Just got back last night from a camping trip to Cinnamon Bay. Here’s my trip report. (Warning…it’s a long one!)

Our group (4 guys in our early 40’s…we grew up together and have been life-long friends) camped for 3 nights in a tent at the Cinnamon Bay Campground in the National Park on St. John. Overall, the trip was fanstastic. Thanks to the moderators and regulars here for all the advice. We needed to do this trip as cheaply as possible, and the information on this board was invaluable.

BEST ADVICE WE GOT FROM THIS BOARD:
* Rent a vehicle. We drove all over St. John and had a ball! We rented a Jeep Wrangler for about $70 per day (including taxes). Divided among our party of 4, that comes to less than $20 per day for each of us. A tip for other budget-consious travellers: while we enjoyed having the 4WD Jeep and made good use of it, we could have gotten by with a regular car for even less money. We needed the 4WD feature a few times on some of the more rugged (and scenic) roads, but if travelling cheap is your goal, it might be wise to rent a car instead of an SUV. You’ll be a bit limited on where you can drive, but you’ll save a lot of money and still be able to cover 90% of the island.

* Stock up on St. Thomas before getting on the ferry. Because we had rented a vehicle, we were able to stock up on supplies in St. Thomas before heading over to St. John. We went to a grocery store and a K-Mart and got our food and lots of beer. Unfortunately, the donkeys ate some of the food. More on that later. Fortunately, the donkeys couldn’t open the beer!

* We found the book “St. John – Off The Beaten Track” to be a great resource. It came with a map that we used constantly. The book and the map can be ordered on this site. Buy them.

THINGS WE BROUGHT BUT WISH WE HADN’T
* Mosquito netting. I’d heard that the tents at Cinnamon Bay don’t protect well against mosquitos. We bought some netting and hauled it down in our luggage. Complete waste of luggage space. Bugs were no problem, and the tents had adequate screens.

* Towels. Cinnamon Bay provides towels as part of the linens package when renting a tent or a cottage. These are just bath towels, not big beach towels, but they are fine. Wished I’d have left mine at home and saved the luggage space.

POSITIVES (I.E., THINGS WE LOVED)
* The unspoiled beauty of the National Park on St. John. One of the most beautiful places I’ve been. Unlike other ocean resort destinations, you don’t see lines of condos, hotels, bars, tee-shirt shops etc. lining the beaches and spoiling the views.

* Driving. The roads are a blast to drive on. The challenge of remembering to keep left is not that big a deal, and I wouldn’t let that scare you away from this great experience. Zipping around in an open-topped Jeep with gorgeous views all around was fantastic. If you’re the driver, just leave the beer in the cooler until you get back to camp and have your vehicle safely parked for the night!

* Camping just a few short steps from the beach! We grilled steaks at the camp. After dinner, for our “desert,” we’d take our cooler down to the beach to look at the stars and laugh and party for a couple of hours. Great endings to great days.

* Wildlife. Both land and sea critters. We saw a couple of 3-foot long iguanas (one of which literally dropped from a tree near our campsite one day with a loud thump), mongoose, these large turkey-like birds up in the mountains, egrets, etc. We watched the pelicans catching fish. The more populated parts of the island have goats and chickens roaming everywhere. At first, we got a kick out of the wild donkeys roaming around. Later, we came to hate those damn donkeys. More on that in the next section.

NEGATIVES (THE FEW DISAPPOINTMENTS WE EXPERIENCED)
* Donkeys. The damn things are pests for the campers. Several of the campsites had erected elaborate fences using ropes and sticks. For the first couple of days, we laughed at their paranoia. Just relax, we said. Why are these people so uptight about these cute donkeys? Then on Tuesday, we were “donkeyed.” The damn things ate everything in the campsite. Luckily, we were departing on Weds, so it was only two meals and some snacks that we lost. Plus a big mess to clean up. If you’re camping, beware of the donkeys!

