Not too much in the way of public transportation on St. John with the exception of taxis. Check out Bill's trip reports posted in early March for ideas re: itinerary.

Here are some itinerary ideas that involve hiking and snorkeling and can be done without a car.

Day 1: Stop at the National Park Headquarters and get a map of the island and the trails. Right behind the building is the Lind Point Trail which leads to Solaman and Honeymoon Beaches. These are both very nice beaches with decent snorkeling between the two of them. If you desire to see more, you can continue along the path to the Caneel Bay Resort. Take some time to view the lovely grounds and walk the Turtle Bay Trail. You can also swim and snorkel at the Caneel Bay Beach. By now you will need a drink at the beach bar and you can grab a taxi or hike back to Cruz Bay.

Day 2: Get on the VITRAN bus that leaves from the ferry dock at 20 minutes past the hour (check the schedule ahead of time just to make sure). The bus is $1 a piece. The bus will take you all the way to the parking lot for Saltpond Bay. Walk to the beach and snorkel out to the rocks in the middle of the bay. After that, follow the Ram's Head Trail to the end and enjoy a picnic lunch. On your way back, take the side trail to Drunk Bay. There is also the option to snorkel from the Blue Cobblestone Beach. When you are done for the day you can get the bus from the parking lot at 10 minutes past the hour.

Day 3: Find Mr. Frett who drives the Maho Bay shuttle. He leaves from the ferry dock at 9:15, 11:15, 1:15, etc. His taxi is $7 each. He will drop you off at the Annaberg ruins. You can view the ruins or take the hike to Leinster Bay/Waterlemon Cay. This snorkel is considered one of the best on the island. If you are a strong swimmer, you can start from the beach and snorkel out around the Cay. This is usually a great snorkel. From the beach you can pick up the Johnny Horn Trail, take that to the Brown Bay Trail and end up at the secluded Brown Bay Beach. After snorkeling Brown Bay, go back out the Brown Bay Trail to the Johnny Horn Trail and continue South to Coral Bay. Here you can find a cold drink and wait for the bus to take you back to Cruz Bay. I believe the bus passes through Coral Bay at 25 minutes past the hour.

Day 4: Take the Maho Bay shuttle to Francis Bay. Be sure to arrange for a pickup with Mr. Frett. Francis Bay is a large beach with a lot of snorkeling.

Day 5: Take the bus or a taxi to the Reef Bay Trailhead. Hike the Reef Bay Trail taking a side trip to the Petroglyphs. Just past the Petroglyph Trail take the Lameshur Bay Trail to the beach at Little Lameshur Bay for some good snorkeling. You can also take a trail to Europa Bay and Great Lameshur Bay. When you are done, hike along the road to the Saltpond parking lot and take the bus back to Cruz Bay.

Day 6: Rent a dinghy for the day in Cruz Bay. Make stops at any of the North Shore beaches that look interesting to you. Everyone has a different opinion as to which is the best.

I could go on, but I have run out of days. There are beaches and trails enough to fill several weeks. I hope this helps.

What a superb itinerary to put together for someone!! Down to the time the bus runs through Coral Bay!! Great variety!That Day 3 plan would be way too ambitious for me,though. The that's a lot of activity. The Waterlemon snorkel can be demanding and the Johnny Horn to Coral Bay is a demanding trail in itself without adding the side trip and snorkel to Brown Bay.

Other possibilities---even if you can't find a vehicle to rent for a week, you may be able to get one for a day or two just by walking up to some of the agencies in the A.M. Also--hitchiking is not uncommon on STJ. I haven't picked up anyone in years on the mainland, but do it routinely on STJ.

Regarding a day trip to the BVI---we never went until our third trip to STJ. We'd intended to go before, but there was always so much that we wanted to do and see on STJ that we never left the island.

If you haven't yet, I'd suggest getting yourself a guidebook or two. I use "STJ: Off the Beaten Track" and "Feet, Fins & 4WD".

Dependable Car Rental on STT allows their cars to be taken to STJ.

Here is the list of car rental places I found for St. John. There my be one or two you haven't checked yet.
Car Rental
• Avis 340-776-6374 or 800-331-1084
• Best Car Rental 340-693-8177 Fax 340-693-8860 night: 340-775-0815
• C & C Car and Jeep Rental 340-693-8164
• Conrad Sutton Car Rental 340-776-6479 Fax 340-693-8099
• Cool Breeze Car Rental 340-776-6588
• Courtesy Car & Jeep Rental 340-776-6650
• Delbert Hill's Jeep Rentals 340-776-6637
• Hertz 340-693-7580 800-654-3131
• Hospitality Car and Jeep Rentals 340-693-9160
• L&L Jeep Rental Inc, 340-776-1120 : http://www.bookajeep.com/
• Lionel Jeep Rental 340-693-8764
• O'Connor Jeep Rental 340-776-6343
• Paris Car Rental 340-776-6171
• Penn’s 340-776-6530.
• St. John Car Rental, Inc. 340-776-6103 Fax (340) 776-6103
• Spencer Jeep Rental 340-776-6628 Fax 340-693-8399 1-888-776-6628
• Sun & Sand Car Rental 340-776-6374
• Sutton Conrad Car Rental 340-776-6479
• Varlack Car Rental 340-776-6412 fax: 340-693-8276

I know that Budget and Avis allow you to take the rental car from St. Thomas to St. John. I have the bookmark for Budget online for STT which has much better prices than if you call them to reserve.

http://www.budgetstt.com/reservations.html

Here are my favorite online beach and hiking guides for STJ. I also will give you the link for the National Park. You should probably reserve your spot for the Reef Bay trail now if you want to go because their web site says they fill up.

http://www.stjohnbeachguide.com/Beaches.htm

http://www.stjohnbeachguide.com/Trails.htm

http://www.stjohntour.com/

http://www.nps.gov/viis/InterpProgram.htm The picture takes a while to download. Just scroll down for written info.

We have not been to the USVI yet. We probably won't get a chance to take another trip there for at least 5 plus years so we didn't want to pass up an opportunity to visit the BVI as well. We scheduled two day trips. Both are focused on snorkeling. One is to Virgin Gorda and "The Baths" with a stop on Cooper Island for lunch and another snorkel stop at the Indians, Caves or a reef by Peter Island which will be determined by ocean conditions on that day. We are using Stormy Petrel/Pirate Penny which is a motor boat. You can book them by calling 340-775-7990. Here is one web site I found about them.

http://www.charterboat.vi/stormypetrel.html

The other trip is going to Jost Van Dyke on a motor boat called Lion in da Sun. Here is there web site:
http://www.lionindasun.com/

Other motor boat trips to the BVI that are recommended by people from this board include:

New Horizons II http://newhorizonscharters.com/

And Limnos http://limnoscharters.com/BVIPage/BVIPage.html

Have a nice trip. You are going the week before us.