10 more days in paradise--the full report
10 more days in paradise--the full report
John and I are back from a lovely 10 day visit to St. John. We split our stay between Caneel Bay and Gallows Point. It was a quiet trip for us, with less exploring around the island, less snorkeling (the water feels too cold to me in the winter), less time on the North Shore thanks to swells that persisted for much of our visit, lots more quiet time relaxing and reading, and LOTS of eating out. Here are some highlights.
Thursday March 3
Arrival at Caneel Bay
Dinner was something forgettable from the Beach Terrace. No pictures.
Friday March 4
The view from our room
Scott Beach
Our spot on the beach each day
Donkeys on the way to dinner
Dinner at Zozos
Lobster carbonara
Cured salmon pasta
Striped bass
Jumbo shrimp with fava bean puree
Saturday March 5
Flowers at Caneel Bay
We skipped the Caneel breakfast buffet and opted to split a turkey brie panino from the coffee shop at the resort. After I ordered the sandwich, the chef brought out gorgeous looking deep dish quiches. That’s what I am getting next time!
Breakfast on the deck of our room
Our daily spot. You might notice that there are no other chairs nearby. That may or may not be because we were always the first ones on the beach and we moved all of the other chairs out of our spot
Scott to Caneel snorkel
Southern stingray with jack
Strange raft. Caneel offers free rafts for their guests, but one man had brought along this large inflatable raft. I have never seen anything like it!
Flounder
Stoplight parrotfish
Trunkfish
Purple anemone
Juvenile yellowtail damselfish
Coney with moray eel
Turtle
Corals
[/
We had lunch at the Caneel Sushi Bar
Yellowtail koi
Tuna Island salad
Caneel Crunch roll
Sandy Beach roll
Donkeys
Sunset
Dinner was at Turtle Bay Estate House. It was too dark to take pictures by the time most of our food came. There was a fantastic breeze coming through the restaurant that night.
Bread service
Conch chowder
Sunday March 6
We checked out of Caneel and moved over to Gallows Point. I love Caneel but prefer more space after a few days. We had an ocean upper unit at Gallows, which gives you 1.5 baths, a galley kitchen, a living/dining room, and a lofted separate sleeping space. The units have central air but we never use it. I love the breeze through the louvers and the sound of the ocean (the sound of the ferry less so, but it’s not too bothersome).
The view from our Gallows unit
It started pouring around 5, so no sunset. We borrowed an umbrella from the front desk and headed to dinner at Rhumblines
Summer rolls
Pupu shrimp
Blackened scallops
Tuna with puff daddy noodles
Monday March 7
It was still raining off and on, but at least we had a rainbow. We spent the morning reading.
Eventually there was a break in the rain, so we went to lunch at the Lime Inn
Cracked conch
Snapper sandwich with pickled cauliflower salad
And with Josephine’s greens salad
More rain moved in that afternoon so we scrapped any beach plans and resumed our spots on the couches to read books until it was time for dinner at Extra Virgin Bistro
Drinks
Housemade ricotta with truffled corn
Crab cakes
Shrimp and crab papparadelle
Tuesday March 8
We drove over to Hansen Bay with the thought of snorkeling Pelican Rock
Not happening! It was FREEZING over there. I was wrapped up in beach towels and still shivering. We packed it in after an hour or so, and headed to lunch at Shipwreck Landing
Blackened shrimp
Fish reuben
Tuna tacos
It warmed up a bit in the afternoon so we snorkeled Gallows to Frank Bay
Orangespotted filefish
Moray eel
grouper
Sort-of sunset
Later that evening we went to dinner at Ocean’s 362
Drinks
Bread service
Local tomato salad
Tuna tartare with plantain chips and whipped feta
Vegetarian plate of farro with roasted root vegetables and feta
Roasted mahi and Caribbean lobster tail. This came with a kale that was one of my favorite things that we ate the entire vacation!
Wednesday March 9
We were feeling lazy, so we just spent the day reading books.
Eventually we rousted ourselves out of the condo and went for a drive. We stopped in for a snack at Aqua Bistro
Mahi mahi skewers
Tempura shrimp with wasabi cream
There was not much of a sunset due to the weather, but I thought the sky looked pretty
Thursday March 10
We went to breakfast at High Tide. The classic breakfast
Florentine benedict
Rainbow on Cruz Bay from High Tide
On the way back to Gallows we stopped to view the Club Med 2 anchored off of Cruz Bay
We snorkeled off Gallows to Frank Bay again.
