Trip Report 8/5-8/12
Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 12:27 pm
OK - so I got busted! I'm a little late on my trip report!
8/5 Saturday - we fly from ORD to STT: direct flight! We had to stay in STT for one night because our villa was not ready for us until Sunday. No biggie...I hate flying so I wanted the direct flight! We stayed at the Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort that night. It was a nice resort w/ good food. We did the all inclusive thing which was nice. Our room view was on the wrong side though...couldn't see St. John. So, for dinner that night we ate at a restaurant on the Resort and had a window table that faced St. John. I was so excited and eager to get there. We went to the little casino for awhile that night at the resort and I ended up being picked to play in a slot tournament! It was kind of fun even though I didn't win.
8/6 Sunday - wake up very eager to get to St. John. OUr villa was not ready till 3PM so we slept in a little, then had a Sunday brunch at the resor that was very good. It was buffet style w/ plenty of food to choose from. Then we hung out by the pool until we took the 2:00 ferry to St. John. We arrived on St. John around 2:30 and our Carribbean Villa greeter was there waiting for us with our rental car. He was very nice and we followed him to our villa. I forgot how steep and turny the roads were on St. John. We almost got stuck on the one hill that takes you out of Cruz Bay towards the Westin. Some goofball couldn't make the turn into his driveway so we were stuck on the hill waiting for him to make the turn! Ugh! So, we get to our villa which was ALLESANDRA!(In Chocolate Hole) The pictures do not do this place justice. It was incredible. I knew it would be a long week though because as we were in the kitchen with the Villa guy, I got bit over and over by mosquitoes. When we walked out onto the back patio...the views were breathtaking! We got a great view of St. Thomas. The pool/hot tub were awesome. The inside of the house was great too! After we took a dip in the pool we headed to Starfish Market to get our groceries! We spent over $100 and didn't seem like we got much at all. We bought food to grill out on our awesome patio and some snacks to take to the beach. Also, got the stick of NO BITE which helps a lot. We got back to the villa and enjoyed our patio so much that we cooked out that night on the patio and ate dinner while watching the sunset over St. Thomas. Nice relaxing night at the villa.
Monday 8/7 - had breakfast and lunch at the villa and then I began reading a book that was in the villa about a couple that decides to actually move to St. John and live there. I read the book in a few days. Then we decided to drive around and get familiar with the island that we had visited 6 years ago to see how much we remembered, etc. Loved driving along all the popularn beaches and seeing all the views again. I couldnt' wait to hit the beaches. We decided to cook out again that night as well since we enjoy our villa so much! Enjoyed getting in the hot tub around 9PM and just taking in the views of the stars and lights of STT.
Tuesday 8/8...today we began our snorkeling adventures. WE wanted to go to places we didn't go on our honeymoon. We went to Hurricane Alley and rented our snorkel gear - very nice people working there by the way. So, we head to Leinster Bay for our first snorkeling trip. The walk to get to the beach is a nice relaxing non uphill walk along the shoreline. When we got to the beach we could see Waterlemon, which I've heard so much about. I wasn't so sure about the swim out to the little island. So, we stayed at Leinster for awhile and saw a sea turtle and a nurse shark! I had asked some people if Waterlemon was worth the swim out there and they said YES. So, we left Leinster and followed the trail that takes you to the point that is the shortest swim. It's very rocky here so kind of hard to get in/out of the water. So, we made the swim which wasn't bad. Waterlemon was GREAT...I saw tons of starfish which is something I never saw before. They were awesome. Sea URchins too! And tons of colorful fish....angel fish too! After our swim back to shore I was afraid we had hti the best spot first...we should have saved it for last. So, after a logn day we went back to the villa and cooked out again! And again enjoyed the hot tub and some beers around 9PM.
Wednesday 8/9 - We did some more snorkeling today! We went to back to one of our favorite spots...Salt Pond. We were the first ones there and had the beach to ourselves. Saw more sea turtles here and a stingray that was hanging out w/ some squid! The squid were neat to see! We hung out here most of the morning and more and more people kept arriving. I really enjoyed just hanging out w/ the sea turtles and watching them. After our hike uphill back to our car...we headed to Coral Bay and to Skinnny Legs! I had the GTO sandwich - basically a grilled cheese w/ tomatos! Hubby had a cheeseburger. IT was good and I love the atmosphere here. Then we headed back to the villa for some lounging around the pool. For dinner that night we ordered pizza from Cafe Roma and broght it back the villa. Good pizza and reasonably priced.
