This is my first attempt at a trip report, so bear with me. It is very long and has more information than you probably wanted to know about our trip (lol), but I hope it's helpful to someone! Traveling with my husband and me, were my 18 year old step son, and our 6 & 8 year olds.

Thursday

Great flight from Detroit on USAir, connecting in Charlotte, arriving in St. Thomas on time. Unfortunately, we were in the middle of a horrible storm and got drenched walking from the plane to the airport. Luggage took about 30 minutes to get and it too was soaked (later we discovered some of our clothes were even wet). I'd made a reservation for a car from Champion Tours to pick us up but no one in sight. Tom (dh) called and they said he had it reserved for Wed, although I had reconfirmed. They said he'd be there right away...20 minutes later, still no one. Tom called again and said forget it we'd take a cab. By now, everyone else was gone and the line for cabs was very small. Just as we were getting a cab, Champion arrived. We arrived at Red Hook and luckily the 3:00 ferry was late so we jumped on. Champion did not charge us because of the mistake, which was nice, but I wouldn't use them in the future.

Arrived in STJ and called Lisa (Vacation Vistas) to let her know we arrived. Tom walked over to Conrad Sutton car rental to get our Jeep Liberty and in about 20 minutes we were on our way to the villa we rented called "Idyllic" (used to be Westmoreland). The house was on a hill just past the Westin Resort, with a beautiful view of their bay. Very quiet and secluded, we loved it. It had 3 bedrooms, all with 2 twins or king bed, 3 baths and fully air-conditioned. The kitchen was just beautifully remodeled and had everything we needed. The living room furniture was brand new as well. The third bedroom is downstairs, with a full bath, small living area, another TV (cable) and laundry facilities...like a suite. The only downside to this is you have to go outside and down the stairs to get to it. We put Will (18 year old) down there and he was in heaven! Had a huge covered porch, sundeck, and the pool was awesome! Plenty of chairs, pool toys, and an outside bathroom. The house has newer owners and they are doing a great job remodeling it, but the bathrooms upstairs still need some updating. This house could easily accommodate 2 couples or families.

Once we got changed into dry clothes, we went into Cruz Bay to eat. Unfortunately the Fish Trap was closed due to weather and the Lime Inn couldn't seat us because they were full. We decided to go to Starfish Market and get our necessities and eat at the house. The market has everything but it is very expensive. After dinner, we got the kids to bed and we're watching TV and suddenly the power goes out...we have no idea if we have a flashlight or candles and can't see a thing. We decided to just go to bed, we were all exhausted anyhow.

Friday

Power is back on, but it's very cloudy and we're in for more storms. The kids were in the pool at 8:00 a.m.! Gotta love that. Late morning we decided to drive to Coral Bay. Stopped at Chateaux Bordeaux for a spectacular view and some pictures. The twisty turny roads were making me a little dizzy, so if you get car sick easily, be forewarned. Ate lunch at Skinny Legs - had burgers/grilled cheeses/fries, it was good. Went to Salt Pond Bay where we met mom and baby donkey, who were eyeing everyone's lunch! This is a very private beach, kinda rocky, with a 10 minute walk from the car. It did have a porta potty, but no food service. Back to the house, more swimming, then into Cruz Bay at 5:30 for dinner at The Lime Inn. Tom and Will had seafood dishes and loved them. I had a steak, it was ok, and they had a good kids menu. It started pouring again and rained all night. We got over 3 inches of rain in 2 days. That night Tom saw a bright flash on St. Thomas and we lost power again. Luckily, we'd purchased some candles earlier and found a flashlight, so we could see. Honestly, at this point, I was getting discouraged about the weather as they were calling for more rain tomorrow.

Saturday

Woke to clouds, but decided to go to Trunk Bay anyhow. What a fabulous beach, probably one of my favorites. There was a fee to enter (probably to pay the lifeguards?) Beautiful sand, some shade, bathrooms/showers and food. Heard some snorkelers saying it was great, lots of coral/fish and even a manta ray. The life guard came by about 11:00 saying there was an electrical storm on the way and that we might have to leave, but luckily it missed us. Had hot dogs/fries for lunch ($35 for 5 of us). Ate dinner at Cafe Roma, the pizza, lasagna and chicken parmesan were all good. Had fun listening to the waitress talk about serving food in the dark for the last 2 nights! We didn't lose power tonight...yea! Met our resident iguana, who clung to the tree outside our house, he was huge!

Sunday

Cloudy again, darn it! Spent the entire day at Cinnamon Bay (no charge to enter). It was a great beach, had boogie board/snorkel rentals, no lifeguards and not as much shade as Trunk Bay. The food court service was horrid and the food was overcooked - bring a lunch! A storm came thru, but was gone in about 20 minutes, glad we waited it out. After that it was beautiful, finally SUN! My kids were slathered in sunscreen (30), and still got sunburned, but we didn't care it was finally nice. Lots of snorkelers here too. Stopped at Marina Market, we liked this much better than Starfish except for the parking - there is none! Ate dinner at home tonight and the kids swam in the dark, with only the pool lights on, which they thought was the greatest!

