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Thirteen more days in paradise, part one
Thirteen more days in paradise, part one
I have lost track of how many times we have visited St. John, I think this was about visit #25 or so since our first visit in 2003. I am starting to feel like I don’t have much new to say and I am just repeating what we already all know: St. John is amazing.
Every vacation is so different for us. This one was meant to be an 8-day vacation in a St. John villa featuring lots of hiking that morphed, thanks to the FANTASTIC weather in Boston and a foot injury for John, into a 12 night vacation with no hiking, very little snorkeling, and lots of lazing around.
If you don’t like food photos, you might want to skip this report. There are lots of food photos. I usually do a lot of cooking at the villa, but this time we decided to eat out most meals. Given the extended nature of our trip, that turned out to be a bit of a mistake from a waistline perspective, and I am on the kale smoothie diet for the next month or so as penance (ha).
I will also caution that there are a lot less underwater adventures in this report than I usually share. The winter water is a bit too chilly for me, and the North swell was up for most of our stay. We did get out a few times, but we spent the majority of this vacation relaxing. And eating. Check back for this summer’s report if you like underwater photos.
Day one
Travel day. It is nice to have a non-stop flight. Met forumite EllenA and her husband in the airport, she recognized me from my forum avatar. It turns out that they live around the corner from us, and John and her husband work in the same building! How weird is that? Flight was fine. Had time for a drink at the ferry before catching the 5PM over to St. John.
Our Jeep was a brand new orange four-door from Denzyl Cline. I think it had 400 miles on it. Headed to our villa and got there just in time for the sunset.
We stayed at Coqui on Maria Bluff. We rented this house in 2004, and it is basically exactly the same. It is a nice house for a couple. The greatest draw is the view out over Pillsbury Sound to St. Thomas.
On the way in to town for dinner we were stopped by some kids in from of the fire station who said they were the Virgin Islands Walking Police. They said they were issuing citations to anyone walking at 5MPH or faster, but we were deemed OK at 3 MPH. It was really funny.
We went to Rhumblines for dinner but there was a long wait, so instead walked over to Fatty Crab. We shared a bunch of stuff at Fatty Crab. Green papaya salad (too acidic),
[
fish sliders (yum),
seafood ramen (too rich and coconuty, and the housemade chili sauce was not spicy)
crunch crab sushi (good)
grilled mahi with rice noodles and vegetables (best dish, very garlicky and the fish was perfectly cooked)
We were too full for dessert so headed back to Coqui to rest.
Day two
It was Sunday so we decided to go to brunch in town. Tried Rhumblines but they were not open yet so ended up having breakfast at Cruz Bay Landing. It was crowded but the staff worked hard to make sure everyone was happy. John had an egg sandwich which looked like nothing special but I enjoyed my Florentine benedict and ended up sharing it with John.
We provisioned up and then headed out for a drive around for photos.
Later that afternoon we headed into town for a sunset boat ride on the Sadie Sea at the invitation of Leslie and Steve (forumites Eagelraylover and Augie). This was really fun. I did not go in the water, but John did.
I got to try one of Leslie’s cookies, and wow they are really, really good! I told her she should bake them for villa welcome baskets.
Forumite PAlover and her husband and son were on the cruise as well, along with a bunch of other really fun people. It was a nice night.
John said he wants to book this boat when we come back this summer. Of course that means I will be left having to organize the outing, so we will see about that!
Ate dinner that I cooked at the villa, nothing memorable, and went to bed early.
Day three
North Shore was swelly, so we ended up at Maho. We found a nice spot in the shade and settled in.
I tried to swim but could only get in to my waist! I am such a wimp with water temperatures. This is why we always come back in the summer—so I can swim and snorkel all day long. We got hungry and headed to Coral Bay for lunch. Tried to go to Shipwreck but it was all filled up, so ended up at Aqua Bistro. Had not gone here for a couple of years, and were pleasantly surprised with our food (no pictures as I misplaced the memory card from this day).
Headed back to the villa for pool beach, and once again I could not get into the water. I settled for floating on a raft.
Dinner at Zozos was delicious as always. We had a nice table on the rail.
Appetizers of lobster tagliatelle
and beet ravioli
then the shrimp
and the mahi for mains.
Too full for dessert.
Day four
Made smoked salmon sandwiches for breakfast and then headed out.
