05/25 - 06/03 Mini Trip Report

[Pulley]

Arrived at 1:00 for trip 22 and used Amalie Car Rental for the first time. It was a little quicker than Discount Car rental and Amy was very nice to deal with. I’m not sure the extra $$ was worth it though – the jury’s still out on that one. I also arranged with Meredith at St. John Provisions to stock the villa and that was well worth it – I will definitely use her services again. Any we made the 3:00 car ferry and I’m glad I made my online RESERVATION before leaving. Love City/Crystal gave the ferry operators my name and they said I had a spot. It wasn’t really needed that Wednesday but still nice to know. It was great for the 10:00 am return.

We met Diana at Areca in Upper Peter Bay and man what a view!! The villa was very nice, spacious, large covered porches, great views, infinity edge pool, great views, nice AC, great views. The only negative thing about this villa was the water pressure in two of the showers – basically there was none. Other than that it was a perfect villa.

Snorkeling, our favorite thing to do, was excellent. Maho Bay - plenty of turtles and rays and nice calm waters. Cinnamon - I love snorkeling around the cay and I was not disappointed this time either. Hawksnest – the coral was very colorful and plenty of fish to see. Salt Pond/Booby Rock was one of the best snorkels of the week. Carvel rock was probably my favorite snorkel of this trip, it was amazing! Lovango/Congo drift snorkel was another excellent snorkel as was Henley Cay. Kiddel Bay was good as it always is. Haulover - well it never disappoints. Didn’t get anywhere new this trip, we just didn’t feel like trekking to Brown bay, maybe next year.

We ate out more this year than we normally do – 3 nights out of 9.  Café Roma is a sentimental favorite but it is not as good as it once was IMHO. Extra Virgin was amazing, expensive but worth it. The short ribs, pork chop & gnocchi were so good. We’ll definitely go back. No one in our group cared for da Licio that much so I doubt we’ll go back there again.

All in all another excellent 9 days on St. John. Already booked my villa for next May/June.

Pulley/Mike in SC

[AquaGirl]

Thanks for the trip report. We always like hearing about other people's snorkel experiences. Can you say more about Carvel Rock and Henley Cay? We've never snorkeled those spots. Which charter boat were you on to get out there? The charters we've been on that go out of Cruz Bay always go to Little St James, then Lovango. We would love to try these new spots on our next trip.
Thanks!

[Pulley]

Thanks for the trip report. We always like hearing about other people's snorkel experiences. Can you say more about Carvel Rock and Henley Cay? We've never snorkeled those spots. Which charter boat were you on to get out there? The charters we've been on that go out of Cruz Bay always go to Little St James, then Lovango. We would love to try these new spots on our next trip.
Thanks!

AG, we used Pirates Penny (6th time) and instead of going to the BVI we stayed in USVI territory. After these snorkels we went around St. Thomas which was better than expected. You could probably rent a zodiac and do both these spots but it must be a calm day.

[David 12]

As long as the sea is calm, Carvel is a great snorkel spot and even better dive site!

Twenty-two years going to St. John; that's a lot of great memories!

Dave

[Pulley]

As long as the sea is calm, Carvel is a great snorkel spot and even better dive site!

Twenty-two years going to St. John; that's a lot of great memories!

Dave

We do have a lot of great memories and hope to make many more. I dove Carvel once and it was fantastic. We got lucky with the seas two weeks ago and so the snorkel was pretty easy.

[ColumbiaSCTraveler]

22 trips?! Wow! That is an accomplishment. We're on our way there - but we've got some years to go!

Beaufort is beautiful. At least you have somewhere nice to stay between your trips to STJ!