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Okay, so part I recapped our trip from Lexington to STT and our adventures there. This installment tells the story of 2 very happy Kentuckians spending their first overnights on St. John.
Day 4: Tuesday. Woke up early at the Mafolie hotel and decided to go on over to St. John and see if we can get into our condo early. Easy check-out and drive to Red Hook to catch the car ferry. I really like the new car ferry docks on both STT and STJ! We were the last car loaded onto the ferry, so our timing was fantastic! No wait at all and we were on our way to STJ. Here's a photo of the car ferry at STJ for those who wonder what it's all about.
We rented a condo at Cruz Bay Villas (unit #3). It's very economically priced, so I certainly wasn't expecting anything luxurious. We had little trouble finding the condo, since the owner gave us pretty good driving directions, and it's just outside of Cruz Bay. It's just up the hill from Woody's, one driveway past Cruz Views Villas. We would definitely stay here again - not for the amenities of the condo, but because of the location. It's just so very convenient to Cruz Bay and all the shopping and restaurants that we saved countless time driving throughout our stay. If you want to see pictures of the condo, just look it up on the Internet - I won't take up space here. However - here is the view from the large plate glass window of the living room!
Now - we don't spend ANY daytime hours at our condo/hotel, so the construction was a complete non-issue for us. But - for those of you who have this, or a Cruz Views Villa booked over the next several weeks/months - you should be prepared for LOTS of daytime construction noise. Jackhammer going constantly from 8am - 5pm.
To be fair, here's the view over the pool in a different direction. We sat by the pool 2 evenings sipping wine (I bought a bottle of champaign for our last night) and watched the sunset:
Anyway - we were able to drop our luggage early. The condo wasn't ready for us to check-in, but Sunni the property manager was nice and let us drop luggage while he readied the place. We headed to Trunk Bay for our first STJ day. RAIN, RAIN, RAIN for the next several hours. This was our only bad weather of the week. Several downpours separated by brief periods of clouds. Oh well - we knew we'd have some rain, so we got it out of the way early!
We went to the market for supplies and I made a fettuccine with Chicken for dinner. We quickly decided that the kitchen was for breakfast, and the refrigerator was for beer and Diet Cokes and no more dinners would be prepared - we're on vacation and "no dishes" was my wife's motto!
Day 5: Wednesday. We're not early-risers, so 7:30 am came around and we woke up. Had some breakfast and prepared for a big day. This was my wife's birthday! We went out to Cinnamon Bay for the late morning and early afternoon. Cinnamon is one of her favorite beaches. It's a long beach, and the water on this day was perfect! Rolling waves on shore, but very calm water once past the breakers.
I went snorkeling for awhile and it was okay. I went out to the Cay and swam a bit. I must have been impacted by the current, because on the way back in I kept swimming and swimming and wasn't getting closer to shore! Finally, I figured out that I kept getting turned and was swimming parallel to the beach. I ended up getting a great workout because I swam at least twice as far as needed due to my mis-direction!
I pre-arranged a massage in our condo as a birthday present for my wife (by the way - THANKS - that idea come from this board!) at 2pm, so we left the beach a little earlier than we were ready. Barbara from Massage St. John VI was right on time and did a great job! If you are looking for a massage in your villa, consider them. Barbara works at Caneel as her "permanent job" and takes private clients on the side. She was super-friendly and really relaxed my wife during the hour session. I headed to the pool to read for the hour.
That evening, we had 7:30pm reservations at Zozo's. We got to the cocktail lounge around 6pm - too late for a seat - but we still got to see a great sunset! The Chocolate Martini for her and Tangaray and Tonic for me really hit the spot! You can obviously see why I adore her so much!
Dinner was GREAT. Wife had Lobster and I had Tuna. Calamari appetizer was very tasty. We passed on dessert only because we were so full from dinner! I'd definitely go back here. Not cheap by any means, but the meals were tremendous!
We changed clothes and went to the Quiet Mon for late evening cocktails. It's fun to sit on the balcony and watch the people traffic. Seemed to be lots of locals (mostly restaurant people as their establishments shut down for the night) having a great time.
