10 more days in paradise--the full report
Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2017 1:36 pm
John and I are back from a lovely 10 day visit to St. John. We split our stay between Caneel Bay and Gallows Point. It was a quiet trip for us, with less exploring around the island, less snorkeling (the water feels too cold to me in the winter), less time on the North Shore thanks to swells that persisted for much of our visit, lots more quiet time relaxing and reading, and LOTS of eating out. Here are some highlights.
Thursday March 3
Arrival at Caneel Bay
Dinner was something forgettable from the Beach Terrace. No pictures.
Friday March 4
The view from our room
Scott Beach
Our spot on the beach each day
Donkeys on the way to dinner
Dinner at Zozos
Lobster carbonara
Cured salmon pasta
Striped bass
Jumbo shrimp with fava bean puree
Saturday March 5
Flowers at Caneel Bay
We skipped the Caneel breakfast buffet and opted to split a turkey brie panino from the coffee shop at the resort. After I ordered the sandwich, the chef brought out gorgeous looking deep dish quiches. That’s what I am getting next time!
Breakfast on the deck of our room
Our daily spot. You might notice that there are no other chairs nearby. That may or may not be because we were always the first ones on the beach and we moved all of the other chairs out of our spot
Scott to Caneel snorkel
Southern stingray with jack
Strange raft. Caneel offers free rafts for their guests, but one man had brought along this large inflatable raft. I have never seen anything like it!
Flounder
Stoplight parrotfish
Trunkfish
Purple anemone
Juvenile yellowtail damselfish
Coney with moray eel
Turtle
Corals
[/
We had lunch at the Caneel Sushi Bar
Yellowtail koi
Tuna Island salad
Caneel Crunch roll
Sandy Beach roll
Donkeys
Sunset
Dinner was at Turtle Bay Estate House. It was too dark to take pictures by the time most of our food came. There was a fantastic breeze coming through the restaurant that night.
Bread service
Conch chowder
Sunday March 6
We checked out of Caneel and moved over to Gallows Point. I love Caneel but prefer more space after a few days. We had an ocean upper unit at Gallows, which gives you 1.5 baths, a galley kitchen, a living/dining room, and a lofted separate sleeping space. The units have central air but we never use it. I love the breeze through the louvers and the sound of the ocean (the sound of the ferry less so, but it’s not too bothersome).
The view from our Gallows unit
It started pouring around 5, so no sunset. We borrowed an umbrella from the front desk and headed to dinner at Rhumblines
Summer rolls
Pupu shrimp
Blackened scallops
Tuna with puff daddy noodles
Monday March 7
It was still raining off and on, but at least we had a rainbow. We spent the morning reading.
Eventually there was a break in the rain, so we went to lunch at the Lime Inn
Cracked conch
Snapper sandwich with pickled cauliflower salad
And with Josephine’s greens salad
More rain moved in that afternoon so we scrapped any beach plans and resumed our spots on the couches to read books until it was time for dinner at Extra Virgin Bistro
Drinks
Housemade ricotta with truffled corn
Crab cakes
Shrimp and crab papparadelle
Tuesday March 8
We drove over to Hansen Bay with the thought of snorkeling Pelican Rock
Not happening! It was FREEZING over there. I was wrapped up in beach towels and still shivering. We packed it in after an hour or so, and headed to lunch at Shipwreck Landing
Blackened shrimp
Fish reuben
Tuna tacos
It warmed up a bit in the afternoon so we snorkeled Gallows to Frank Bay
Orangespotted filefish
Moray eel
grouper
Sort-of sunset
Later that evening we went to dinner at Ocean’s 362
Drinks
Bread service
Local tomato salad
Tuna tartare with plantain chips and whipped feta
Vegetarian plate of farro with roasted root vegetables and feta
Roasted mahi and Caribbean lobster tail. This came with a kale that was one of my favorite things that we ate the entire vacation!
Wednesday March 9
We were feeling lazy, so we just spent the day reading books.
Eventually we rousted ourselves out of the condo and went for a drive. We stopped in for a snack at Aqua Bistro
Mahi mahi skewers
Tempura shrimp with wasabi cream
There was not much of a sunset due to the weather, but I thought the sky looked pretty
Thursday March 10
We went to breakfast at High Tide. The classic breakfast
Florentine benedict
Rainbow on Cruz Bay from High Tide
On the way back to Gallows we stopped to view the Club Med 2 anchored off of Cruz Bay
We snorkeled off Gallows to Frank Bay again.
Baby jacks
A well-hidden flounder
Blue tang
Angelfish
Orangespotted filefish
Needlefish
We went over to Trunk in the late afternoon and swam for a couple of hours. This became a routine of sorts for us. I think we visited Trunk four times this trip, always in the later afternoon after the crowds had left.
Club Med 2 leaving during sunset
That night we stopped by Drink! St. John for a cocktail. This place was never crowded any time we went by. I hope they are still in business this summer, as we finally got enough punches in our years-old loyalty card to get a free drink.
