after luking on this board for months and using the information i gathered here to plan our trip i though it the least i could do to give ya'll a report on our recent trip to the islands.

my wife and i left on wed. nov. 3rd for our 15th anniversary trip to st. thomas. we arrived around three and picked up our rental car. we rented from dependable car rental and found there service to be wonderful. they picked us up at the airport and so began our vacation. as we were staying at the marriott we stopped by the tramway in route. we arrived about 4:30 and attempted to venture up to the top. the person selling the tickets asked for 32 dollars and i inquired about the no cost trip up on wednesdays. she said that it did not start until 5:00. so we ventured over to havensite mall and had a few drinks and returned at 5:00, there was already a line forming. we rode up and enjoyed the wonderful view. the view and atmosphere were great but i do not know wether i can say that it was worth the 32 dollars i would have paid had i not known about the free ride at 5:00. (just one of the tips i picked up here on this board. we checked into the resort and were suprised to find that our room overlooked the harbor and cruise ship dock.(i had booked this trip on one of those discount sites and was told to expect a resort view room.) we changed quickly and were off to redhook and duffy's love shack. as a first time driver on the island i can say the transition to left side drive was not as difficult as i had imagined. drove through redhook twice before finally spotting duffy's up, off the street in the shopping area's parking lot. for any first timers it is directly accross from the american yacht harbor. as you drive, just look up on the left as you pass through. had a great meal and drove back to the resort.

thursday dawned to a great clear morning. drove to redhook and stopped at marina market in redhook. picked up a cooler ice sandwhiches at their deli beer, water salads and fruit. headed toward the car ferry. what an experience! if patience is not one of your strong suites i would avoid it. after about an hour we were on our way to st. john. we exited the car ferry and proceeded southeast and contiued north toward the anaberg ruins. we drove west along the north highway and stopped at maho, cinnimonbay, trunk bay and finally stopped at hawksnest for lunch and a swim, what a day! drove back to town and the car ferry to st. thomas. the ferry wait back was more annoying than the initial trip. i will offer this advice if you plan to take the ferry remember that during the week there is a large number of construction trucks going back and forth. as these folks work and live there it appears that the ferry operators try and get them moving back and forth as fast as possible. for us tourists that means the we come second. i put myself in the truck drivers place, if i had to do that every day, it is only fair that they have first shot at the ferry. we had another drink and waited until it was our turn.(hey were on vacation, right!) i would also suggest that if you wait until saturday or sunday the construction traffic is nil. we had no problem on saturday as we made another trip. we returned to st. thomas and had dinner at romano's. the dinner was fabulous and the service was impecable.

friday we ventured to redhook once again for a daysail on the winifred. what a day we were greeted with breakfast complete with bloddy mary's. we sailed to caneel bay for some out of this world skorkeling. saw turtles, rays, squid, lobsters, barracuda, and a whole host of fish and coral. returned to redhook and back in the car. drove to the north side of the island to megan's bay. we arrived just as the cruise passengers wer leaving. there may have been 20 people on the entire beach swam and hung out and headed back to the resort. thought we would head into town and have dinner at cuzzins. not a good idea. i say that because i though i could find it alright and find a place to park. the streets off the main highway are incrediablely skinny and none of the one way streets are markde, you just have to know which ones are one way. i will never drive downtown again. my advice would be to take a cab. even if you have a rental car go ahead and take a taxi to anyspot downtown. i will also say if you will be staying a few days rent a car. we paid 200 dollars for six days and as you can see we would have spent at least 400 dollars in cab fare. so we decided to go to iggy's. had a great dinner and listened to some live music before going back to the marriott.

saturday went back to st. john and lunched at hawksnest again. went to dinner at agave terrace. another suggestion, if dining there park before the guard shadk and ask them for a shuttle up the hill to the resturant. parking there is very diffifult. again the meal and service were outstanding.

sunday we finally took time to enjoy the resort. had lunch at coco joe's and hung out on the beach and pool. the beach was rather crowded that day as many guests were just arriving. we checked out on monday and were sad to make the drive to the airport. i am already planning our next trip back, hopefully before our 16th anniversary. after our first extended stay on the island i can say we did not have one bad experience, even the weather cooperated fully. i think we will come back and stay on st. john. with that said i still would not rule out another stay on st. thomas. i would just avoid downtown with its traffic and street confusion.