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Feb 21-28 2013 STJ Trip Report (Pt. 1)
Feb 21-28 2013 STJ Trip Report (Pt. 1)
This was the 10th visit to STJ for Leslie (EagleRayLover) and myself. I believe this was our first trip taken during the height of "the season". It was different than any of our previous visits for a number of reasons. If you're interested in finding out how so, read on...
Thursday, February 21 - Travel day.
We had a 10:15AM flight out of Orlando, which is a much shorter (45 minutes vs 3 hours) and nicer drive than the one we usually have to take to Miami. This time, due primarily to some medical issues he'd been experiencing, we were boarding our lab, Champ, at his vet's office. They open at 7:30, it's a 45 minute drive, 2 hours before flight recommended to be at the airport - there was potential for stress, but none of it materialized. We got Champ dropped off a little early, traffic was nominal, we got right on the shuttle at the off airport lot, and were taken immediately to the American departure area. The security line was incredibly efficient, and for the first time in memory none of our carry on bags got flagged for additional scrutiny. We were in boarding group one, and our less than full plane made the short hop to Miami on time and without incident. We had a one hour layover before the MIA-STT leg, and when they called out the connecting gate info, we learned that we would be leaving from the very same gate where the first leg ended! While waiting for boarding to begin, in the corner of my eye I saw someone running toward us with a big smile on her face - it was Laura (SOonthebeach), who had the same second leg flight as us. It was great to finally meet her in person!
We were in the second boarding group for flight #2 - I had secured exit row seats for this flight in case Leslie's knee (operated on in January) needed a little extra room. We even ended up having the third seat in our row empty! We got to Cyril King Airport on STT a few minutes earlier than our 4:05 scheduled landing, and after deplaning and getting a complimentary Coconut Cruzan shot, we saw the smiling face of Magdalena, from Amalie Car Rental! Due to some complaints from the on site rental companies, Amalie has been asked (told? demanded?) to cease and desist from bringing their customer's cars to the airport. Fortunately, they have some reserved spaces at the Emerald Resort, so we threw our bags into their jeep, took the two minute ride to Emerald where, away from the hustle and bustle of the airport, we filled out our paperwork, got a quick orientation, and were on our way to Red Hook!
Despite it being a multiple cruise ship day on STT, we made it across island, sans the usual Cost-U-Less stop, in plenty of time to catch the 5:00 Captain Vic car barge to STJ. I called Cimmaron, the management agency for the Rainbow's End unit at Battery Hill, where we'd be staying, to let them know that our arrival was imminent, and to arrange meeting them. I told them that there was no need to be met at the barge terminal since we'd been to Rainbow's End before. The greeter asked if we'd just as soon have her leave the keys in the unit with the door unlocked since we'd stayed at the property before - works for us.
Easiest. Travel day. Ever.
Battery Hill Condos
Rainbow's End Living Area
View from the wraparound porch/deck at Rainbow's End
After getting settled in we walked down the hill towards Frank Bay on our way to "town"
First stop in town was at the Tap Room. Going to the Tap Room was in no way a first, but the reason for this particular visit was - I was picking up my bib for the 8 Tuff Miles race! Oh yeah, on our last visit I had decided that participating in this event had become a bucket list item for me, so here we were. This was the major factor in our decision to brave the crowds, cold(er) water, and everything else that comes with high season on STJ. Next stop was at St. John Spice to pick up a few essentials (and to get some ribbing from Faith about the Gators losing their bowl game!). The need for food was now becoming paramount, and fearing long waits at all of the most popular places, we opted to stop at Sogo's, where we almost had the place to ourselves (one other table had one guy seated at it). Leslie had the first cocktail of the trip, while I was abstaining until after the race (more than a day on STJ without an adult beverage? Definitely a first!). I had the special of the day, Chicken Palau, while Leslie had the BBQ meatballs - everything was excellent, and reasonable - I think the total bill was $24.
Leslie at Sogo's
After dinner we headed to High Tide. High Tide has kind of become an arrival day tradition for us, and although we didn't have our usual first on-island drinks and dinner there, we did manage to make an appearance. Not coincidentally, so did Innervisions! As I was walking through The Beach Bar on my way there I heard someone call out my name, and was pleased to see Tracy (Tracy in WI) and her friend Mary. They said that they would wander over to High Tide once they were through eating.
Leslie at High Tide
Innervisions
Three lovely ladies (Tracy, Leslie, and Mary)
After a while the long day started catching up with us, so we made the uphill journey "home" where we were serenaded to sleep by the sounds of our favorite STJ reggae band, wafting up from town...
Friday, February 22. Our first full day on island. First thing on the agenda - coffee on the deck!
Sun rising over Cruz Bay
The best part of waking up...
