Patti,

If you are planning to stay on St. John, villas located on right on the beach are almost non-existant. The ones there are are relatively expensive. You would be better served to search for a villa with your specifications. If this is your first trip to St John, I would recommend staying away from the Coral Bay area. It is further out and more secluded but a better area for people who have visited more than once.

St John has many beaches, most of which are considered secluded. The snorkeling here is unbeatable, and I am sure you will not be disappointed. St John also has many hiking trails, consisting of Reef Bay Trail, Rams Head Trail and Brown Bay Trail. There are more than 15 hiking trails on St John.

As far as bike riding, there are no bike rentals on St John. Yes, St John is only 19 sq miles, but all of St John is hilly. And when I say hilly, I mean mountainous.

There are a number of groceries stores on St John. They are smaller stores but have a good variety of products.

Hope this helps.

We have been to St. John a few times but always stay on St. Thomas as that is where our place is. We rent a vehicle on St. Thomas and ferry it over. Have never rented on St. John. The beaches are great as is the snorkeling. Try Little Cinnimon and see if you can locate the reamains of the small plane that went down in approx. 15 feet of water. My son and I had a ball looking for it. As for hiking, we did the Reef Beach hike with the .3 mile (each way) side trail to see the nearly 2000 year old carvings. The national park service runs a one way hike with a boat at the bottom from what I understand. There is also an old sugar mill just off Reef Beach that you can wonder around to your heart's content. The hike back up the 2.6 mile trail seems more like 26 miles. We under estimated the amount of water that we would need (it was August). Next time we will each have at least a half gallon. We are planning on doing more hiking next year when we go. Have a great time.