The Villa...

I rented a villa called “Sail Away” (owned by one of the posters on this board - "lip") on the far East End – over Cowpet Bay. The villa sits above The Anchorage condos and the St Thomas Yacht Club. You are very close to the Ritz Carlton and Secret Harbour, as well as Elysian Resort – I guess you could walk to all three if your heart can take the hills. It is at the end of a small road with one other home on the road. This was my first experience with staying in this area, so I was very interested to see how I felt about this location. I already knew this location was very swank and is a favorite for the wealthier crowd, which was evident by the homes in the area – wow. I wondered how it would compare to my usual haunt - Peterborg.

Genie (www.usvipvillarentals.com), who maintains an office/home in the apartment under the villa and acts as this villa’s caretaker, gave us a very detailed tour and showed us how to work everything.

The villa was nicer than I had expected, as is usually the case with villas in the VI.

The driveway entry is a small descent down a gravel drive - easy to maneuver in our very small rental car. The villa is coral colored on the outside and the inside has one of the best villa layouts I have experienced.

You enter through the front door and stand in a foyer area. Straight ahead is the step-down entry to the living room area. To the right is the step-down entry to one of the guest bedrooms (this one has two double beds). To the left is the step-down entry to the kitchen. The kitchen is fully equipped with everything you would need, and more. The entire villa contained the natural dark wood cathedral ceilings that makes these villas look so dramatic and large on the inside – and they also allow the heat to rise out of your living space. Wow – you can’t see this feature in the pics on the website.

The entire villa’s flooring was terracotta tile – including the showers. Very nice.

There was cold beer and Mike’s Hard Lemonade in the fridge, which allowed for an immediate "decompression" without me needing to run to the store.

The dining room area, accessed from both the kitchen and the living room area, has one wall of glass sliders opening out onto an expansive gallery with a view all the way to St Croix. The dining table seats four to six. There is a ceiling light/fan and also floor standing lamps in the dining room.

The living area is very nicely furnished with plush, comfy new furniture. I was very impressed with the furniture. It’s the kind of furniture that invites you to sit and put your feet up! There are abundant lamps. There’s a large entertainment center containing a large TV (not sure of the size, but very large), cable TV including HBO, a DVD player, drawers of games and books, tons of CDs, a stereo system (outside of the entertainment unit), etc. There is another entire wall of glass sliders in the living room, opening onto the same large gallery as the sliders in the dining room. This room also contains a ceiling fan (Hunter).

The living area has a doorway leading into a bedroom hallway where the full-sized washer and dryer closet is located. Off of this hallway are: entrance to master bedroom, entrance to queen guest bedroom, entrance to hall bathroom, which then leads to twin guest bedroom.

The master bedroom is large and contains furniture that looks like the Thomasville’s Hemingway collection. Even if it isn’t Hemingway, I couldn’t tell the difference. There’s a ton of closet space and more drawer space than I have seen in most villas. There’s a TV in the MBR, with a DVD player. I never turned it on. There are glass sliders that make up a full wall of the master bedroom and they open out onto the same gallery as the LR and DR.

There’s a huge master bath with double sinks, more closet space, built-in drawer space and a large terracotta shower. There was a blow dryer in one of the drawers. Water pressure was excellent.

One of the guest bedrooms contained a queen bed (I think it was a queen) and was furnished just as nicely as the master. Again, lots of closet space. I think there was a TV and DVD in this bedroom, but am not sure. We didn't use this bedroom.

The third guest bedroom connected to the guest bathroom, and had twin beds and lots of drawer space. There was no closet in this bedroom, but a wardrobe area had been established in one of the corners so that there was plenty of room for hanging clothes. Again, a TV and DVD player were in this bedroom.

Each bedroom had A/C, which worked really well. We used it very little, as the villa was pretty cool.

Kudos to the owners for really going all-out to purchase top quality mattresses and bedding. The sheets obviously had a VERY high thread count and the mattresses felt new and sooooo comfy. My pre-visit discussions with the owner gave me the impression that he really spent money on bedding and new furniture (this villa has been purchased in the last year by the current owner). It was evident! I was very impressed. Folks, this was NOT rental home style furniture – it is the kind you buy for your home.

Okay, so if you’ve read any of my other villa reviews you know I pay lots of attention to the outdoor furniture. Top quality villas and caring villa owners put money and time into selecting top-quality outdoor furniture so that we can all enjoy lazy days sipping Mojitos on the gallery, or enjoy delightful evenings under the island stars. This villa owner has done his homework in this area and did justice to his gallery. The expansive iron and glass table was flanked by 6 VERY comfortable iron chairs with plush cushions. This was a perfect place for morning coffee, dining under the stars, card games, etc. There is also a lounge chaise for sunning. There is a large awning that can be extended over the gallery via an easy hand-crank system. We didn’t use it since we were always gone during the day. There is a large gas grill at one end of the gallery – never used. There are two coolers for taking to the beach – one large and one smaller – and also one sand chair. I do hope the owner will add a second sand chair. Also provided were plenty of beach towels and some snorkel gear. Excellent!

View – At one point, this home must have had water views from two sides. However, while I was there, a new home was being constructed to the left, which obstructed the water view form that side. Sail Away villa sits a little higher than the new home, so privacy doesn’t appear to be compromised from that new construction. However, their roof is in the way of the water view on that side (facing the left side of the villa). The new construction seemed to be for a much smaller home and there was no heavy equipment evident during my stay. The only disturbance was some hammering of the roof in the morning hours on a couple of days. They seemed to start around 7:30am and were done when I got back from my daily outings. It wasn't heavy hammering - just one guy with a regular hammer.

The straight-ahead water view is still there and I don’t see it being compromised by any potential building around this home. You do sit back a little, so you are not right over the water…but you do have a clear view of the water and a view all the way to St Croix.

Wonderful villa. I would definitely return to "Sail Away" again.