Finally….completed our trip report! My husband talked me into a vacation in St. Thomas for this summer. We also took my 17 yo daughter with us. I had visited there with my parents when I was a teenager and had always wanted to return. We ended up renting a villa at Point Pleasant through VRBO. We did lots of research on the forums and websites to help us plan our week. We didn’t come with a plan because we didn’t want to feel rushed, but had plenty of good choices to pick from each day. I don’t write with as much entertainment value as many of the other talented posters, but thought it was a good thing to share our info. 🙂

Day 1 – after our non-stop flight left the airport 2 hrs. late due to a mechanical issue, we arrived in STT shortly after 5:00 pm. I was glad that I thought to call Discount Car Rental before our plane took off to let them know we would be delayed (we rented a Jeep Liberty) – they close at 5:00, but have someone available by cell phone to pick us up at the airport and the paperwork all completed. The vehicle was quite used – it had over 20K miles on it and some water stains on the seat, but drove well. With it not being new, we didn’t worry about sitting on towels in our wet suits, etc. We rented a villa in Point Pleasant, but had poor directions from the villa owner so it took us a little longer to get to the store to pick up supplies and got to PP after dark. We stopped at a plaza with Kmart and a Plaza Express about ½ way to PP – good prices on water, rum, muffins for breakfast, etc. I packed coffee, dry creamer, snacks, etc. to save from having to buy it when we arrived. After getting to the villa and freshened up, we went to Fungi’s for a much needed drink and dinner. Their food is very good, drinks are generous and the staff is very friendly! They make a drink called Sinbad’s Passion…….mango, cranberry and 151 rum…..very good! Had to have one of those the other 3 nights we ended up eating there. It was so convenient to eat there after a full day of beaches and exploring – there was enough variety on the menu for the 3 of us. My husband also enjoyed being able to walk down the 3 steps off the deck into the water at Pineapple Beach! Our favorite menu items were the mahi sandwiches, Tahitian rotis, pork bbq sandwiches and mahi caesar salad (I had it twice).

Day 2 – since we arrived in the dark, we didn’t get to see the view from our deck at PP until the morning and it was worth waiting for! We were in a hillside unit, so had a great view and wonderful tradewinds breeze all week. Each morning we had coffee and muffins for breakfast on the deck – saved some money, but also got to enjoy the deck and the view more that way. We decided to start out the week with a snorkel at Coki Beach. There were no ships in that day so we knew it wouldn’t be too busy or crowded. We have only snorkeled once before, but it didn’t take us long to get comfortable at it again. We bought our own equipment ahead of time and schlepped it along with us. It seemed like a better option than renting since we would do a lot of it. Coki was a nice snorkel and we saw lots of colorful fish, little squid and neat anemone. It was a little rough, so we couldn’t go too far up the left side where we had read had the better snorkeling. We didn’t go anywhere for lunch on a couple of the days – I had brought granola bars, chex mix, etc. to pack for the beaches each day and it saved time and money and had more time to enjoy the beaches that we visited. I also brought a soft-sided cooler and packed water bottles for the day with an ice pack – it worked out well and we had plenty of water for our outings. That night we ate at the Caribbean Saloon in Red Hook. Their drinks were good and they had a nice varied menu. We needed to re-stock our breakfast muffins because ants in the villa had claimed one of the 4 packs (we learned quickly to keep them in the fridge!). We stopped at Marina Market in Red Hook and they had a nice selection. Then back to the villa for a little rum on the deck. We discovered that Welch’s Mango Twist juice and some dark rum made a nice little drink!

Day 3 – there were no ships again on this day so we decided it would be a good time to visit Magen’s. That is the only beach I had been to on the island with my parents and we had gone almost every day then. All 3 of us enjoyed the day there. We even brought the snorkel equipment just to see the little fish swimming around. On the way back to PP, we stopped at Udder Delite for delicious milkshakes! We stopped by an overlook on the way and got some beautiful pics of Charlotte Amalie, the sub base, etc. We ate dinner at Molly Molone’s in Red Hook. The food was good as we had read good things about it, but not as impressed as the other 2 restaurants.