Day 6: Thursday. We anticipated this day all week. This was our prime snorkel day to Waterlemon Cay. We packed a cooler with drinks and sandwiches, then made the drive to Leinester Trail. The walk took us right on 20 minutes to complete. This year's crowd was completely different than last year's. This year was many families with smaller children - last year was nearly all older folks and their books. We have 4 kids, so families are right up our alley and we had much fun with them. My first snorkel was disappointing. No starfish in the rocks - no turtle - no stingray. But - after lunch, when the sun came out, the snorkeling was fantastic again! I ended up seeing a huge gray stingray, several starfish, a beautiful flounder with purple edges, then spotted a turtle on my last swim, and followed him toward shore for probably 50 yards. They are so graceful. We'll definitely come back here again!
We went to Woody's for dinner and drinks. Really liked their platters and my second-favorite Bushwacker on the island (Morgan's Mango took over 1st place on this trip!!!). Next installment will describe our overnight stay on Jost Van Dyke!
Hope you are enjoying - one final installment to come!
Your wife is so lucky. I recall your surprise for her birthday LAST YEAR - at Banana Tree Grill on STT, right? Is this an annual birthday event for her - a trip to the islands?
Please hurry with the report of overnight on Jost. I can't wait to read that.
Yes, last 4 years have all been over her birthday. Unfortunately, looks like we're going to skip next year - for good reason. We have girls 9 and 12 years old. We promised them a Disney Cruise and will take our Winter vacation to cruise with them to (where else!) Eastern Caribbean! They'll get a 1 day introduction to VI next year. Thanks for your comments, Blu.
Thanks for the continuing saga of the VI Lovers! Great pictures too. My mouth is watering looking at the lobster!! Keep em coming!
-Bert
Let me see if I can do this....I found your picture at Woody's web site.....looks like you were having a good time!
-Bert
Thanks for the picture! I hadn't seen it yet.
VI Lover
I am really enjoying your report, esp. the great pictures. I am getting a little nervous. We are staying at Cruz Views in a few weeks and that building project looks like a real eyesore, not to mention the noise. I guess on the bright side.........it should be easier getting the kids out of bed in the morning.
You two make a darling couple!!!
Love your report & pics are great! What camera do you have? Hubby will kill me if I get another 🙂 We were looking at Cruz Views for next Dec because of the location to town. Was it an easy walk? The prices seem so reasonable I was wondering about the inside..run down?, clean? Don't care about the noise..if we ever slept to 8 it would be a miracle. Like you, we are out and about all day.
Great report. Wish I was there.
nsalphadog
The camera is a Sony DSC-H1 model (discontinued this year). It is a 5.l Megapixel camera. All of the photos were taken on the full 5mb setting. The replacement for this camera is an 8 megapixel model and runs around $600 at Best Buy.
The inside of the Cruz Bay Condo is not exactly "run down", but is "dated". Furniture has various stains, carpet is worn, but not moldy or anything, kitchen is just old. If you plan to cook, bring your own teflon skillet - the skillet in the condo is terrible - can't make anything without major sticking.
We did not walk to town at all. It would be a pretty easy walk down the hill, but a killer going back. Taxi from Woody's was $3, and from Mongoose Junction was $5. We had no problem parking in the late evening.
Final installment is coming this evening!
VI thanksforthe camera info & condo pics. Really considering staying at Cruz Views for the closeness to downtown for nights.
Here's a link to the Owner's offering for this property. If you book it through the management company, it's a little more expensive. I saved $40 per night versus the Book-it VI website by going directly through the owner, and they were great to work with.
Good Luck!
Vi, thanks so much! I have learned & saved soo much from this site. You guys are great.
I love all of the pictures! Thanks for sharing! It's making me sad though, because I don't think we're going to be able to make it back this year. I do love living the vacation through everyone's else's reports and pics. You and your wife are such a cute couple.
I loved Waterlemon too, but we didn't see a whole lot when snorkeling. We forgot fins, and I kept getting pulled out. Kind of like you said where you were swimming and swimming and not getting anywhere. I freaked and had to get out of the water. Oh well, it was still nice. And we did a lot of hiking as well.
