Please Register / Login to take part in discussions about the Virgin Islands.
Hi, I am back!
The trip was nice, great weather, and sea conditions for the whole time. I was thinking of writing a trip report like a travelogue or a whole story from the first day till the end, but I changed my mind. I am not good at telling a story. It could be very boring. So, instead, I will give you guys some tips from my own experience. OK, let’s start.
1. Planning Materials:
At least buy 2 books; “Explore the Virgin Islands Guidebook” by Harry S. Pariser, and “St. John Off the Beaten Track” by Gerald Singer. If you want better maps, the maps in “Basic Vacation Planning Kit”
http://www.vitraders.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=V&Product_Code=Vac-kit&Category_Code=Conch
are pretty good. “St. John Beach Guide” by Gerald Singer is not necessary because most of the details are already in the beach section of “St. John Off the Beaten Track”. By reading the 2 books I just recommend, and using the maps from the Planning Kit, you should have enough basic knowledge to plan your own trip. Last but not least, reading and checking this website will give you the most update info, and some tips that are not mentioned in the book.
2. Aqua Socks and buying snorkeling gears:
Although it’s not needed, a pair of dive boot or aqua sock would be nice in the area where sand is not soft, or to walk out to the rocky beach when snorkeling in some locations like Waterlemon Cay. I also used it to protect my feet from getting blister from using my strap-on-type fins. If you know the gears you want to buy, “leisurepro.com” is cheap and fast shipping.
3. Water Temperature:
It’s colder than you think. It was the first time to me in the Caribbean. So, I talked to many people who came with the cruise ships and they told me that the water here is relatively the coldest comparing to other islands in their trips.
4. Cinnamon Bay Campground:
Good campsites with friendly staffs, highly recommended. However, the good campground comes a very over-priced restaurant. A lunch box costs about $15 if you want a sandwich in it. I had a dinner their once. It was a $17 BBQ plate. While it doesn’t taste good, the amount of food is even less than what you can get from $8 BBQ from Uncle Joe’s. Relatively poor service for the price range. Don’t go to eat there.
5. The car-ferry is always late.
6. Driving and Parking:
The roads are steeper than you think. If you have driven only in the cities, driving in the islands could be…,well, very difficult. If the local drivers want to go faster, you can just simply slow down so they can pass you. The only places you should pull off you car from the road to let someone pass you are all the view-point-overlooks. Otherwise, just slowing down should be enough for some fast driving locals to pass you because coming back to the road from the side might be difficult if you don’t have high-clearance 4x4. Parking in Cruz Bay (St. John) was difficult but never be a problem for me. There are signs saying the maximum parking time, like 45 mins. The locals told me not to care about it. Just simply find a spot to park and that’s all we need to care. Parking in downtown CA (STT) during the day was very difficult and was the problem! Be prepared to drive around for 30-45 min to find a spot to park. Or you can just go to park at Havensight and take a cap to CA. Or, you can just shop there(Havensight) instead. Oh, forget to say that some parts of Cruz Bay and CA(STT) are hilly, which makes it difficult to park on the side of the narrow 2-way roads.
