Best tip yet ...for newbies

Bigcheeze · Post by **Bigcheeze** » Tue Nov 20, 2012 10:15 pm

I have many a tip...and a few observations...and I smile as I type my observations...some are tangiable...but some are more intangiable.

The Tangingable; Pack half as much and bring twice the amount of money.

The Intangiables; don't plan too much or worry about not doing 'everything' possible...On your 1st FULL day on the Rock...take your jeep and explore and stop at every overlook/bar/beach you want...meet some locals...relax...slow down...slow down and appreciate the awesomeness of the magic around you...then, for the next 6 days...repeat repeat repeat

PA Girl · Post by **PA Girl** » Wed Nov 21, 2012 7:48 am

All in good fun, I am going to disagree on the clothing part, doesn't anyone sweat or get dirty?

I could never do carry-on only because I would need to do laundry every day. I have no problem wearing something twice but that is the limit, I just sweat too much or get dirty from brushing up against the jeep or the trees if husbands parks really close to the brush.

Just how few clothing do people really take? Do you go "dirty" all week or do laundry regularly?

Diana2 · Post by **Diana2** » Wed Nov 21, 2012 8:28 am

I completely agree with PA GIRL. I need to wear clean clothes and hate to feel "grungy". Carry-only will NEVER happen for this gal. I don't want to even travel with carry-on only people. Years ago we used to travel with a gal that would (I'm not kidding) pack dirty clothes to wear on vacation. It was imbarrassing to go to nice restaurants and there she was in wrinkled and obviously dirty clothes. We loved her husband and for his sake we took her in the bargain.

Carry-on only for me.......never going to happen.

zhawkz · Post by **zhawkz** » Wed Nov 21, 2012 9:06 am

I've done carry on for a week long sail (BVIs)...that wasn't hard since you are in the water all the time. This time it's a land based trip so not as sure if it will work.

needmesomesun · Post by **needmesomesun** » Wed Nov 21, 2012 10:20 am

The majority of the places we have rented have had laundry machines. Even Grande Bay had a laundry closet in a 1 bed unit we stayed in. It was so convenient. They were small stackable machines, so you didn't need a huge amount of clothes to fill it. I am able to cut way back on what we take now.

The other upside to villas having laundry is that you can start a load of towels the night before, and sheets the day you leave to cut down on how long the cleaning staff has to stay there. I'd imagine that waiting for the laundry takes the most time for them. I don't mind taking a few minutes of time to save someone a few hours, even if I'm on vacation and pay for that service.

jimg20 · Post by **jimg20** » Wed Nov 21, 2012 12:01 pm

We try to pack lightly and still come home with clothes that were never worn. The reason we don't need TOO many clothes is the daily routine. Get up in the morning, put on a dry swim suit and tee shirt. Eat breakfast. go to the dive boat and take off the shirt. After diving put the shirt on and eat lunch. Go to a beach and take the shirt off. Snorkle. Put on the shirt and head for the villa. Take off the shirt and shower. Wash out the swin suit and hang in where yesterday's now-dry suit was hanging. Put the tee shirt and shorts on. Eat supper and go to bed. That shirt has about 4 or 5 hours of wear. It is OK for at least one more wearing if I haven't spilled breakfast, lunch or dinner on it.

The shorts have very little wear time, the swim suit has been washed out and dried, and the shirt has little wear. Add all of that to the previously mentioned washer and drier, and one needs only a few changes of clothes.

I prefer to wear jeans and running shoes on the plane going to and returning from STT, but that's just me. The jeans are generally put up when we arrive and pulled out when we return.

So, we have three or four shirts, two or three pairs of shorts, three swin suits (used in rotation to assure they dry), various socks undergarments, and shoes/sandles/flip flops, and dive bag.

Those of you who prefer to go out to the nicer restauarnts probably have more issues than we do.

