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hey all!!
we have been back in ireland for nearly a full month now and the
virgin islands seem all but a distant memory. we are having one of the
worst summers on record....while we were in STJ it rained in dublin
and most areas of the country for over 40 days straight....never has
my timing been so good than when planning this holiday!
i have been meaning to write a trip review for the last couple of
weeks but on arrival home i went on a further 2 weeks holiday to the
south-west and didn't have the chance (life is tough, i know 🙂
)...now i find myself back at work and daydreaming of golden sandy
beaches, turquoise waters and cocktails...
so time to write! i'm not sure how much of what i write would be of
help to future visitors but sure i'll give it a lash. as we were there
for a good stretch of time i won't do it day by day format but rather
an overall summary of the highlights and once i figure out how, i'll
add some photos!
ok so where to start....
we arrived after 24hrs of straight travelling which, apart from a
little run in with the x-ray machines at heathrow (!) went like
clockwork! our first proper day was spent adjusting to the heat and
jetlag so we took things fairly handy and hit cinnamon for a swim,
some sun and a happy hour drink at the camp ground. cinnamon became
our regular beach as, apart from being beautiful and having great
snorkeling (turtles galore!) the campground restaraunt meant we could
go straight to the beach each day without needing to stop in town for
lunch (we took taxis nearly everywhere so this saved money!) the food
isn't gourmet but hits the spot when you've worked up an appetite
swimming and snorkeling!
we did hit trunk a few times and it's totally deserving of its
reputation for being one of the most beautiful beaches in the world
however i found that cinnamon had a bit more shelter and there were
times when my pale irish @** needed to be out of the sun for a while!!
my favourite beach was salomon...the hike down through the hermit
crabs (i'll have whatever they're having, crazy liitle yokes!!) and
out onto the sand is gorgeous and the beach itself, is pristine,peaceful and absolutely perfect!!
We had in the course of the month,many opportunities to sample the various nightspots in cruz bay...personally my favourite was high tide between 7-10...it could on occassion be very quiet but i enjoyed the food and the bar and waiting staff were beyond friendly. i also enjoyed it for the performances there by T-Bird and her band (Patrick and the brillaint Kenny)...we caught her a few times down there and had a great old sing song! next on my list is the Beach Bar...a lot busier than High Tide most nights and excellent crabmeat wontons! also had some really good live music...i think one of the groups was called Outdoor Asylum? can anyone confirm that? they were brilliant! Beach Bar also have live jazz but I can't remember which day....sorry! third on the list is the Quiet Mon...i wasn't a big fan at the start and only used it for access to the net but a few late nights there and it won me over....it's nice to sit out on the balcony and watch the world go by!
so they were the top 3 bars...i could go on but i'll be kind and spare you! for food we ate the majority of the time at the above mentioned places. we did spread our wings a bit too tho...Panini Beach-great pizza, only ate there once so can't comment on the rest of the menu but the pizza was good...Rhumb Lines-great menu,really good food and superb host (Jerome,a fellow Dub!)...we had lunch on a couple of occassions in the Westin pool/beachside bar....food was ok-good portion sizes but a bit too expensive for a lunch menu (it is the Westin after all)...also, watch out for the seagulls! My personal favourite was the Banana Deck...especially the Caribbean chicken. Oh my.
although all the above may suggest otherwise,we didn't spend everyday at the beach or in the pub! we took a few great day trips...Jost Van Dyke with Captain Jason on his charter yacht 'Cloud Nine'. what a day! perfect conditions so we could make the whole journey under sail....Jason is a brillaint host and guide. We hiked to the bubbling pools after lunch at Foxy's Taboo and sailed home through the sunset. Outstanding! We did our diving too with Collette from 6-Paq scuba...she is a brilliant instructor and took us on a magical dive-10/10!! we took a day trip to STT and did some shopping and another to Coral World which is,i think one more for the children although watching my friend KT getting savaged by lorikeets made the trip over all worthwhile!! Coral Beach was very disappointing, we didn't stay after leaving the park heading back to STJ instead.
we overnighted with friends on tortola but didn't really get to see much of the island as we were catching up most of the time. Smugglers Cove is a must-gorgeous sandy beach,clear waters and a stunning view over to JVD...and the Tamarind Inn do fabulous brunch on a sunday AND you can bring your dog! we spend 3 days and 2 nights on Water Island which was pure bliss-just sun, beach and beer...and on sunday, Heidi's famous cookout!! driving around the island in a golf cart on roads more suited to a 4x4 is an experience not to be missed- just watch out for the turtles Xing!
