sunburn. Much less a sun burned or an eye burnt baby. We leave this saturday for stj. Leaving my now 2.5 year old daughter and my other 6 month old daughter with grandma and grandpa. woot woot(lol)

Graham

Thank you all for the information!

My wife read Marty's response and for a couple of days she was questioning our decision to visit STT and asking me to visit this site for my 'read'. I found it honest and insightful.

It's funny though! how the wife and I can get two complete different things out of what Marty wrote - and as we now see, many others are getting different perceptions. All perceptions and response are helpful. Keep'em coming - thanks!

What day did you say you were available to babysit Marty:)?

Jeff (alison's hubby)

Thanks to all who have responded. I guess it's true about the old adage of "half-full/half-empty" One of the great things about this board is that we can can 'talk' about it and figure out what was really meant. Again, thanks!

Sure, bring the baby by and I can watch the little one for ya!That might help me get more sales, too! I'll tell everyone that he/she is mine and I couldn't afford to hire a sitter. Yeah, that'll work! Haha! People will feel sorry for me and buy everything I have!

I am glad this board is so open!
That said, I wanted to add post script for Allison and Jeff..
My son is 20 months and he is wild. seriosly wild. But while on vacation, he was a dream. People on the plane and boat complimented us on his behaviour. (guess there is a first time for everything 😉 )

We keep asking for Island Kai to come back!!

Hello myemi26again,

What is this 'Island Kai' you speak of?

LOL!! Too funny!
"Island Kai" is the wonderful dream child I had on the islands.
At home we can him "Tornado Kai" or "Demon Kai."

My son is named Kai. Pronounced like Ky..

Sorry I confused you!! 🙂

but,it gave me a laugh this morning......

Hello Alison,

Get a good baby sun block and use it, a hat and a baby floatie for the water. You can get the waterproof swim diapers here... but you might bring some if you don't want to have to go to the store the first day of your trip. The tents work well, if not go to beaches with trees and use a towel to make a nap spot in the shade for the baby. Avoid 11am-1:30pm when the sun is its brightest. Bring lots of water for yourself and baby, take little Tupperware containers to put formula in so you can make milk bottles while out... don't forget insulated bottle bags to keep the water/formula warm. If the baby likes a particular brand formula, snacks and you think for some reason we won't have it in stores here - bring it or ask - maybe someone on the board will know. Bring some insect repellent - Avon Skin so Soft works... not sure if there are any other baby friendly repellents. Its very disconcerting when your baby's little arms and legs have bumps from mosquitoes bites. Bring a few toys. Bring a couple changes of cloths for the plane ride and also cloths that won't keep the baby too hot in our warm climate, comfy baby cloths. A backpack or easier to pack a baby bijorn type carrier works great - and you can easily take the baby hiking on St. John using that, or if you were going to visit some historical sites in Charlotte Amalie, shop.

The daytrips, you would need to ask the various captains/owners. Coral World is a lot of fun for families, even with very young children.

I had friends (with babies) visiting recently. No mishaps... well except going hiking after feeding a baby prune baby food is a BAD idea. :). It’s a lot more work vacationing with a baby... but then again doing everything seemed to be a lot more work with the babies.

--Islander

Hello All!

Isn't prune baby food a bad idea - hiking or not?:)

Just an update to confirm how right marty is!
Upon trying to make a reservation for a day sail we e-mailed a number of the 'six pack' sail boats asking about prices for the infant - naive that we are, we thought our Jackson would be a lower price than us adults considering he don't eat much and he won't be consuming his portion of the 'painkillers'.

Of the boats that did respond, and there were not many, we only got the 'exclusive' full boat price. This made no sense to us, even if we paid the full advertised adult price for Jackson it would still be cheaper than the 'exclusive' price.

So we chose the boat we were most interested in and called them. The boat owner was concerned about booking others on the boat with Jackson - he did not want our baby to be an intrusion on his other customers vacation. (just like Marty said!)

All is well! we negotiated a fair price for an 'exclusive' with the option of bringing a full boat if we are able to find others to join us.

If you're going to be on the island April 25th and don't mind sharing a boat with our little buddy, we have a couple spots open.

Marty - You're off the hook for babysitting duty at least one day 🙂

Thanks!

we went on the Doubloon and we weren't charged for Kai..
go to www.doubloon.com...
if you click on party pics and then 2005, then march pics, then pics from march 15-21, you will see a pic of us. almost to the bottom of the pics.. Kai is almost 2...there is a pic of me, my hubby and Kai...
3rd row from bottom, pics 7 and 8