Trip Report for Feb 22 Thru March 3

Thursday the 22nd we flew from Charlotte, NC to STT on US Airways. The flight was normal about a half hour late leaving the tarmac, a nearly full plane and the normal please get a credit card with free everything for miles, and an hour of duty free shopping BS but the flight was cheap so I guess we got what we paid for.
We arrived in STT around 4:00 local time, all of the bags showed up and we caught a cab to The Mafolie Hotel for the night. www.maffolie.com As usual this was a good place to crash for the night. We had a dinner reservation for 6:00 and it was wonderful. If you haven’t eaten at the Mafolie then make sure to put this on your list.

Friday the 23rd we got up and did the continental breakfast at the Mafolie, settled up our bill and caught our cab to Red Hook to meet up with the charter boat that we arranged for an overnight to Jost for Friday night. We booked the boat Forever Young, with Larry and Betty Fries.
http://www.interlinesail.com/st_thomas_day_sails_captain_only.htm
We met up with them at the gas dock at American Yacht Harbor in Red Hook around 9:00 or so. I can’t say enough about Larry and Betty, if you ever thought about booking a charter this would be a great way to get a taste of it without committing a full week to one. We sailed over to St John and stopped for a snorkel break at Francis Bay. After snorkeling we had lunch on board. Betty made a salad and a wrap with curry chicken. This was really good lunch. Then we hauled the anchor and sailed over to Jost VanDyke. It always fun to see this island. We anchored in Great Harbor were Foxy’s is located. We ended up having dinner at Corsair’s on Jost. This was one of the best meals that we ate all week. Everyone had fresh seafood and there wasn’t any thing bad on the menu. The service was great. Then it was of to Foxy’s for after dinner drinks and even a little dancing. By the way if you haven’t done Foxy’s beach barbeque before it is also a good dinner it is served on Friday and Saturday nights. I have done it a couple of times while on charter. Foxy’s had a good band playing and the place was packed we always enjoy the vibe in this place it’s a must see for anyone doing an overnight on Jost. Then after a few to many cocktails we headed back to the boat to crash for the night.

Saturday the 24th we get up to coffee and breakfast aboard, Betty did a great job with this meal as well. Then we pulled up anchor and headed out. We had considered going over to White’s bay for a few hours but everyone had a little big head going from the night before so rum drinks at 10:00am just didn’t sound like all that much fun. So we sailed up to Sandy Key and Sandy Spit. These are two classic little Corona Commercial islands, white sand and palm trees. We did a little swimming there and had some lunch, Betty made a pasta with shrimp that was wonderful. Then we pulled up anchor for the sail back to St. John. The sail back was another beautiful trip down the backside of Tortolla and St John. Larry and Betty anchored in Cruz bay and took us in on the Dinghy. Then Bill and I walked up to Conrad Sutton’s to pick up our rental car. After a little paper shuffling Conrad came up with the reservation and the keys. We rented a jeep liberty for the week to split with Bill and Carol. The car was in good shape with a few islands scrapes and scratches all well marked on the paperwork. The lot at Conrad’s worked out great for parking whenever we needed it. Then its back to get the bags and the girls and off to the Westin we go. After a few wrong turns Bill gave the map to my wife and we finally quit going around in circles. We get to the Westin and try to find our friends as we aren’t allowed to have villa keys until we round them up from the pool bar to vouch for us.

The Westin, we rented several villas at the Westin split between our group of sixteen people. We actually rented timeshares from an individual that ones and manages a large block of timeshares. http://www.stjohncondos.com/index.html We got a good deal on the timeshares by Westin standards and since the couple that manages these lives nearby they were available to help check in and will help with anything else you might need. Deb and I were in one of the three bedrooms with a private pool with two other couples. We also had four other couples that were split between two of the two bedroom villas up on top of the hill and the last couple were in a studio by themselves. This actually worked out well for a large group like ours as everyone wasn’t on top of each other all week. The larger condo with the pool ended up being the hangout for cocktails and a couple of cook outs. As for the Westin it was nice and pretty well maintained there were a few items in our villa that could stand to be addressed but nothing that was deal killer. This villas would be great for a family with children given the privacy and the laundry and cooking facilities. I did not personally eat at the Westin but several of our friends did and they all liked it. The prices were high even by island standards. I did have one drink at the pool bar, I don’t remember which day it was seven dollars so I didn’t go back. The whole lounge chair around the pool scene really isn’t my thing, not that there is anything wrong with it and if its what you like then this is the place for you.