John saw Kenny Chesney at the market and exchanged smiles. I did not notice him at all (typical me haha). We started out doing a hunt for sea glass, and I found a huge red piece. John said that this was the jackpot for the trip so we should not have to spend any more time hunting for glass. Ha. Ha. Ha. You can see the red piece at the bottom of this picture:
We met a local on the beach who told us about the bad effects of machineel trees and pointed them out to us. I knew about the bad things machineels can do but had never looked at one up close before so that was helpful information to have.
After that we headed to Drunk Bay and enjoyed the breeze and the coral sculptures
then went back and swam at Salt Pond. It was too murky and choppy to snorkel.
Lunch was at Miss Lucys. Kallaloo soup
jerk chicken wrap
grouper reuben.
A goat came along and ate all of John’s french fries despite my efforts to shoo it away. No big deal as he was finished eating anyway. The waitress told me that the latest secret to getting the goats to leave is to clap your hands loudly twice. Remember that if you head over to Miss Lucy’s.
I really wanted to snorkel so we headed to Haulover North. It was so calm I could not believe it! The surface looked like glass. I can’t believe I forgot to take a picture, but I did. Unfortunately there was a ton of particulate matter in the water so visibility was poor.
I did remember to take a picture of Haulover South:
We ended the day by going to Trunk Bay to float around.
It was so pretty.
I cooked dinner at the villa: grilled cruz bay grill rub chicken over Josephines greens and grilled garlic bread. I also turned the leftover risotto from last night’s dinner at Zozo’s into a risotto cake and garnished John’s plate with the leftover Zozos shrimp.
Spent an uneventful evening watching the sun set and the stars come out.
Every vacation is so different for us. This one was meant to be an 8-day vacation in a St. John villa featuring lots of hiking that morphed, thanks to the FANTASTIC weather in Boston and a foot injury for John, into a 12 night vacation with no hiking, very little snorkeling, and lots of lazing around.
If you don’t like food photos, you might want to skip this report. There are lots of food photos. I usually do a lot of cooking at the villa, but this time we decided to eat out most meals. Given the extended nature of our trip, that turned out to be a bit of a mistake from a waistline perspective, and I am on the kale smoothie diet for the next month or so as penance (ha).
I will also caution that there are a lot less underwater adventures in this report than I usually share. The winter water is a bit too chilly for me, and the North swell was up for most of our stay. We did get out a few times, but we spent the majority of this vacation relaxing. And eating. Check back for this summer’s report if you like underwater photos.
Day one
Travel day. It is nice to have a non-stop flight. Met forumite EllenA and her husband in the airport, she recognized me from my forum avatar. It turns out that they live around the corner from us, and John and her husband work in the same building! How weird is that? Flight was fine. Had time for a drink at the ferry before catching the 5PM over to St. John.
Our Jeep was a brand new orange four-door from Denzyl Cline. I think it had 400 miles on it. Headed to our villa and got there just in time for the sunset.
We stayed at Coqui on Maria Bluff. We rented this house in 2004, and it is basically exactly the same. It is a nice house for a couple. The greatest draw is the view out over Pillsbury Sound to St. Thomas.
On the way in to town for dinner we were stopped by some kids in from of the fire station who said they were the Virgin Islands Walking Police. They said they were issuing citations to anyone walking at 5MPH or faster, but we were deemed OK at 3 MPH. It was really funny.
We went to Rhumblines for dinner but there was a long wait, so instead walked over to Fatty Crab. We shared a bunch of stuff at Fatty Crab. Green papaya salad (too acidic),
[fish sliders (yum),
seafood ramen (too rich and coconuty, and the housemade chili sauce was not spicy)
crunch crab sushi (good)
grilled mahi with rice noodles and vegetables (best dish, very garlicky and the fish was perfectly cooked)
We were too full for dessert so headed back to Coqui to rest.
Day two
It was Sunday so we decided to go to brunch in town. Tried Rhumblines but they were not open yet so ended up having breakfast at Cruz Bay Landing. It was crowded but the staff worked hard to make sure everyone was happy. John had an egg sandwich which looked like nothing special but I enjoyed my Florentine benedict and ended up sharing it with John.
We provisioned up and then headed out for a drive around for photos.
Later that afternoon we headed into town for a sunset boat ride on the Sadie Sea at the invitation of Leslie and Steve (forumites Eagelraylover and Augie). This was really fun. I did not go in the water, but John did.