Day 4 – we took the car barge to St. John for the day. It was a Saturday and not very busy – we were there in plenty of time for the 9:30 am General II. It was interesting to see how they load all the cars and trucks that they do and we enjoyed the ride over to St. John. We found our way out of Cruz Bay very easily and headed along North Shore Rd. with a plan to visit Hawksnest and Cinnamon Bay beaches. We stopped at the ‘requisite’ overlooks and take lots of pictures as all ‘first timers’ should! I did all the driving for the week – the roads were a little tougher than I expected with the switchbacks, etc., but I got used to it quickly and had fun doing it! Hawksnest was one of our favorites to snorkel at for the week! It was nice that good snorkeling wasn’t too far from the beach. We saw lots of neat fish and coral and my husband even saw a large (6 – 8’) shark lying on the sand by a rock. Of course, my disposable underwater camera ran out of film before we saw it! He was a little worried about it, but I remembered reading that there weren’t any aggressive shark species in the area. We took a drive through the Coral Bay area and out to the end of the paved road at Salt Pond Bay and returned to have lobster rolls at the Tourist Trap. We enjoyed seeing a lot of donkeys and goats along the way. We then stopped at Cinnamon Bay for a snorkel. It rained a little while we were there – it was funny to see people pack up to leave when the little bit of rain started! The water was a little rough, so it was easy to get tired out. We saw some nice fish and a stingray, but the water was a little cloudier than Hawksnest. We left there to start heading back to Cruz Bay to catch the car barge at 6:30 pm – had time to stop at St. John Brewers for a drink on the way and a couple of t-shirts, though! The car barge was running a little late, but we made it on with no problem and back to STT. Since it was a long day, we had dinner at Fungi’s – it was nice not to have to go far by that time.

Day 5 – we decided to go to the beach at Secret Harbour since we had read the snorkeling was supposed to be good. It was a very nice beach (not busy on this day) with lots of shade and good facilities. Our appetites picked up from all of our activities, so we decided to pick up some sandwiches to take to the beach. We stopped at Burrito Bay Deli in Red Hook – they have a large variety of sandwiches and breads. The parking at Secret Harbour wasn’t well marked and we weren’t sure if we chose the right spot, but the car was still there when we left! It did rain a little, so it was nice being under a tree when out of the water. My daughter decided to take a break from snorkeling and the water and just stay on the beach and read. She had lots of company with all of the iguanas in the trees and on the sand! The snorkeling was good – the water was nice and calm and not too far to swim out. We saw stingrays right off the beach in shallow water – had to be careful to look before putting our feet down. We saw lots of different fish and more little squids – I think those were one of my favorites for the week. When we left for the day, we saw some big clouds coming from the north. By the time we got back to the villa, there was some huge clouds with a lot of rain moving towards us, so we got the patio doors closed before the monsoon came! Took some cool pictures of the clouds and rain moving across the water. We ended up going to Duffy’s in Red Hook for dinner. The food was very good and they had a nice selection on the menu.

Day 6 – it was a Monday and there were 2 ships in town, so thought it would be a good day to do some shopping in Charlotte Amalie. I had mistakenly thought that there was public parking at the Fort so we ended up having a driving tour through downtown before I gave up and parked at Yacht Haven (we had a drink at the Fat Turtle after shopping so felt like we were ‘legally’ parked!) and walked, which wasn’t bad at all. We enjoyed shopping in the marketplace (tent city) and through many of the downtown shops. We stopped for lunch at The Greenhouse – good meal and drinks. We ended the day with our 3rd dinner at Fungi’s!