Saturday night, after a few cocktails at the Villa about half of us decided to go downtown to find some dinner. We had eight people and no reservation on a weekend night, not the best idea. Morgan’s Mango said they could get us a table in about forty minutes or so and there was standing room at the bar so we stayed. We ordered a round of drinks that were reasonable by island standards and before we finished them they had actually managed to put a table together for us. The food was very good and moderate in price for those keeping track. The service was excellent.

Sunday the 25th its time to take care of provisions, so we loaded up and headed Starfish Market. We thought we would be able to get some breakfast prior to shopping but none of the restaurants in the shopping center were open on Sunday morning. So we grab two carts and pillage the store. We mainly bought breakfast and lunch goods as well as some snacks and water. We did buy enough dinner stuff to make spaghetti one night and hamburgers another. We spent somewhere around four hundred dollars, welcome to the islands. Then we headed back to the villa to unload it all. I got out my list of phone numbers and found Mixology Wharehouse. We put together a list for beer and liquor as well as some mixers to have them deliver, there went another three hundred dollars. It was going to take a couple of hours for delivery so one of the guys ran back down the hill to the convenience store and got some ice and beer to hold us over until the delivery arrived. This ended up being more like three hours but hey its island time. We just sit around our pool played with Ipod and had a few beers. It turned out to be a nice laid back day. Actually on the Mixology delivery, Starfish was out of limes and the guy from Mixology picked us up some and brought them back for us no charge. The delivery was worth doing I just wish I had called it in Saturday afternoon for Sunday delivery. Dinner time rolled around so a few of us, ten I think went back downtown and tried to go to Margarita Phil’s for dinner. Did I mention we didn’t have a reservation again? Well that was a no go so since we were there we just went to Morgan Mango again. This was another good meal and great service. Then back home to bed as Monday promised to be a large day.

Monday the 26th, I have a good friend that runs a large charter boat out of St Thomas he wasn’t booked the week that we were there so he agreed to come over for the day and pick us up for a daytrip, not his normal gig he only did as a favor to me. He picked us up around 9:30 on the tender and ran us out to the boat. It was a beautiful morning although a little choppy out. We sailed around for about an hour then headed over to Christmas Cove off of Red Hook to anchor out and snorkel some. About half the crew snorkeled and half just hung out on the boat with the beer cooler and the bar. We originally were going to cook lunch on board but the more I thought about cleaning up the mess the more we decided to take a different tack for this. We decided to call Subway at Red Hook and have them make us a party platter or giant sub. Well apparently you have to call twenty four hours in advance to arrange this or they can’t do it. So we asked them if they could just make us eight foot long subs and cut them into quarters for us. They can’t take that order over the phone we have to be there in person. Island time you know. So Gary, Chris and myself jump in the tender and run back over to red hook and walk up to Subway to order our sandwiches in person as this is much more efficient than taking the order on the phone and being able to make them at the employees leisure! We go in with our best good mornings how do you do and the ladies that are working the counter were pleasant as can be, because we knew better than to mess with the island time thing they were working on. Then only after they had made the sandwiches did I let them know that the only money I had brought from the boat that was anchored two miles away was a hundred dollar bill, as they had signs all over the place saying that they didn’t accept bills larger than twenty dollars. Since I was spending the better part of the bill and promised to never make this egregious error ever again she politely gave me my change and off to the boat we went. The food was good and this was actually a fairly painless way to do lunch for a large group. Then after lunch we decided to sail some more so we headed back over towards St. John and sailed down to Caneel Bay. We grabbed a mooring there as Gary decided to spend the night here. We had a few more cocktails then packed everyone up and headed back to Cruz Bay on the Tender. When we got back to Cruz Bay we got a cab to tack us back to the Westin to get cleaned up for dinner. The cab at Cruz Bay turned out to be one of the high points of the week. I walked up to the taxi’s waiting at the Ferry Dock and asked for a cab for sixteen people and at first they thought I was kidding then when they realized I wasn’t the female driver who was on deck next stood and counted as she was only rated for twelve in her cab and didn’t want to pass on the fair. The next cab up was Abba Meade he has a cab rated for eighteen people. He turned out to be a great guy and we used him several more times throughout the week. He never tried to gouge us and always showed up on time. He took us all back to the Westin then set a time to come back and get us for dinner as we were all going to Tage for dinner. (Abba’s phone numbers are 340-643-6246 cell and 340-779-4779 Home if you need a reliable cab on island I wouldn’t hesitate to call him)

