The saga continues...Friday (April Fools Day) last half day on STJ before heading over to St. Thomas. As first timers, we ride out past Cruz bay to the other side to see what that looks like. Stopped in Baked in the Sun for bagels, etc. Nothing knocked our socks off like the grab n go stuff at Deli Grotto.

Seems like any of those areas off Southside Road would be nice to do the villa thing – quiet (depending on construction apparently), accessible to town, nice views, etc.

When I first mentioned the villa idea to my wife, it was not well received because of that 4 letter word that shall not be uttered on vacation: C-O-O-K. This is more about getting away from the whole “kitchen duty” thing because I also do a lot of cooking. You all know the drill and how tired it gets – the planning, the buying, the prep, the clean up, with the actual cooking part being the least of it.

But she saw a photo showing a couple enjoying a mid-day meal on a deck with a knock out view in the background. She said “I would like to have lunch at a place like that!” I pointed out that was at a villa. Oh.

Then near the end of this trip, as she is dreading the amount of laundry to do on return, she says it might be handy to have a washer to run a load or two. I assume villas have these (as long as there is water to run ‘em of course). This would also reduce the amount of stuff to pack.

As we enjoyed snacks, our own drinks, and sunsets back at Estate Lindholm, we realized it would be great to do similar at a villa, supplemented with take-out, left overs, etc. to minimize kitchen duty. But she even said it might be nice one night to whip up something simple like pasta with some garlic, EVOO, and white wine (!)

I told her about the posts that periodically emerge on the boards about people packing coolers full of stuff and humping it down to the island. Now that may be the other extreme. I recall one post that listed all the meats they bought down for the week. It was more meat than we eat in over a month, but then again, we live in a quiche eating blue state. Different strokes.

BUT, I would encourage all who travel to try the local stuff. It amazes me when I see someone order up a Budweiser in a place like STJ. How else do you get turned onto great stuff like Carib beer, conch fritters or Cruzan rum?

Months before we left, we bought different rums and experimented with different drink mixes to see what we liked (all in the name of research of course). I bought Bob Marley “Legends” (didn’t appreciate how great Marley was til I got this disc) and mixed it with other downloads like Buffet and Chesney. It kind became our Sunday dinner thing to listen to that mix, enjoy a rum cocktail and talk about the upcoming trip. Got us through the long hard winter.

Back to that Friday. No problems with just leaving our stuff at Lindholm for later pick up. Out to Francis Bay. I can see why this is at the top of a lot of people’s lists for favorite beach. Folks on beach said they had turtles close into beach day before. None for us, but did see our first barracuda and ray.

Time to transfer over to St. Thomas. Stop in Mongoose for some quick last minute shopping and very good sandwiches to go from Deli Grotto.

No problems right onto boat, into Red Hook, which in the latter part of this Friday afternoon is certainly buzzing more than STJ. Make some brief stops on way to Secret Harbour, get impatiently beeped at (twice) for first time all week. This is a bit of an adjustment.

Now you occasionally see comments on some boards that basically dismisses St. Thomas “unless you are into shopping”. This can give you an unfair impression of STT. Granted, STT isn’t as pretty as STJ and the vibe isn’t the same, but we loved our 3 days at Secret Harbour (major props to TripAdvisor and Marty on this board for that selection).

And as noted in Part II, when we went into town, we found many downtown shops very nice, good variety, some interesting architecture and people watching. It would be a worthwhile half day to go in the morning and have lunch and drinks at some nice place like Amici’s.

Living in here New Jersey, maybe I’m sensitive to dismissive judgments about a place. But contrary to all of the jokes and what you see on the Sopranos, there are plenty of beautiful places to bury a body or sleep with the fishes here in NJ. You just gotta know where to go.

Back at Secret Harbour in St. Thomas. Regardless of how you feel about STJ vs. STT, there is something to be said for:

• a beautiful beach 30 feet from your room and from your cold drinks, water, snacks, and bathroom

• awesome sunsets

• a nice bar and very good restaurant attached to the resort (Blue Moon) that is a 200 foot walk down the beach

• hammocks hanging from palm tress to lay in and read about 300 pages a day in that great book you brought with you

• very good snorkeling right off the beach with fish, coral, and yes, turtles

We found it was a great way to finish up the trip.

That first night we walk down to Blue Moon. In the bar area, a singer is playing steel drums with backing bass/drum synthesizer machine. He is VERY good and I am more like Simon than Paula when it comes to live music.

We decide to do the app/bar menu at a table in the outdoor bar area to dig the music. We enjoy conch chowder, shrimp, salad, and my daughter has a killer cheeseburger and fries with a virgin strawberry daiquiri. Among others, the singer does Marley and a beautiful version of Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight”. Find out his name is Andrew and he plays 2x week at Secret Harbour. Nice.

We walk back to room 214. I climb into a beach hammock just outside the room. My daughter climbs on, we enjoy the palms and stars overhead, she cuddles up, and falls asleep in about 3 minutes. I take a few minutes to give thanks and cherish the moment before I too fall asleep. Magic happens in St. Thomas too.

Next up: over to the other side of St. Thomas and we bid farewell.