This is my first attempt at a trip report, so bear with me.

Saturday, June 17
Boarded our nonstop flight in Charlotte to STT with no problems. Flight was smooth except for the landing that left a little to be desired. Came out of the terminal and saw our private taxi driver that we had arranged for thru Carefree Getaways waiting for us with a sign and a smile. We went to baggage claim, got our bags, loaded them in the van and off we went to Red Hook. We arrived just in time to miss the 2:00 ferry. This was our first experience with Red Hook and I must say I was taken aback by how antiquated it is. The new center they're building can't come too soon. After we figured it all out and realized they don't start selling tickets til it's almost time to leave, we visited the snack shack that they have there and rested under a tree. Once on the ferry, we arrived in Cruz Bay where we were met by the property manager of our villa. She loaded our luggaage into her car and we followed her on foot to St. John Car Rental where a Ford Explorer was waiting for our party of six. After getting the car, she led us to our villa in Hart Bay, showed us how everything worked and where it all was and we were set for the week. We settled in and the men volunteered to go to Starfish for our groceries while we prepared our first night's meal (filets, baked potatoes) We were actually shocked at all that they bought for only $265! We had a swim in the pool, enjoyed the sunset and settled in for the night.

Sunday, June 18
Got up, had a quick breakfast and headed straight for Trunk Bay. Had a great time and the two teenagers with us snorkled the trail and loved it. It was the first snorkel experience for both of them. Spent the day at Trunk and then headed back to the villa for dinner.

Monday, June 19
Our daysail to Jost on Calypso. We met Vicki at Margarita Phils to pay our $20 for customs and then proceeded to the National Park ferry dock where we boarded and headed out to our snorkel stop. If I remember correctly, it was at Congo Cay (next to Lovango). Snorkeling was pretty good. Saw lots of fish, a sea urchin and a seahorse. Was disappointed to not see any turtles. After snorkeling, we headed to Foxy'ys for lunch. Had a great lunch and luckily Foxy was there and entertained us while we ate. The two teens just loved Foxy. After Foxy's, we were off to the Soggy Dollar for LOTS of painkillers. The other couple that was with us went to the bar and told the bartender to just surprise them with something, so the bartender whipped up a Vanilla Killer which was just like the Painkiller only Vanilla Rum was substituted. That was a big hit with us as well. We strolled down the beach to Seddy's One Love and took LOTS of pictures. We headed back to the catamaran for our return trip. This day was by far the highlight of the trip. Highly recommend Calypso Catamaran for anyone still looking at options for a daysail.

Tuesday, June 20
As another poster posted, this was the rainiest day of the week. We headed off to Cinnamon pretty early so we were lucky to get in some beach weather before the skies literally opened up. We headed on back to Cruz Bay and was going to eat lunch at Chilly Billy's but when we got there we were told there was a big group coming in for 10 Tables that night, so they had to close early. We ended up having lunch at Margarita Phil's. Food was excellent and I had the best Bushwacker of the week there, but $207.50 for lunch for 6 people was a little steep, I thought. After lunch, it was still raining so we walked around at Mongoose Junction for awhile and headed over to Wharfside Village for a little more shopping. Discovered Joe's Rum Hut there and enjoyed that for a while.

Wednesday, June 21
The weather looked a little better, so we tried Cinammon again. We got in a little quality beach time before, you guessed it, the skies opened up again. We decided to leave and just head out further up North Shore Road to see what we could find. We were going to do lunch at Shipwreck but we got there before they opened so we headed over to the Jolly Dog and bought some pretty cool t-shirts. The rain started again and we figured the ambiance at Shipwreck wouldn't be what we wanted with the rain so we skipped it and headed on back to the Villa for showers. Headed out to Skinny's for dinner. Stopped at the Bordeaux overlook for pictures of Coral Bay from the top of the mountain. Skinny Legs was awesome and no one left there hungry.

Thursday, June 22
Caught the ferry to CA for shopping and a trip to Magens Bay. There were no ships in so the crowds were light and the shopping not so good so we headed on over to Magen's. We found a cab that actually took us over and waited for us. The beach wasn't crowded at all. We stayed there for a couple of hours then headed to Red Hook for the trip back to Cruz Bay. Headed straight to Woody's for Happy Hour (did this a couple of days, just can't remember which ones 🙂 and then over to the Lime Inn where we had planned to have dinner. We looked at the menu but didn't see anything that struck anyone's fancy, so we headed to Wharfside and ended up having pizza at Seniorita's Pizza (I think that was the name of it) and then back over to the Rum Hut for a couple of drinks. Headed back to the villa and pretty much called it a day.

Friday, June 23
Our last day....the teens wanted to go back to Trunk to snorkel the trail again so we headed back over there. I don't know what was up, but there were no ships in port and the beach was absolutely packed. We heard one man say he had to park at Hawksnest and take a cab to Trunk. When we headed back to villa, people were parked on the side of the road at Trunk and Hawksnest.

Saturday, June 24
Left the villa at 9:45, headed to St John Rental to turn in the Explorer, got on the 11:00 ferry to Red Hook, took a taxi to the airport with plenty of time for our 2:20 flight back to Charlotte.

This was without a doubt the best vacation we've ever taken and can't wait to get back. I can't thank everyone on this board enough for the education I got in planning this trip. I highly recommend Carefree Getaways, St John Car Rental and Calypso to anyone shopping around for rental companies, car rentals and daysails.