Baby jacks
A well-hidden flounder
Blue tang
Angelfish
Orangespotted filefish
Needlefish
We went over to Trunk in the late afternoon and swam for a couple of hours. This became a routine of sorts for us. I think we visited Trunk four times this trip, always in the later afternoon after the crowds had left.
Club Med 2 leaving during sunset
That night we stopped by Drink! St. John for a cocktail. This place was never crowded any time we went by. I hope they are still in business this summer, as we finally got enough punches in our years-old loyalty card to get a free drink.
We had dinner at La Tapa
Langoustines
Bacalao fritters
Papparadelle with shrimp, langoustines and arugula in an albarino cream sauce
Tuna with crispy polenta
Friday March 10
Had another relaxing morning at Gallows and then went to lunch with friends at Cruz Bay Landing. No pictures this time, but everything was tasty. We swam at Trunk again in the afternoon.
That night we returned to Zozos for a second fantastic dinner.
Scallops Rockefeller
Tortellini in parmesean brodo
Pistachio crusted mahi mahi
Oven roasted fluke stuffed with crab
Saturday March 11
We got to Maho around 9:30. Read for a while and when it warmed up a bit we went snorkeling. Maho Bay was turtle town! We counted 14 different turtles, including one that was bigger than me.
Happy parrotfish!
Southern stingray
Peacock flounder
Sand diver
Lobster
Porkfish
Grouper
Octopus. We swam with this guy for over 20 minutes. I have over 40 photos of him. Here are five.
Needlefish
We tried to go to Miss Lucy’s for lunch but they were closed as they had hosted their full moon party the night prior. I did not realize that the parties are not always on the actual full moon date. Hopefully they will be open when we return this summer because I sorely missed their grouper reuben! We ended up having lunch at Aqua Bistro. Calamari
Fish tacos
We spent the afternoon at Trunk again.
Sunset
We went to the Terrace for dinner.
Drinks
Tuna tartare (this was excellent)
Roasted tomato tart
Tuna
Lobster
Camembert fritters
Sunday March 12
We decided to take an overlook tour since it had been some years since we stopped at the overlooks for photos. Caneel Bay
Trunk Bay
Maho and Francis Bays
We then decided to do the Leinster drift snorkel. The coral looked good but there were not as many fish as we are used to seeing here.
We returned to Shipwreck Landing for lunch
conch fritters
blackened shrimp quesadilla
Grouper sandwich
We went to Trunk…again
Sunday sunset
Kekoa at sunset
We were supposed to go to Asolare for dinner, as is tradition for our last night, but my stomach could not take another huge dinner, so we cancelled. Instead we went to the Beach Bar and split a couple of things
Tuna down now
Mahi tacos
Monday March 13
We checked out of Gallows and headed back to Caneel for lunch and the ferry to the airport. View from the upper terrace
Yellowtail koi
Crab and tuna wontons
Tuna tataki
Tuna island salad
And then it was time to go. Departure ferry
The saddest sight
We are booked for two weeks this summer, and have a much more adventurous trip planned, including two boat days. But for right now, this simple and unexciting trip was just what we wanted. Thanks for reading.
John and Becky
Thursday March 3
Arrival at Caneel Bay
Dinner was something forgettable from the Beach Terrace. No pictures.
Friday March 4
The view from our room
Scott Beach
Our spot on the beach each day
Donkeys on the way to dinner
Dinner at Zozos
Lobster carbonara
Cured salmon pasta
Striped bass
Jumbo shrimp with fava bean puree
Saturday March 5
Flowers at Caneel Bay
We skipped the Caneel breakfast buffet and opted to split a turkey brie panino from the coffee shop at the resort. After I ordered the sandwich, the chef brought out gorgeous looking deep dish quiches. That’s what I am getting next time!
Breakfast on the deck of our room
Our daily spot. You might notice that there are no other chairs nearby. That may or may not be because we were always the first ones on the beach and we moved all of the other chairs out of our spot
Scott to Caneel snorkel
Southern stingray with jack
Strange raft. Caneel offers free rafts for their guests, but one man had brought along this large inflatable raft. I have never seen anything like it!
