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STT, Tortola & STJ trip report
STT, Tortola & STJ trip report
Feb 10th- 22nd
4 couples from Oregon, 45-55 years old.
First, I didn’t pay a lot of attention to English when I was in school, by the end of this trip report you probably wish I had studied harder. My wife and I had been to STJ for 9 days 2 years ago and the other 3 couples had only been there from a day trip off a cruise.
After getting on the plane at 5:30 pm in Portland, going to LAX, Miami and finally arriving in STT at 3:15 the next day, realized you really have to want to go to STJ to suffer thru that, probably similar to anyone on the east coast going to Hawaii.
St Thomas
We went down early with one other couple and spent the first night in STT at the Mafolie, sits up on the hill overlooking the harbor, great view, clean rooms, nothing fancy, perfect. Walked up the hill to Sib’s for dinner the first night, food was very good, reasonable prices. View from Mafolie.
Tortola
On Thursday we took the ferry over to Tortola. The reason we came down a few days early was to see another island and since Tortola was close, easy to get to, seemed like a good choice. We landed at West End, Paul’s Taxi picked us up (would highly recommend using Paul) and took us to Cane Garden Bay where we stayed at the Agape Cottages. The cottages are on up the hill overlooking Cane Garden Bay, very good location, great view, easy walk to the beach, clean, very nice owners who greeted us and gave us some tips on where to eat. We headed down to Bobby’s Market right away to get some necessities, yep, beer, rum and snack food. Pictures of view from Agape Cottages and Smugglers Cove.
We really enjoyed CGB, you had a number of beach bars and places to eat, enjoyed Stanley’s, Quito’s (go on a night when Quito is playing), Elm BBQ on Friday night. CGB can get very busy with cruise sheeple, so we headed out of town between 9-2 to escape the crowds.
I have to mention that one of the biggest surprises was Bomba’s Shack, I think terming it a shack was being kind. Over the years we have read about the full moon parties at which 500 people would show up, it looks like it is ready to fall into the ocean, only held together by discarded bras & painties. My lovely wife of 31 years at Bomba's.
Friday we headed over to Smuggler’s Cove, great little beach, good sand with a couple of beach bars thrown together. Some of the reports say the road into Smuggler’s is very rough with a lot of potholes. From someone that grew up on a farm in Oregon, it was a piece of cake, no problem. Saturday, drove up to Skyworld and then to Brewer’s Bay, weather was not as good but almost had the beach to ourselves. Since Saturday was Valentines Day, we went up to the Bananakeet Restaurant, had a drink and watched the sunset and then went to dinner at Palm’s Delight, sort of a local place. If you go to Palm’s Delight, be sure to get the chicken in ginger wine sauce, very good, probably the best tasting dinner on the trip.
St John
On Sunday we took the ferry over to STJ to meet up with the 2 other couples. I must say that my wife and I were very nervous since everyone looked towards us for guidance and we were hoping everyone would be happy with the villa. We met Lisa from Vacation Vistas downtown and she took us out to the villa to show us around. When we walked out on the deck and saw the view, we knew we had made the right choice. We live only 1 ½ hours from the Oregon Coast and have seen the ocean many times, but not that type of view, WOW. Being able to stand there in shorts, t-shirt and flip flops in 83 degree weather probably helped since that rarely happens at the Oregon Coast
Argonauta Villa
Wonderful location, only a few minutes from downtown Cruz Bay but you are on a private road off of Contant Point with only 3 other homes. The villa was completely private. There was another home being built next to it but nobody was there the whole week. It has 4 bedrooms all with master bathrooms and another bathroom down by the pool, did I mention the great view?
Beaches
Honeymoon- one of my favorites, great sand and fairly quiet. Also walked over to Salomon to get some exercise.
Cinnamon- very crowded, but we were there President’s Day week so have to expect that.
Trunk- went on Friday when there were no cruise ships in STT, still very popular. Surf was up so technically they had closed the park but you could still go in at your own risk.