7. The most stupid thing I did and Kayaking Day Trip with Arawak Expeditions ( http://www.arawakexp.com/):
It was the most stupid thing I did in my trip. The website looks good. They were nice to me when I called and made a reservation. I expected to spend most of the time around the cays that are close to St John, like Lovango Cay, Congo Cay where I cannot drive or hike to get there. And that’s what they told me on the phone that the normal route for a day trip is usually honeymoon bay and around the cays areas whereas the actual route is adjusted day-by-day depending the sea and weather condition. Anyway, my experience with them started with their crappy tour guide. All he cared the whole day was talking to 2 college girls in the group. After honeymoon bay, he led us to a beach in Henley Cay where he said that it’s a very good snorkeling spot. That beach was indeed very impressive…, not with the fish, but with a lot of sea urchins. Actually, it’s the place where I found the most sea urchins in my whole trip. He told us that the current could be strong, he will look at us the whole time, and be careful. After that, he just turned his back on us, walked to the other end of the beach, prepared lunch and talked to a collage girl. I don’t think, besides talking to a girl, he care about us at all. After having lunch, he told us that the next stop is a more swimming-type beach, but didn’t tell the name of the beach. I was surprised a little bit because the information about a good swimming beach around Lovango Cay area just doesn’t exist in my head. I thought to myself that maybe he knew a secret beach that I didn’t know. I was, however, excited for about 15 mins because after paddling out from Henley Cay, he was actually leading us back to St John, and we ended up landing at Gibney Beach. All he talked about Gibney Beach was that another name for the beach is Oppenheimer beach, and enjoy swimming and snorkeling. He did not talk very much throughout the trip (except to the girls). I don’t know how could he become a kayak tour guide. It seemed to me that he didn’t have enough knowledge and ability to lead a guided trip at all. Actually, I think he was also lazy because he just took us to Henley Cay (the nearest one to STJ) and back to STJ instead of going out to the Lovango Cay area on that day when the sea was sooooo calm. And by the way, although he is not fat, he is relatively the most chubby adventure tour guide I have ever seen. I just thought to myself that why did I just spend $90 and the whole day paddling from Cruz Bay to Honeymoon Bay, Gibney Beach and a not-so-good spot in Henley Cay, and paddling the whole way back while I could have done the beaches by myself using the book “St. John Off the Beaten Track”, and would have more relaxing time. Well, there are more bad things about the trip but I think I spend too much time talking about this already. Summary: Maybe Arawak is known for a kayak week-trip, but I think their kayak day-trip is so OVER-PRICED, and BAD QUALITY. Highly NOT recommended. Don’t go there, Don’t buy a day trip from them, and please also tell you friends NOT to go on a day trip with them.
8. Parking in Magens Bay is not a problem at all, a lot of parking spots. Anyway the parking lot in Trunk Bay is not enough. Arrive early (like around 9:30am) if you want to park there.
9. The view from “Mountain Top” (STT) is just too high for me. I like the view from the “Great House” much better.
10. My Favorite Spots:
This is just only my opinion. You may have a different list because it’s all depending on the weather, water conditions, sunlight, your mood, etc.
Best place to be during sunrise:
The highest point of route 10 facing Coral Bay. Wonderful View! (Cinnamon bay is the second place)
Best place to be during sunset:
Cinnamon Bay. Not a super pretty sunset spot, but everything is just the right amount, the people and the surrounding… just give me the right feeling. (Paradise Point is the second place, Lind Point Overlook is the third place)
Best Beach Overall: Solomon
Best Water Color: Magens Bay
Best Snorkel: Coki Beach
Best Beach to spend the whole day: Trunk Bay
Over-rated: The Baths
In summary, I have a great, wonderful, fabulous time over there. I don’t know how to describe how I much happy I had during the trip. A picture is worth a thousand words. So, follow the link to actually see how much happy I was. http://128.138.44.39:8080/gallery/album27?page=1
Thank you so much for all the great info when I was planning my trip.
And if anyone wants to ask any more specific questions about any info that’s not included in the books, please reply to this message.
ColoBoy
Your pics are fabulous. Almost like post cards. We can't wait for our trip in May.
The pic in which you were surrounded by fish - where were you at?
Great pictures. Would love descriptions, though.
Thanks a lot for sharing.
www.ajmurphyphotography.com
Great Pictures--Please caption them. I was there in Jan and Feb and would love to know the name of the beaches. Can't wait for my May trip. You must be a student at CU. Are you?
Beautiful pics! Wish I was there :O)
Is that last shot of Colorado Springs? Great pics. Wife and I are leaving for a week to STT on Sun!!!!!!!
Thank you for all the comments about my trip tips and my photos.
- surrounded by fish -> It's at Coki Beach. (I will talk more about Coki Beach later this week. I am so busy at school right now.)
