We came to St John for a vacation. I will post this while there so give suggestions if you desire. Here goes:

St john Trip Report 6/22/06 – 7/4/06

6/22/06
We reported to the airport in Portland Oregon bright and early Thursday morning only to find out that – because of the many legs of our flight (5) they could only check our luggage as far as Miami. This meant when we arrived at the airport, we needed to go to the baggage claim, claim our luggage, get back in line to recheck or luggage and them go back thru security to board or next fight to San Juan. This was not too bad except for the fact that American Airlines lost my luggage with everything I needed for the trip. We were assured that they could find it and forward it to St Thomas when we arrive (we had a 8 hour layover in San Juan). We got a room at the Best Western for 5 hours for the small sum of $195.00 with room tax. Check in San Juan went smoothly but when we got to St Thomas, My luggage was nowhere in sight. My wife called the 1-800 # provided by American and after a while they found it sitting in Miami with the luggage tag missing. They said they did not know where to forward it to because the tag was missing. I find this kind of peculiar because the name tag on the luggage had my name and there must have been somewhere on Americans records there must me a ticket showing me going to St Thomas. Well, to make a long story short, I was told it would be forwarded to The Westin on St John “sometime”.

6/23/06
After arriving at St Thomas, we went to the Westin lounge. Here we found out there was a couple of $$ options. We chose the $85 option, which gave us access to unlimited rides to St Thomas during out 10-day stay. They immediately put on a “taxi” and taken to the dock where a ferry was waiting to take us to the Westin. It was a comfortable 35-minute ride. The even gave us cold water and a nice wet lemon scented washcloth to freshen up with – nice touch!
We arrived at the Westin dock and were met buy a Starwood representative who offered us a welcome drink to calm my nerves. I had arranged with the sales staff to meet us there on arrival and take us for a tour since our room was not to be ready until 4:00. The tour was pleasant and they gave us lunch vouchers to use while we waited. Our room was available at 3:00 and we immediately proceeded to our room for a much needed shower. The room was a poolside ground level room, which was beautiful. It was furnished great with the “heavenly” bed and flat screen TV and the “heavenly shower” was indeed heavenly! There was a great walk out veranda right on the lawn with nice teak patio
Furniture.
After freshening up (as much as I could without anything to change into), we took the taxi ($4.00) to Cruz Bay to try and find something to where. After much looking, I came to the conclusion that underwear is NOT to be found on this island. Since my luggage was promised “sometime”, I decided a swimsuit was all I needed at this time. We walked around a bit (wondering where we would park our rental car when we get it) and decided that we were so tired that dinner was in order. We decided to have dinner at The Balcony. The food was good and the view was great. I had a Bushwhacker at the bar downstairs beforehand and was already feeling the island spirit. We ate and found the taxi back to the Westin to call it a day!

6/24/06
I woke early, made coffee and relaxed on the patio while my wife caught up on some much needed rest. There was a lot of clouds and thunder but the sun was shining by 10:00am. We decided to hang here at the Westin for the day since I do not have anything to wear. The pool area here is great. We visited with many of the other folks here while watching the many iguanas, also relaxing at the pool waiting for handouts. Lunch was here at the pool. Expensive but in line with what I would expect here on the island. We decided to go up and call about my luggage. We were told that it would arrive at St Thomas on the 3:15pm flight. The 3:15 flight came and went with no calls saying our luggage has arrived so back to the pool we went. As dinnertime came, we decided to go to Cruz Bay for dinner. We showered and took the taxi to town to Mongoose Junction to shop a bit before dinner. Since Morgan Mangos was right, we chose that for dinner. Thanks to this board, I ordered the Lobster Cake appetizer and then a large salad for the entrée. My wife hade curry soup and a great dish with polenta in the center. Both were excellent. We had seats by the bar and the noise from all the frozen drinks was a bit distracting. After dinner we made our way the grocery store for drinks to take back to our home base. We had a message that my luggage made it to St Thomas but would not arrive until 9:30pm. After an anxious hour it showed up and my spirits rose to a new level. YEAH! Now it is bedtime.

6/25/06
Today we decided to get up early and pick up our rental car, go to the Mandarin Inn for a much-recommended breakfast. Afterward we would start our more intimate island tour by making the whole loop around the island. We plan on several stops to see the sites but no long term visits. After today, we will take more lengthy visits to places that interest us. I will get back later -------.
Well, we saw most of the island today. We rented here from O’Conner’s. We decided to start on the Northshore road and hit most of the beaches we could get at easily. We skipped the Caneel Bay area to save it for another day. First stop was Hawksnest Beach. It was gorgeous. I believe next was Gibney Beach and then Jumbie. Both were nice but I would spend more time on the others. We stopped to take pics of Trunk Bay from the highway only because we are going to that beach tomorrow afternoon. We did go down to Cinnamon Bay and really liked the nice quiet beach. I’m afraid the campground was not for me. I need to escape from heat at the end of the day. Maho Bay was real nice but we didn’t get to Little Maho Bay. Next in line was Francis Bay where I would spend some time later and we decided to make Leister bay and Waterlemon Cay one-day trip since you have to hike in about a mile. I really want to snorkel Waterlemon Cay. We then took in the Annaberg Ruins but I have to say the heat was oppressive. We crawled around there about 30 minutes and were soaked with sweat before we could get back to the car. We decided it was time for lunch so we headed to Coral Bay and Skinny Legs. It was great burgers and service was the Best. After lunch we headed on out the east end just to see the area. Here is lots of great photo opps! We heard the Miss Lucy’s had jazz musicians so we went there next. The jazz was nice and the location was second to none. We both had drinks and relaxed. I must say, Miss Lucy’s has the nicest, cleanest bathrooms we have had the opportunity to visit so far! By now we were tired of driving so we headed back to the resort for a pool dip and a nap. Tonight we are going back to Cruz Bay for dinner but not sure where. Its between Marquarita Phil’s and Ruhm Lines. I guess that Lime Inn is not open on Sunday. ----- Marquarita Phil’s was it. The BBQ pork burrito was a killer. We then returned to the resort where there was a movie shown by the pool. April sat at the edge but I spent the next hour under the water. It must be at least 86 degrees. Now to bed and pleasant dreams! Today was a wonderful 29th anniversary.

6/26/06