HONEYMOON REVIEW- St. Thomas, Peter Island and St. John.

Night 1-St. Thomas
Hotel—Marriott Morningstar—We really have no complaints. We stayed one night in St. Thomas because the Peter Island ferry only comes on Tuesdays and Saturdays. We really wanted to leave for the honeymoon on Monday and not waste a vacation day from work. I also was determined to earn at least a few hotel points. We didn’t want to spend a lot of time on St. Thomas because it’s very touristy and gets pretty crowded. We stayed in the Morningstar section of the hotel since we heard these rooms were nicer than the Reef section. We had a beachfront room and it was a lot nicer than I expected—a huge, comfortable bed, great view of the beach from the balcony (we were on the second floor). The bathroom was your typical hotel bathroom. There was a bottle of champagne and a bag with some snacks in the room for free. Also had turn down service with chocolates. The restaurants, beach, pool and common areas were not crowded at all. The beach was small—nice chairs, but the water was really rough the day we were there, so we decided to explore another beach.

Restaurants-We got to the hotel late in the afternoon and decided to grab a snack since our dinner reservations were not until 8:30. We ate at Coco Joes and thought the food and service were great. My husband wanted me to be sure to mention how great even the hamburger bun was! We had dinner at Havana Blue which is on the Morningstar property. While it’s quite pricey, the food was delicious. We had great service and great mixed drinks also. We had the breakfast buffet up at the Reef section of the hotel. There was a huge selection and the food and service were great.

Activities-- We went to Magen’s Bay beach because we heard there was good snorkeling there. The beach was beautiful and not crowded (I guess there were no cruise ships in port.) Unfortunately, there really wasn’t anything to see snorkeling there, but the water was calm and clear. We had lunch at the snack bar there and the food wasn’t great, but much better than I expected it to be. We went back to the Marriott to get our luggage and meet the Peter Island ferry. We dropped off our luggage and did a little window shopping in Charlotte Amalie. It was pretty much the same as any other Caribbean cruise port. We did find a great little bar called Coconuts which had great strawberry daiquiris.

Nights 2-6
Peter Island

Ferry-We boarded the ferry in St. Thomas. The boat had an airconditioned cabin and probably held about 24 or so people. We met 3 couples on the boat and we all were honeymooners. Actually, it seems that about 90% of the guests were honeymooners when we were there. We chose to ride on top of the boat in the open air—the water was pretty rough in the channel and we all got soaked. After about an hour we arrived in Tortola for customs and it was much quicker than I expected.

The island—It was bigger than I thought it would be. About 5 miles I believe. Most of the resort sits on a small portion of the island. There is the resort, three or four villas for rent, dive shop, spa, and that’s about it. The grounds are just gorgeous and very well maintained.

The Rooms—There are only about 50 rooms at the resort, plus the villas. We stayed in a beachfront suite on the 2nd floor. It had vaulted ceilings which just made it feel bigger (even though the room was quite large). The bed was large and comfortable—though it could have had nicer sheets—they were fine, typical hotel sheets, but for the price we paid, I thought they’d be a little nicer. There was a desk, sofa, two chairs, plenty of drawer and closet space, coffee maker, small fridge (stocked with free sodas, beer, and water) They gave us an island cd and each a pair of flip flops (Which I wore for the remainder of the trip—I had left mine at home and they were very comfortable). There was a large covered balcony with 2 chairs and table, and two comfortable lounge chairs. We had a great view of the beach just steps away. The best part of the room was the bathroom—double sinks with drawer space, 2 person Jacuzzi, large shower with 2 shower heads. You could even look out onto the ocean from the Jacuzzi. I think one of my favorite things about Peter Island was our bathroom! There are also Oceanview rooms which are closer to the lobby and main restaurant. I heard that they are nice, but just have a standard bathroom, and are a 5 minute walk to the beach.