- descriptions/captions for the pictures...umm, I'll do it during this coming weekend.
- Yes, I am a grad student at CU(Boulder). I am originally from Thailand, though.
- The last three pictures are somewhere between Denver and Houston. I am not sure if it's Colo Spring or not. Maybe, it is because I just took that pic a couple minutes after the plan took off.
More Tips...
11. Seats on the airplane:
If you have to connect your flight in San Juan (like I did), choose the left side, window seat for the flight between San Juan and STT on both ways (going there and coming back). All the bird-eye-view pics are just only a fraction of what I actually saw. I like the feeling of having the last look of Havensight through the propeller after the plane took off on my returning flight, as you can see in my first picture.
Colorado Boy,
Great Pictures. Which island/town are those brightly colored buildings on a narrow cobblestone road on page two of your pictures? I must make sure we go there when we go in June.
Also, you mentioned the car ferry is always late. So, do you think it is a better idea to rent a car when one gets to St John or just to wait for the ferry and bring your car over from St. Thomas?
Thanks!
- Actually all the pics on the 2nd page and the pic of a couple on the first page are from San Juan, Puerto Rico. The colorful buildings are in the "Old San Juan" area. And the last three pics of my gallery are from the flight from Denver to Houston. The rest of them are from the virgin islands. I will add captions to the pictures within this weekend.
- The route for my trip was
Denver -(connecting flight in Houston)- SanJuan (stayed there for 1day 2nights) - STT - (drive a car to) - STJ and the whole route back without stopping in San Juan.
More tips.....
12.Car Ferry:
Car Ferry from Red Hook is located at the end of the big parking lot. (I think there is no sign for it. All you need to do is looking for a big parking lot)
The schedule is , I believe, every 1/2 hour. So, don't worry about it. If you miss it, just wait for the next one. And if your schedule is tight, just go for the earlier one. The total time is about 45 mins ( 15 min late + 25 min on the water + 5 min getting out of the ferry ). They will tell you to go at least 20min before the schedule, but, from my experience, they are always late. So, you can arrive there 5 mins before the schedule. The other thing is that the R/T cost $35 (one way costs $22). If you go with the hour schedule ( like 6am,7am,.. ), you will need to take the ferry at the hour back too ! (not the 30 mins schedule). It's cash only. They will give you the receipt and you show the same receipt when you take it back.
Yes, you can rent it from STT because it's cheaper, and you can use it when you are in STT too. You can drive to Magens Bay, Drake's Seat, Mountain Top, Great House, Coki Beach, Paradis Point, etc.. I don't recommend to take the taxi tour in both islands because I saw it only once where the taxi driver driver actually let the people get-off from the taxi and walk and enjoy the view. Most of the time, the taxi driver just stop at some view points and let the passenger enjoy the scenery from inside their taxi for.. maybe at most 5 min. per stop. And if you are on the wrong side of the Taxi, I think, all you can see is the people on the other side of the seats, not the view.
There was one time that the taxi driver yelled at me to move out of the way while I was sitting on the overlook viewpoint of Trunk Bay. He told me that I was blocking the view for his passenger (in his taxi). and he could not move the taxi because the parking spots were about 80% occupied and he just didn't want to move his taxi, and he also didn't want the passengers the come out from his taxi. I moved and they left in 3 min. I think The taxi driver just want to make the island tour as short as possible. So, they can pick-up more customers.
I think to enjoy the view (or the trip), you need some extra time to relax, to enjoy, and to appreciate it. Thanks for your good words about my pics. One thing you should know is that to see the best of anywhere on the island, you need the weather to cooperate. For example, without the strong afternoon sunlight, the water of the famous Truk Bay will not show you the full spectrum like what you saw in the postcard. And if you have only 3 mins to see that view, and that 3 mins just happen to be when the cloud cover the bay, you would think that it's not so pretty as in the picture. But if you only wait a little more, and let the cloud pass. What you would see, in the same location, in only 3 mins later might be the best view in your whole trip, and might be the thing you will remember forever....