Flounder
Stoplight parrotfish
Trunkfish
Purple anemone
Juvenile yellowtail damselfish
Coney with moray eel
Turtle
Corals
[/
We had lunch at the Caneel Sushi Bar
Yellowtail koi
Tuna Island salad
Caneel Crunch roll
Sandy Beach roll
Donkeys
Sunset
Dinner was at Turtle Bay Estate House. It was too dark to take pictures by the time most of our food came. There was a fantastic breeze coming through the restaurant that night.
Bread service
Conch chowder
Sunday March 6
We checked out of Caneel and moved over to Gallows Point. I love Caneel but prefer more space after a few days. We had an ocean upper unit at Gallows, which gives you 1.5 baths, a galley kitchen, a living/dining room, and a lofted separate sleeping space. The units have central air but we never use it. I love the breeze through the louvers and the sound of the ocean (the sound of the ferry less so, but it’s not too bothersome).
The view from our Gallows unit
It started pouring around 5, so no sunset. We borrowed an umbrella from the front desk and headed to dinner at Rhumblines
Summer rolls
Pupu shrimp
Blackened scallops
Tuna with puff daddy noodles
Monday March 7
It was still raining off and on, but at least we had a rainbow. We spent the morning reading.
Eventually there was a break in the rain, so we went to lunch at the Lime Inn
Cracked conch
Snapper sandwich with pickled cauliflower salad
And with Josephine’s greens salad
More rain moved in that afternoon so we scrapped any beach plans and resumed our spots on the couches to read books until it was time for dinner at Extra Virgin Bistro
Drinks
Housemade ricotta with truffled corn
Crab cakes
Shrimp and crab papparadelle
Tuesday March 8
We drove over to Hansen Bay with the thought of snorkeling Pelican Rock
Not happening! It was FREEZING over there. I was wrapped up in beach towels and still shivering. We packed it in after an hour or so, and headed to lunch at Shipwreck Landing
Blackened shrimp
Fish reuben
Tuna tacos
It warmed up a bit in the afternoon so we snorkeled Gallows to Frank Bay
Orangespotted filefish
Moray eel
grouper
Sort-of sunset
Later that evening we went to dinner at Ocean’s 362
Drinks
Bread service
Local tomato salad
Tuna tartare with plantain chips and whipped feta
Vegetarian plate of farro with roasted root vegetables and feta
Roasted mahi and Caribbean lobster tail. This came with a kale that was one of my favorite things that we ate the entire vacation!
Wednesday March 9
We were feeling lazy, so we just spent the day reading books.
Eventually we rousted ourselves out of the condo and went for a drive. We stopped in for a snack at Aqua Bistro
Mahi mahi skewers
Tempura shrimp with wasabi cream
There was not much of a sunset due to the weather, but I thought the sky looked pretty
Thursday March 10
We went to breakfast at High Tide. The classic breakfast
Florentine benedict
Rainbow on Cruz Bay from High Tide
On the way back to Gallows we stopped to view the Club Med 2 anchored off of Cruz Bay
We snorkeled off Gallows to Frank Bay again.
Baby jacks
A well-hidden flounder
Blue tang
Angelfish
Orangespotted filefish
Needlefish
We went over to Trunk in the late afternoon and swam for a couple of hours. This became a routine of sorts for us. I think we visited Trunk four times this trip, always in the later afternoon after the crowds had left.
Club Med 2 leaving during sunset
That night we stopped by Drink! St. John for a cocktail. This place was never crowded any time we went by. I hope they are still in business this summer, as we finally got enough punches in our years-old loyalty card to get a free drink.
We had dinner at La Tapa
Langoustines
Bacalao fritters
Papparadelle with shrimp, langoustines and arugula in an albarino cream sauce
Tuna with crispy polenta
Friday March 10
Had another relaxing morning at Gallows and then went to lunch with friends at Cruz Bay Landing. No pictures this time, but everything was tasty. We swam at Trunk again in the afternoon.
That night we returned to Zozos for a second fantastic dinner.
Scallops Rockefeller
Tortellini in parmesean brodo
Pistachio crusted mahi mahi
Oven roasted fluke stuffed with crab
Saturday March 11
We got to Maho around 9:30. Read for a while and when it warmed up a bit we went snorkeling. Maho Bay was turtle town! We counted 14 different turtles, including one that was bigger than me.
Happy parrotfish!
