Long Trip Report 10/26 - 11/4

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ArkieLovesSTJ
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Long Trip Report 10/26 - 11/4

Post by ArkieLovesSTJ »

Below is a trip report my wife put together. She forgot to mention that we also snorkeled the 3 mooring balls on the way to Waterlemon. Three mooring balls is a good snorkel with lots of coral and fish.

Wife's Trip Report:
This is a very long trip report, so sorry for those who don’t like long reports. I really enjoy the detail that is in long reports so I try to do the same in my trip reports. This was our (me and my husbands) 6th trip to STJ. We try to go twice a year but we tried STX in February (not for us) so we were glad to get back to STJ since it had been a year since our last trip.

Monday, October 26

Left the house around 3:45am for our 6:00am flight out of LIT. We bring cold food in a backpack cooler. Everything was frozen expect the cream cheese and a dip. Cooler was searched during security, but lady said that everything looked frozen so it was fine. Had a connecting flight in Atlanta and everything went well with our flights. Arrived in STT, waiting for checked bag (we like open foot fins because we wear dive boots so we have to bring a checked bag for fins). Rachel was waiting for us. Smooth ride across STT and ferry to STJ. The owner of the property picked us up and drove us to the cottage. We have stayed at Rendezvous four times now and love it. There are three units, the owner and his family live in one. Threw our cold stuff in the fridge and headed to Cruz Bay for dinner at Tap Room. We had the BBQ Nachos and the Mexican Pizza. We loved the nachos so much we went back two more times on the trip for them. We stopped in at North Shore Deli, St John Ice and St John Market for some groceries then to the cottage to unpack.

Tuesday, October 27

I will just say now we are very early risers. Typically while in STJ we awake at 6am (we don’t set an alarm) and are out the door after breakfast at around 7am. But we go to bed around 8:30 every night. We did not get out the door until around 8 the first morning. We stopped at Baked in the Sun for some Chocolate Peanut Butter Ganache Brownies and a sandwich. I don’t know if there are new owners but we were not impressed this time with Baked in the Sun. I will do a review on TA. Maybe we were just there at the wrong time. Have loved it in the past.

We went to Francis and snorkeled over to Little Maho and then onto Maho. We saw a 5 foot Nurse Shark, a huge Barracuda, baby squid (very small), 4 stingrays and lots of fish. I don’t know if it was where we had set our stuff on Francis (to the left when you walk in) but we were getting eat up by the bugs so we decided to try another beach. Also, people playing their music on the beach that really annoys me, so glad we decided to pack up. I know that Francis is known to be buggy this time, but we had so much trouble with bugs this trip at so many different beaches. Definitely didn’t bring enough bug spray. This is our fourth trip at this time of the year and by far the worst for bug bites.

We stopped at Skinny Legs and shared a lunch (since we still had a sandwich from Baked in the Sun). We always find good deals on T-shirts at the shops around Skinny’s for souvenirs so we bought some. From there, we went to North Haulover. It was a little choppy, but not bad for North Haulover. We were the only ones on the beach the whole time. The coral was amazing as usual. We were going to try to walk over to the other beach we had read about on the right, but again the bugs were so bad we ended up just leaving when we finished our snorkel. We went and looked thru Dolphin Market while we were waiting on Caribbean Oasis to open. We were pleasantly surprised by Dolphin Market in Coral Bay. They had a lot of stuff in there. We stopped at CO and picked up dinner to take bake to the cottage. We shared the Chicken Fried Chicken with pecan sauce, macaroni and cheese, garlic bread and beans and rice. We loved everything but the beans and rice, which seem bland. Love Caribbean Oasis!

Wednesday, October 28

Woke up early and headed to Etta’s for breakfast. We both had the French toast, eggs and bacon ($8 each) and it was great. We then headed out to Salt Pond.

When we got there we were the only ones on the beach (there were some people hiking Rams Head). We normally hike over to Blue Cobblestone and snorkel back over but thought we would just snorkel over and back today. On our snorkel we saw turtles, barracuda, nurse shark, and sting ray. Once we got to blue cobblestone beach and rested we decided to hike back to Salt Pond instead of snorkel back. We snorkel in dive boots with thick soles or we wouldn’t have been able to hike back. Stopped at Baked in the Sun to get more brownies and they were out (grrrrr). We stopped at Cruz Bay Landing and had ½ price apps.

We then went to snorkel Chocolate Hole. It wasn’t as good of snorkel as it was last year, but we thought it might be the time of day (last year we snorkeled first thing in the morning).