Jumbie- didn’t stay too long since it started to sprinkle, but very nice quiet beach.
Breakfasts
Ate all the breakfasts at the villa since one of the men decided he would cook, had pancakes, French toast, sausage, bacon, potatoes. Hard to beat sitting on the deck having a good breakfast with a cup of coffee to start the day.
Lunch
Usually we just had crackers, cheese and beer at the beach. We did eat at Deli Grotto (excellent sandwiches) and Shipwreck Landing (very good).
Had to get a picture of the OSU banner hanging at Skinny's, evidently the owners wife went to Oregon State and has a banner of the back to back national championships in baseball, Go Beavs!
We of course had to check out Woody’s happy hour, actually they had pretty good food, the shark bites were a bighit and who can argue with $1 well drinks and beer? Also went out to Vie’s and explored the East End, the garlic chicken was excellent.
Dinner
Rhumblines- nice setting, good food
Joes BBQ- after our BVI day sail the perfect place to pick up supper after a day on the water drinking beer and painkillers all day
Fishtrap- good service, food was good. Nobody raved about their order but no complaints either
Banana Deck- probably our best dinner, most of us had the garlic ribeye steak and it was done perfectly.
BVI day sail
There were 8 of us, so a lot of the charters were not available since they could only take 6 people. We finally decided on Born to Rhumb and had a great time. Captain Kevin and Cass were fun, informative and easy to get along with. The swells were up and the sea pretty rough crossing over to Tortola and Jost however the boat is good sized and we never felt uneasy or worried.
Overall had a great trip, glad we went down early to explore Tortola. We were a little apprehensive taking 3 new couples but it turned out well, we are pretty laid back so nobody got their feathers ruffled and we are still speaking to each other.
Thank you to everyone for all the information we were able to digest before the trip and cannot wait for the next trip.
4 couples from Oregon, 45-55 years old.
First, I didn’t pay a lot of attention to English when I was in school, by the end of this trip report you probably wish I had studied harder. My wife and I had been to STJ for 9 days 2 years ago and the other 3 couples had only been there from a day trip off a cruise.
After getting on the plane at 5:30 pm in Portland, going to LAX, Miami and finally arriving in STT at 3:15 the next day, realized you really have to want to go to STJ to suffer thru that, probably similar to anyone on the east coast going to Hawaii.
St Thomas
We went down early with one other couple and spent the first night in STT at the Mafolie, sits up on the hill overlooking the harbor, great view, clean rooms, nothing fancy, perfect. Walked up the hill to Sib’s for dinner the first night, food was very good, reasonable prices. View from Mafolie.
Tortola
On Thursday we took the ferry over to Tortola. The reason we came down a few days early was to see another island and since Tortola was close, easy to get to, seemed like a good choice. We landed at West End, Paul’s Taxi picked us up (would highly recommend using Paul) and took us to Cane Garden Bay where we stayed at the Agape Cottages. The cottages are on up the hill overlooking Cane Garden Bay, very good location, great view, easy walk to the beach, clean, very nice owners who greeted us and gave us some tips on where to eat. We headed down to Bobby’s Market right away to get some necessities, yep, beer, rum and snack food. Pictures of view from Agape Cottages and Smugglers Cove.
We really enjoyed CGB, you had a number of beach bars and places to eat, enjoyed Stanley’s, Quito’s (go on a night when Quito is playing), Elm BBQ on Friday night. CGB can get very busy with cruise sheeple, so we headed out of town between 9-2 to escape the crowds.
I have to mention that one of the biggest surprises was Bomba’s Shack, I think terming it a shack was being kind. Over the years we have read about the full moon parties at which 500 people would show up, it looks like it is ready to fall into the ocean, only held together by discarded bras & painties. My lovely wife of 31 years at Bomba's.