Beaches—the main beach which our room was on is Deadman’s Bay. Our suite was on one end of the beach and on the other end were the watersports center (kayaks, sailboats, floats, windsurfers—included in your room cost) and the beach bar and grill. The beach is beautiful with plenty of palapas and chairs—they are very spread out and the beach was very uncrowded—it almost felt like we had it to ourselves at times! There is a large group of rocks to the right of the beach and across that is Little Deadman’s Bay. It’s small, but a nice sandy beach with good snorkeling nearby. Go by a few more rocks and you come to Honeymoon Beach. Resort guests schedule a time to go and only one couple is allowed at a time. There is just one palapa, a table, chairs, and two lounge chairs. There are a few rocks on the beach, but it was nice to have it all to yourself. There is also White Bay Beach which you also have to schedule a shuttle to go there—but not private like Honeymoon. One other beach is Reef Bay. They don’t recommend swimming there because the water is really rough. The spa is on this beach and I think you have to have a spa appt. to access it.

Spa—the spa was one of the highlights for me. Unfortunately, I couldn’t convince my husband to come with me, so I had a facial. It was wonderful and much better than other facials I have had before. My face felt great afterwards and when it was done I was so relaxed I could barely get up. I don’t usually like massages, but it included foot, hand, and shoulder massage and I really liked it. The spa itself is gorgeous—right on the beach with great views. If you have an appt. you can stay as long as you like to use the steamroom and awesome outdoor Jacuzzi. The facial was expensive, but SO worth it.

Restaurants—There are only 2 restaurants on Peter Island. Tradewinds which is more fancy and has a dress code for the evening, and Deadman’s Beach bar and grill which was more casual. Since there weren’t a lot of people at the resort there was only one restaurant opened per meal. For breakfast which was always at Tradewinds, you could either get the buffet or order from the menu. My favorite was the made to order omelets. We had a few lunches at Deadman’s—the pizzas were great and sandwiches pretty good. There were two days that we were out and about for lunch, so they packed a picnic for us—sandwich of our choice, fruit salad, pasta salad, and cookies all put into a koozie cooler. All but one night we had dinner at Tradewinds. The change the menu daily, usually have about 4 or 5 appetizers and entrees to choose from. For the entrée there would be one meat, one vegge and the rest seafood choices. I’m not a seafood eater, so I ended up having steaks most nights—and they were very good. My husband really enjoyed the seafood entrees. The service in general was excellent in both restaurants. I did have a couple of issues with the menu. On our 2nd night we had dinner at 8:30—they were out of my first two appetizer choices, and my husband’s first choice for entrée. After that, we decided not to get to dinner after 7 pm. The next night the only meat entrée they offered was lamb, which I did not want to eat. So they happily accommodated me and made me a cheeseburger. I also have to say that the desserts in general just were not very good. But the frozen drinks were great!

Activities—Sunset Trip to the Loop-They took us to the top of a mountain to watch the sunset. They provided, fruit, cheese and crackers, and you could order wine. It was a gorgeous view, and I’m glad we did it, but the mosquitos were killer. Be sure to bring lots of bug spray.
Island tour—They took you in a van around the island for about 45 minutes. You get to see some beautiful views—worth the time for great pictures and you learn your way around the island a little.
Honeymoon Beach—They take only one couple at a time and send you there with a real picnic basket. You have to make a reservation for this ahead of time. When we went the road was washed out, so we took a dinghy there. Unfortunately after about 30 minutes there was a torrential downpour that didn’t look like it would clear up (actually was Tropical Storm Alpha!). So they came back to pick us up. We heard there was nice snorkeling here, but didn’t have a chance to try it.
White Bay Beach-- They shuttle you to this secluded beach. When we went there was only one other couple with us. There are 5 or 6 covered areas with chairs, table and lounge chairs very spread out on the beach. It’s not manicured like Deadman’s and there are a lot of rocks. It’s known to have good snorkeling, but since we went the day after Tropical Storm Alpha the sand was all stirred up and we couldn’t see a thing.
Deadman’s Beach and snorkeling—We did do some pretty good snorkeling here. In the middle of the bay we saw a starfish, stingray and barracuda. We also saw a sea turtle very close to the rocks on the right side of the beach. We heard there was good snorkeling to the left, in front of our suite, but when we tried it was also stirred up and hard to see much.
Private dinner on the beach—This isn’t something that they typically do, but my husband requested it as a surprise for me. It was pretty windy that night, but we decided to continue with the plan and it worked out well. We were able to preorder our meal—my steak wasn’t on the menu, but they still made it for me. It was so romantic to be out there in the breeze with just my husband—we had great service, food and ambiance.
Day trip to Virgin Gorda. This was another highlight. The trip is $40 per person and we took the PI ferry to the island. I think there were about 8 other couples on the trip with us. When we got to the ferry dock we took a taxi to the baths. The taxi dropped us off at the top of the baths. We then headed down a little trail to the baths. The beach there was beautiful and the boulders made it really interesting. It was really uncrowded, which is very unusual, so I was very happy about this. There was good snorkeling there with more coral and fish than I expected. Even though there were some pretty large waves, the visibility was good. Much better than what we experienced at PI. We took the “cave” trail through the boulders. It was a little adventure, but so worth it when we finally made it to Devil’s Bay. This was probably the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. There was noone on the beach when we got there! The snorkeling here was pretty good, but mostly smaller fish. We didn’t bring our fins with us though, so we didn’t swim too far out. We then took a taxi tour of the island and saw some nice views, and ended the tour with a stop at Little Dix. They had great mixed drinks at their beach bar. Their beach was very pretty, but I think Peter Island’s beach was nicer.

