I started perusing this message board back in January 2005, by Feb. 2005, I had booked the trip. My husband and I(mid 40's) traveled to St. John(first time there, we had been married in St. Thomas in 1993)for nine days in late July to vacation and celebrate his birthday. This is my first trip report-so please bear with me. I hope people can get some useful information.I know that reading this board prior to leaving gave me some very helpful hints, regarding places to eat, shop, drink etc. Thanks to everyone.

Day One Saturday July 23: Travel day, we flew direct out of Philadelphia on US Air, we left at 8:00 and landed at noon. No problems. We carried on our luggage(first trip where I was ever able to accompish this-my husband is still amazed!!). We had no problems what so ever-what a good omen.

After landing, I headed for the first of many rum punch drinks that I would consume during this vacation. We were staying at the Westin and they have their check-in counter in the airport, we checked into our romm at this location also. After checking in, we were told that a taxi would be taking us to the marina to catch the Westin ferry. About 15 minutes later we were on our way. We were driven to the Crown Point Marina and we headed to Tickles Pub for a cheeseburger and a couple of beerrs, while we waited for the ferry to arrive. The barmaid(Kaz) was the first of many wonderful people we would encounter throughout this trip. What a great way to start out.

We arrived at th Westin after a 35 min. ferry ride and were greeted by our "driver" Watson, who was waiting to take us to our room. We hopped into the little golf cart and off we went for a mini-tour of the property. We had a poolview room on the second floor of building #11. I loved the room, the bed, really everything about the Westin. I have read various reviews about the properrty, service, etc., however, my experience was wonderful. Maybe I was just so darn happy to be there. Anyway, we unpacked and headed straight to the pool(and pool bar). We just hung out, relaxed, drank, ate, swam. Since it was the "travel day" we had no real plans to do anything. We just hung around the Westin that evening, checking out the lay of the land. Had a pizza at the Beach Cafe and
called it a night.

Day 2 Sunday 24th: I am an early riser. for most of the vacation I would get up first, take a walk, go to the deli on the property or up to the Simple Fast(a hint from this board!!) and get soda, water, sandwichs, whatever we might need for our daily outings. We were on our way early that day, we headed to Chilly Billy's for breakfast, again another hint from this board. My husband and I both had omeletes that we're excellent. I'm told that this place changes into Ten Tables at night for some excellent dinners, however, sorry to say we never made back here for dinner.

After breakfast we headed to Cinnamon Bay. I wanted to go here or trunk, because of chair rentals, etc. WOW-what can I say. I just loved this beach. We rented a raft, a couple chairs, found a little bit of shade and just chilled out. We swam, floated, snorkeled(actually my husband is the snorkeler in the family). He really liked this spot, one of many that he loved. It got harder and harder everyday to pick a favorite. There were maybe 6 people on the beach when we got there and I heard others talk later about how "crowded" it was, but i never felt that; compared to the Jersey shore-this was heaven.
We left @4(I think) went back showered and went right back out. We stopped at Woody's for a drink(this became a nightly ritual, we would go to Woody's and then try to decide where to go next, where to eat, etc., sometimes it worked, sometimes we just stayed put). That night we headed over to the Beach Bar for Steve Simonson Jazz Band. They were wonderful. It was just so nice, sitting there, listending to these great musicians, watching the boats, sunset, people, etc. Apparently the band has "guest" musicians join them on occasion. On this night, low and behold, it was a guy from our home state, another Jersian. Again, we had great service, and would like to say thanks again to Guido and Chris for some great rum punches!! Tomorrow: Reef Bay Hike, Trunk, etc.