Monday

Awoke to something bright...what was that? The sun! Took the ferry to Red Hook, then a quick taxi ride to visit Coral World. It was expensive, but the kids loved it. We saw sting rays, turtles, wrestling iguanas (funny), touched a nurse shark. They have an underwater exploration you can do ($) to see the fish/coral, while the people in the aquarium area can watch. It was fun. Went into Charlotte Amelie and ate at Cuzzins, which was very good. Did a little shopping, but it was hot and we were tiring of the noise and congestion, took the ferry back to STJ, which was very relaxing, taking about 35 minutes. Ordered a pizza from The Rolling Pin bakery, it was delicious. Kids swam as we enjoyed the sunset and a cocktail. By the way, the mosquitos were pretty bad at night.

Tuesday

Tom and Will went deep sea fishing on "Gone Ketchin" with captain Grizz from 7:30 to 11:30. They had a wonderful time, thought the Captain was very knowledgeable. Tom caught a 35 pound mahi mahi (gave it to the captain who sold it to a restaurant), 2 tuna and several barracuda. The kids and I spent the morning relaxing, swimming in the pool, and then it started raining again. It poured the entire afternoon and into the night. We tried to go shopping at Mongoose Junction just for something to do, but it was too wet. All of us were getting cranky because we were sick of the rain, after waiting 5 months for this trip, it's not supposed to rain THIS much, damn it (lol). Ended up eating an early dinner somewhere in the junction, I can't recall, it was ok. The weather channel (if they're correct) said we got over 7 inches of rain in 4 days...that's more than 2 times the average for April and needless to say, very rare. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

Wednesday

Partly cloudy, but no rain! Enjoyed the entire day at Trunk Bay. The seas were really rough today, with crashing waves at the shore. The kids thought this was the best thing as they tried to ride the waves. Got a lot of sun thru the clouds today and actually bought "70" sunscreen, and it helped a lot. Ate dinner at Polli's Mexican, it was good. Had a visitor at the house, a stray cat, probably about a year old. Gave her some dinner and fresh milk and she slept on one of the chairs all night.

Thursday

Our last full day, so we decided to check out Maho Bay. WOW! It's like being on a deserted island, no houses on the mountains and only a handful of people when we were there. Fantastic beach and the water was the calmest yet. (No food or potty here.) An absolutely perfect, sunny day! From there we went to Annaberg Sugar Mill, which was very interesting and walked a path to Leister Bay. We didn't make it to the beach area because we decided we were too hungry and needed lunch. There were tons of shells/coral on the walk and the biggest shell crab I've ever seen (have a pic if you're interested). Ate lunch in Coral Bay at Shipwreck Landing, the food was great! Several stray cats, which we didn't mind, but some others did. Bought some souvenirs at the Jolly Dog. Took some beautiful pictures from the top of the mountain looking down into Coral Bay, wow, what a beautiful view! Ate dinner at the Fish Trap, Tom had wahoo and loved it, I tried mahi mahi and enjoyed it very much. The chocolate fudge cake with raspberry sauce for dessert was yummy! It was a hot evening and no air conditioning, so we didn't stay too long. Enjoyed our last evening swimming and enjoying my nightly glass (or 2) of wine on the verandah. Oh, the cat was here all day and we happily fed and loved her, the kids named her "freckles." Will (18) enjoyed himself, but went to the Westin just about everynight hoping to meet some other teens, but they didn't have any "events" going on.

Friday

A beautiful morning, sunny and clear. I told the kids to swim until we had to leave, that way I could pack uninterrupted. Said good-bye to Freckles and our beautiful house/view, took the car back to Conrad Sutton. We were very pleased with the Jeep and they let us park in their lot every time we were in town, I recommend them highly. Took the 11:00 ferry to Red Hook, then a taxi to the airport. It was $11 pp for the trip and the traffic was very congested getting there. We had been given a notice to get to the airport AT LEAST 2 hours before departure time because it was peak season. Our flight was at 3, and we arrived at 12:15, got right thru security and had lunch with a minimal line. But within an hour, it was packed. The line for food was at least 30 people long, so it was worth getting there early. They had two kid play areas, which were very nice, and the time flew by. Flights home were uneventful, but it was a rude awakening to arrive to 45 degrees.

We had a wonderful, relaxing vacation, despite the rain, and are hoping to go back next spring break. I'd definitely rent this house again, but like to try different things, so we'll see. I just got my pictures back and have some fabulous beach/scenery shots if anyone is interested, just email me. If you've gotten this far, God bless you (lol), and I hope it was somewhat informative.

It truly is one of the most beautiful, unspoiled places on earth!!!

Paula