Southern stingray
Peacock flounder
Sand diver
Lobster
Porkfish
Grouper
Octopus. We swam with this guy for over 20 minutes. I have over 40 photos of him. Here are five.
Needlefish
We tried to go to Miss Lucy’s for lunch but they were closed as they had hosted their full moon party the night prior. I did not realize that the parties are not always on the actual full moon date. Hopefully they will be open when we return this summer because I sorely missed their grouper reuben! We ended up having lunch at Aqua Bistro. Calamari
Fish tacos
We spent the afternoon at Trunk again.
Sunset
We went to the Terrace for dinner.
Drinks
Tuna tartare (this was excellent)
Roasted tomato tart
Tuna
Lobster
Camembert fritters
Sunday March 12
We decided to take an overlook tour since it had been some years since we stopped at the overlooks for photos. Caneel Bay
Trunk Bay
Maho and Francis Bays
We then decided to do the Leinster drift snorkel. The coral looked good but there were not as many fish as we are used to seeing here.
We returned to Shipwreck Landing for lunch
conch fritters
blackened shrimp quesadilla
Grouper sandwich
We went to Trunk…again
Sunday sunset
Kekoa at sunset
We were supposed to go to Asolare for dinner, as is tradition for our last night, but my stomach could not take another huge dinner, so we cancelled. Instead we went to the Beach Bar and split a couple of things
Tuna down now
Mahi tacos
Monday March 13
We checked out of Gallows and headed back to Caneel for lunch and the ferry to the airport. View from the upper terrace
Yellowtail koi
Crab and tuna wontons
Tuna tataki
Tuna island salad
And then it was time to go. Departure ferry
The saddest sight
We are booked for two weeks this summer, and have a much more adventurous trip planned, including two boat days. But for right now, this simple and unexciting trip was just what we wanted. Thanks for reading.
John and Becky
It's like looking in your soup and finding a whole different alphabet.
Re: 10 more days in paradise--the full report
Amazing trip report and pics, as always! You hit so many of our favorite restaurants - and how lucky that you pulled off Zozo's twice! It's always nice how surprisingly good the snorkeling is at Gallows, and all the way along the left of Frank Bay (we always just stay at Gallows). How great to be able to split the trip between Gallows and Caneel (we have never stayed at Caneel - may need to consider splitting in the future to be able to be right on a beautiful beach). And the octopus at Maho was fantastic - we have seen them elsewhere and mostly partially hidden, but never at Maho and out and about so much! I felt your relaxation just reading your report and savoring your pictures. At least you will be back soon, and can get Miss Lucy's amazing grouper reuben (which is my absolute favorite - I made the mistake last time of trying the one at Shipwreck and it wasn't nearly as good!).
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Re: 10 more days in paradise--the full report
Becky,
As always, LOVE your photos! That first photo of the Parrotfish was amazing! Love the swirl/tilt of its tail. As if it were "posing" for you! We have never seen an octopus...so fingers crossed for this upcoming trip....37 days, but, who's counting! So happy to have run into you and John a few years back at Zozo's. I am counting down the days til I can make our reservation for our night at Zozo's. Always one of the highlights of our trip.
Nice to read that you had a "chill" trip this time around. I often feel like we don't do nearly half as much as other folks. But, nothing wrong with enjoying the tranquility of reading a nice book with soft breezes and salty air!
Take care!
Sue (& Jim)
As always, LOVE your photos! That first photo of the Parrotfish was amazing! Love the swirl/tilt of its tail. As if it were "posing" for you! We have never seen an octopus...so fingers crossed for this upcoming trip....37 days, but, who's counting! So happy to have run into you and John a few years back at Zozo's. I am counting down the days til I can make our reservation for our night at Zozo's. Always one of the highlights of our trip.
Nice to read that you had a "chill" trip this time around. I often feel like we don't do nearly half as much as other folks. But, nothing wrong with enjoying the tranquility of reading a nice book with soft breezes and salty air!
Take care!
Sue (& Jim)
Re: 10 more days in paradise--the full report
Becky,
It's always great to read your reports and see your awesome food porn
It's always great to read your reports and see your awesome food porn
Re: 10 more days in paradise--the full report
Thank you for the trip report and the wonderful photos. We are staying at Caneel for the first time for 1 night next month (then on to Serendip Condos).
