we stayed at sundance in oct 04 and loved it. she's very roomy and great views of hart bay and west for sunsets and st homas lighting at night. you can also walk down to hart bay for good snorkling. main level master has great views and super garden shower/bath felt outside but all enclosed. lower level master is by pool, very large and shower is outsider connected to large bath. we prefer all one level like cloud 9 (owned by same people) but multi levels of sundance and her decks offers lot more room to spread out and "do your own thing".

while she's not a luxury villa, we found her very comfortable, well equipped and supplied and we loved the gazebo on the upper level for evening meals and viewing the beauty. the c9 web site pictures are not as good as the real thing. there was some noise from 2 villas under construction across salt pond below that i believe are now completed. owners (alan and linda) are usually in residence on island and manager, marcy appel, are very attentive of any problems and easy to deal with. we have stayed in one of their villas on 4 of our 5 trips to stj. our only complaint about sundance was the lack of ac in greatroom/kitchen area; however ac had been added in dec 04 when we stayed at their moonsong villa next door.

while your first drive out south shore road past the westin can be scary, you turn off on east chocolate hole rd after you top the 2 big hills but before the road starts to wind up gifft hill. you do have one hairpin turn on tamarind rd just before the villa and the road narrows to one lane, but its paved all the way to villa. we had no problems with access in a cavalier and a corolla we brought over on car barge. as i recall there are maybe 3 villas beyond sundance/moonsong so there's very little road noise eventhough there is the security of several villas close by. i'd say access is better than most hillside villas on west end (as compared to upper rockridege rd, gifft hill and virgin grand estates). we enjoyed fact that the short return home from cruz bay or north shore beaches, was much easier than other roads and you go by both starfish market and simple feast for easy food/beverage stops. if you talk further to marcy, tell her jerry bou says hello.

can't help with other villas. happy hunting.

papabou

Thanks for all the info on Sundance, papabou. How was the size of the pool? There will be 4 of us.

pool is small as are most stj villa pools (maybe 12 by 20). it's a dip pool for cooling off not for swimming laps; but there's room for 2 or 3 on rafts. we found it adequate and got our exercise at the beach! must remember fresh water is precious commodity on stj. another point, pool deck is roomy and eventhough she's lower level you still have great views and complete privacy from other villas except those that require binoculars to see whats going on, then when you need to cool off, you jump in!

papabou

We stayed at Meritage three weeks ago, which if I remember correcly, was the next villa up Tamarind Rd from Sundance/Moonsong. I glanced over at the villa when we would go in and out and it looked nice from the outside. I can vouch for the wonderful views of Hart Bay that you would have as I'm sure it has the same view as Meritage. Don't know anything about the other villas that you mention. Good luck in making your choice!
Christi

cruiserkcs ,

We're looking into Summer Wind for our next trip to St. John - so if you decide on this villa I'd love to hear about it when you get back!! It does look wonderful by the pictures. We stayed high above Coral Bay on our last trip and are looking for something that's easier to get to (ie - no twisty dirt roads that go straight up!). Summer Wind sounds like it's pretty easy to get to and it has the other features we look for in a villa as well - AC, pool, hot tub, great views. The only thing we would like to know is if ALL doors lock. Our last villa didn't and it made us feel uneasy.

Best wishes deciding!

LMarie

I hate to throw anything else at you but have you ever considered
Allesandra It's up the hill from chocolate hole the views are great the bedrooms are separate. It,s easy to get to and close enough to town so you can run in if you need some thing. but far enough way that is quiet.

Allesandra was our first choice, but it is booked for our travel time period (May-June 2007). I am disappointed and I think that is why the decision for another villa is so difficult now.

If we decide on Summer Wind, I will let you know.