Tage, well what can I say. I am sure some of you saw the real time report I left after dinner there while we were still on the island. The food was absolutely wonderful. It was actually better than I expected. It was a little crazy having eighteen people, my captain friend and the chef from the boat joined us. But everything we had was over the top just a great dinning experience. As to the price well it was what it was. It worked out to be in the neighborhood of $110 a person with tip and drinks we did have several bottles of wine and several appetizers as well as entrees. This is just one of those meals you have to say the hell with the budget and do it anyway.

Tuesday the 27th, this is to be a low key day for Deb and I as she had a job interview back on St Thomas on Wednesday and a large head would not be a good thing for the interview. So we sleep in a little after Monday’s madness then make a little breakfast at the Villa. Since we rented a car we figured we might as well make use of it. We drove around the island all the way back to Coral Bay and stopped at Skinny Legs for lunch then drove around to Cinnamon Bay and walked the beach. This side of the island has got to be one of the most beautiful places on the planet. Then we headed back into Cruz bay and we made a stop at St John spice and got some nutmeg for the blender drinks and some steak rub that I will talk about later. Then we headed back to the villa for a spaghetti dinner around the pool that night. It was definitely a slow paced day with a few after dinner drinks and an early turn in.

Wednesday the 28th, Deb and I are up with the chickens, literally. Get cleaned up and she gets her new linen island weight suit on for her interview then off to the Ferry Dock we go. Bill and Carol dropped us off and we caught the 8:00 ferry to Red Hook. Then we took a cab over t UVI were here interview was. It turned out to be a slow morning on St Thomas as there were only two big cruise ships and one small one in town so the traffic wasn’t bad. After dropping her off at the University I had the cab take me over to Crown Bay to see my friends as they were provisioning for a trip down islands for a charter to island hop for the world cup of cricket, go figure. I just hung out at the Marina all morning while Deb did her thing. Bill and Carol came over in the afternoon and we all had lunch at Tickle’s at Crown Bay then went down town and acted like tourists for the afternoon. Then we caught an early afternoon, three or so o’clock ferry from Charlotte Amaila back to St John. Deb, myself and Bill and Carol decided to go low key for dinner so we stopped at Starfish and picked up some cook out stuff. Deb and I got some pre-made Kabobs from the deli, one of the best bargains on the island. We bought four large Kabobs for six bucks. Bill and Carol got a steak to split and we picked up a few pre-made sides as well. We used the rub from St John spice, excellent I would recommend this to anyone that likes to cook out.

