Parking now $20 at Caneel

rpplano · Post by **rpplano** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 12:10 pm

I LOVE my Cinnamon Bay! No (American) phone service, either.

michigancouple · Post by **michigancouple** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 12:20 pm

We were planning to hike to Solomon and then over to Honeymoon and then walk through Caneel to catch a cab back to town. Do you think we'll have issues doing that?

Agent99 · Post by **Agent99** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 12:30 pm

We were planning to hike to Solomon and then over to Honeymoon and then walk through Caneel to catch a cab back to town. Do you think we'll have issues doing that?

Definitely not. We've done it several times.

Capn Dan and Ruby · Post by **Capn Dan and Ruby** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 10:01 pm

St. John Lover wrote: Which brings me to end on 2 pet peeves that I've been noticing more & more each year when we visit. I don't care if you're on Caneel beaches or any of the other beaches, since when did it become acceptable down there for people to leave their left-over food & beverage garbage on the beach when they leave AND to play loud music?? Reason I see this as related to above is it's really all about just being gracious and respectful of others and of nature.

I can not tolerate people who leave trash on the beach!

Monkeynoclimb · Post by **Monkeynoclimb** » Sat Jan 07, 2012 9:52 am

Every year my wife and I travel to St. John to vacation and over see our rental house Monkey No Climb on top of Bordeaux Mountain. We love the quiet beauty, views and the cooler temperature at the higher elevations. That being said we usually drive or walk into Caneel a couple of times on each trip to walk the Turtle Bay trail and eat/drink at the beach bar. We were there last month. We used to tell them we were coming to hike the Turtle Bay trail and have a couple of drinks. We only tell them about going to the beach bar now. The guards have obviously been instructed to tell every non-overnighting guest that the Turtle Bay trail is closed or that it is overgrown. That is simply not true and the management of Caneel must know that. Everytime we walk the trail and spend $20-$90 at the beach bar. The drinks and bar food are great. We never use the beach and certainly don't cause a problem for anyone. I can understand that management would like to keep "some" people off of their rented property but there needs to be a better approach to this. We have become friends with a well known St John artist in Cruz Bay who wanted to take the Turtle Bay hike with us last time. She has lived on St. John for years and has taken us to dinner at the Turtle Bay restaurant. Funny story. My wife and I had to travel to the Big Kmart that trip in order to buy clothes so we could be seated that evening. When we were attempting to go to the Turtle Bay trail we were told in no uncertain terms that we could not do that since were were not staying overnight. She was a bit surprised at that reaction and she even knows people at Caneel. Of couse we still walked the trail with her anyway and had drinks. If the lease that the NPS has negotiated with Caneel states that our use of Caneel is permitted then the NPS needs to be made aware that they are in violation.

parafins · Post by **parafins** » Sat Jan 07, 2012 10:01 am

Monkeynoclimb wrote:Every year my wife and I travel to St. John to vacation and over see our rental house Monkey No Climb on top of Bordeaux Mountain. We love the quiet beauty, views and the cooler temperature at the higher elevations. That being said we usually drive or walk into Caneel a couple of times on each trip to walk the Turtle Bay trail and eat/drink at the beach bar. We were there last month. We used to tell them we were coming to hike the Turtle Bay trail and have a couple of drinks. We only tell them about going to the beach bar now. The guards have obviously been instructed to tell every non-overnighting guest that the Turtle Bay trail is closed or that it is overgrown. That is simply not true and the management of Caneel must know that. Everytime we walk the trail and spend $20-$90 at the beach bar. The drinks and bar food are great. We never use the beach and certainly don't cause a problem for anyone. I can understand that management would like to keep "some" people off of their rented property but there needs to be a better approach to this. We have become friends with a well known St John artist in Cruz Bay who wanted to take the Turtle Bay hike with us last time. She has lived on St. John for years and has taken us to dinner at the Turtle Bay restaurant. Funny story. My wife and I had to travel to the Big Kmart that trip in order to buy clothes so we could be seated that evening. When we were attempting to go to the Turtle Bay trail we were told in no uncertain terms that we could not do that since were were not staying overnight. She was a bit surprised at that reaction and she even knows people at Caneel. Of couse we still walked the trail with her anyway and had drinks. If the lease that the NPS has negotiated with Caneel states that our use of Caneel is permitted then the NPS needs to be made aware that they are in violation.

I wonder how Lawrence R. would fell about turning people away from the trail?

parafins · Post by **parafins** » Sat Jan 07, 2012 10:04 am

Correction{sorry,I should have read that back to myself before posting}Here it goes:I wonder how Lawrence R. would have felt about turning people away from the trail?

hugo · Post by **hugo** » Sat Jan 07, 2012 2:12 pm

Laurance Rockefeller specifically deeded the Hawksnest Point property to the Park in the early 1980s with the understanding that the public could access the trail in perpetuity.
Times have changed greatly. The enormous increase in rental houses has changed St John tourism--not just the numbers of people, but the fact that they are not staying on beaches as in the past (Cinnamon and Maho were about it besides Caneel) and all want to go to North shore beaches. I can understand that Caneel needs to tighten security, but they have been extremely heavy handed, especially with locals. People with long histories of friendship and involvement with the resort are routinely denied access even to the supposedly "public" parts of the property. It is not clear whether this is the mandate from Rosewood Resorts or simply the descisions of the current manager.
Actions that would have been highly questioned by the VI Government and local media in the past are being ignored, possibly due to the importance of Caneel to the VI economy.

pmk · Post by **pmk** » Sat Jan 07, 2012 7:20 pm

hugo wrote:People with long histories of friendship and involvement with the resort are routinely denied access even to the supposedly "public" parts of the property. It is not clear whether this is the mandate from Rosewood Resorts or simply the descisions of the current manager.
Actions that would have been highly questioned by the VI Government and local media in the past are being ignored, possibly due to the importance of Caneel to the VI economy.

Might be a good idea for a few people who attempt to use the trails to video tape any non-compliant encounters with Rosewood employees and post them on YouTube to document the violations.

pmk

bubblybrenda · Post by **bubblybrenda** » Sat Jan 07, 2012 9:12 pm

michigancouple wrote:We were planning to hike to Solomon and then over to Honeymoon and then walk through Caneel to catch a cab back to town. Do you think we'll have issues doing that?

I have taken a cab to Caneel in order to walk into Solomon (the only reason why I even need to see the Caneel parking lot). I didn't have a problem, but then again that was almost 3 years ago.

barnbob · Post by **barnbob** » Tue Jan 10, 2012 4:19 pm

The National Park is well aware of Caneel's current managements' stance on allowing access. It is the DPNR that you would need to contact. Unfortunately, things are a little different here on St. John, and you might find yourself unwillingly "escorted" off the property.

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Parking now $20 at Caneel

Correction