I have never had a vacation so relaxing and enjoyable. We flew to STT from Wisconsin and met up with family from Maine for an 8 day vacation on St. Thomas. We rented the villa Blue Serenity and can not tell you how beautiful it is. The house was amazing and it had a private beach right next to Secret Harbour Beach. We had 6 adults and 3 children in the villa and everyone had a blast and did not want to leave.

We drove by the much discussed Duffy's Love Shack and decided to forgo dinner in a parking lot, but later decided to give it a try and I am so glad we did. We had a blast. The food was excellent, the drinks were so fun and the enivornment was perfect for partying, even with kids. We loved Blue Moon Cafe at the Secret Harbour Hotel. We ate lunch there 3 times. The food was great and the staff was even better. This was a walk from our villa down the beach. We had a romantic dinner at Herve (up on Government Hill) without the kids. The food was amazing. The service was a little slow for such a nice restaurant, but they are on Carribean time and we had grown to appreciate that. We ate an early dinner at Fungi, at Pointe Pleasant. We had a great time. Sinbad the bartender was a pirate and the boys were amazed. He was wonderful. The food was average, but the drinks, the enviroment, the view and the service were all fantastic. The guys ate breakfast at an irish restaurant in Red Hook, and they found the food to be average. Other than that, we ate on the pool terrace everynight overlooking the ocean and watching the sun set.

The guys went deep see fishing with the Black Pearl and they had a great time and caught some amazing tuna and Dorado (aka mahi mahi). I highly recomment them. They are now out of American Yacht Club in Red Hook. We went shopping at Havensight and found quite a few great buys. We loved the snorkeling at Secret Harbor Beach, but do not recommend renting your snorkel equipment at the dive shop at the hotel. The propeitor was extremely rude and even insulted our 6 year old son. He wrongly charged us for his defective equipement and it was not sanitized well either. This was the only bad experience we had the whole trip and found the locals to be very pleasant.

We took the car ferry to St. John and regretted every minute. The ferry ride over was wonderful and were able to get in line so easy, but once we arrived in St. John we could not find a parking space anywhere. We had to get right back in line for the ferrry. Next time I would take the passenger ferry over and just walk around without having to worry about parking.

The first night before checking into the house we stayed at the Marriott. It was ok, but not worth the money. We bought all of the liquor at the Kmart, it was so cheap, and our groceries at the Marina Market. Next time I would buy the produce and meat at the Marina Market and the staples at Food Center. It is very expensive for food, but I brought a few things in the extra suit cases. Boboli pizza crusts, rice packets, and seasonings.

I cannot give this vacation the justice it deserves. St. Thomas is amazing and I will surely return to the Blue Serenity.

Ster