Well, I think I talked to much again. From car ferry to seeing the view of Trunk Bay... My point is...
- Rent a car from STT because it's cheaper and you can go around STT too.
- Take the car ferry to STJ (be flexible and work with the schedule the way I just mentioned above)
- Maximize the use of it by being flexible and relax.
- It's better to take the morning schedule to come back to STT.
13. Stopping in San Juan:
Many times, it's cheaper to buy a R/T from your city to San Juan and a seperate R/T from San Juan to STT than booking a flight directly from your city to STT.
The Good thing: You can make a 1-day gap between the time you arrive San Juan and the departure time to STT, and that 1day is enough to explore the Old San Juan area and around. It's like you pay the same or cheaper price than just going to STT but you get 1 more destination(the old San Juan).
The Bad thing:
On the way back from STT, if you leave a too small connecting time at San Juan, and the flight frome STT is late for any reasons, no one will be responseble for the next flight if you cannot make it. And if you have more than a carry-on, you will need to go out to the baggage claim after your flight from STT, and re-check it again to your next flight.
For my case, I had no problem connecting.
The R/T flight from Denver-San Juan (Continental Air) $242
The R/T flight from San Juan - STT (American Eagle) $ 160
For the flight from San Juan - STT, I prefer American Eagle because they have the most numbers of the flight/day, like once every hour from 8am til maybe 8pm. So, if something happen, they can always give me the next flight.
Hope this help..
Have a great day.
Colo Boy
Hello Colorado boy,
You definately covered a lot of ground on your trip! Good for you, your planning paid off with a good vacation. Thanks for sharing your tips & pictures.
--Islander
What!! No pics of the college girls on the Kayak trip!
- Islander, my trip was so nice because of this website and your advise, thank you.
- The girl on my 3rd page is much prettier than those girls in the kayak trip. She is one of the reason I think Trunk Bay is my favourite to spend the whole day.. 🙂
More Tips…
14. Coki Beach:
Coki Beach is fun and easy. Different from other beaches, this is the place where the fish find you. The fish are so cute. They get used to the people (and Milkbones).
Be sure to arrive early (like before 9:30am) because the crowd from the cruises could be too much for a not very big beach. My suggestion is to get there right after you take the 8am car ferry from STJ back to STT.
The beach is next to Coral World. So, from Red Hook, just follow the sight to Coral World. The breakfast/snack bar at the terrace of Coral World is very simple, not expensive and delicious. Coral World opens at 9am, but the breakfast at their terrace opens at 8:30 am. So, you can have a quick and good breakfast just before you hit the beach. Oh, forgot to mention that there is sign saying that the parking lot is for Coral World customers only, but if you get a nice breakfast from them, you should be considered as their customers too. The other reason I think you should park your car here is because it looks safer to me than the other parking area down the road.
You should get to the beach by 9:30 am because that’s when the cruise ship people start to come. You will start to see the fish even before your feet touch the water. Put your snorkel on, get your milkbone out, and all the fish are all yours. I had no idea about using the milkbone before until I rented a locker (a plastic box) from a stand by the beach, and they gave me a complimentary milkbone after I paid for a locker. They told me that the fish here (Coki Beach) like it. I noticed that they have a big bag behind them with a lot of milkbones in it. That’s cool, I think. The beach is sandy bottom, and has lots of fish as you can see in page 9 of my gallery....Have fun!
The beach and the whole area will get super crowded after 10pm when most of the cruise shippers have arrived. So, that means it’s a good time to leave. The main activity here should be snorkeling, and feeding the fish, which 30-60 min should be enough because you don’t have work on anything. No hiking, easy swimming, fishes are everywhere. You are guaranteed to see the fish, and be very close to them the whole time you are in the water. Some of them even bit my finger because they thought it’s a milkbone.