After breakfast we packed up our two seater jeep (all that was available when we booked back in November!) and headed toward the Annaberg parking lot by Leinster Bay. We took the opportunity to drive North Shore Road before it got busy with later starters and cruise ship passengers - we just love that drive! On the way we saw Pia's husband Les, and their friend walking the dogs. This was convenient, because Leslie's knee surgery in January was going to make it impossible for her to walk the 8 Tuff as planned, and Pia and Les' friend was looking to secure a bib for the race - it worked out perfectly.
Once that was taken care of, we proceeded to the parking area and I took off for a short 20 minute jog to Francis and back, while Leslie chatted with a woman on the wall by the bay. My light run completed, it was time to get into the water. Normally it would be a no brainer for us to just walk down the trail a bit and snorkel in Leinster Bay and/or around Waterlemon Cay, but I was in "taking things easy" mode, so we opted to drive back to Maho. It was certainly busier, on the beach and in the water, than what we are used to, and the water was discernibly cooler than it usually is in October! Nonetheless, we got in, put our snorkel gear on and made our way out to the point and back, enjoying the sights all along the way...
Smooth trunkfish
School of jacks
Coral
Scorpionfish
After our (shorter than normal) snorkel was done, we headed back into town, stopped at St. John Ice to get some jugs of water, then to Pine Peace market for a few things, then back to Rainbow's End. When we were putting our snorkel gear out on the deck to dry, we saw this guy
Maybe that's why when it was time to pick out a place for lunch in town, we went here:
Actually, on our last visit we noticed that the management had put old license plates from various places up on the walls inside, and since we had spent years collecting the same for our son's room at home, and we had more than we had room for, we brought some of the extras with us for them to add to their collection. On a subsequent visit we did see that they have been displayed on the walls there, and in future visits we plan to continue to provide them with even more.
After lunch we went back and took an invigorating dip in the Battery Hill pool, then a nap. At 5:00 we were at The Marketplace where Leslie was meeting with a woman that had fairly recently established a physical therapy practice on the island. None of us knew what the scope of that meeting would turn out to be, but when Leslie came out of the office a bit later than the planned hour, and met me on the terrace outside of Sam and Jack's Deli she had an interesting look on her face, then asked me, "so, do you want to move to St. John?"
Wow. Just wow. Apparently the "informational" meeting had gone very well, to the point where Leslie had been effectively offered an opportunity to come and practice physical therapy here! Talk about "firsts"!
There was certainly no lack of things to talk and think about the rest of the day and night. We prepared a pasta dinner (carbo loading for tomorrow) at the condo, then just relaxed, all the while hoping that my pre-race jitters as well as this exciting new development would allow us to get some sleep. Unfortunately there would be no Innervisions music as a lullaby tonight - instead we got the play by play over the PA system of the football game being played at the ballfield by the Sprauve School. Despite that, sleep did eventually come...
Thursday, February 21 - Travel day.
We had a 10:15AM flight out of Orlando, which is a much shorter (45 minutes vs 3 hours) and nicer drive than the one we usually have to take to Miami. This time, due primarily to some medical issues he'd been experiencing, we were boarding our lab, Champ, at his vet's office. They open at 7:30, it's a 45 minute drive, 2 hours before flight recommended to be at the airport - there was potential for stress, but none of it materialized. We got Champ dropped off a little early, traffic was nominal, we got right on the shuttle at the off airport lot, and were taken immediately to the American departure area. The security line was incredibly efficient, and for the first time in memory none of our carry on bags got flagged for additional scrutiny. We were in boarding group one, and our less than full plane made the short hop to Miami on time and without incident. We had a one hour layover before the MIA-STT leg, and when they called out the connecting gate info, we learned that we would be leaving from the very same gate where the first leg ended! While waiting for boarding to begin, in the corner of my eye I saw someone running toward us with a big smile on her face - it was Laura (SOonthebeach), who had the same second leg flight as us. It was great to finally meet her in person!
We were in the second boarding group for flight #2 - I had secured exit row seats for this flight in case Leslie's knee (operated on in January) needed a little extra room. We even ended up having the third seat in our row empty! We got to Cyril King Airport on STT a few minutes earlier than our 4:05 scheduled landing, and after deplaning and getting a complimentary Coconut Cruzan shot, we saw the smiling face of Magdalena, from Amalie Car Rental! Due to some complaints from the on site rental companies, Amalie has been asked (told? demanded?) to cease and desist from bringing their customer's cars to the airport. Fortunately, they have some reserved spaces at the Emerald Resort, so we threw our bags into their jeep, took the two minute ride to Emerald where, away from the hustle and bustle of the airport, we filled out our paperwork, got a quick orientation, and were on our way to Red Hook!