We have to check the dive bag and D. does not like to drag the suitcase through ATL, so we check bags. We did do a carry-on trip one year and did not like that. It's a vacation. Slow down and grab the bags from the bag claim belt. Sure there is a risk that the bags will not make it. We have a solution for that too. We "cross pack" for these trips. Since I carry my bag on board, she puts some of her clothes in my bag along with essentials like the dive computers and dive log book. We can rent fins and masks if they get delayed or lost, but we have to have the computers and log books.

JIM

Dome526 · Post by **Dome526** » Wed Nov 21, 2012 12:16 pm

For our 25th, Deb thought she was going ot bring "outfits" etc. After much discussion, she agreed to my way of thinking, and she now agrees and even said "You were right!" After I fell down, hitting my head from passing out, I learned much more about carry on. It is the ONLY way to go! After trying to pack, I took half of what I was packing, and took it out of my bag. Ironically, there were 3 shirts that I didn;t really even need! I thought I was going to buy some shirts, etc., and we did. One of the suggestions I got from the forum was to bring shower gel, and use it to hand wash clothes. I brought 2 20 ft. paracord lines, and a small amount of safety pins to use vs. clothespins. I also brought along meat, steak, bacon and butter in the Polar Bear Cooler (forumite suggestion that was awesome). The cooler worked very well, keeping meat frozen solid for 2+ days. Then, I used the cooler to keep ice, putting the Polar Bear inside a large cooler that was provided at CBC. This worked so well, that I had ICE FOR 3 DAYS!!!! Yes, 3 days! The cooler doubled as the personal bag for the trip home too, and the extra t-shirts, St. John Spices, etc. fit perfectly. I doubted at first that CARRY ON would work, but with planning, it worked to PERFECTION! Next trip (yup, I get it now) I will send items to Connections, and send items to CBC. Food was expensive. Starfish was more than I thought, and the sales flyer did not apply on the day that we went to resupply. Next trip, I will do carry on again, and bring more meat than I did this time, and I will send a box ahead of time to the campground, and to Connections, which has 2 locations- in Cruz Bay, and Coral Bay. DO CARRYON! It works! Bring shower gel for a quick clothes wash....it works. You are going to buy souvenior clothes anyway.
Tom in CT

dreamshark · Post by **dreamshark** » Wed Nov 21, 2012 12:31 pm

The "pack light" tip works for me, but my ideal island vacation is to snorkel twice a day, cook and eat in the villa, and rent a place so private that you don't have to wear clothes at all unless you feel like it. Our September trip worked out exactly like that, so pretty much the only clothes I needed (except for travel days) were: 2 swimsuits (so one could dry while I was wearing the other one), 2 snorkel shirts, a beach cover-up, a light-weight sundress for hanging around the villa, flip-flops and walking sandals. I also used the shorts and extra t-shirt once for hiking, but could have made do without. Every day I rinsed out the snorkel shirts and swimsuits when we got back to the villa and hung them out to dry. Towels and anything else that was damp went over the balcony railing to dry in the sun. This worked great, and we never even did a load of laundry.

I brought other things I rarely or never used. However, if we were the type to go out at night I would have wanted a few more clothes than I brought, and I would have used the dressier sandals more than once. If the weather hadn't been sunny and breezy every day, or if we'd stayed in one of the damper sub-climates on the island, the trick of hanging everything over the balcony railings wouldn't have worked so well. If we'd been staying on a mountain top instead of at sea level I might have needed the scarf and long-sleeve shirt I brought. And if we were into hiking, I would have wanted more clothes - nothing makes you feel grittier than hiking in high humidity. So I would never say there is one perfect way to pack for every person and every trip.