We had dinner at La Tapa
Langoustines
Bacalao fritters
Papparadelle with shrimp, langoustines and arugula in an albarino cream sauce
Tuna with crispy polenta
Friday March 10
Had another relaxing morning at Gallows and then went to lunch with friends at Cruz Bay Landing. No pictures this time, but everything was tasty. We swam at Trunk again in the afternoon.
That night we returned to Zozos for a second fantastic dinner.
Scallops Rockefeller
Tortellini in parmesean brodo
Pistachio crusted mahi mahi
Oven roasted fluke stuffed with crab
Saturday March 11
We got to Maho around 9:30. Read for a while and when it warmed up a bit we went snorkeling. Maho Bay was turtle town! We counted 14 different turtles, including one that was bigger than me.
Happy parrotfish!
Southern stingray
Peacock flounder
Sand diver
Lobster
Porkfish
Grouper
Octopus. We swam with this guy for over 20 minutes. I have over 40 photos of him. Here are five.
Needlefish
We tried to go to Miss Lucy’s for lunch but they were closed as they had hosted their full moon party the night prior. I did not realize that the parties are not always on the actual full moon date. Hopefully they will be open when we return this summer because I sorely missed their grouper reuben! We ended up having lunch at Aqua Bistro. Calamari
Fish tacos
We spent the afternoon at Trunk again.
Sunset
We went to the Terrace for dinner.
Drinks
Tuna tartare (this was excellent)
Roasted tomato tart
Tuna
Lobster
Camembert fritters
Sunday March 12
We decided to take an overlook tour since it had been some years since we stopped at the overlooks for photos. Caneel Bay
Trunk Bay
Maho and Francis Bays
We then decided to do the Leinster drift snorkel. The coral looked good but there were not as many fish as we are used to seeing here.
We returned to Shipwreck Landing for lunch
conch fritters
blackened shrimp quesadilla
Grouper sandwich
We went to Trunk…again
Sunday sunset
Kekoa at sunset
We were supposed to go to Asolare for dinner, as is tradition for our last night, but my stomach could not take another huge dinner, so we cancelled. Instead we went to the Beach Bar and split a couple of things
Tuna down now
Mahi tacos
Monday March 13
We checked out of Gallows and headed back to Caneel for lunch and the ferry to the airport. View from the upper terrace
Yellowtail koi
Crab and tuna wontons
Tuna tataki
Tuna island salad
And then it was time to go. Departure ferry
The saddest sight
We are booked for two weeks this summer, and have a much more adventurous trip planned, including two boat days. But for right now, this simple and unexciting trip was just what we wanted. Thanks for reading.
John and Becky
Thursday March 3
Arrival at Caneel Bay
Dinner was something forgettable from the Beach Terrace. No pictures.
Friday March 4
The view from our room
Scott Beach
Our spot on the beach each day
Donkeys on the way to dinner
Dinner at Zozos
Lobster carbonara
Cured salmon pasta
Striped bass
Jumbo shrimp with fava bean puree
Saturday March 5
Flowers at Caneel Bay
We skipped the Caneel breakfast buffet and opted to split a turkey brie panino from the coffee shop at the resort. After I ordered the sandwich, the chef brought out gorgeous looking deep dish quiches. That’s what I am getting next time!
Breakfast on the deck of our room
Our daily spot. You might notice that there are no other chairs nearby. That may or may not be because we were always the first ones on the beach and we moved all of the other chairs out of our spot
Scott to Caneel snorkel
Southern stingray with jack
Strange raft. Caneel offers free rafts for their guests, but one man had brought along this large inflatable raft. I have never seen anything like it!
Flounder
Stoplight parrotfish
Trunkfish
Purple anemone
Juvenile yellowtail damselfish
Coney with moray eel
Turtle
Corals
[/
We had lunch at the Caneel Sushi Bar
Yellowtail koi
Tuna Island salad
Caneel Crunch roll
Sandy Beach roll
Donkeys
Sunset
Dinner was at Turtle Bay Estate House. It was too dark to take pictures by the time most of our food came. There was a fantastic breeze coming through the restaurant that night.
Bread service
Conch chowder
Sunday March 6
We checked out of Caneel and moved over to Gallows Point. I love Caneel but prefer more space after a few days. We had an ocean upper unit at Gallows, which gives you 1.5 baths, a galley kitchen, a living/dining room, and a lofted separate sleeping space. The units have central air but we never use it. I love the breeze through the louvers and the sound of the ocean (the sound of the ferry less so, but it’s not too bothersome).
The view from our Gallows unit
It started pouring around 5, so no sunset. We borrowed an umbrella from the front desk and headed to dinner at Rhumblines
Summer rolls
Pupu shrimp
Blackened scallops
Tuna with puff daddy noodles
Monday March 7
It was still raining off and on, but at least we had a rainbow. We spent the morning reading.
