We stayed at the Seawatch villa on Gift Hill.

The villa is showing signs of wear & tear and is in need of remodeling.
We were without a phone of four days. Lesson learned bring your cell phone, which we did.
At one point we were without water for over 24 hours. We had a pool so we were able to rinse off the salt water and use the pool water to flush the toilets. Lesson for all who rent – be sure the villa has a pool or hot tub.
The outside perimeter lights do not work, so we left on a number of lights inside the villa to let folks know someone was staying there.
The deck is not private as there is a huge two story villa right next door that has windows that look down on the deck. We were lucky as the villa wasn’t rented when we were there.
There are bugs in the villa – I will say no more.

One more note – for those of you renting the villa Cloud 9 on Gift Hill it has lost its exclusivity for privacy as you can look down on the hot tub and the deck from the deck of Seawatch.

The deck of the villa has a million dollar view. You can see from St Thomas to Mary’s Point and beyond.

Activities:
We sailed with Capt Jamison on the Kekoa. It is a black sail wooden haul catamaran with a fantastic story. In one of the earlier issues this year Caribbean Travel + Life Magazine ran a story about the Kekoa. We sailed from St John to the BVI and ended up at the Soggy Dollar for lunch. I highly recommend this sail.
We went on the Reef Trail hike with ranger Deena. She was very knowledgeable and explained the various fauna & flora along the trail. The hike lasts most of the day and ends with a boat ride back to Cruz Bay.
We rented a 14 ft catamaran from Kendal on Cinnamon beach and sailed for about an hour or so in Cinnamon Bay. Kendal is a great guy and very knowledgeable on all types of water sport rentals.
We hiked to Solomon and Honeymoon beaches. Thanks to the rangers there was no one running around in their birthday suits on Solomon. It is a beautiful beach and only a few folks were there.
Our favorite beaches were Hawksnest, Cinnamon, Solomon and Francis Bay.

Restaurants:
The Fish Trap – fresh fish and good selection
Spy Glass – good food and great view of the sunset
Zozo’s – excellent food and a great view of the sunset
The Lime Inn – good food and suggest making a recommendation, very popular
Rhumb Lines – good food
The Tourist Trap – near the Salt Pond – a funky place with good food – If you are a Red Sox fan say hello the owner Larry. He is a big Red Sox fan.
Asolare – over priced, limited menu and would not recommend it. Spend your money elsewhere.

We rented our villa from Caribbean Villas & Resorts and despite some of the inconvenience we encounter I would definitely rent from them again. The value of the rental management is measured only when there are problems and their response when dealing with the problems and CV&R responded as quickly as they could.