We went to the cottage, cleaned up and went to Longboards. A lady on TA had sent us a gift certificate to Longboards in thanks to some advice we had given her for her family’s first trip to STJ. We weren’t real hungry since we had eaten at CB Landing not too long before so we had Guacamole and cheese dip and drinks. Loved their dips and chips!! We would definitely go back here. We went to STJ spice for coffee (Kiss of the Jumbie) and to look around Beach Bum. We really enjoy visiting with the owners of Beach Bum. They are such neat people. We also found a hat that my husband had to have.

Thursday, October 29

Had breakfast and headed out around 7am. Stopped for water at St John ice and then at North Shore Deli for a sandwich. Headed out to Maho to snorkel the left side. It had been a couple of years since we had snorkeled this side of Maho. Pretty snorkel with lots of fish. Saw a couple of sting rays and a real cool Octopus. It was the first time we had seen an Octopus that wasn’t around rocks and it was swimming across the sand and grass. Got some neat pictures and video of it. Rested a bit and then snorkeled the right side of Maho. Saw several turtles that were fun to watch.

Headed to Kiddel. We were able to snorkel the right side but when we got to the tip of it, it was too rough to snorkel the rocks out there. I hated that, because that is one of my favorite places to snorkel. Rested a bit then headed out to snorkel the left side. We saw a nurse shark and some squid among other fish. We were the only ones at the beach the whole time which was not surprising.

Stopped at Skinny’s to share another lunch. I know a lot of people don’t like Skinny Legs but we really do. Then headed to South Haulover. Wanted to snorkel North again, but it was too choppy. My husband loves Queen Angel Fish and we usually see a lot of them at Maho, but hadn’t this trip so he was happy to see one at South Haulover. Pretty snorkel, saw a lot of pretty fish. Husband ate the sandwich from North Shore Deli. Headed back to Cruz Bay. Picked up dinner at Tamarind Inn (Thursday night Italian night) and shared it at the cottage. The dinners there are so big we shared one and still had leftovers (we did get an extra salad so that helped having leftovers).

Friday, October 30

Went to Cruz Bay Landing for an early breakfast. Shared an order of Cinnamon Swirl Pancakes, bacon and Home Fries. We really enjoyed it. Got to Chocolate hole about 8:30 to see if we would have a better snorkel here if we came early. We weren’t disappointed! We saw the biggest nurse shark we had ever seen, probably 7 foot long. He was resting on the bottom. He finally got tired of us hanging around so he swam off. Saw a lot of different fishes and as we were starting to head back we saw a Spotted Eagle Ray (the first of four we would see). It was the smallest one we had ever seen. I just love watching them swim. Perfect snorkel!

Since we were only minutes away from the cottage, we headed back there and ate our leftovers from Tamarind Inn.

Stopped by Baked in the Sun to see if they had any brownies yet. Still didn’t so my husband asked when and they said maybe next week. The last two years we have went in October, they had these brownies every day. Not happy. Ended up calling later in the trip and they didn’t have any for the rest of the trip.

We hadn’t snorkeled Hawksnest in a couple of years so we decided to try that. We put our stuff down on the right side of the beach. Pretty choppy, but still decided to snorkel over to Gibney then to Mermaids chair (I think that is what it is called). It was pretty, but the rough water made it not near as enjoyable. Next time we will just try to park at Gibney to snorkel to Mermaids chair.

We decided to head back and hang out at the pool. We spent more time in the pool this year, I think because so many beaches we had trouble with bugs biting us we didn’t enjoy laying out on them as much as in the past.

Went over to Coral Bay to eat at Aqua Bistro. This is my husband’s favorite meal of the trip. He had the Ponzu Tuna and loved it as usual. I got a little car sick on the way over so I just got a small Caesar Salad and the Flatbread pizza. I love their Caesar salad and the pizza was really good.

Saturday, October 31

Had breakfast then headed out to Waterlemon. Got eat up by bugs on the way in (and on the way out). After the hike in we got to the beach at about 8am. We were there for over two hours and were the only ones on the beach the whole time (two couples were out snorkeling the cay). Snorkeled the cay. Saw an octopus along with many other beautiful fish. We were able to snorkel all the way around. We snorkeled along the right side going out to the point. On our way back in I snorkeled out by the buoys were we had seen the Spotted Eagle Ray the previous year but no luck. Decided to head back to the beach to rest. On the way back we saw a Spotted Eagle Ray. I had never seen one eating before, only swimming. It was so cool watching it digging at the bottom for food. As we are watching it, another Spotted Eagle Ray swam up and was doing the same thing! It was so cool. My husband followed one, while I followed the other. They were so busy searching for food we just were able to stay there and watch them. Finally we were wore out, so we swam to the beach for a rest and snacks.