Thursday the 1st , were has the week gone? We have two twenty nine foot fountain power boats reserved from Nauti Nymph they are located in Red Hook but they are also the vendor for the Westin so we can pick the boats up at the Westin Dock in Great Cruz Bay. After a little apprehension from the second operator, Chris wasn’t wild about staying sober on a day trip to Jost, we did our check out went over the charts and the boat controls and got everyone loaded on the two boats. The boats were in average shape but well laid out and they had brand new this year twin two hundred horsepower Yamaha four strokes on them. We ran on plane pretty much from Great Cruz all the way to Jost with a short stop to check the charts for one reef to make sure we were passing on the correct side of the cans. When we go over to Great Harbor to check in customs there was a bit of a traffic jam as the customs dock as one of those small cruise ships was dropping passengers off and tying up a good portion of the dock. We go in after they finished unloading then rafted Chris’s boat off of ours. It took a few minutes to get through customs but it isn’t any big deal. Then everyone went through Foxy’s gift shop to grab some hats and t-shirts. A few people grabbed a drink here and took a few pictures. Foxy was actually out and about and was speaking softly and still not singing. I hope he continues to get better. Then we loaded back up and ran the boats over to White’s Bay to do a little limin’ at the Soggy Dollar Bar. It was a little choppy so we had to anchor about fifty feet off of the beach and swim ashore. If you haven’t wasted a few hours or days on the beach at White’s Bay then you need to put this on your short list. www.soggydollar.com/soggydollarbar/ We stayed here through lunch and had a few sandwiches and fries along with some cold Caribe beers and rum drinks. Then we reluctantly loaded up and headed down to Sandy Spit, the actual island as best I can tell from the Corona commercials. We anchored there and a few people swam ashore for a photo op. Then we just did a slow troll down Tortolla and back to St John. We got to the customs dock right on time, a little before four but of course we didn’t have the proper paper work and had to go to time out and make our corrections, this was actually Nauti Nymphs fault. They neglected to give us the forms for the boat for re-entry into the US. The customs lady gave us the form and absolutely no help in filling them out. We managed to get them down but in the mean time we had stayed on the dock more than fifteen minutes so we were charged eighteen dollars per boat for parking at the customs dock, compliments of the port authority. Then we had to go over to the fuel dock and top off the tanks on the boats. This was one of the bright spots as well we had figured on two hundred dollars a boat for fuel. We actually only burned about twenty two gallons per boat a little over sixty dollars per boat. The new four strokes are really efficient if you don’t run them wide open. We usually ran them at around 3900 RPM’s which worked out to around twenty miles an hour. Then we headed back over to Great Cruz to check in with Nauti Nymph, they started to give as some grief about being fifteen minutes late and wanting to charge us for the extra time, until I gave them the grief back about the missing customs forms. All in all I was very pleased my both Nauti Nymph and the boats. That said if you are going to do this trip and don’t have more than six people per boat then hire one of their captains and enjoy your day without dealing with customs, navigation and sobriety at the Soggy Dollar bar. I love running boats and hold a Masters License from the Coast Guard but a couple of pain killers would have been nice. For dinner we ended up cooking burgers for just about everyone in the group around the pool and kicking back the rest of the evening.

Friday the 2nd, it’s everything in the fridge must go day. So we make breakfast, then load up several soft sided coolers with the leftover beers, make up some role up sandwiches out of the leftover lunchmeat and a gallon jug of painkillers. We called Abba Meade to come and get us with the cab and drop us of at Trunk bay for a beach day since we really haven’t had real lay on the beach and do nothing day. Abba dropped us off and arranged a time four hours later to come and pick us back up and take us back to the villa. It goes without saying the beach was beautiful not rough at all as this is the leeward side of the island. As I said before, Abba was great he just dropped us off and said we could settle up on the return trip. We also went ahead and set it up for him to take us all to dinner later that evening at the Lime Inn; we had learned a little by now and actually had a reservation. The Lime Inn was great the table was about twenty minutes late but you will have that on island time. The food was very good and moderately priced by St John standards. Did I mention key lime pie? I love key lime pie. After dinner Abba was there to get us again and drag us all back to the Westin. We went ahead and made arraignments for Saturday morning to have Abba pick those of us up that weren’t taking the Westin Ferry back to Cruz Bay to the Ferry dock.

Saturday the 3rd, Time to go home. We have Abba pick us up with our bags and head to the ferry dock. Bill and Wally just drove the rentals back to lot and then met us at the Ferry. We took the Ferry back to St Thomas then went back to Crown Bay to have some lunch and kill some time as our flight wasn’t until around 5:00. We had just finished lunch when we got a call from some of our friends that were already at the airport for an earlier flight. There was a major problem. US Airways computers at the airport are down. They are checking everyone in by hand from printouts faxed to them from the mainland. The line is all the way across the lobby and out into the driveway. We go ahead and get a cab to the airport three and a half hours early out of fear of not getting into customs. We get there and it’s worse than we thought. Thanks god I was with Wally, one of my friends that travels all the time. He is a US Airways dividend miles member and they have a special line for dividend miles and first class customers. He is both, and since we are traveling with him although not in first class they still let us check in with him which takes about two hours of off the line for us. So we spend the next few hours hanging out in the airport reading and listing to the Ipod. It was an uneventful flight and we got into Charlotte a little early. All the bags made it and Debs sister picked us up.

Jay