Day 7 – now I understand why other forum folks say 7 days isn’t enough….it went much too fast! For our last full day, we went back to St. John to snorkel a couple more beaches. This time we went on the Roanoke (now understand the ‘slowanoke’ relate) because the General II filled up with mostly commercial vehicles and a few passenger vehicles – we didn’t realize how busy the weekdays would be on the car barges. There was a 3rd barge running that day strictly for commercial vehicles. The Roanoke was fine – the ride just took a little longer. We had decided that since we were ‘newbies’ we should go to Trunk Bay. It was busy as there were 3 ships docked at STT. After setting up on the beach and getting our snorkel gear on in the water, a thunderstorm came near, so we got out of the water until it was out of the area. We saw a stingray not too far off of the beach. The snorkel trail was pretty busy - just had to watch a little closer since there were quite a few snorkelers in the same area. The cruise ship beach goers left soon, but it was still a fairly busy day there. We ended up snorkeling on the right side of the cay and saw more fish there – more squid also. We had plans of heading to the east end of STJ to try and find Vie’s for some garlic chicken and conch fritters (we tried those at as many places as we could J). On the way, there was a bit of heavy rain so I pulled over at a safe spot and waited for it to let up – figured it was better than trying to drive on the tricky, unfamiliar roads while they were really wet. The roads to the east end were even more of a challenge – I chickened out after making it up a steep hill when there was an even steeper one ahead. We weren’t even sure if Vie’s would be open, so figured it wasn’t worth the effort on those roads if they were closed. We turned around and ended up having lunch at Skinny Legs and really enjoyed their burgers! We had time for a late afternoon snorkel and stopped at Maho, knowing that is one of the times that the turtles are in to eat. We saw quite a few stingrays in the grass and finally found a large turtle – they are so beautiful and graceful! My husband even found a youngster closer to the beach – that one could swim fast! We also saw smaller fish jumping out of the water and remembered that the tarpon come in to feed also. My husband saw a large tarpon, but my daughter and I didn’t get to see it. We didn’t get to stay too long as we didn’t want to miss the last run of the Roanoke. We did have time to stop at St. John Brewers again and picked up beers to go and drink them while waiting for the car barge. Since it was getting late when we returned to the villa, we went to Fungi’s for dinner again!

Day 8 – time to return home. L Our flight wasn’t leaving until after 4:00, so we took a drive around the island and stopped by Drake’s Seat for some pics of Magen’s, etc. Tried to drive to Hull Bay, but weren’t quite sure which road to take and we ended up getting a little lost so decided to just head to town. We were planning on stopping someplace for lunch before turning the car in. Mafolie’s was our first choice, but the driveway off of the road was difficult to figure out and the traffic was pretty heavy so we decided to try to get to Gladys’s downtown. There were 2 ships in town again and pretty busy. After making about 4 laps around and trying to get a spot in the public parking along the waterfront on the west end of downtown, we gave up. We ended up going over to Yacht Haven and eating at Fat Turtle. Certainly not our best choice of the week! My husband and daughter enjoyed their lunch, but I had a snapper sandwich that was chewy. Oh well….at least we were full for the plane ride.

We were sad to have our week come to an end, but know that we will return soon! It will be a tough choice of which island to stay on since there are things on both that we really liked. That just means we have to return multiple times and take turns with which island we stay on!

I’m glad we didn’t buy and liquor to bring home. There were a few couples on the same non-stop flight we had into Charlotte that ended up with a broken bottle each. The liquor store we have near us has Cruzan rums for a good price, so it saves the hassle of bringing it back.

Before our trip next time, we will be buying an underwater digital camera! The disposables just did not work with trying to take pictures in the depths that we were snorkeling in. Out of three 27 exposure disposables, we ended up with about 8 decent snorkeling pictures.

Here is a link to a small portion of our pics from the week for anyone that is interested:
http://s982.photobucket.com/albums/ae306/cschmanke/STT%20and%20STJ%20July%2009/

What a wonderful week we had and can’t wait to return!