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Post Irmaria Trip Report

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 4:59 pm
by KatieH
]We booked this trip in July -we planned to spend two weeks on St John with 2 different families from 12/26 - 1/9. The villa we booked for the 7 of us for week 1 was destroyed during the hurricane. The condo we had booked for week 2 was fine. We were fortunate to receive a full refund from the villa and asked Seaside Properties at Grande Bay if they could accommodate us for weeks 1 and 2. After numerous phone calls with Tracy, who has to be one of the nicest people I've never met, we booked a total of 19 nights for my family, with my SIL and her "kids" joining us for the first 7.

It was a bit of an emotional roller coaster ride, with all of us vacillating between "it's too soon to go" and "how can we not go" and "how can we take housing from people who may need it". As the time grew closer, it became apparent that going was the right choice. Thanks to Kenny Chesney's Love for Love City, the Bloomberg Foundation, BBC Electric FEMA, the NPS, and some amazing residents, the island was ready by Christmas week.

Unfortunately the airlines hadn't come to the same realization so we took a red eye flight Christmas night, had a layover at 6 am in SJU and arrived on STT at about 9:30 AM December 26th. St Thomas - or the parts we saw on our ride to Red Hook, looked better than expected, with fewer blue tarps than anticipated. A stop at a marina, however,told the story, with boats and masts akimbo,askew, etc.

Cruz Bay was looking great - even with the few remaining boats on the beach at Wharfside. A nice lunch at Cruz Bay Landing (limited menu) we dropped our bags at the condo and Mr. H ran over to Bougainvillea to pick up our Jeep for the next 2 weeks. We drove the North Shore Road, surprised by the new view of the water from the road. After following the Tripadvisor forum and Facebook Groups, we were prepared for the damage we saw. We'd been up for 28 hours at this point and decided to settle at Maho, which did sustain the most significant damage. In my sleep deprived state I had not packed sunscreen, bug spray beach towels or an umbrella, so our visit was brief.

The rest of the tribe arrived at 3:30 and back to CBL for drinks and apps. Dinner was at the Lime Inn. I miss the old menu. That doesn't mean the new one isn't good - it just wasn't what we'd been waiting for. Early to bed and after 36 hours with no sleep I slept like a baby and awoke in the same spot I'd fallen asleep.

Re: Post Irmaria Trip Report

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 5:01 pm
by KatieH
KatieH wrote:]We booked this trip in July -we planned to spend two weeks on St John with 2 different families from 12/26 - 1/9. The villa we booked for the 7 of us for week 1 was destroyed during the hurricane. The condo we had booked for week 2 was fine. We were fortunate to receive a full refund from the villa and asked Seaside Properties at Grande Bay if they could accommodate us for weeks 1 and 2. After numerous phone calls with Tracy, who has to be one of the nicest people I've never met, we booked a total of 19 nights for my family, with my SIL and her "kids" joining us for the first 7.

It was a bit of an emotional roller coaster ride, with all of us vacillating between "it's too soon to go" and "how can we not go" and "how can we take housing from people who may need it". As the time grew closer, it became apparent that going was the right choice. Thanks to Kenny Chesney's Love for Love City, the Bloomberg Foundation, BBC Electric FEMA, the NPS, and some amazing residents, the island was ready by Christmas week.

Unfortunately the airlines hadn't come to the same realization so we took a red eye flight Christmas night, had a layover at 6 am in SJU and arrived on STT at about 9:30 AM December 26th. St Thomas - or the parts we saw on our ride to Red Hook, looked better than expected, with fewer blue tarps than anticipated. A stop at a marina, however,told the story, with boats and masts akimbo,askew, etc.

Cruz Bay was looking great - even with the few remaining boats on the beach at Wharfside. A nice lunch at Cruz Bay Landing (limited menu) we dropped our bags at the condo and Mr. H ran over to Bougainvillea to pick up our Jeep for the next 2 weeks. We drove the North Shore Road, surprised by the new view of the water from the road. After following the Tripadvisor forum and Facebook Groups, we were prepared for the damage we saw. We'd been up for 28 hours at this point and decided to settle at Maho, which did sustain the most significant damage. In my sleep deprived state I had not packed sunscreen, bug spray beach towels or an umbrella, so our visit was brief.

The rest of the tribe arrived at 3:30 and back to CBL for drinks and apps. Dinner was at the Lime Inn. I miss the old menu. That doesn't mean the new one isn't good - it just wasn't what we'd been waiting for. Early to bed and after 36 hours with no sleep I slept like a baby and awoke in the same spot I'd fallen asleep.
I'm trying to type this from my computer but can't remember how to add photos so back to the phone to put the photos in LOLImageImageImageImage

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Re: Post Irmaria Trip Report

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 7:41 pm
by Teresa_Rae
Which villa was destroyed?

Re: Post Irmaria Trip Report

Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2018 7:48 am
by RickG
Katie, thanks for writing your TR. Every time I read one of these it lifts me up a bit. The islands are recovering. With the prevalence of Internet and mobile communications, the news of devastation is more detailed and wider spread than for Hurricane Marilyn in 1995. Irmaria was worse, but the familiarity of each loss is available that it seems like a very different event. I recently compared the experience to watching the Vietnam war on the 6 o'clock news in the 60s.

Cheers, RickG

Re: Post Irmaria Trip Report

Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2018 11:54 am
by KatieH
Teresa - Morgan Point was the villa we had booked.
Rick - it was so much better than expected!

Re: Post Irmaria Trip Report

Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2018 9:41 pm
by Teresa_Rae
KatieH wrote:Teresa - Morgan Point was the villa we had booked.
Rick - it was so much better than expected!
Oh no! That villa has been on my short list for years but it's never worked out with our dates/group. I was hoping for 2018. Do you know if it was completely destroyed or just damaged?

Re: Post Irmaria Trip Report

Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2018 5:22 am
by KatieH
Teresa_Rae wrote:
KatieH wrote:Teresa - Morgan Point was the villa we had booked.
Rick - it was so much better than expected!
Oh no! That villa has been on my short list for years but it's never worked out with our dates/group. I was hoping for 2018. Do you know if it was completely destroyed or just damaged?
I think it was missing some roof and or walls. I don't know if they're going to rebuild. You can check with Carefree Getaways.

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Re: Post Irmaria Trip Report

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2018 4:39 pm
by KatieH
Trunk Bay overlook December 27thImage

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Re: Post Irmaria Trip Report

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2018 6:46 pm
by BreakawayBarb
Thank you for your report and photos!

Re: Post Irmaria Trip Report

Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2018 11:20 am
by hoosierdaddy
Thanks Katie!
Looks better and better with each photo.

Re: Post Irmaria Trip Report

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2018 9:39 pm
by KatieH
More photos....just a gorgeous place and our favorite trip so far. It had everything we love about the island, and less of what we don't. While I missed the bars and restaurants at Wharfside, I didn't miss the Spring Break vibe that seemed prevalent over the last few years. ImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImage

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Re: Post Irmaria Trip Report

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2018 9:43 pm
by KatieH
And a few more....

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Re: Post Irmaria Trip Report

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2018 9:47 pm
by KatieH
KatieH wrote:And a few more....

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ImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImage

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Re: Post Irmaria Trip Report

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2018 8:00 am
by Bigcheeze
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh TY for the pics, just skip my Blood pressure meds...

Dave/Bigcheeze

Re: Post Irmaria Trip Report

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2018 8:52 am
by Agent99
Oh, I do love seeing those pictures- thanks for sharing. I laughed becasue I often have taken a photo of my fresh vacation pedi and sandy toes with the blue water backround. Warms me up on a cold dreary winter day.