We had hung our backpack cooler from a tree branch with a bicycle lock because in the past we had mongoose who tore open our coolers and took off with our food. We ate a sandwich and I put the Ziploc bag in the side pouch of the cooler. A little bit later I noticed a mongoose taking off with the Ziploc bag. He came back later and we saw him on his legs trying to get in up to the cooler. He then went and was on top of a bag a couple had dropped off on their way to walk over to snorkel the cay. I got out of the water and chased him away and then went and hung their bag up on a limb. When they got back, we explained what happened. She said they had that happen in the past but thought since they only had a can of chips this time the mongoose wouldn’t bother it. As we were getting our stuff around to leave another couple came up so we told them about the mongoose. They put their backpack up in a tree. As we were walking out, the same mongoose was up the tree trying to get in their backpack. They were already out snorkeling, so we just tried to run the mongoose off the best we could.

Stopped at Skinny’s again for lunch. I had a BLT and husband had a burger. Another good lunch.

Went back to the cottage and went to the pool for a little bit. The couple staying in the villa upstairs were staying here at the same time as we were last year. Really enjoyed visiting with them again. He takes amazing pictures and we always enjoy seeing the pictures he posts that he takes in St John. Cleaned up then went to the Tap Room for dinner again. We had the BBQ Nachos again and tried their new cheese dip. Went to St John Spice to get the rest of the souvenirs. The lady was telling us about all the costume contests and how people dressed up so much. We so wanted to stay up and come back to see them, but were too tired. We did see some while driving through town and at Mongoose Junction.

Sunday, November 1

Got up early and had breakfast. Headed over to Haulover. Tried to do the north side but too rough. Snorkeled the right side of south. Nice snorkel out. Got to the point and heard thunder so decided to head in. I don’t mind snorkeling in rain, but do not want to snorkel if there it is lightening. Only ones on the beach (early and raining on and off). On our way back in saw a Spotted Eagle Ray so that slowed down our swim in a little as we had to watch it swim for a while. Got loaded up and couldn’t figure out what to do, because it looked like it may storm. Called over to Ms Lucy to see if they were open for brunch and they were. Our first time here. We order one breakfast to share since this was our 2nd breakfast of the day. Got the stuffed French toast with home fries. It was amazing. Ordered another one to share. The waitress forgot to inform us that the credit card machine was down and it was cash only until after we were done eating. We luckily had enough cash with us ($6 to spare).

We decided to go back to the cottage and hang out in the pool since the storms seemed to come and go. For dinner we went to Joe’s Rum Hut and shared a Caribbean Lobster roll. We really didn’t care for it, but still love Joes!

Monday, November 2

Woke up, had breakfast and headed out really early. We got to the beach at Waterlemon before 8am. Snorkeled the left side of the cay because the other side was rough. We saw two Barracudas (one huge, one small), octopus, 4 turtles all together and lots of fish. We were there for almost three hours and no one on the beach or snorkeling the cay the entire time we were there. This was strange for us to be at Waterlemon twice and be the only ones on the beach both times. Definitely enjoyed it! Packed up and meet people walking in as we were leaving. Went up and looked around Anaberg Ruins as we hadn’t done that in the last couple of visits.

Went to Jumbie. Tried snorkeling around but the water was pretty rough. I think it would have been a nice snorkel on a smoother day.

Went to Waterfront Bistro for late lunch. First time there and we loved it! I had a BLT and my husband had a mac-n-cheese burger which he loved. Will definitely be going there more in future visits. Went and hung out at the pool then went to Longboards for dinner.

Tuesday, November 3

Last full day on STJ. Woke up early and got to South Haulover about 7:30. We snorkeled the left side this time. My husband saw a lionfish not long after we started snorkeling. I got pictures, but tried not to get too close to it. My husband called the lionfish on the lionfish hotline and then that night got a text with attached pictures where they had gone out and caught not one but two lionfish at South Haulover. We saw a Queen Angelfish, a big turtle and a small turtle. Saw two rays swimming together, each with a fish hanging out with it. It was really neat to watch them. Only ones on the beach the whole time (most people still sleeping). We don’t plan to wake so early, just do so decide to get to the beaches and enjoy the quietness of that time of day.

