We left Orlando on July 8, and after a few flight problems en route got picked up at the airport by Ronnie, from the Crystal Palace. We spent Friday night at the Crystal Palace, a very nice B&B in STT, and left the following afternoon for STJ. While on STT we had dinner at Cuzzins, one of our favorites, and followed that up with lunch on Saturday at Glady’s Café, eating some wonderful Caribbean food and listening to the lovely owner and her enthusiastic staff singing their hearts out with Ray Charles and Tina Turner on the CD player. What a great spot. We love to eat what we consider local food. We try to stay away from “fine dining”, etc. We like to get things we wouldn’t normally eat at home.

We were met at the ferry by our villa rep, Mary Phyllis from Private Homes for Private Vacations, who took us to Penn’s for our rental Suzuki. Penn’s was great, had our name on the windshield with a note to stop by on Monday morning to arrange payment. Their lot was convenient, easy to get into, with plenty of free parking each time we were in town.

Mary Phyllis took us to the villa in Chocolate Hole, with fantastic views of Cruz Bay, Great Cruz Bay, Chocolate Hole and Rendezvous. When we got settled in the villa, we figured we had to go to the Starfish for a few staples, beer, soda, etc. We got a steak to throw on the grille. Man, was that a terrible piece of meat! And speaking of Starfish, I always expect to pay more, after all it is the islands, but $24.99 for a watermelon is a bit much, don’t you think? I wonder what someone would think if they bought one and didn’t notice the price until they checked out!

I always get up very early, usually before daybreak. Well, after walking into the bathroom early Sunday morning, I turned on the light and saw that I had stepped on a scorpion on my way into the bathroom. I guess he didn’t see me either, because I didn’t get stung. He got the worst of that one!

On Sunday, we had our morning swim at the villa, and then stopped at Woody’s for a fish sandwich for lunch, another disappointment. It was totally tasteless. I guess Woody’s is great if you’re in your 20's and looking for a cheap drunk during happy hour, but once was enough for us. We spent the afternoon at Jumbie Beach, and had a fantastic time. While snorkeling, we saw a couple of five foot tarpon. As a fisherman, I really enjoyed that.

We had a hard time finding a place to have dinner on Sunday night, a lot of places were closed, and we wound up at Panini’s, an Italian place on the waterfront. Another not so memorable meal. Not a good start in the gastronomic department.

Early Monday morning, I was sitting in the villa reading, and saw another scorpion! What’s going on here? Killed that baby also. We spent the morning in the pool, and went into town for lunch. We kept trying to get some local food, and settled on Sosa’s, which specializes in West Indian food. Yuk. We were the first customers that day,and the damn meal was cold, and the meat full of fat. This is about when I gave up on food on St. John. We went to Coral Bay that afternoon, went to Little Lameshur Beach. Never did see a donkey anywhere, but saw a deer on the beach there. Had a ball getting there, love those roads, had lots of fun snorkeling. We made the obligatory stop at Skinny Legs, and I’m pleased to say that the burger was the best meal we had on St. John up to that point.

Tuesday we went to Waterlemon. Well, we didn’t actually get all the way out to the beach. The water on the way out looked so good, we just snorkeled there. Another beautiful beach day. And, we discovered the subs at Grotto Deli in Mongoose Junction. Wonderful, had one the next day as well. We were kinda fed up trying to find a decent restaurant, so just went to a local pizzeria for a pizza, which was very good.

Wednesday we checked out Cinnamon, but it was so windy the sand was blowing in our faces, and we went back to Jumbie, one of our favorite beaches, another great beach day. We hopped on the ferry to Red Hook and had a teriffic meal that night at Molly Malones. I had conch, and my lovely wife had a fish special that was out of this world. I shared my salad with two iguanas that sat next to the table throughout the meal. Picked up some Baileys at Marina Market and headed back to STJ.

On Thursday we headed back to the east end after an early morning swim, and wound up at Vie’s Snack Shop for some great conversation with that lovely lady, and some of her wonderful garlic chicken and johnnycakes. What a treat! Coming back the little Suzuki almost died about 20 feet from the top of one of the hills. Had to pull over onto the shoulder, talk nice to her, and she got us over the top. Spent the afternoon at Trunk Bay, another fabulous beach day. What a life! Had dinner at Morgan’s Mango, just an OK meal, nothing to write home about, more cold rice and beans as a side dish.

We spent Friday morning packing and hanging out at the pool, and actually saw seven iguanas in the trees below the villa. We had to check out of our villa Friday, because Caribbean Sun had decided to change our flight from 10 AM to 8 AM, and never told us until we flew out of San Juan to STT, so that meant we had to leave the villa Friday rather than Saturday, in order to make it to the airport in time for the return flight. The villa manager was very nice and refunded a night. We went back out to the Coral Bay area before we caught the ferry for STT and had lunch at Miss Lucy’s, great place right on the water with a fantastic view and very good food. After lunch we caught the ferry to Charlotte Amalie and spent the night at Crystal Palace again, with another superb meal at Cuzzins. Ronnie was kind enough to get up at 6:00 AM to take us to the airport. Thanks again, Ronnie, for all the hospitality.

By the way, while at Crystal Palace we met Rochelle, who operates Auntie’s Rum Cakes. We bought one of her small rum cakes, and can highly recommend that to anyone. It had a great flavor, much better than the ones you buy in the store. She makes them for Ronnie’s place, and also supplies Cuzzins and some other restaurants. Her web site is www.auntiesrumcakes.com. Give her a try, you’ll love them.

All in all, a great trip. Met some wonderful people, had a lovely villa, although it was a little buggy (mosquitos everywhere, inside and out), saw my first ever scorpions, snorkeled with tarpon, and had some great food.

Right now we’re thinking we may stick to STT next year, seem to have better restaurants, and a little more to do. Maybe a side trip to STJ for a few days would be the right way for us to do it. We’ll see what next year brings.