Friday we headed over to Smuggler’s Cove, great little beach, good sand with a couple of beach bars thrown together. Some of the reports say the road into Smuggler’s is very rough with a lot of potholes. From someone that grew up on a farm in Oregon, it was a piece of cake, no problem. Saturday, drove up to Skyworld and then to Brewer’s Bay, weather was not as good but almost had the beach to ourselves. Since Saturday was Valentines Day, we went up to the Bananakeet Restaurant, had a drink and watched the sunset and then went to dinner at Palm’s Delight, sort of a local place. If you go to Palm’s Delight, be sure to get the chicken in ginger wine sauce, very good, probably the best tasting dinner on the trip.
St John
On Sunday we took the ferry over to STJ to meet up with the 2 other couples. I must say that my wife and I were very nervous since everyone looked towards us for guidance and we were hoping everyone would be happy with the villa. We met Lisa from Vacation Vistas downtown and she took us out to the villa to show us around. When we walked out on the deck and saw the view, we knew we had made the right choice. We live only 1 ½ hours from the Oregon Coast and have seen the ocean many times, but not that type of view, WOW. Being able to stand there in shorts, t-shirt and flip flops in 83 degree weather probably helped since that rarely happens at the Oregon Coast
Argonauta Villa
Wonderful location, only a few minutes from downtown Cruz Bay but you are on a private road off of Contant Point with only 3 other homes. The villa was completely private. There was another home being built next to it but nobody was there the whole week. It has 4 bedrooms all with master bathrooms and another bathroom down by the pool, did I mention the great view?
Beaches
Honeymoon- one of my favorites, great sand and fairly quiet. Also walked over to Salomon to get some exercise.
Cinnamon- very crowded, but we were there President’s Day week so have to expect that.
Trunk- went on Friday when there were no cruise ships in STT, still very popular. Surf was up so technically they had closed the park but you could still go in at your own risk.
Jumbie- didn’t stay too long since it started to sprinkle, but very nice quiet beach.
Breakfasts
Ate all the breakfasts at the villa since one of the men decided he would cook, had pancakes, French toast, sausage, bacon, potatoes. Hard to beat sitting on the deck having a good breakfast with a cup of coffee to start the day.
Lunch
Usually we just had crackers, cheese and beer at the beach. We did eat at Deli Grotto (excellent sandwiches) and Shipwreck Landing (very good).
Had to get a picture of the OSU banner hanging at Skinny's, evidently the owners wife went to Oregon State and has a banner of the back to back national championships in baseball, Go Beavs!
We of course had to check out Woody’s happy hour, actually they had pretty good food, the shark bites were a bighit and who can argue with $1 well drinks and beer? Also went out to Vie’s and explored the East End, the garlic chicken was excellent.
Dinner
Rhumblines- nice setting, good food
Joes BBQ- after our BVI day sail the perfect place to pick up supper after a day on the water drinking beer and painkillers all day
Fishtrap- good service, food was good. Nobody raved about their order but no complaints either
Banana Deck- probably our best dinner, most of us had the garlic ribeye steak and it was done perfectly.
BVI day sail
There were 8 of us, so a lot of the charters were not available since they could only take 6 people. We finally decided on Born to Rhumb and had a great time. Captain Kevin and Cass were fun, informative and easy to get along with. The swells were up and the sea pretty rough crossing over to Tortola and Jost however the boat is good sized and we never felt uneasy or worried.
Overall had a great trip, glad we went down early to explore Tortola. We were a little apprehensive taking 3 new couples but it turned out well, we are pretty laid back so nobody got their feathers ruffled and we are still speaking to each other.
Thank you to everyone for all the information we were able to digest before the trip and cannot wait for the next trip.
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Xislandgirl
- Posts: 4163
- Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 4:03 pm
- Location: Slightly left of center
Great report and pictures! We went to BVIs last year and really enjoyed Tortola. Also went to Smugglers's Cove which is a beautiful spot and agree the road is not that bad. We got a kick out of the guy who uses his car battery to run the blender to make smoothies. Great mango smoothie with lots of fruit.