Got to Francis about 10am and no one was on the beach. Snorkeled out the right side. It was an amazing last snorkel. We saw 3 different octopuses, squid, big turtle, four flounders and a huge nurse shark. We had seen a nurse shark at Maho earlier in our trip, but this one was a lot larger. It was so cool to watch him swim around. People started to get to the beach when we got done. We’re going to try Jumbie again but decided we had such good snorkeling to call it a trip and let our snorkel stuff dry out good. Had early lunch at the Tap Room one last time. Hung out at the pool and late lunch (4:00) at High Tide. First time here and we weren’t impressed. I got Coconut shrimp and it didn’t have much flavor to me. I ordered tea and water and both sat empty for 10 minutes before our waitress came back. Even then she didn’t ask if I wanted more. Probably won’t be back. Went to Cruz Bay Landing for some Bushwhackers and nice visit with a local that was there.

Wednesday, November 4

We got up early as we had to be on the 6am ferry. Left the cottage about 5:30, husband dropped me and the bags off at the ferry and he parked the car. They didn’t start taking money for the ferry until about 5:55 so we were there plenty early. Rachel picked us up at Red Hook and got us to the airport before 7am. Rachel asked us before we got there did we need a porter. We said we might since we were flying AA and that whole closing the check-in counter 1 ½ before flight (we were on 9am flight). She called Daphne, and Daphne said no need for a porter, there wasn’t a line and she was right, so we didn’t use a porter. Time from Rachel’s car, through airline counter (we had two checked bags), through customs and security was 15 minutes. Fastest we have ever made it through. Of course we always travel during the week and usually low season so we never have too much of a wait, but this was fast. Everything went fine with our flights.


It was an awesome trip. This was our 6th trip to STJ and we are already planning our next one.

Restaurants we tried for the first time:
Etta’s- liked
Longboards-liked
Miss Lucy’s- loved
Waterfront Bistro-loved
High Tide- didn’t care for.

Things to remember, some places only take cash and sometimes the ones that do take credit cards can have issues with credit card readers (had this happen at STJ Spice and Miss Lucy’s) so make sure you either ask about credit cards or have enough cash with you. We only take so much cash with us each day. We had spent all of our cash over in Coral Bay one day and had stopped by Sam and Jacks on the way back and forgot they were cash only. We absolutely love St John and can't wait to return!!
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SusanNJ
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Re: Long Trip Report 10/26 - 11/4

Post by SusanNJ »

Funny just reading your trip report and we were at Francis too on Tuesday, October 27th... and I remember too the people with music. I totally agree playing music loudly annoys me... and then when you have people that like to "shout" to each other over the music is even more annoying.... I think they also had glass beer bottles too... but I digress...

I enjoyed your trip report. Thanks for sharing!
SRT
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Re: Long Trip Report 10/26 - 11/4

Post by SRT »

I sent you a private message.
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islandjo2010
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Re: Long Trip Report 10/26 - 11/4

Post by islandjo2010 »

Thank you for sharing!

I'm usually not a morning person and love to sleep-in, but on St. John I am up early and ready to go! My husband is always up early. Our problem is 2 teenagers that stay up late so sleep-in... even on St. John! :shock: Reading your detailed report and hearing about your morning snorkels makes me think my husband and I should head out for a morning snorkel without the kids! We could then go back to the villa for lunch and then the 4 of us could head to a beach for an afternoon of snorkeling. I think I could snorkel all day, everyday and NEVER get tired of it! :D

In 4 trips, we haven't eaten at Waterfront Bistro... going to put it on our "must try this trip" list... I think our kids would love the mac-n-cheese burger! Sorry to hear you had a bad experience at High Tide... we really like the food there and usually have to eat there and at Joe's Rum Hut a couple of times each trip.

Thank you again for sharing you trip with us... the 1 thing I did not like reading was that you had seen a lion fish... although so very glad to hear 2 are now gone!

All the best,
Jo
jenxogirl
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Re: Long Trip Report 10/26 - 11/4

Post by jenxogirl »

Great trip reports--especially taking note of some new restaurants to try.

What do you mean the AA counters close 90 minutes early? Asking because we have AA flights coming up.

Thanks!
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ColumbiaSCTraveler
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Re: Long Trip Report 10/26 - 11/4

Post by ColumbiaSCTraveler »

Enjoyed your trip report!

We are the same way - we wake early on STJ, and more often than not, we are the FIRST people on the beach for quite some time. Love the stillness and calm of the beach, and the snorkeling always seems best first thing in the AM.

Y'all go out to eat a lot. We do, too, since I don't really cook that much at home - much less on vacation!
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LynnieGirl
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Re: Long Trip Report 10/26 - 11/4

Post by LynnieGirl »

From one Arky to another, I Love the long trip reports! I love the details and the pictures. It's been almost three long years since we've been on the rock :cry: Keeping our fingers crossed that we can make it happen this summer!
Just another day for you, you and me in Paradise...

~Tammy
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