I always bring food with me, especially meat when I go for over a week to STJ. There are a couple of things. I believe the person who wrote that you can NOT pack dry ice is correct. Every time I bring a cooler down they ask me if there's dry ice. And, they will open it up and inspect it so pack it with a luggage strap that clips so that they can close it back up when they're done. Tape won't work. As far as staying cool on the trip down, it's never been a problem. I just pack it with ice or even snow and put as much frozen meat as I can in. Everything gets there fine. If you have a cooler with wheels it's even easier.

We are renting house on St. John in April. Our 2 year old will be with us. He still sleeps in a crib or, at worst, a pack-n-play. We REALLY don't want to lug one all the way down there. Any ideas on where we can find one - rent, buy, borrow for a week?

Also we'll be coming with his comfy cozy rather big carseat = for the plane and the jeep. Anyone had any troubles with carseat going on the smaller planes?

Thanks.

For crib rentals, try www.christysclassics.com

Luggage never gets lost from the mainland to the VI!!!!

Correction:

Luggage ALWAYS gets lost from the mainland to the VI!!!!

That's my experience. My luggage just seems to like to travel seperately from me.

Last August we stayed out towards Salt Pond at Casa Nita for 2 weeks. I did bring our meet frozen in a cooler, but other than that, we bought everything on St. John.

The Starfish is wonderful!!! You could do all of your shopping there. To tell you the truth, it's not that much more expensive than stores in my area.

I used to love the Calabash Boom Market, but it seems like it's almost out of business. Part of our tradition is to buy an ice cream bar and walk accross the street and sit on the seawall while we eat ice cream. That tradition may be gone.

The new market in Coral Bay is great. I can't think of it's name but it's right in town. The owner used to own a convience store on St. Thomas. During the two weeks we were on the island we stopped at that store about 5 times. I recommend this place, but it's not quite as well stocked as the Starfish.

JFP

We just spent a week on St. John an dwe flash froze our meat and carried it in a cooler as a checked piece of luggage. I would do it again in a minute. There were 8 adults renting a villa and we said next time we would bring more dry goods-pasta, snacks etc. When on vacation, we would rather spend time at the beach or pool than at the grocery store and there wasn't a great variety as far as choices. I would rely on Starfish or Lilly's for breads, eggs, milk etc. And everything arrived still completely frozen after almost 22 hours.

Please let me know what car rental agency will let you take a car on the ferry. Also, where do I go on-line to get the Car Ferry schedule. Thanks Nat