I got to try one of Leslie’s cookies, and wow they are really, really good! I told her she should bake them for villa welcome baskets.
Forumite PAlover and her husband and son were on the cruise as well, along with a bunch of other really fun people. It was a nice night.
John said he wants to book this boat when we come back this summer. Of course that means I will be left having to organize the outing, so we will see about that!
Ate dinner that I cooked at the villa, nothing memorable, and went to bed early.
Day three
North Shore was swelly, so we ended up at Maho. We found a nice spot in the shade and settled in.
I tried to swim but could only get in to my waist! I am such a wimp with water temperatures. This is why we always come back in the summer—so I can swim and snorkel all day long. We got hungry and headed to Coral Bay for lunch. Tried to go to Shipwreck but it was all filled up, so ended up at Aqua Bistro. Had not gone here for a couple of years, and were pleasantly surprised with our food (no pictures as I misplaced the memory card from this day).
Headed back to the villa for pool beach, and once again I could not get into the water. I settled for floating on a raft.
Dinner at Zozos was delicious as always. We had a nice table on the rail.
Appetizers of lobster tagliatelle
and beet ravioli
then the shrimp
and the mahi for mains.
Too full for dessert.
Day four
Made smoked salmon sandwiches for breakfast and then headed out.
John saw Kenny Chesney at the market and exchanged smiles. I did not notice him at all (typical me haha). We started out doing a hunt for sea glass, and I found a huge red piece. John said that this was the jackpot for the trip so we should not have to spend any more time hunting for glass. Ha. Ha. Ha. You can see the red piece at the bottom of this picture:
We met a local on the beach who told us about the bad effects of machineel trees and pointed them out to us. I knew about the bad things machineels can do but had never looked at one up close before so that was helpful information to have.
After that we headed to Drunk Bay and enjoyed the breeze and the coral sculptures
then went back and swam at Salt Pond. It was too murky and choppy to snorkel.
Lunch was at Miss Lucys. Kallaloo soup
jerk chicken wrap
grouper reuben.
A goat came along and ate all of John’s french fries despite my efforts to shoo it away. No big deal as he was finished eating anyway. The waitress told me that the latest secret to getting the goats to leave is to clap your hands loudly twice. Remember that if you head over to Miss Lucy’s.
I really wanted to snorkel so we headed to Haulover North. It was so calm I could not believe it! The surface looked like glass. I can’t believe I forgot to take a picture, but I did. Unfortunately there was a ton of particulate matter in the water so visibility was poor.
I did remember to take a picture of Haulover South:
We ended the day by going to Trunk Bay to float around.
It was so pretty.
I cooked dinner at the villa: grilled cruz bay grill rub chicken over Josephines greens and grilled garlic bread. I also turned the leftover risotto from last night’s dinner at Zozo’s into a risotto cake and garnished John’s plate with the leftover Zozos shrimp.
Spent an uneventful evening watching the sun set and the stars come out.
It's like looking in your soup and finding a whole different alphabet.
Re: Thirteen more days in paradise, part one
As usual, your report is wonderful. An extra 4 days! My dream. Since we are going the end of April, no luck with that. Can't wait to read the rest!
Re: Thirteen more days in paradise, part one
becky,
as always a great trip report. wonderful pictures, you should be (unless you are) a professional photographer. only thing bad i can say is your report really fires up the urge to go back to the place i love. missed dec trip to stj with buddy mac as he was moving to an adult living community and the bride recouping from surgery. have stayed on maria bluff 3 times in villa no longer rented, nautilus. loved the sounds of surf, the great breezes, the views across pillsbury and close proximity to town. recall going by coqui as we went to and from naut. looked at possible stay at coqui but decided steps a little too much for us old folks. but if i was younger?
you and others who post the good stuff allow us folks back home to enjoy stj vicariously. thank you for taking the time and enjoy while you can, life might be shorter than you hope.
papabou
as always a great trip report. wonderful pictures, you should be (unless you are) a professional photographer. only thing bad i can say is your report really fires up the urge to go back to the place i love. missed dec trip to stj with buddy mac as he was moving to an adult living community and the bride recouping from surgery. have stayed on maria bluff 3 times in villa no longer rented, nautilus. loved the sounds of surf, the great breezes, the views across pillsbury and close proximity to town. recall going by coqui as we went to and from naut. looked at possible stay at coqui but decided steps a little too much for us old folks. but if i was younger?
you and others who post the good stuff allow us folks back home to enjoy stj vicariously. thank you for taking the time and enjoy while you can, life might be shorter than you hope.
papabou
Re: Thirteen more days in paradise, part one
Becky - I love your trip reports with or without lots of underwater pics! Thank you for taking the time to write them.