by far the highlight of the trip was being there for Carnival...the parade,the colours,the music,the village and fireworks...just the whole atmosphere and bustle around the place was awesome...i couldn't even begin to describe it in words so hopefully the pictures will do it for me!
leaving st. john to get our flight home was quite possibly one of the hardest things i've ever done. it truly was the trip of a lifetime, made even more memorable by the amazing people we met there...i'm just going to give a shout out to a few of them to say,once again,thank you for everything-Missy,Jillane,Jason,Kenny and last but by no means least Dan the Man. the other thing that made it hard to leave was the thoughts of facing a 24hr journey home to nothing but rain! (we flew the day after the explosion at the power station on STT but had stayed at emerald beach that night cause are flight was early morning-talk about a reality check! it was like "your holiday is over,cease enjoyment" 😛
apologies for the rambling nature of the report-things would pop into my head and i'd just type without any thought to structure! if i didn't explain something clearly or made no sense just yell at me and i'll do better! also if anyone can tell me how to put photos up i'd appreciate it!
cheers!
ccd
ccd
Thanks for sharing. I am also trying to wrap up our report. 4 weeks in paradise...I'm truly jealous. It looks like you got to do many things but more importantly made every effort not to race around. Time and peace is what the islands offer and you appear to have got it right.
chris,
taking things easy was definitely the order of the day,slow down and you discover so much more!
ccd
Enjoyed your report. The first time I went to STJ I stayed for five weeks (my life was so much simpler then---i had so much more time & so much less money---this is better?). That was during winter, so we were no just uprooting after a long stay, but we were heading back to a cold, dark place. I'd love to stay for a month again, really settle in to the rhythm of the island, move slowly and savor it all fully.
lex,
more time and less money is a better way to live-if i was brave enough i'd give it a go;jack the 9-5 salary to live more and work less....ah,dreams.
on this theme-the more time i spent in STJ, the less money i seemed to have lol
i don't regret one penny spent though.
ccd
One thing that always delights me is how little stuff I seem to need/want while on STJ. We don't bring laptops. The cell phone gets stuffed into the bottom of the luggage. Most days I do without a watch. We don't watch tv or rent videos. We used to bring CDs (pre-ipod), but realized that we only listened to them on the flight. I do without all of the stuff that seems so essential at home and I'm totally, utterly content. In fact, I'm probably at my best.
We were in Ireland a few years (on the west coast) and were awfully happy there, too. We'll go back one of these years.
i brought an ipod that was solely for the flights, didn't bother with mobile phone because i wouldn't get coverage (wouldn't want to either!) and briefly considered bringing my laptop but didn't bother in the end and didn't miss it once! i read 6 or seven books during the long lazy days at the beach and who needs a tv in the evening when he view out your window can beat any programming or movie on a screen (american tv drives me nuts anyway-all those bloody ad breaks!!)
bring less and you'll do more!
Sounds like you had the perfect trip. We are planning our return trip in June. We have all decided to spend a day in Tortola. Is it worth the trip just for a day? Should we take the ferry or private charter? Thank you for any help you can give me. KK
Wonderful report, ccd. How nice that you were able to stay so long and take things at an easy pace.
kk,
we took the ferry over because we were staying overnight. the best advice i could give you is to check out the ferry time-table and see if it suits you. to the best of my recollection the ferry ran from STJ to tortola at around 8:15 and the latest returning from tort was at abot 5pm? maybe someone else could clarify that...basically we took the ferry cause of costs (it was around $40 return) and because we were overnighting.
have a browse of some of the charter guys and see what they offer in terms of day trips. it will be more expensive mind you but maybe good to have structure to your excursion.
ccd
ps: if you're planning a day trip to the bvi maybe consider gorda or jost ahead of tortola? i would have spent the money going to virgin gorda were it not for the fact i was meeting up with an old friend....thats just a suggestion made from my personal preferences, nothing against tortola, it's full of iyt own beauty.
cheers blu,
it really was such a fantastic trip and, coming as far as we did, it only made sense to stay so long and take things easy...
ccd