Thursday 8/10 - woke up to all the terrorist news on the TV! Just makes my fear of flying that much worse hearing that news! So, we had enough of the news and headed out to the beaches again! WE headed to Hawksnest first and snorkeled there a little bit. Snorkeling isn't nearly as good here as the other places we went. We relaxed on the beach for awhile and then I wanted to go to Trunk Bay since we have never visited there. Well we drive down and there is no parking anywhere. So, I say let's go to Maho Bay for awhile and hope people leave. We go to Maho and the mosquitoes are really bad. I couldnt' relax and read my book! Even though I had bug spray. So, we leave and go back to Trunk. Some cab guy saw us driving around the parking lot and told us to park behind his truck. I was much thankful. So, we get to Trunk and it's not too crowded (I had checked to make sure no ships ported that day)! We head out to the snorkel trail which was good but not great. Then we got some beer and just relaxed. We headed back to Cruz Bay to return our snorkel gear adn then got Chinese at the China Shack at Marketplace. Took it back to our villa and ate on the deck. It was good food!
Friday 8/11
Today we did our shopping in Cruz Bay. I've always regretted not getting a hook bracelet when we were here 6 years ago so this year I was determined to get one! We went to Palm Jewelers in Wharfside Village and I fell in love w/ the dolphin hook bracelets. So I got one of those. We got some cute T-Shirts for the nieces and nephews. I got a cute St. John Xmas Ornament in MOngoose and a T-Shirt w/a sea turtle for myself. We had lunch at the Deli Grotto which I LOVE for some reason. I remembered the sandwiches from them from our honeymoon! For dinner that night we ate on the deck again and took in the views from our last night on St. John!
Saturday 8/12 - I woke up and couldn't believe our week went by so fast! I was eager to get home to see my horses though ( we have a small horse farm in IL). We packed up the villa and said goodbye to the wonderful home. I would absolutely stay at this villa again. We headed to the Red Hook and it was so crowded! Took forever to get all the bags on the boat. then when we finally got to STT, it took forever to get all the bags off of the boat. We headed to the airport and I didn't know what to expect w/ all the new security. But it wasnt' bad at all...what was bad is we had to stop in San Juan for a half hour layover. We didn't have to change planes or anything but we ended up on the ground in San Juan for 2 hours and 45 mins! UGH! Everything on the plane kept breaking....but the plane was OK on the flight from STT to San Juan! Go figure. Luckily we were in 1st class so we were more comfortable than the coach passengers. Finally landed in Chicago around 9:45PM ... full day of traveling!
I'm already thinkign about my next trip. I asked the hubby if we can come back for our 10 year anniversary! (This trip was our 6 year). The only complaint were the BUGS! There is something about ST. John that keeps making you want to come back.
8/5 Saturday - we fly from ORD to STT: direct flight! We had to stay in STT for one night because our villa was not ready for us until Sunday. No biggie...I hate flying so I wanted the direct flight! We stayed at the Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort that night. It was a nice resort w/ good food. We did the all inclusive thing which was nice. Our room view was on the wrong side though...couldn't see St. John. So, for dinner that night we ate at a restaurant on the Resort and had a window table that faced St. John. I was so excited and eager to get there. We went to the little casino for awhile that night at the resort and I ended up being picked to play in a slot tournament! It was kind of fun even though I didn't win.
8/6 Sunday - wake up very eager to get to St. John. OUr villa was not ready till 3PM so we slept in a little, then had a Sunday brunch at the resor that was very good. It was buffet style w/ plenty of food to choose from. Then we hung out by the pool until we took the 2:00 ferry to St. John. We arrived on St. John around 2:30 and our Carribbean Villa greeter was there waiting for us with our rental car. He was very nice and we followed him to our villa. I forgot how steep and turny the roads were on St. John. We almost got stuck on the one hill that takes you out of Cruz Bay towards the Westin. Some goofball couldn't make the turn into his driveway so we were stuck on the hill waiting for him to make the turn! Ugh! So, we get to our villa which was ALLESANDRA!(In Chocolate Hole) The pictures do not do this place justice. It was incredible. I knew it would be a long week though because as we were in the kitchen with the Villa guy, I got bit over and over by mosquitoes. When we walked out onto the back patio...the views were breathtaking! We got a great view of St. Thomas. The pool/hot tub were awesome. The inside of the house was great too! After we took a dip in the pool we headed to Starfish Market to get our groceries! We spent over $100 and didn't seem like we got much at all. We bought food to grill out on our awesome patio and some snacks to take to the beach. Also, got the stick of NO BITE which helps a lot. We got back to the villa and enjoyed our patio so much that we cooked out that night on the patio and ate dinner while watching the sunset over St. Thomas. Nice relaxing night at the villa.
Monday 8/7 - had breakfast and lunch at the villa and then I began reading a book that was in the villa about a couple that decides to actually move to St. John and live there. I read the book in a few days. Then we decided to drive around and get familiar with the island that we had visited 6 years ago to see how much we remembered, etc. Loved driving along all the popularn beaches and seeing all the views again. I couldnt' wait to hit the beaches. We decided to cook out again that night as well since we enjoy our villa so much! Enjoyed getting in the hot tub around 9PM and just taking in the views of the stars and lights of STT.