Re: Thirteen more days in paradise, part one
What a treat on this chilly PA morning!
Can't wait to hear more. I hope the foot injury isn't too bad.
We will be on STJ over July 4th so if you are planning a boat trip then, count us in!
Can't wait to hear more. I hope the foot injury isn't too bad.
We will be on STJ over July 4th so if you are planning a boat trip then, count us in!
Re: Thirteen more days in paradise, part one
Hi Becky
food pictures work well also. How did you like the Marriott on St. Thomas? I hope your ice dam leak wasn't that severe?
food pictures work well also. How did you like the Marriott on St. Thomas? I hope your ice dam leak wasn't that severe?
Re: Thirteen more days in paradise, part one
The old Nautilus is next door to Coqui. It is gone. There is a HUGE house going in there now. It looks to be about four stories tall and there is even something that looks like a helicopter pad! (I am sure it is not). I really wanted to go over and take pictures but there are no trespassing signs posted everywhere. Luckily other than one day when they were doing a concrete pour (and we were on our way out anyway) noise was minimal.papabou wrote:have stayed on maria bluff 3 times in villa no longer rented, nautilus.
How is your bride doing these days?
Not bad, just annoying. It is fixable with physical therapy.PA Girl wrote: I hope the foot injury isn't too bad.
We will be on STJ over July 4th so if you are planning a boat trip then, count us in!
We are coming the very end of July and first two weeks of August so will miss you this time.
That part is coming latershoemak38 wrote: How did you like the Marriott on St. Thomas? I hope your ice dam leak wasn't that severe?
Not too bad on the leak. We did have to have roofers come in and take some of the ice and snow down. The real test will be when the big thaw comes. Sometime in June I figure at this rate haha
It's like looking in your soup and finding a whole different alphabet.
Re: Thirteen more days in paradise, part one
The 4 story house is a $40M monstrosity built for Donald Sussman (hedge fund guru) and his Congresswoman wife from Maine. I watched it being built for 3 years. Security is very tight. I too enjoy your trip reports and pics. Maybe one of our many trips we will run into each other. Enjoy!!
Re: Thirteen more days in paradise, part one
Wow! Off to another great start. Love your reports and pics. I really want to try the Mahi and rice noodles, they look fantastic. Glad you found ways to work around mother natures obstacles.
Re: Thirteen more days in paradise, part one
Wonderful report as always!
Feel rather strange to not see the kids (well, they seem to be getting really tall) with you on St. John these days, ha-ha. I assume they will join in the summer.
We've been low-season visitors so don't know what is like in high-season. It must've felt wonderful to be away from this fantastic Boston winter. For a while I thought you would (or could) never leave the Virgin Islands.
Looking forward to the next installment.
Feel rather strange to not see the kids (well, they seem to be getting really tall) with you on St. John these days, ha-ha. I assume they will join in the summer.
We've been low-season visitors so don't know what is like in high-season. It must've felt wonderful to be away from this fantastic Boston winter. For a while I thought you would (or could) never leave the Virgin Islands.
Looking forward to the next installment.
Re: Thirteen more days in paradise, part one
I am interested in hearing about that as well. My husband has Marriott plat status and a couple of hundred thousand points to use. I keep thinking we should stay there at the begin of a STJ trip.shoemak38 wrote:Hi Becky
food pictures work well also. How did you like the Marriott on St. Thomas? I hope your ice dam leak wasn't that severe?
Re: Thirteen more days in paradise, part one
PA Girl - Check out the Marriott Scrub Island Resort in the BVIs
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loverotties
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Re: Thirteen more days in paradise, part one
Love reading your trip reports & seeing the foodie pics ! Can't wait for your next installment .
Wrinkles Only Go Where The Smiles Have Been !
Re: Thirteen more days in paradise, part one
Great DIF relief. Thanks for the great write up. I owe you one!
Cheers, RickG
Cheers, RickG
S/V Echoes - Coral Bay - St. John, VI