Water Island is mostly private homes. Many are available as vacation rentals. Lovely Honeymoon Beach on weekdays you'll have pretty much to yourself. Heidi's Gourmet serves up excellent Burgers/Chicken/Steak/etc. sandwiches for lunch on Sat & Sun on Honeymoon Beach. And, she has a very special gourmet dinner each Saturday night on the beach. There's also a deli (Pirate's Ridge). There's a bike tour. There's a Fort Segarro - really cool. Most homes provide transportation along with the rental. Water Island offers you seclusion, beauty and interaction with some really friendly and sometime wildly funny and fun local residents.

Water Island Ferry is the transport that willget you to/from St. Thomas in approx. 10 minutes. The KonTiki Party Boat comes to beach most every day around 1:00 to offer "entertainment". You can meet up with your charter on STT.

Though, if you're looking for clubbing, fast paced, lots of people, restaurants......STT is the place for you.

thanks for the quick reply- just can't seem to concentrate on work with this on my mind... actually it sounds like we'll still be better off on St. John for the variety of things to do. We're not STT people but it sounds like Water Island might be a little too quiet but we'll research it a bit more

Hello karrieb,

Click on the Water Island guide link just at the top of this page, in the blue bar above the books. It covers pretty much everything. It is a very quiet island.

--Islander

Its only quiet when I am not there (smile).

HI! We went to WI on Friday. Took the WI ferry , $9 RT with a very nice captain. 10 minute ride. Hitched up to the fort, spent 15 minutes walking thru the tunnels. Nearly scared myself silly. Bats! Bring a flashlite. Walked back to Honeymoon Beach, hot, 30-40 minute hike on the roads. Spent an hour at the Beach. 5 minute walkl back to ferry. Very pretty, rugged and wind swept. Good views from the fort. Kids would be bored silly. Back to STT by 11:00am.

Thanks again to all. This is such a terrific message board!

We love Water Island. My family stayed on St John for 2 years in a row before we discovered Water Island. Water Island is quiet but there is plenty to do. Our children love to find couch, huge hermit crabs, iquana and tourtise (sp). Swimming is great. Exploring the island is even better. However, you cannot just show up on WI and expect to have a full experience. There are no rental cars. Walking is not a great way to see the Island as it is too hilly. It is best to rent a house or villa with a golf cart. Residents are friendly. The ferry can take you back and forth to Crown Bay Marina where you can charter boats or schedule a dive. No night life to speak of except Fridays at the deli and Sat's on Honeymoon Beach with Heidi. It is a great place to get away from it all!!

C- where did you stay on Water Island? Recommendations??? Thanks!

i can't wait to visit! thanks

Hello Lashlaroo,

If you click on Water Island in the blue bar at the top of this very page and then choose Accommodations from the drop down menu you will find a selection of vacation homes on Water Island with websites.

--Islander

Don't do it! We just got back from a visit to STT last weekend. We were scheduled to stay on STT for 4 nights then WI for the last 6. We found information for the cottage we were staying at here on vinow.com. It looked beautiful and sounded wonderful! We couldn't wait to get there. We told everyone we knew about it and counted the days until we would reach WI. Unfortunatley the day came when it was time to go to WI. We went to the cottage and the guy showed us around. He took us to our cottage which smelled of mildew. Everything was filthy, I was afraid to touch anything, to sit on anything even to put my stuff in the refrigerator. There were creepy antique pictures everywhere, and big huge flying cockroaches! Walking around on the property we had to dodge dog poop, which was everywhere from the 2-3 dogs that lived on the property. We decided to make the best of it and went out to the jacuzzi in the evening. One of the kids who lives on the property came running out naked and jumped in the pool beside us. It really felt like we were crashing out there house. It was extremely uncomfortable.

We did drive the golf cart around the island and ate wonderful pizza at pirates ridge deli. The owner was great! we also went to honeymoon beach and had a great time, but when it was time to go back to the cottage I was in tears. I DID NOT WANT TO STAY THERE! I couldn't imagine spending the last six days of my virgin islands vacation in this place! I was miserable! We layed our towels out on the sofa bed in the living room and watched some tv to try to just forget about. when I woke up in the morning with a very itchy and ugly rash from all the mold & mildew... that was the last straw! I had to get out of there! We called the hotel we stayed at the first 4 nights on STT and hightailed it back there and had a wonderful time with the rest of our trip.

The funny thing is is that while talking to some people on a taxi ride to cinnamon on stj, it turns out they had the same experience during there trip but at a different property on WI. They were supposed to stay on WI for 7 nights but only stayed there 1 night because the place was "creepy and uninviting".

So, my advice would be, stay on stt or stj and take a ferry over to water island for a trip to the beach or exploring. stop at pirates ridge deli and have some great pizza and enjoy the company of the owner, he's a great guy.

I'm sorry for your bad experience with accomodations on Water Island. I can assure you that not all properties are like that. We have a vacation home on Water Island which we just started renting this past season. We worked hard (and continue to work hard along with our Property Manager) to keep it clean, comfortable, and pleasant for not only our guests but ourselves as well! The tropics can be tough on homes and we are committed to constant maintenance and upkeep. Reference my post earlier regarding the efforts of my Property Manager who works very hard to make sure our guests are comfortable and satisfied. For us, it is our HOME that we share with guests. We would not want our guests to stay in a place that we ourselves would not be comfortable. We have had many renters/guests this year and they have all been extremely happy with the home, the property and Water Island. Through our Property Manager and my follow-up after their stay, we encourage and welcome suggestions for improvement from our guests. We want them to come back!

( http://www.flamingopointusvi.com)

Could you please let me know which cottage you were staying in on Water Island? We are trying to make some decisions about our upcoming trip to the VI. Thank you!!