Nights 7-12 St. John

Ferry-We took the Peter Island ferry from Peter Island to Tortola (unfortunately the PI ferry straight to St. John was not offered that day). And we were the only people on the ferry! Then took a taxi to the West End and boarded the ferry to St. John. Again, we were the only people on this ferry—and it was a HUGE boat. That was really fun. It only took about 25 minutes to get to St. John.

Rental car- We rented through Conrad Sutton and had a great experience with them. They were friendly and helpful. We rented a four door hard top Suzuki Vitara. We were so glad we went with this option over a soft top—much better airconditioning, and more security with a hard top. We were also able to park in their lot which was very convenient—we used their lot almost every time we came to town. We got a discount rate since it was off season and we reserved online. Luckily driving was my husband’s duty on this trip. You drive on the left and the roads are very hilly and curvy. The first day it was a little frustrating, but after the first day we got used to it. And luckily for the direction challenged people like us, it’s hard to get lost in St. John! And it was so nice not to have to rely on taxis.

Villa-We rented Dream Come True Villa through caribbeanvilla.com. I’m very happy that we chose this over a resort. We had a house with 3 bedrooms, pool, Jacuzzi, and outdoor garden showers all to ourselves. We were right on a pebble beach with an amazing view of the water. It was on Devers Bay, about a five minute drive from town. We loved having the pool to take an afternoon dip after returning from the beach each day. The Jacuzzi was nice, but the water was just too hot and we couldn’t figure out how to cool it down. We also enjoyed the large outdoor “private” garden shower which had a view of the sea. I was a little paranoid about it since I think there should have been another panel to make it more private, but I don’t think any of the neighbors could see. The driveway was very steep, so we chose to not drive down it after the first day, and just parked up top. Only the bedrooms were airconditioned, and I was worried that the living and kitchen areas would be too hot—but they were fine with all the sea breeze and ceiling fans. We did have a problem with the airconditioning in the master bedroom leaking, so we called to have it fixed. Well after the AC guy left, it didn’t seem to work anymore, so we switched to sleeping in the second bedroom. I really liked having AC for sleeping at night, I don’t think I’d rent a villa in the Caribbean without it in the bedrooms. We also enjoyed listening to waves crashing at night. There is supposed to be good snorkeling right in front of our place, but most days it was too rough. We did try once, and I was in for just a couple of minutes, saw a few fish, then a jellyfish, so I was out of there! I’ve been stung before and it was no fun!

Snorkeling, Beaches, and Boating—All I can say is WOW! The Virgin Islands had the most beautiful beaches and snorkeling I have ever seen—I’ve been to lots of Caribbean islands, and there were the best in my opinion. I always judge snorkeling by seeing things I had never seen before—now I don’t think there is much that I haven’t seen. Here’s my beach/snorkeling pick list for St. John:
Most beautiful beach—Hawksnest (our favorite in general!)
Best beaches for seclusion—Jumbie, Gibney
Best snorkeling-Waterlemon Cay, Henley Cay, Jumbie, Salt Pond
Best all around beach (nice beach, good snorkeling, good food)-Caneel Bay
Other beaches we visited-Frances, Maho, Cinnamon, Trunk
Here is a list of beaches/snorkeling spots that we visited on St. John and the BVI’s when we rented a boat.

