I thought I should write a trip report for my recent vacation on St. John. I always enjoy reading everyone’s input on the boards so I thought I should return the favor. I should start out saying this was a girl’s only trip and my 2nd trip to St John. We left our husband’s and kids at home for a wonderful 6/7 days of fun in the sun. We left Indianapolis, Indiana on Saturday, May 8. Our temp was a chilling 30 degrees as we left. Hot weather here we come!!!! We arrived in St Thomas with no issues. We only had carry on luggage so as soon as we landed…we were ready to climb in a taxi. Two for Redhook, please. People-please make sure you have cash so you don’t have to pay for your ferry with a credit card. I was afraid we were going to miss our ferry because some guy insisted on using his credit card and it took forever. I am not sure if there was a problem with the machine or what. On to St John - We picked up our jeep that we rented from Conrad Sutton and had no issues there. The hill in the parking lot was steep…no issues for me because I was not’t the driver on this trip. I had heard complaints about them being rude and so forth, but we thought they were fine. We then headed to the beach bar to meet our two other friends that were flying in from Florida. We could not think of a better place to start our vacation with dinner and drinks of lime-n-coconuts. We then headed to Westin where we had purchased somebody’s time-share week. We stayed in a 1 bedroom Hillside Villa. Again…I had heard some negative reviews about the Westin, but I thought it was truly a great place to stay. We had a small pool right beside our villa for those swims after being at the beach all day to rinse off the sand. The only negative was the pull out couch/bed was very uncomfortable. One of us slept on the couch and the other a chaise lounge and two girls in the bed. We got up on Sunday and headed to Miss Lucy’s for Sunday brunch. It was a beautiful drive out there and enjoyed looking at the beach and eating our breakfast. Would I do it again on a next trip…probably not, but glad I can say that I did it. We then headed out to Salt Pond Bay, Salt Pond and Drunk Bay. I had never heard any comments on Drunk Bay, but I think it is a must see. It is not a sandy beach, but full of rocks and boulders and people stack them up to make them look like people. Really cool. Drunk Bay was one the most beautiful views of the ocean that we saw. We picked up our water noodles at Pine Peace Market ($4.00 a must have for floating in the water all week) and met our 2 other friends at Cinnamon Bay and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon and then stopped off at the Tap Room for my new favorite island drink…home brewed root beer with Cruzan vanilla rum. Ohhhh so good. We went back to Westin to clean up and headed to Café Roma for dinner, great food, but very crowded and not the best service. Monday-Up early and explored Hawknest and did the Peace Hill trail. I would not even really call it a trail since it only took us a couple of minutes to reach the top. Another beautiful view of Hawknest, Gibney, Trunk and many other beaches. Stopped back at Deli Grotto for lunch (our favorite day spot to eat from last trip) and then explored Leinster Bay, Francis Bay, and Maho Campground (not for me) and stopped off at Maho bay for a swim where we saw a sting ray. We headed back to Westin to really explore where we were staying. The main pool is amazing, but their beach is a little to be desired. Cleaned up and headed to Cactus on the Blue for dinner – not so good. Back to Tap Room for a drink before heading back to the Westin. We have always enjoyed Woody's in the past, but the week we were there it seemed to be a lot of college age kids and pretty trashed by happy hour. We were a goup of ladies in our 30's and not in the mood to deal with them. Woody's even closed one night while we were there. I guess the employees all went on a boat trip for the night. Tuesday – We took a day charter on New Horizons. They picked us up at the park and off we went. Our charter was to Virgin Gorda to the Baths, Marina Cay for lunch, Diamond Reef for Snorkeling. I saw 2 turtles and a long fish (a barracuda??), then headed to Jost for Soggy Dollar. Truly a great day. We checked back in through customs and picked up Joe’s Barbecue for dinner and took it back to villa. We ate dinner on our balcony in our PJ’s and watched the sun set and called it a day. Wednesday – Deli Grotto for breakfast, explored East end. Stopped off at Gibney beach and met Terry Gibney. There is so much history with the Gibney/Openheimer property/beaches. If you are a history buff then you should Google it. I think this was one of my many favorite beaches-very peaceful. Finished up at Westin pool and Beach bar for dinner. Thursday – Headed out to Trunk Bay (rented snorkel gear $5.00 for day-best bargain on the island), Skinny Legs for lunch, snorkeled at Hawknest (saw sting ray, lots of fish and swam through flying fish – how cool), Margarita’s Phil for dinner and went back to Café Roma for dessert, (not crowded at all-should have went this night for dinner instead of Sunday) but they were out of desserts so they recommended Ron’s Pizza place for their chocolate cake. I wish we would have tried this place sooner. The pizza looked great and their cakes and (brownies $1.00) were awesome. Friday – Our last day so we stopped back at Deli Grotto (had been waiting and requesting all week for their chocolate/peanut butter bars) finally they had it. I think the guy working was getting tired of me asking every day because by the last day I thought he was getting a little rude and was probably glad I was leaving. We took the ferry over to Charlotte Amalie to do a little shopping before heading to the airport. What a great week. Next time I go back….I am taking my husband and kids so they will see how wonderful St John really is and why I come home so refreshed and ready again to tackle our every day hectic life with 3 boys.

This trip my favorites went to:
Favorite Beaches-Hawknest, Gibney, Cinnamon.
Favorite View-Drunk Bay, East End-Sir Francis Drake Channel. Is there a bad one???
Favorite Restaurant-Café Roma
Favorite Dessert- Ron’s Pizza
Favorite Drink-Tap Room’s Rootbeer with Cruzan Vanilla Rum
New Horizons charter is the best!!!!!!
Grocery Store Prices are amazing. ½ gallon of milk $5.00, ¼ gallon chocolate milk $3.00, Chef Boyardee Ravioli $1.99, Oreos $5.00, 1 banana $.75 and this is at the cheapest market on island. Best deal a case of water $5.99.