Despite it being a multiple cruise ship day on STT, we made it across island, sans the usual Cost-U-Less stop, in plenty of time to catch the 5:00 Captain Vic car barge to STJ. I called Cimmaron, the management agency for the Rainbow's End unit at Battery Hill, where we'd be staying, to let them know that our arrival was imminent, and to arrange meeting them. I told them that there was no need to be met at the barge terminal since we'd been to Rainbow's End before. The greeter asked if we'd just as soon have her leave the keys in the unit with the door unlocked since we'd stayed at the property before - works for us.
Easiest. Travel day. Ever.
Battery Hill Condos
Rainbow's End Living Area
View from the wraparound porch/deck at Rainbow's End
After getting settled in we walked down the hill towards Frank Bay on our way to "town"
First stop in town was at the Tap Room. Going to the Tap Room was in no way a first, but the reason for this particular visit was - I was picking up my bib for the 8 Tuff Miles race! Oh yeah, on our last visit I had decided that participating in this event had become a bucket list item for me, so here we were. This was the major factor in our decision to brave the crowds, cold(er) water, and everything else that comes with high season on STJ. Next stop was at St. John Spice to pick up a few essentials (and to get some ribbing from Faith about the Gators losing their bowl game!). The need for food was now becoming paramount, and fearing long waits at all of the most popular places, we opted to stop at Sogo's, where we almost had the place to ourselves (one other table had one guy seated at it). Leslie had the first cocktail of the trip, while I was abstaining until after the race (more than a day on STJ without an adult beverage? Definitely a first!). I had the special of the day, Chicken Palau, while Leslie had the BBQ meatballs - everything was excellent, and reasonable - I think the total bill was $24.
Leslie at Sogo's
After dinner we headed to High Tide. High Tide has kind of become an arrival day tradition for us, and although we didn't have our usual first on-island drinks and dinner there, we did manage to make an appearance. Not coincidentally, so did Innervisions! As I was walking through The Beach Bar on my way there I heard someone call out my name, and was pleased to see Tracy (Tracy in WI) and her friend Mary. They said that they would wander over to High Tide once they were through eating.
Leslie at High Tide
Innervisions
Three lovely ladies (Tracy, Leslie, and Mary)
After a while the long day started catching up with us, so we made the uphill journey "home" where we were serenaded to sleep by the sounds of our favorite STJ reggae band, wafting up from town...
Friday, February 22. Our first full day on island. First thing on the agenda - coffee on the deck!
Sun rising over Cruz Bay
The best part of waking up...
After breakfast we packed up our two seater jeep (all that was available when we booked back in November!) and headed toward the Annaberg parking lot by Leinster Bay. We took the opportunity to drive North Shore Road before it got busy with later starters and cruise ship passengers - we just love that drive! On the way we saw Pia's husband Les, and their friend walking the dogs. This was convenient, because Leslie's knee surgery in January was going to make it impossible for her to walk the 8 Tuff as planned, and Pia and Les' friend was looking to secure a bib for the race - it worked out perfectly.
Once that was taken care of, we proceeded to the parking area and I took off for a short 20 minute jog to Francis and back, while Leslie chatted with a woman on the wall by the bay. My light run completed, it was time to get into the water. Normally it would be a no brainer for us to just walk down the trail a bit and snorkel in Leinster Bay and/or around Waterlemon Cay, but I was in "taking things easy" mode, so we opted to drive back to Maho. It was certainly busier, on the beach and in the water, than what we are used to, and the water was discernibly cooler than it usually is in October! Nonetheless, we got in, put our snorkel gear on and made our way out to the point and back, enjoying the sights all along the way...
Smooth trunkfish
School of jacks
Coral
Scorpionfish
After our (shorter than normal) snorkel was done, we headed back into town, stopped at St. John Ice to get some jugs of water, then to Pine Peace market for a few things, then back to Rainbow's End. When we were putting our snorkel gear out on the deck to dry, we saw this guy
Maybe that's why when it was time to pick out a place for lunch in town, we went here:
Actually, on our last visit we noticed that the management had put old license plates from various places up on the walls inside, and since we had spent years collecting the same for our son's room at home, and we had more than we had room for, we brought some of the extras with us for them to add to their collection. On a subsequent visit we did see that they have been displayed on the walls there, and in future visits we plan to continue to provide them with even more.
After lunch we went back and took an invigorating dip in the Battery Hill pool, then a nap. At 5:00 we were at The Marketplace where Leslie was meeting with a woman that had fairly recently established a physical therapy practice on the island. None of us knew what the scope of that meeting would turn out to be, but when Leslie came out of the office a bit later than the planned hour, and met me on the terrace outside of Sam and Jack's Deli she had an interesting look on her face, then asked me, "so, do you want to move to St. John?"