Eventually there was a break in the rain, so we went to lunch at the Lime Inn
Cracked conch
Snapper sandwich with pickled cauliflower salad
And with Josephine’s greens salad
More rain moved in that afternoon so we scrapped any beach plans and resumed our spots on the couches to read books until it was time for dinner at Extra Virgin Bistro
Drinks
Housemade ricotta with truffled corn
Crab cakes
Shrimp and crab papparadelle
Tuesday March 8
We drove over to Hansen Bay with the thought of snorkeling Pelican Rock
Not happening! It was FREEZING over there. I was wrapped up in beach towels and still shivering. We packed it in after an hour or so, and headed to lunch at Shipwreck Landing
Blackened shrimp
Fish reuben
Tuna tacos
It warmed up a bit in the afternoon so we snorkeled Gallows to Frank Bay
Orangespotted filefish
Moray eel
grouper
Sort-of sunset
Later that evening we went to dinner at Ocean’s 362
Drinks
Bread service
Local tomato salad
Tuna tartare with plantain chips and whipped feta
Vegetarian plate of farro with roasted root vegetables and feta
Roasted mahi and Caribbean lobster tail. This came with a kale that was one of my favorite things that we ate the entire vacation!
Wednesday March 9
We were feeling lazy, so we just spent the day reading books.
Eventually we rousted ourselves out of the condo and went for a drive. We stopped in for a snack at Aqua Bistro
Mahi mahi skewers
Tempura shrimp with wasabi cream
There was not much of a sunset due to the weather, but I thought the sky looked pretty
Thursday March 10
We went to breakfast at High Tide. The classic breakfast
Florentine benedict
Rainbow on Cruz Bay from High Tide
On the way back to Gallows we stopped to view the Club Med 2 anchored off of Cruz Bay
We snorkeled off Gallows to Frank Bay again.
Baby jacks
A well-hidden flounder
Blue tang
Angelfish
Orangespotted filefish
Needlefish
We went over to Trunk in the late afternoon and swam for a couple of hours. This became a routine of sorts for us. I think we visited Trunk four times this trip, always in the later afternoon after the crowds had left.
Club Med 2 leaving during sunset
That night we stopped by Drink! St. John for a cocktail. This place was never crowded any time we went by. I hope they are still in business this summer, as we finally got enough punches in our years-old loyalty card to get a free drink.
We had dinner at La Tapa
Langoustines
Bacalao fritters
Papparadelle with shrimp, langoustines and arugula in an albarino cream sauce
Tuna with crispy polenta
Friday March 10
Had another relaxing morning at Gallows and then went to lunch with friends at Cruz Bay Landing. No pictures this time, but everything was tasty. We swam at Trunk again in the afternoon.
That night we returned to Zozos for a second fantastic dinner.
Scallops Rockefeller
Tortellini in parmesean brodo
Pistachio crusted mahi mahi
Oven roasted fluke stuffed with crab
Saturday March 11
We got to Maho around 9:30. Read for a while and when it warmed up a bit we went snorkeling. Maho Bay was turtle town! We counted 14 different turtles, including one that was bigger than me.
Happy parrotfish!
Southern stingray
Peacock flounder
Sand diver
Lobster
Porkfish
Grouper
Octopus. We swam with this guy for over 20 minutes. I have over 40 photos of him. Here are five.
Needlefish
We tried to go to Miss Lucy’s for lunch but they were closed as they had hosted their full moon party the night prior. I did not realize that the parties are not always on the actual full moon date. Hopefully they will be open when we return this summer because I sorely missed their grouper reuben! We ended up having lunch at Aqua Bistro. Calamari
Fish tacos
We spent the afternoon at Trunk again.
Sunset
We went to the Terrace for dinner.
Drinks
Tuna tartare (this was excellent)
Roasted tomato tart
Tuna
Lobster
Camembert fritters
Sunday March 12
We decided to take an overlook tour since it had been some years since we stopped at the overlooks for photos. Caneel Bay
Trunk Bay
Maho and Francis Bays
We then decided to do the Leinster drift snorkel. The coral looked good but there were not as many fish as we are used to seeing here.
We returned to Shipwreck Landing for lunch
conch fritters
blackened shrimp quesadilla
Grouper sandwich
We went to Trunk…again
Sunday sunset
Kekoa at sunset
We were supposed to go to Asolare for dinner, as is tradition for our last night, but my stomach could not take another huge dinner, so we cancelled. Instead we went to the Beach Bar and split a couple of things
Tuna down now
Mahi tacos
Monday March 13
We checked out of Gallows and headed back to Caneel for lunch and the ferry to the airport. View from the upper terrace
Yellowtail koi
Crab and tuna wontons
Tuna tataki
Tuna island salad
And then it was time to go. Departure ferry
The saddest sight
We are booked for two weeks this summer, and have a much more adventurous trip planned, including two boat days. But for right now, this simple and unexciting trip was just what we wanted. Thanks for reading.
John and Becky