If you finish Coki around 10-10:30am, you will have enough time to get a good lunch and have a whole afternoon shopping in the town (CA or Havensight)
Anyway, keep in mind that the varieties of fish and underwater life in Coki Beach are incomparable to that in waterlemon cay of STJ. But to get a good time in waterlemon cay, I had to hike a bit. Swimming through a channel is required, and swimming around the cay against the current in some parts was a great exercise for me. I admit that the underwater at waterlemon cay is prettier. I, however, put Coki beach on the top of my snorkeling spot because, during snorkeling and after doing it, I had the most fun!
Colorado Boy
coloboy, that last posting re: waterlemon cay made me positively nostalgic. what a morning we had there. sublime, trust! everything entailed in getting there so worth the effort, do not sleep on the waterlemon cay! 100% chance of bitterness if you miss it. we swam across that bay to get to the point where you skip across the channel, swam the channel and then around the cay. rested back on the point and then swam across that little bay again. only suggest you do that if you go before 9am. Boats start creeping the bay and make the swim a leetle hazardous.
all vi newbies: rashguard will help with the water temp. trust.
- I just added some captions to all the pictures I have. I also move some of pictures from the same location close to each other. So, it's easier for the people who have never been to the islands before understand the locations when seeing from the different angles.
- Hi Connie,
I agree with you. waterlemon is not to be missed with any reasons.
🙂
Colorado Boy
Hi Coloboy
Loved your pics but when I went to show them to a friend last nite, they wouldn't come up. Have you moved them to another place and if so where. Heading to STT in a couple weeks and would like to snorkel at Coki Beach after seeing your pics. Thanks
Can you re-post your link. I think there is something wrong with your current link.
Thanks in advance.
Hi,
Sorry for the link. There are some problems with the website that I posted the pictures. (I did not move or do anything to the website or link).
The person who is taking care of it is not around at this moment. And now is getting toward the end of the semester. So, it's kind of difficult to get my friends, who are very busy with their term papers and school, to look at it... I guess I cannot repost it to the same website...
Anyway, what I can do now is to re-post it somewhere else.
Can anybody recommend any places I can re-post it? (quick, easy, and free)
- Comment to Islander:
Is it a good idea for this website to have some space for people to post their pics from the trip? You can have it like the total of 15-20 pics per island. And let the people/readers vote for the pics they want to be stay on this website, and just drop the bottom 5 each week... I think people like to see pictures, in addition to the great information from this web-board too.., just an idea.
Colorado Boy
I use 2 places. www.smugmug.com < not free. and www.photo.net < free.
Hi,
- I don't want to re-post and do all the captions again. So, I just asked my friend to look at the website, and it's working now. Just the same link. Nothing change.
- I would like to say "Good Bye" to all of you now. It has been almost 2 weeks since I came back from my trip. I've already shared my wonderful experience with you through the tips and photos. I think now is the time for me to move on to focus on my next destination (Alaska). So, I may not come back to check this topic again.
Thank you so much for everything, and hope you get something from my post.
Oh... almost forget to tell you my last tips
15. The best spot to eat your to-go dinner:
If you order a to-go food (like Uncle Joe BBQ), and wondering where should you eat it..... drive along northshore road to the overlook of Trunk Bay. Sit on the curb and enjoy. Nothing gets better than having a delicious meal with the right-in-your-face view of Trunk Bay.
Get there early as the sun set around 6:30 pm, and prepare insect repeller.
16. The food at Sogo's is under-rated. Their restaurant, service, and food presentation is nothing close to fine dining... but the food is delicious.
prepare insect repeller.
17. Insect repeller is a must !
18. There are many good tips in this board... , There are, many times, in the back pages. So, keep reading or use the "search" botton. Don't just asking something before finding if someone has already posted it. Because the already existing post might give you more comprehensive information, and you can always just reply to that thread if you want more specific info.
Have a great trip to all of you.
Good Bye
Colorado Boy
Thanks for sharing, good luck with Alaska and...
You'll be back.