Wow. Just wow. Apparently the "informational" meeting had gone very well, to the point where Leslie had been effectively offered an opportunity to come and practice physical therapy here! Talk about "firsts"!
There was certainly no lack of things to talk and think about the rest of the day and night. We prepared a pasta dinner (carbo loading for tomorrow) at the condo, then just relaxed, all the while hoping that my pre-race jitters as well as this exciting new development would allow us to get some sleep. Unfortunately there would be no Innervisions music as a lullaby tonight - instead we got the play by play over the PA system of the football game being played at the ballfield by the Sprauve School. Despite that, sleep did eventually come...
Come see us!
Re: Feb 21-28 2013 STJ Trip Report (Pt. 1)
have been looking forward to your report!!! great as usual.
Re: Feb 21-28 2013 STJ Trip Report (Pt. 1)
I love installments! Can't wait for the next!
Trip report 2009
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... highlight=
Trip report 2008
So good, so good, so good!
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... highlight=
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... highlight=
Trip report 2008
So good, so good, so good!
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... highlight=
Re: Feb 21-28 2013 STJ Trip Report (Pt. 1)
Best cliff-hanger since "Who shot JR?" Dying to know what you kids are going to do!!!
Re: Feb 21-28 2013 STJ Trip Report (Pt. 1)
yay, great story, love the many different "characters" you have brought through so far. And your pictures, delightful!
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chicagoans
- Posts: 1586
- Joined: Thu Jan 18, 2007 2:51 pm
- Location: IL
Re: Feb 21-28 2013 STJ Trip Report (Pt. 1)
Thanks for part 1 of the TR! Great pictures - I love the underwater shots.
I'm sorry that I missed so many forumites while we were all on islands... I'm sure we passed each other at some point and it would have been fun to say hi!
Can't wait to hear your thoughts about 8 Tuff and whether you're hoping to go back to run it again. I am!
I'm sorry that I missed so many forumites while we were all on islands... I'm sure we passed each other at some point and it would have been fun to say hi!
Can't wait to hear your thoughts about 8 Tuff and whether you're hoping to go back to run it again. I am!
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Tracy in WI
- Posts: 1624
- Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 8:39 am
- Location: Wisconsin
Re: Feb 21-28 2013 STJ Trip Report (Pt. 1)
It was so great to be on island at the same time and celebrate such wonderful events as 8 Tuff and the new job/life opportunity with you both! Just adding the fact that the photo which included me above was on our travel day after waking up at 1:30 am..... Not my best side! 
Tracy, Seaside Properties at Grande Bay
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EagleRayLover
- Posts: 1474
- Joined: Sat Feb 12, 2011 8:56 pm
- Location: St. John -WooHoo!!
Re: Feb 21-28 2013 STJ Trip Report (Pt. 1)
Tracy - are you saying Steve should have taken a picture of your butt and posted it??Tracy in WI wrote:Just adding the fact that the photo which included me above was on our travel day after waking up at 1:30 am..... Not my best side!
Leslie, Kids Night In Babysitting
Re: Feb 21-28 2013 STJ Trip Report (Pt. 1)
Cold and snowy here in Indiana. So good to sit down after work and see a trip report. Enjoying it with a hot cup of tea. Love the pictures!
So excited for your new experiences to begin. It is always fun to see some peoples dreams really can become a reality. Best wishes!
So excited for your new experiences to begin. It is always fun to see some peoples dreams really can become a reality. Best wishes!
Re: Feb 21-28 2013 STJ Trip Report (Pt. 1)
Always enjoy your reports, and this one should be your best yet!
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momto3boys
- Posts: 157
- Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2011 5:14 pm
- Location: Missouri
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mindehankins
- Posts: 3014
- Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:21 am
- Location: Western NY State
Re: Feb 21-28 2013 STJ Trip Report (Pt. 1)
...so I'm scrolling down, enjoying the heck out of your report and I get to your coffee shot with your knee up like that and I thought OH GAWD, I hope he has pants on!
So happy for your opportunity, and thanks for sharing your pics!!!
So happy for your opportunity, and thanks for sharing your pics!!!
Re: Feb 21-28 2013 STJ Trip Report (Pt. 1)
Love it, miss it, can't wait to read part 2 and continue to remember what fun St. John can be.
Thanks for sharing...
Thanks for sharing...
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MargaritaDee
- Posts: 17
- Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2012 4:31 pm
Re: Feb 21-28 2013 STJ Trip Report (Pt. 1)
Great report! Cannot wait for the next installment...will they or won't they? Loved the underwater photos, please tell us what camera you are using!
May you always have a shell in your pocket and sand in your shoes...
If I could just figure out the damn ticker...St. John Vacation June 20-July 5, 2014!
If I could just figure out the damn ticker...St. John Vacation June 20-July 5, 2014!