Susan,

My husband and I just honeymooned in St. John in mid-August. We had a wonderful time and stayed at a villa just up the hill from the Westin...we could see it from our deck. I know there are taxis from the Westin to go places, but I would recommend renting a jeep. We had a fun time driving around the island and exploring. It was great to be able to go where we wanted, when we wanted. It took just a couple of days to totally figure out the driving through the town of Cruz Bay, but it was no problem. We loved driving to the different beaches, and stopping along the way to look at different views on the island. I'm sure you'll read a lot about different restaurants on the message board, as I studied up on before we went. We went to Asolare for one of our special dinners out. It's located on the same road that you take to get to the beaches....and it had a great view of the sunset and great food. We really enjoyed it. Since we had a villa with a kitchen, we were able to cook some of our meals in too. Our last night there we wound up at Panini Beach Trattoria. We had great service and good food. The staff was very friendly. One activity that I really recommend is Snuba at Trunk Bay. It's like scuba in that you dive to a certain depth, but your air tank is floating above you on a boat and not attached to your back. It was such a fun experience since I had never swam close to such beautiful fish and even a nurse shark! Snorkeling is also something we did at Trunk Bay. You can rent gear there, as we did, but you could also bring your own along if you had it. We found having a pool at our villa a great thing in the middle of the afternoon after our treks out and about. We saw the pool at the Westin, and it was huge....so that's another great thing you'll like since it's sooo hot in the afternoons. Of course, swimming and wading in the ocean was another favorite activity of ours. The water was just breathtaking. What we loved was getting up early and making it to the beaches at about 7:30....it was like having a private beach because it was rare to see anyone else there. We also had a great time exploring around Cruz Bay and looking in different shops. We had fun looking for and finding a wonderul piece of art in a gallery by a local artist on St. John. We had it shipped home as a great memento of our trip.

I must say that I did a lot of reading up on what to do before we left for our awesome honeymoon experience, but what truly made it so wonderful was just getting out and exploring the island. St. John is just an amazing and beautiful place. We can't wait to go back. We rented through Destination St. John. We are curious as to what a resort experience would have been like, but if you or someone was interested in renting a villa at some point, it was definitely worth it. Ours was so private and we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful view or home to stay in. As you can tell, we love St. John!

Melissa

Melissa what villa did you stay in?

We stayed in a villa called Treasure Ridge. We were so pleased with our choice. It was more than big enough for two with 3 bedrooms, kitchen, living room, upper/lower decks and pool with gorgeous views from our hillside down onto st. john and across to st. thomas. It was within just a couple minutes drive down the hill (and I mean hills!) to Cruz Bay, so the location was very ideal. The villa was also very private, with the closest neighbor down the hill in the front, but all the foliage and our elevation hid our home from view of others. Any other questions, I'd be more than happy to answer them....

Melissa

Susan
If you are both into snorkeling, I highly recommend a day sail on one of the numerous charter services out of STJ (Cruz Bay) or STT (Red Hook). There are smaller (up to 6 people) or larger (40+) depending on what you like. We used Wayard Sailor out of Cruz. It was convenient (didn't have to catch early ferry to STT and return after long day) and Captain Phil took us to Lovongo (?) Cay for incredible snorkeling. Most of the charters have their own equipment if you need it. We did so much, we brought our own.
If you enjoy hiking, the Reef Bay hike is a beautiful and informative outing available through the parks department. You start from Cruz Bay on a drive along Centerline Road where you are dropped off with the Parks guide. The hike is down hill to Reef Bay and you see the old Sugar Plantation ruins as well as the Petroglyphs along the way. The views are fantastic and you can swim in Reef Bay while awaiting the boat ride back to Cruz.
If you take the hike yourself, be prepared to walk uphill on the return.

Have a great time.