Tuesday 8/8...today we began our snorkeling adventures. WE wanted to go to places we didn't go on our honeymoon. We went to Hurricane Alley and rented our snorkel gear - very nice people working there by the way. So, we head to Leinster Bay for our first snorkeling trip. The walk to get to the beach is a nice relaxing non uphill walk along the shoreline. When we got to the beach we could see Waterlemon, which I've heard so much about. I wasn't so sure about the swim out to the little island. So, we stayed at Leinster for awhile and saw a sea turtle and a nurse shark! I had asked some people if Waterlemon was worth the swim out there and they said YES. So, we left Leinster and followed the trail that takes you to the point that is the shortest swim. It's very rocky here so kind of hard to get in/out of the water. So, we made the swim which wasn't bad. Waterlemon was GREAT...I saw tons of starfish which is something I never saw before. They were awesome. Sea URchins too! And tons of colorful fish....angel fish too! After our swim back to shore I was afraid we had hti the best spot first...we should have saved it for last. So, after a logn day we went back to the villa and cooked out again! And again enjoyed the hot tub and some beers around 9PM.
Wednesday 8/9 - We did some more snorkeling today! We went to back to one of our favorite spots...Salt Pond. We were the first ones there and had the beach to ourselves. Saw more sea turtles here and a stingray that was hanging out w/ some squid! The squid were neat to see! We hung out here most of the morning and more and more people kept arriving. I really enjoyed just hanging out w/ the sea turtles and watching them. After our hike uphill back to our car...we headed to Coral Bay and to Skinnny Legs! I had the GTO sandwich - basically a grilled cheese w/ tomatos! Hubby had a cheeseburger. IT was good and I love the atmosphere here. Then we headed back to the villa for some lounging around the pool. For dinner that night we ordered pizza from Cafe Roma and broght it back the villa. Good pizza and reasonably priced.
Thursday 8/10 - woke up to all the terrorist news on the TV! Just makes my fear of flying that much worse hearing that news! So, we had enough of the news and headed out to the beaches again! WE headed to Hawksnest first and snorkeled there a little bit. Snorkeling isn't nearly as good here as the other places we went. We relaxed on the beach for awhile and then I wanted to go to Trunk Bay since we have never visited there. Well we drive down and there is no parking anywhere. So, I say let's go to Maho Bay for awhile and hope people leave. We go to Maho and the mosquitoes are really bad. I couldnt' relax and read my book! Even though I had bug spray. So, we leave and go back to Trunk. Some cab guy saw us driving around the parking lot and told us to park behind his truck. I was much thankful. So, we get to Trunk and it's not too crowded (I had checked to make sure no ships ported that day)! We head out to the snorkel trail which was good but not great. Then we got some beer and just relaxed. We headed back to Cruz Bay to return our snorkel gear adn then got Chinese at the China Shack at Marketplace. Took it back to our villa and ate on the deck. It was good food!
Friday 8/11
Today we did our shopping in Cruz Bay. I've always regretted not getting a hook bracelet when we were here 6 years ago so this year I was determined to get one! We went to Palm Jewelers in Wharfside Village and I fell in love w/ the dolphin hook bracelets. So I got one of those. We got some cute T-Shirts for the nieces and nephews. I got a cute St. John Xmas Ornament in MOngoose and a T-Shirt w/a sea turtle for myself. We had lunch at the Deli Grotto which I LOVE for some reason. I remembered the sandwiches from them from our honeymoon! For dinner that night we ate on the deck again and took in the views from our last night on St. John!
Saturday 8/12 - I woke up and couldn't believe our week went by so fast! I was eager to get home to see my horses though ( we have a small horse farm in IL). We packed up the villa and said goodbye to the wonderful home. I would absolutely stay at this villa again. We headed to the Red Hook and it was so crowded! Took forever to get all the bags on the boat. then when we finally got to STT, it took forever to get all the bags off of the boat. We headed to the airport and I didn't know what to expect w/ all the new security. But it wasnt' bad at all...what was bad is we had to stop in San Juan for a half hour layover. We didn't have to change planes or anything but we ended up on the ground in San Juan for 2 hours and 45 mins! UGH! Everything on the plane kept breaking....but the plane was OK on the flight from STT to San Juan! Go figure. Luckily we were in 1st class so we were more comfortable than the coach passengers. Finally landed in Chicago around 9:45PM ... full day of traveling!
I'm already thinkign about my next trip. I asked the hubby if we can come back for our 10 year anniversary! (This trip was our 6 year). The only complaint were the BUGS! There is something about ST. John that keeps making you want to come back.