Bigcheeze wrote: The Intangiables; don't plan too much or worry about not doing 'everything' possible...On your 1st FULL day on the Rock...take your jeep and explore and stop at every overlook/bar/beach you want...meet some locals...relax...slow down...slow down and appreciate the awesomeness of the magic around you...then, for the next 6 days...repeat repeat repeat

With all due respect, this approach just doesn't work for me. Walking around randomly to explore is fun. But driving around randomly just fills me with anxiety, especially in places like STJ where parking is in short supply and it's hard to turn around. The roads are challenging enough that the person driving can't really look at the scenery, and even with two of us we don't think fast enough to realize that we just drove past a perfect place to stop. So when we try this we just end up driving endlessly and never seeing anything. I accept the fact that this works for you. Please try to understand that for some people a little knowledge and planning makes things a lot more enjoyable.

EagleRayLover · Post by **EagleRayLover** » Wed Nov 21, 2012 3:46 pm

And this is why I love you Big Cheese!!

RickG · Post by **RickG** » Sat Nov 24, 2012 10:46 am

To each their own.

We bring a single rolling carryon suitcase per two people. I get three women to STJ in two travel suitcases that way. We have wash and wear clothes, mostly quick dry synthetics. We share one snorkel bag between two people. Sweet Christine brought a pair of flip flops and a pair of tevas on our Halloween trip, and never wore the Tevas. My daughters will usually pick up one quirky t-shirt, they're still wearing their Thankspigging shirts from last year.

Some of our friends can't get by without checking a full-size bag per person. Big Red has a XXL flotation vest and size 14 flippers that just about fill a checked bag.

To each their own!

I'm getting ready for my liveaboard sailing lesson in January. Taking a towel and a rain jacket will more than double the size of my packing. Time to shop for a small quick-dry travel towel!

Cheers, RickG

Jeff&Cindy · Post by **Jeff&Cindy** » Sat Nov 24, 2012 12:00 pm

I agree entirely with the 'less clothes/more money & RELAX' advice. Carry-on and a backpack per person is plenty for us.

Dome526 · Post by **Dome526** » Sat Nov 24, 2012 12:07 pm

1 carry on and 1 backpack for Debbie was perfect, and 1 carry on and 1 :Polar Bear Cooler with some meat was perfect for me!
Tom

Bigcheeze · Post by **Bigcheeze** » Sun Nov 25, 2012 8:18 am

dreamshark wrote: With all due respect, this approach just doesn't work for me. Walking around randomly to explore is fun. But driving around randomly just fills me with anxiety, especially in places like STJ where parking is in short supply and it's hard to turn around. The roads are challenging enough that the person driving can't really look at the scenery, and even with two of us we don't think fast enough to realize that we just drove past a perfect place to stop. So when we try this we just end up driving endlessly and never seeing anything. I accept the fact that this works for you. Please try to understand that for some people a little knowledge and planning makes things a lot more enjoyable.

No Worries...everybody has their own ways of doing things. St John should be the last place to have anxiety. For us...we plan many things( or I should say I do). But, after 11 years and over 20 visits...we don't need to plan much.

For me the roads are what makes it fun to be on the island...nothing let's my brain know I'm on vacation more then the switchbacks, driving on the left and the ride down Centerline to Cruz Bay. I agree parking can be a challenge downtown, hence we always pull into Slimman's paved lot and pay the cover charge. Give Slim a $5 and a cold Heinne and we're good for a night out. If Slim is full, there is a parking lot just above Woodys too. Lord knows my fat ass needs to walk a block or two anyways...lol.

Thanks to all who read and to those who responded....keeps the forumm lively.

CBama · Post by **CBama** » Sun Nov 25, 2012 6:38 pm

we did carry on only and made it fine...even had clothes left over...even my 20 yr old daughter...

but a typical day for us was in swimsuits with coverups and trunks and tshirts for the guys! we only wore "real clothes" to go out to dinner each night.....

parking issue: being our first trip...we didn't know where anything was in Cruz Bay..so we always parked at the car barge lot and walked.

love hearing everyone's version!!! whatever works for each person!!

Pia · Post by **Pia** » Sun Nov 25, 2012 8:08 pm

Hey Rick - check out a Sham Wow for your towel during your sailing class - holds 12 times its weight in water

Pia

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