Trip report St John October 24-31 (Long) + Link to pics

[sitter]

Couple comments....
Did ya take notes every day to remember all that!??! I'm thinking after a couple island drinks, my memory would not have been that good!
How in the world did you know all the names everything underwater!??!
IF I am adventurous enough to take any picture underwater, I'll have to go back to YOUR photo album to see what it was!

That was probably the best tip reprt I've ever read....well pretty close to Blu's! Makes our upcoming trip feel like we should leave TOMORROW!! But only 19 days now!

Did you get the real cheap flight on Spirit airlines? Wonder if they have those unbievable prices but then overbook alot?

[SuefromMA]

Thanx for the great report & fantastic photos!

I loved the Trunkfish, Flounder, School of Blue Tang &, of course, your Turtle shots. So happy for you that you got to see your turtle. I don't think that a trip to the Virgin Islands would be complete without it.

Oh - how I long for Honeymoon Beach. That place is tooo gorgeous!!

How many others are out there now - like me - at work on a Friday morning - hooked to this site & memories of St. John??

We are a sad, sorry lot!! And we are all just enablers! Oh, well - guess we could have worse vices!

Again, thanx Amy! Great photos! We are actually contemplating getting that particular camera for our underwater photos for our next trip.

Sue

[liamsaunt]

Awesome report! What a bummer of a start to your vacation though. I would have been so upset! I'm glad it all worked out and you had a great trip. Nice photos too! Thanks for sharing.

[SusanNJ]

Great trip report! Enjoy your pictures as well! That airport story sounds just awful. If you don't mind me asking which airline was it?

Thank you again for the terrific report!

[Bill in Va]

Thankyou so much for the details you put in the report. Just a fantastic job. The pic's are super. May you have a better flight down the next trip. God bless....Bill 15 days and BINGO we be on island

[California Girl]

I thoroughly enjoyed your report and your pictures! You have a great sense of humor!

Thanks for the great photos of the Reef Bay Trail - I love the spider pictures - it's so neat that you were able to capture the web so well! Those cottages above Salt Pond...is that Condordia? And how did you identify all those fish??? Excellent! Excellent!

[mrsb]

Hmm- I'll try to answer all those questions...

The airline was American airlines and they were tickets booked well in advance- Want to know something funny? Last year when we sat at the Wyndham bar two AA pilots were sitting there bashing US Air and the Airbus they fly to us because we were delayed two hours last year in NC. That was nothing in comparison to the Miami fiasco. It would have been slightly different if we could have left the secured area and come back later but they continued to try to get a flight for us so we could never be far from the desk for fear of missing an update. The smoking lounge saved our sanity and we did meet a few people who lived on St Thomas and talked to them. Honestly- you couldn't really be mad for 8 hours. Just had to laugh (have to have a sense of humor with the job we do) I did purchase trip insurance so we'll see if I get any reimbursement from them or AA. Poor woman trying to get back to ST Thomas had her dog with her. He had to go potty in the outdoor smoking area!

The camera is great but John also adjusted the colors in Photoshop which adds some red to the hevily blue-filterd underwater shots.

My husband loves to fish. He can identify most fish by sight but we did buy a book at the National Park Center to put names with all the stuff we saw. He said if I can live on a boat, we can move to ST John


I kept a spiral notebook and just wrote what we did each day.

Tip for the Quiet Mon- sit at the bar when Kenny is there. He is hypervigilant and will keep your drinks full and cold at all times and the bar and ashtrays clean. He's also a really nice, fun guy.

Only things we did miss are Brown Bay, Vie's and Halloween night. We did do a lot and have blisters and bug bites and sunburn to prove it. Next year we can lounge a little more. My favorite compliment was from a local who said he respected us for hiking Tektite.

Oh by the way- the proerty next to Allesandra is for sale....anyone want to go in with us?

[lpowmacback]

Ahhh, I said it on the "other message board" and I'll say it again on this (the best) board -

Thanks for a really good in-depth trip report & GREAT PHOTOS!!

[SarahD]

Thanks for taking the time to post your report. Loved it!!

Sarah

[Slice-a-heaven]

Sitting here in my family room in Ohio. It's raining and cold outside and I'm missing St. John. I just joined the new forum and your post just lightened my mood. I read it aloud to my husband and we laughed and relived some of our own memories. We have made 3 visits since 1998, but this last dry spell has been 3 long years. Ugh! Thank you for putting some sparkle back in my night tonight! Paulette

[RickG]

Paulette, it is time.

Cheers, RickG

[nascarfan59]

Great trip report and photos. Sorry you did not like Woodys. Best to get there early to get a good seat. Can't wait to go back!

[FlaGeorge]

Thanks for the trip report and the pictures - they were great. Your flight down sounded soooo bad. Why does it always seem that the planes to the Caribbean alway break down. And it's always a connecting flight.

Thanks for the great trip report.

[suzy]

Great trip report! I loved seeing pictures of Allesandra as the hubby and I stayed there in August. I LOVED it! I also noticed the property next door was for sale. Wish I could own my own piece of heaven!