Even though CGB is more built up, it was an enjoyable spot when the cruise ships were not in. Great eating places and enjoyed music at Quitos.
Thanks for sharing.
Even though CGB is more built up, it was an enjoyable spot when the cruise ships were not in. Great eating places and enjoyed music at Quitos.
Thanks for sharing.
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ClevelandDave
- Posts: 291
- Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2008 3:51 pm
- Location: Cleveland
You must have done some great homework 'cause
for Tortola first-timers, you sure did it up real good.
Sunset cocktails at Bananakeet and Ginger-Wine Chicken
at Palm's Delight...that's Tortola at its best.
I'm a big fan of multi-island trips and the Tortola/STJ combo is a winner.
Nice TR and great pics!
Dave
for Tortola first-timers, you sure did it up real good.
Sunset cocktails at Bananakeet and Ginger-Wine Chicken
at Palm's Delight...that's Tortola at its best.
I'm a big fan of multi-island trips and the Tortola/STJ combo is a winner.
Nice TR and great pics!
Dave
Thank you so much for the wonderful trip report & photos. We are just finishing up a "nice Northeaster" up here in New England. Twelve plus inches of snow & your report is just what the doctor ordered!
I felt like I was strolling down memory lane. My husband & I dined at Mafolie & LOVED the view. We spent a wonderful few days on Tortola a couple of years ago. I can still remember Steve's BBC on Smugglers Cove, LOVED the gingerwine chicken at Palm's Delight, had a wonderful meal & drinks at Bananakeet & "YES" - Quito Rhymer is the best!!!
Sounds like you did your homework before you left & hit the high spots on Tortola. Good for you! Brewers Bay was lovely, too. But, Smugglers truly was gorgeous. Loved your shot of the beach.
ALso, too funny, but on St. John - Honeymoon is probably right up there in the running for our favorite beach, too. Your friends must have been thrilled with your villa choice. It was absolutely gorgeous. Your photos of the views were stunning.
Thank you, again, for bringing a much need "warmth" to my night. We will be on island in, dare I say, less than 2 months. WooHoo!!
Thank you for the great primer!!
Sue (& Jim)
I felt like I was strolling down memory lane. My husband & I dined at Mafolie & LOVED the view. We spent a wonderful few days on Tortola a couple of years ago. I can still remember Steve's BBC on Smugglers Cove, LOVED the gingerwine chicken at Palm's Delight, had a wonderful meal & drinks at Bananakeet & "YES" - Quito Rhymer is the best!!!
Sounds like you did your homework before you left & hit the high spots on Tortola. Good for you! Brewers Bay was lovely, too. But, Smugglers truly was gorgeous. Loved your shot of the beach.
ALso, too funny, but on St. John - Honeymoon is probably right up there in the running for our favorite beach, too. Your friends must have been thrilled with your villa choice. It was absolutely gorgeous. Your photos of the views were stunning.
Thank you, again, for bringing a much need "warmth" to my night. We will be on island in, dare I say, less than 2 months. WooHoo!!
Thank you for the great primer!!
Sue (& Jim)
Joshie-----yes she does look good, but what makes her special is her beautiful heart and soul, I married better than I deserve.
Toni------We enjoyed Sib's, just a local type of place and the food was good. 2 of the couples we were with did eat at Mafolie and said it was excellent.
SuefromMA----We tried to do our homework about Tortola since we were only going to be there a few days, really enjoyed the small part we visited.
Glad I warmed up your day, be sure to return the favor and post a report when you get back.
Toni------We enjoyed Sib's, just a local type of place and the food was good. 2 of the couples we were with did eat at Mafolie and said it was excellent.
SuefromMA----We tried to do our homework about Tortola since we were only going to be there a few days, really enjoyed the small part we visited.
Glad I warmed up your day, be sure to return the favor and post a report when you get back.