Devers-our villa’s beach—very rocky but supposed to have good snorkeling on the right side. I saw a jellyfish shortly after getting in the water so I got out pretty quickly.
Reef Bay-pretty beach, but the water was way too rough for snorkeling that day.
Hawksnest- This was our favorite beach-just gorgeous! We went to this beach twice. The first time the water was very calm and clear. Saw lots of fish near the rocks in between Hawksnest and Gibney. Also snorkeled the reef in the middle of the bay. We saw a stingray with a fish following it, a baby squid, lots of fish and coral with some fish I hadn’t seen before. The second time we went the water was too rough and not clear enough for snorkeling.
Gibney-Swam here from Hawksnest—there were only a few people on Hawksnest, but noone on Gibney. This is a picture perfect beach second to Hawksnest. Saw much of the same fish as Hawksnest.
Cinnamon Bay-Also a pretty beach, but there were more people here. Snorkeled by the island –didn’t see anything spectacular, but did see a few trunk fish.
Jumbie-Loved this beach for solitude and snorkeling. There was just one other couple when we got there who had dinghied in, and they left before we did so we then had it to ourselves. I saw a fish that was shaped like a trumpet fish, but it had a blueish/purple face. Also there was a large piece of brain coral that had these red flower looking animals on it. When they “sensed” me hovering over them, one by one they disappeared into the coral, except for one that stayed around.
Trunk-Went there early in the morning hoping to beat the cruise ship rush. It was a beautiful beach, but the waves were quite large that day. We still managed to do some snorkeling on the trail and around the island. Saw more fish and coral than I had expected. Saw a large variety of fish, including a couple of the brown and white trumpet fish which I had never seen before that day. We left after about 2 hours when the cruise shippers started rolling in.
Francis Bay-This was also a beautiful beach, but it was a little rough that day and there was no visibility. We made the mistake of putting our stuff on a picnic table near the rocks. The waves kicked up and took my husbands flippers and snorkel with them. I was out in the water at this time, but he was sitting right there and didn’t notice for quite a while! We luckily spotted the flippers floating out in the water far, far away, so I swam out and got them. He owed me big time for that!
Maho Bay-We stopped by here, but the conditions were much like Francis and there was hardly any beach to sit on, so we skipped it.
Caneel Bay- The beach here was also gorgeous, very uncrowded and had great snorkeling to the right of the beach near the rocks and point. This was right after going to Frances and Maho, and the water was just so much clearer and calmer. We had a tough time deciding between the villa and Caneel Bay and being here almost made me wish we had stayed here, but I just don’t think I could give up our private pool, Jacuzzi, and garden showers at the villa. Back to the snorkeling! The snorkeling was almost as nice as Jumbie—saw lots of coral and fish, including another trumpet fish.
Salt Pond-This was also a pretty beach, but seemed to have more rocks than the others. The hike getting there wasn’t bad at all, but coming back, that was a killer! I’m so glad we went because we got to see more of the island and stop by Coral Bay. Again, I digress. Snorkeled mostly to the left of the beach near the rocks and point. I saw quite a few fish I hadn’t seen yet—but I don’t know what most of them are called! Saw quite a few trunk fish, and a hound fish pretty close up, so that was great. Also hung out for a while in the middle of the bay hoping to see a turtle, but had no such luck.