* The rough seas. There were large swells coming in from the North throughout our stay. Spoiled the snorkeling. Couldn’t rent sea kayaks. It sucked. We drove around to the South side of the island where the water was calm. We found some pretty good snorkeling at Lameshur Bay, and adjacent at Europa Bay. These required 4-wheel-drive to reach. Salt Pond Bay (again on the South side) was calm, but the snorkeling was only so-so. What was so disappointing was that everything I’ve read – in Singer’s book, and in postings on this board, and elsewhere – indicates that the best snorkeling can be found on the North shore in places like Waterlemon, Solomon, and even Cinnamon. Frustrating to think that you’ve got a great place to snorkel just a hundred yards from your campsite, but the rough seas have spoiled it.

We tried going to Francis Bay, which is protected from the North. Swells were manageable, but the water was so stirred up that visibility was terrible. Tried Solomon as well. Again, swells were manageable, but the water clarity was not good. We were not in a position financially to book one of those $100 snorkeling trips, and we had really pinned our hopes on finding good snorkeling accessible with our jeep on St. John.

A question for the locals/regulars: Are these swells from the North a seasonal thing? Is this common in the winter? I’d like to know so that if I come back, I can avoid the time of year when the water is likely to be rough.

A RECAP OF OUR TRIP:
We arrived Sunday afternoon. My 3 buddies are much bigger football fans than I am. I booked the campsite last fall, without realizing that I’d scheduled the trip for Superbowl Sunday. So, they splurged and got a room at Bolongo Bay in St. Thomas and watched the game and partied there. I skipped the game, and instead I took the jeep loaded with our supplies across the ferry and checked in at Cinnamon Bay. Drove the island a bit, and got a sandwich in Cruz Bay, caught a bit of the game at a bar there, but then decided that I’d rather be at the campsite. I enjoyed a quiet night strolling the beach.

Monday, I got up and went for a swim and made some breakfast. My hung-over buddies had taken a cab to Red Hook and crossed over on the passenger ferry. I met them in Cruz Bay and we went exploring. In the afternoon, we went to Lamesure/Europa Bay. Best snorkeling of the trip. It was good, but not great. Saw lots of conch, colorful fish, parrot fish, sideways fish, YST fish (that’s Yellow Stripey Things), some nice coral, etc. We snorkeled out to the point that marks the western boundry of Lamesure Bay and out around that point into Europa Bay. The snorkeling right off the point was the best, although the currents were a bit tricky…hard to avoid scraping the rocks at times. Steaks and beers at camp for dinner.

Tuesday, we did Salt Pond Bay. Pretty, but the snorkeling was just so-so. Visibility was not great. In the afternoon, after consulting Singer’s book in which he recommends Solomon beach as a good snorkeling spot when the swells are bad, we set off. Others on this board have gone back and forth as to whether this is a nude beach. I can only tell you my experience from one afternoon…it is. And I was fine with that. In fact, after snorkeling for a while I came back to rest on the beach and I joined the ranks of the naked. There were maybe 20 people in total at the beach, and virtually all were naked or topless, except for me and my buddies. I felt out of place, like some lecherous old man. So, I decided to drop trou. It was fun, actually. I haven’t skinny-dipped since I was a kid. My buddies gave me a hard time (no pun inteneded), but I enjoyed my brief naked splash in the sea. Oh, the snorkeling was disappointing. The swells were manageable, but visibility was poor. Then, we hiked back up to the road.

Due to the donkey invasion, we went out for dinner in Cruz Bay on Tuesday. Stopped in at a couple of little spots, and had chicken wings at one and Mexican at another. Strolled around a bit and headed back to camp for our “desert” on the beach at Cinnamon Bay.

On Weds, we drove all the way out to the east end of the island. The snorkeling at Haulover Bay looked great, and I wished I had my gear along. But we’d already packed up and checked our luggage at the camp office for the day. On the way back, we took some back roads up over the mountains. It was great. There is a little road marked “Highway 108” that is like no “Highway” I’ve ever seen. I’ll say this, its certainly “high.” It climbs right up into the mountains and over the center of the island. Mostly unpaved. Usually steep and narrow. Spectacular views. It was scary at times, but lots of fun.

We crossed back over to St. Thomas, went to Havensight to gawk at the big cruise ships and buy some trinkets for the kids back home, and headed back to the airport.

It was a great trip, and I hope to come back with my 3 sons in a year or two. That will probably be a summer trip, so maybe we can avoid those nasty swells. And, we’ll bring some rope to keep the damn donkeys out of our camp!