This is Part 2. Part 1 was posted June 16.

HOW WE LIKE TO SPEND TIME IN THE ISLANDS.
This is a really personal thing of course, and the reason I include it at all is that if you like to do the same things, you’ll know you are not alone in the universe. It’s important to know why you’re taking this kind of a trip (as opposed to an Alaskan cruise or the pyramids or Paris). Well, obviously, it’s to get away and go on vacation, right? But why THIS place, with THESE people? And I hate to interject a business term into such a setting, but this is also about GOALS. Or maybe PURPOSE works better. Maybe you’re there to veg out and work on that big stack of mystery novels you’ve been meaning to get to. Maybe you want to sleep until noon. Maybe you want to hike every trail and visit every jewelry shop. Maybe you’re a diver and just don’t get that many opportunities in Nebraska. Whatever it is, it’s important to be honest with yourself and everyone else, so you don’t load up your agenda with stuff that doesn’t get you where you want to go, and you come back needing a vacation to recover from your vacation.

For ourselves, we like to alternate “active” vacations with “relaxing” ones. STJ is one place we go for the latter. One advantage of going to a familiar place is, well, it’s familiar. And you don’t feel obliged to cover every square inch of it. We spend a lot of time researching things to do, places to eat, where to shop, excursions to take, just like you are all doing right now. Then once we get there we generally chuck the whole list and do what we feel like. The preparation was part of the fun — a way of starting your vacation early. Not that the information we collected wasn’t useful, far from it, since we were able to make better decisions about what we DID do. But spontaneity works for us. We were absolutely certain we were going to play mini-golf at Pastory Gardens. But once we got there and it was 90 degrees with mosquitoes swarming, it became, “what, are we nuts?”

One reason we spend a little extra to get a nicer villa than we really need is that, on some days, we don’t want to go anywhere. Somebody on this forum used the term “villa gravity” and I just love it. I get up at dawn and make coffee, take it on the deck with my book and watch the sun peek over the islands in the channel below, the colors change every few minutes, sometimes a shower, maybe a rainbow. Quiet (except for roosters), peaceful, sublime. Wife sleeps in, joins me a couple of hours later, asks how long I’ve been up. A little later one of us asks, “beach day or house day?” Sometimes inertia makes the decision for us. We perform this ritual almost every day and it is always what we miss the most when we get home.

But while this is heaven to experience, it is boring to read about, so onto things we did when able to overcome villa gravity.

RESTAURANTS. We happen to live in an area blessed with an abundance of fine restaurants and I travel a lot on business, so dining out isn’t a big highlight for us while in the islands. While we’ve had some good meals on St. John, our experience is that many of the places people gush over wouldn’t last 6 months if they opened down the street in their hometown, and certainly not at those prices. It’s more about the ambiance than the food really, and an over- or under-cooked cheeseburger at Skinny Legs or rubbery pancake at Donkey Diner that takes forever to arrive and costs too much is somehow okay because, well, you’re there!

So with that, I’m just going to mention one restaurant that rarely gets cited and that is Aqua Bistro. This is way out on the Coral Bay side and if you’re staying nearby, give these guys a shot. Just few open air tables, maybe a dozen, that are scattered through the courtyard of the new Cocolobo “mall.” Short menu – they have a small kitchen and aren’t going for Michelin stars. This is not a romantic place to watch the sunset on your honeymoon. But the chef knows what he’s doing and has a nice touch. Did you ever walk into a place and feel like you’re the only one who doesn’t know everybody else? Judging from their clothes, attitudes, and weathered skin, I’d guess many of the customers just stepped off the many boats anchored just across the street and the rest were locals, or both. Whatever, it seemed like one big happy reunion. There was a jazz trio playing Saturday night with a singer who can belt out the blues with the best of them. I have no idea who they are but they seemed to be great friends with everybody else in the place. We ate there twice and got to pretend we were locals for a few hours.

REEF BAY TRAIL.
A tip of the hat to Wes, who several months ago posted a long, detailed description of this hike that included several useful pointers. We just had to do it, we did, and we’re glad. I won’t try to improve on Wes’s entry except to emphasize you want to take industrial strength mosquito repellent, wear light-colored clothing (skeeters are attracted to dark fabrics for some reason), and take lots of water. You don’t need sneakers. Keens or Tevas are just fine, but no flip-flops or open-toed sneakers. Search the archives for Wes’s full report, which is one of the best posts you’ll ever read.

BEACHES & SNORKELING.
For years we have avoided Trunk Bay because it gets so packed. This time we got smart, printed out the STT cruise ship schedule and tried Trunk on a day when no ships were in. Bingo! Wow! I had forgotten what an absolutely glorious beach this is and it’s is a shame to just hand it over to the day-trippers. There’s a reason this beach is in all the ads and postcards. We wound up going back almost every no-ship day. TIPS: Get there early. I mean before 9:00. Really, 8:30 is good. No entry fee and you can park in the shade close to the beach path. When you get to the beach, turn left and walk all the way to the far end. 90% of whomever else is at Trunk will congregate on the other end near the snorkeling trail. There is excellent snorkeling off the rocks between Trunk and Jumbie unless the water’s too rough, and you may be the only ones out there.