Boat Trip-(more snorkeling and beaches to come)-We rented a 25 ft cuddy w/ captain from Ocean Runners. This was an expensive day, but also the most fun day of the entire honeymoon! Our captain’s name was Joel and I highly recommend him. He was very knowledgeable about the island and it’s history, gave us great snorkeling tips and handled the boat perfectly (he also was easy on the eyes!). We started off with a snorkel at Waterlemon Cay—this I think was the best snorkeling of the entire trip. It was gorgeous, vibrant colors everywhere. I saw turtles, huge starfish, barracuda, and a flounder looking fish (beige and brown). I had seen one of these before in Cozumel, burrowed in the sand, but this one was swimming and it was cool watching it swimming in the water, it looked so graceful. (though I have a feeling he isn’t a flounder). We then went to clear customs in Tortola and headed out to Norman Island to snorkel at the Caves. Unfortunately a large boat beat us to it. We tried snorkeling into one of the caves, but people kept swimming into me, so I decided to get out of there. There was lots of coral and fish around there though and it was beautiful. We then headed over to the Indians. There were only two other people snorkeling there, so we liked that. I thought there were much more fish and coral here than in Norman. Saw a huge houndfish and some moon jellies (which still scared me, even though I hear they don’t usually sting, I still tried to avoid them). It was lunchtime, so we headed over to the Jost and had lunch at Foxy’s. He was there singing, so that was a lot of fun. Then went to the Soggy Dollar—that beach is gorgeous! We were about to head over to Sandy Cay and Sandy Spit when a squall came up. So we took cover at Sydney’s Peace and Love. We must have had good timing—right as we entered the bar it started pouring. This place is known to have great lobster and my husband would have enjoyed that, but they make everything to order and it takes a LONG time, so we just had some drinks. Joel said that guests make their own drinks here and hopped behind the bar to make ours. I have never been to a bar like that! After enjoying the drinks the rain finally stopped and we were off. First we stopped by Sandy Cay, its so pretty. But then you get to Sandy Spit and I thought it was gorgeous. I wouldn’t mind being stranded there, well maybe only for a few hours. We then headed over to Lavongo and Congo Cay for more snorkeling. But the visibility wasn’t very good probably because of what the squall earlier that day had kicked up. We then headed back to St. John for one last snorkel stop at Henley Cay. It used to be Caneel’s honeymoon suite until the park took it back—I think that would be a great place to honeymoon! He said he doesn’t always bring people here, because it depends on the current. The snorkeling here was great because there were so many different types of coral to see and tons of fish. I just can’t say enough good things about Joel and Ocean Runners. It was so nice to have the boat to ourselves and go to all the places we wanted, plus some great suggestions from the captain when we had some extra time.

Hike--The only major hike we did was the Reef Bay Trail. Pat from the National Park was a great guide. It was very interesting and informative, and I’m glad we did it, but I think I would have rather been snorkeling. The hike was a bit difficult at the end because the dinghy could pick us up on the main beach. So we had to hike to another beach—which was a small, not very well maintained, mostly uphill trail. I didn’t enjoy this part of the hike, I think I could have made it to the other beach easier by swimming! I would not consider the second trail to be an “easy” hike. But I guess I’m just not much of a hiker! My favorite part was the ferry ride back to town.

Shopping-- We didn’t do a whole lot of shopping. I bought a nice painting of Hawksnest from an artist near Chateaux Bordeaux, but I can’t remember her name at the moment! I also got a couple of prints at a shop in Mongoose Junction, and my husband got some hot sauces. I collect prints when I travel, and he collects hot sauces!

Food/Restaurants—We purchased groceries for the villa from the Dolphin Market, but we later wished we had gone to Starfish because they had a much better selection. Our favorite restaurants were Tage (VERY delicious, but expensive), Fish Trap, Margarita Phil’s, smoothies from Paradise Café, Chilly Billy’s for breakfast, and Aqua Bistro in Coral Bay. But our best meal was from the private chef we hired to cook dinner for us at our villa. Seamus Mulcare from Stjohnchef.com made us an amazing meal! I highly recommend him. And the bourbon cake was to die for! He was also a really nice guy and gave us some tips on things to do on the island.

Tips for the Virgin Islands

Bring bug spray. They had lots of rain before we got there, and the mosquitos were awful. Even though I felt like I was spraying myself all the time, I still got tons of bites.

Weather—we went at the tail end of hurricane season. While we weren't terribly affected, the tropical storms did affect our ability to snorkel a few times, and that was disappointing. I think next time I would go during a different time of year when we would expect the waters to be calmer. But you can never predict the weather!

Best purchases-rocks socks—lots of the beaches are rocky, so these were a lifesaver for snorkeling. Having your own snorkeling gear is also a good thing to do, since you can't rent it at all of the beaches on St. John. Peter Island has complimentary gear for you to use during your stay though.

We have our trips for next year planned already, but I hope that we can make it make to the Virgin Islands for our two year anniversary! We would like to stay on St. John again definitely. It was our favorite of everywhere we went on the honeymoon. Probably wouldn't stay at Peter Island again anytime soon because we'd like to explore other islands. Hoping to stay on Virgin Gorda and get to Anegada.