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3/28/7 - 4/5/7
I will break this down into a simple list below. This applies to people who like taking trips to get away & see other cultures & escape resorts. This may save some time. Thanks to everyone who gave answers before my wife & I decided to take a 9 year old & 18 month old 1/2 way around the world from Seattle to St. John. It was wonderful & would completely recommend this island to anyone.
Good grocery for essentials: Dolphin
Good grocery for variety & parking: Starfish
Good kids beach: Maho (parking sucks & be patient while backing out)
Best overall beach (on the planet?): Cinnamon (@ sunset/dinner time) *Note: White Beach on Jost may be the most beautiful beach on Earth (see Corona commercials), but lots of boat traffic
Best tour: Drive Centerline till it dead ends at the East End. Take North Shore on the way back to Cruz Bay & take a camera. Holy Cow! Also, watch out for Cattle past Bordeaux & Donkey's @ East End.
Best place to Eat: Your villa BBQ @ Sunset, no doubt.
Best bar: VIPA Tap Room @ Mongoose Junction. Free Wi-Fi if you drink. Nice chill pub. Show up around 4 & meet some locals.
Good picnic Spot: Centerline switchback above Coral Bay.
Best deal on water/ice: St. Johns Ice in the Lumberyard
Best fresh bread: Bakery next door, way better than the local stores or what we buy @ home (name?)
Our best service: tie: VIPA Tap Room & Ocean Grill (both in Mongoose Junction)
Our worst service: tie: Cinnamon Bay Resort Staff & US Customs Dock, HA!
Good quick breakfast pre beach: Chilly Billy's (still island time)
Worst deal on eating out: JJ Texas Coast Cafe. Real expensive bar food.
Good place to eat near St. Thomas Airport: Best Western Resort (next door)
Best deal on non-rum alcohol: $9.99 per fifth for Absolute @ Dolphin
Worst airline: Spirit. You get what you pay for...
Good idea: Public trash bins "curbside" around the island - quite convenient
Bad idea: Not being near water between 3-5pm.
They need: Sidewalks - the hills were bad enough pushing a stroller
Just: Turn & go. If you put on your blinker & yield, you may wait a while & local drivers will honk.
We did not have problems with bugs & we did say @ Cinnamon Bay. We did not have any trouble via boat going to BVI or coming back with the kid tested/mother approved birth certificate, photo id method.
We did not get robbed or approached by anyone suspicious. Cruz Bay was very safe, as far as we experienced.
Driving on the left was fun.
Rent a jeep. Cars are worthless on the hills in the rain.
AC is a must if you are from anywhere north of the Mason/Dixon line.
Trunk Bay was over rated. Go there first and compare after you have been elsewhere. Hard to relax. Who wants to battle crowds when you have beaches & water in every direction.
T-Mobile service was very spotty. I switched my roaming service to Cingular which worked @ full bars the entire time, including in the BVI's. In addition, all internet wi-fi connections are slow & unreliable. All signals are sent over air from Pueto Rico via St. Thomas. This didn't eally make much difference to us because the worst problem that we had was high humidity, low water pressure & never ending thirst for local beer.
Best quote: "What the hell is that?!" My wife, in reference to the stoplight in Redhook after a week on St. John!
On STX and I think on STT, when a driver stops or flashes his/her lights and honks that's your signal to go. Give a couple of toots on your horn in appreciation.
LOVE your report!!! I don't usually like to read trip reports due to the fact that they're usually filled with information that is not important to me: what time people caught their limo to the airport; about how their plane was late; how they first stopped and picked up their groceries; how they drove to their villa... UGH... I just want the facts - and their opinions - and you have done just that - in a fun way... THANK YOU!
Lisa
Last place to eat before flight leaves can be very important. I can tell you that the last place we found was a KFC and it was horrible. That Best Western is a good suggestion. I didn't see anything at the airport.
There is a snack bar inside the secured area of the airport. I stop at a local eatery in the Nisky area just at the bottom of Crown Mountain for vittles before or during the flight.