Second favorite was Francis, which never seems to get too crowded. Again, walk all the way down since everybody always congregates closest to the parking area. (If it’s not clear by now, we are contrarians!) Whatever snorkeling there is (not much) is off the rocks on the far right out to Mary Point. This is a beautiful sandy beach with that flat-as-glass turquoise water that just begs you to stay all day. As with most of the north shore beaches this time of year, if you want shade, bring your own. One visit was marred by a large group (wedding, we think) who were a bit obnoxious, talking too loud, beer cans in the water, cigarette butts in the sand. But we just moved further away and wished them 40 years of marital hell.

By now everybody knows that Waterlemon offers some of the best snorkeling on the island. Where we screwed up was believing the official warning not to drive the jeep out there. The road is tight but perfectly drivable to a small parking area about halfway to the beach. There’s only space for maybe 4 vehicles so if it’s full you’re out of luck, but it’s a long walk out there otherwise and worth a shot.

Biggest disappointment was Hawksnest, a past favorite. Still a lovely spot, of course, with sand like sugar and outrageously gorgeous water. But the newer parking & picnic facilities there and proximity to Cruz Bay have encouraged far more visitors than it can handle. Even on a no-ship day it was too crowded for us. Two other old favorites were also disappointing. Salt Pond on a busy day used to get maybe 4-5 jeeps parked up there. Soon they’re going to need a parking garage. Plus the taxis make regular runs there. Lameshur was still relatively uncrowded, although the vastly improved road has practically eliminated the natural obstacles that used to discourage the masses. Maybe my memory is worse than I thought, but there seems to be less sand than there used to be, and the entrance to the water is rockier than I recall. Maybe storm damage? Or we just got unlucky with the tides? Pelicans perform their high-dive stunts throughout the day.

(I have to add quickly that the two newbies who were with us for part of the trip thought Hawksnest was fabulous. They thought it was uncrowded, we felt it was jammed. Goes back to perspective.)

THE FLEECE THE TOURIST AWARD.
Goes to the guys on the ferry dock with the luggage carts, who holler “Bags for Charlotte Amalie.” Everybody dutifully walks over and gives him their bags. Then when the ticket office opens they find that still have to buy bag tickets at $3 a pop, PLUS tip the guy with the cart who only takes your bags 100 feet to the boarding area. There’s a similar game played out at Red Hook. Fortunately we were tipped off by a forum post before our trip (thank you whoever you are), so I waited until the ticket booth opened and asked, “do I need to give him my bags?” She chuckled and said, “only if you want to pay him.”

MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE.
We always expected the worst at STT airport and found it usually failed to live up to even those expectations. But we were pleased to find many improvements since our last visit. Security and customs was brisk and reasonably efficient. The waiting & boarding area is comfortable and best of all cool, with decent food options and a large gift shop. Even the taxi drivers we had were cordial and welcoming. Of course, we threw the first “good morning.” Now if we could only find a shortcut to Red Hook….

MOST UNPLEASANT SURPRISE.
I’m sure there must have been many candidates for this dubious honor, but we have quite forgotten. The power of selective memory!

DEVELOPMENT.
Even though it had been a few years since our previous visit, we’ve kept up with the boards and thought we were pretty much prepared for the changes St. John has undergone. But our first view from the ferry on arrival which in years past gave us warm, welcoming feelings of elation and instant relaxation, instead became, “Omigod, what is THAT?!?” Construction seems to be literally everywhere, with few or no effective restrictions. Full-bore estates way out of character and size for the location. What’s next, Trump Tower? A park ranger told us code conformity was basically on the honor system. Even the far side of the island seems to be building everything everywhere, although it pales next to the south shore and Cruz Bay vicinity.

The pace of development has its upside. Restaurants, markets, and shops are far more numerous and higher quality than before. The roads are better. You can get gas, and a lot of other things, in Coral Bay. And the selection of villas for rent seems endless (maybe supply will eventually outpace demand and the rates will level off a bit).

But you wonder how long the infrastructure can hold up to the increased demands being placed on it. You are constantly (and properly) begged to conserve water, but has there been a villa built in the last five years without a pool? And the impact on coral and aquatic life generally has been well documented and is partly attributable to side effects of development.

The impact of all this really depends on your frame of reference. If you’re used to the Jersey Shore, Cancun, Jamaica, or any number of other popular vacation beach spots, St. John will seem like a deserted island to you. Even the contrast with St. Thomas remains huge. But for us old-timers, it’s a bit like returning to your home town and finding a Wal-Mart where the general store used to be and a deluxe high-rise condo next to the lake.

FINAL THOUGHTS.
Don’t get the wrong impression from my whining about development. We had a great vacation, as I hope has been evident from this report. St. John has not yet been spoiled by development, and the very existence of the national park and lack of an airport or cruise ships offers some protection against it turning into another St. Thomas, or worse. But as these villas and condos and resorts and malls continue to multiply, there is the very real threat that it will, in many important ways, simply cease to be what drove us to St. John in the first place so many years ago. This isn’t a prediction, just a caution. And even if it happens, young honeymooners going for the first time will continue to think it’s paradise just as we used to. It will be their island then, not ours.

In the meantime, I’m sure we’ll return to St. John. We have too many memories to leave behind and we might even want to get in that round of mini-golf. But it’s not THE automatic destination any more. For the first time on the flight home, it wasn’t “okay, when are we going back and where should we stay?” It was, “maybe we should check out the BVIs a little more. Virgin Gorda, maybe.” If you know any good spots there, we’re in the hunt.

For all of you on countdown to wheels-up time, may the gods of safe travel be with you. The trip itself is short, so enjoy every minute of anticipation and, later, of reflection. I sincerely wish we could tag along. Drop us all a line when you get back.