Alta Vista: An intriguing villa with a wow view!

An intriguing villa with a wow view!

Alta Vista has an delightful view spanning sunsets over St Thomas from one balcony, and across the BVIs and Carolina Ridge, around to Virgin Gorda and sunrises from the back... deck and balcony. This villa has a huge great room upstairs with two balconies just perfect for taking in these views or star gazing at night. These are distant views but cover many miles and islands. We often enjoyed watching the weather change over the water and other islands from the mountain top.\r\n\r\nDriving to the villa from Centerline Road only takes 5 to 8 minutes on a paved road that is edged with plants that reminded me a bit of a rainforest... very green and lush. We like this area of St John for the quick trips to the north shore beaches and Coral Bay plus it is central to the rest of the island. The villa is right off the road with a gravel parking area. The very infrequent road noise was not a bother and privacy was not impacted by the closeness to the road. There was one house close by that we could not see, but we could hear voices during the day.\r\n\r\nThis villa has three bedrooms, three and one half baths, with a good sized pool and a spa. The deck area is expansive, and it is very attractive with built-in planters and gorgeous cobalt pots. There is an outdoor dining table that seats 6 or can be expanded to 4 to 6 more and there are at least a dozen dining chairs total, some stacked out of the way. Six chaise loungers offer all guests a place to lay in the sun; plus there are chairs for each of the three pods in separate shade areas. The gas grill was older looking but worked fine.\r\nThis villa has enough beach towels, coolers, and beach chairs for six persons, and personal towels and bed linens are plentiful. All the bedrooms are color coordinated with the same towels, etc. so everything works everywhere. I remember that two of the bedrooms have safes and I think the third did.\r\n\r\nThe pool was not catching a lot of sun by mid November and was really too cold for us to enjoy. Earlier in the year, it probably was very comfortable. The spa was set to 104 degrees and did heat up slowly but got nice and warm. Wind can sometimes be too refreshing on the mountain, but it never sent us inside at any time. One day the rain did blow into the dining pavilion causing us to go inside. There is a gas fed fireplace for this outdoor dining area and one inside the great room upstairs... we used neither.\r\n\r\nEach of two of the bedrooms is in a separate pod and the beds can be used as twins or pushed together making a king bed. Each has a large shower, single basin sinks with hands free faucets, a walk in closet, doors that open onto the deck and covered access to the main house. This house is full of windows and light which is great, plus the windows have dark curtains to pull if you really want to sleep in after sunrise. The faucets were hard to get used to, especially for brushing teeth or shaving, but they make sense in an area where conserving water is so important. \r\n\r\nThe main house contains the kitchen and master bedroom downstairs and the delightful great room upstairs. The master shower is enclosed yet outside with a roof and a door opening to the pool deck. The bed in the master suite was very comfortable so I would think the others would be also.\r\nThe kitchen can be entered from the parking area or from the pool deck. There is a love seat in one end of the kitchen and two directors stools at the bar. The kitchen was very well equipped with dish wares, glasses and flatware for 12 plus all sorts of pots and pans. Small appliances we used were the toaster and coffee maker; there was also a blender and a food processor. The gas cook top, oven and micro wave were by Thermidor and the single sink was deep and big! We didn't use the dishwasher which along with the washer and dryer was by Bosch. The kitchen seemed efficient and was very pleasant. I am not sure how well several people could work together there, and other than the two seats at the bar there would be no eating inside it. We used the iPod player here often. There were nice speakers outside over the dining area, but we could not find anything to use with them, finally deciding installation had not been completed for them.\r\nWater for the house was filtered; I drank it all the ten days there and suffered no ill effects.\r\n\r\nThe great room was accessed via a staircase outside. This seemed a little strange, and we never took food upstairs; I would think toting a meal up would be quite inconvenient but the room was delightful with two seating areas for a total of 8 or 10 people plus a lovely dining table that seated 6. The wet bar had both an ice machine and a wine cooler. Some glasses were in the cabinets. There was a small iPod player in this room, but the TV was a very large flat screen with direct TV which also provided great music selections. The wifi modem was located here also; we had good connections and speed with it. ATT is our cell carrier, and there was a tower very nearby providing us with a strong signal.\r\n\r\nAll the bedrooms and the great room were air conditioned. The master bedroom door could be left open cooling the kitchen, I should think. The mountain breezes were such that with the windows open we had little need for the air conditioning.\r\n\r\nWe truly enjoyed this house and its unique floor plan, and we would love to return for another stay. I am happy to answer any questions.\r\nWe rented it through http://www.destinationstjohn.com/home.php/47/Alta%20Vista and everyone we had contact with there was friendly and helpful. I have posted some pictures of Alta Vista here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/floridalindalee/sets/72157632085652284/with/8227795940/