Re: 10 more days in paradise--the full report
Always enjoy your TRs. Your photography is 2nd to none. Not even sure what I'd do with two weeks on the Rock. So far 8 days is my longest, but would eventually love to get to two weeks. I love how you guys split time at 2 spots. It's like two vacations in one. If I were to do it, I think I'd spend one week near Coral Bay and one near Cruz.
Thanks again and looking forward to another one this summer. We'll be in there in mid-June.
And count me on board with the new picnic tables at Beach Bar.
Thanks again and looking forward to another one this summer. We'll be in there in mid-June.
And count me on board with the new picnic tables at Beach Bar.
It’s not about yesterday or tomorrow...It’s about today, for come what may – Sun, rain, or hurricane – we've only time for a smile, and none for sorrow
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Re: 10 more days in paradise--the full report
Thanks for your report. I always love the photos.
Re: 10 more days in paradise--the full report
Thanks for the great pics!! Amazing....now I'm hungry and want to go for a swim
Dave/Bigcheeze
Dave/Bigcheeze
Re: 10 more days in paradise--the full report
Thank you so much for your fabulous trip report Becky, it was a pleasant surprise read this morning. I feel like I got a little STJ fix to help me make it until my trip in November. I love all of your pictures and restaurant adventures, they're awesome.
Re: 10 more days in paradise--the full report
Nice! Some great rainbow and UW shots, and so many food shots LOL with fine use of ambient light -- you have pretty steady hands to shoot those low light shots...
Thanks for taking the time to post.
Thanks for taking the time to post.
When we come to place where the sea and the sky collide
Throw me over the edge and let my spirit glide
Throw me over the edge and let my spirit glide
Re: 10 more days in paradise--the full report
Happy to see and read your report, Becky!
What is your overall impression of Ocean 362 and Terrace? We usually pick a couple of fine dining spots per trip. Since ZoZo's is our favorite, it doesn't leave much room for other spots and we haven't gotten around to trying Ocean 362 or Terrace.
I don't know if it was because of your report that I first read late last night (and again this afternoon), but I dreamed about being on St. John last night. I hadn't done that in a while...
Wishing you all a very happy trip back to St. John this summer - assuming it will be a "whole crew" trip.
What is your overall impression of Ocean 362 and Terrace? We usually pick a couple of fine dining spots per trip. Since ZoZo's is our favorite, it doesn't leave much room for other spots and we haven't gotten around to trying Ocean 362 or Terrace.
I don't know if it was because of your report that I first read late last night (and again this afternoon), but I dreamed about being on St. John last night. I hadn't done that in a while...
Wishing you all a very happy trip back to St. John this summer - assuming it will be a "whole crew" trip.
Re: 10 more days in paradise--the full report
In April, planning reserved dinner at Zozos, but beyond that, haven't made any plans or reservations.
Did you guys make reservations for any of the other places you went to? We normally also make sure to get to Rhumblines for dinner, and to Sun Dog and Shipwreck for lunch - although that cracked conch at Lime Inn looked really good.
Also considering La Tapa, Terrace, and Extra Virgin for dinner since we haven't been to those. We will have to check those menus to see what floats our boat, but what order of preference would you rank them?
Thanks
Did you guys make reservations for any of the other places you went to? We normally also make sure to get to Rhumblines for dinner, and to Sun Dog and Shipwreck for lunch - although that cracked conch at Lime Inn looked really good.
Also considering La Tapa, Terrace, and Extra Virgin for dinner since we haven't been to those. We will have to check those menus to see what floats our boat, but what order of preference would you rank them?
Thanks
When we come to place where the sea and the sky collide
Throw me over the edge and let my spirit glide
Throw me over the edge and let my spirit glide
Re: 10 more days in paradise--the full report
Thank you for the great trip report, Becky. I keep looking for the octopus, but have yet to find him. Love his/her picture. Also, lovely food pics.
Re: 10 more days in paradise--the full report
More luck than anything else, I think. I have gotten OK at low light restaurant food photos, but still have trouble with anything moving unless I have a tripod. I tried to take pictures on both occasions that a cruise ship was coming into Cruz Bay all lit up at night to anchor offshore, but they all came out blurry. The lights of STT looked great but the ship was always a blur. Something to work on during a future visit.jmq wrote:Nice! Some great rainbow and UW shots, and so many food shots LOL with fine use of ambient light -- you have pretty steady hands to shoot those low light shots...
Taste in food is so subjective which is why I did not really add my opinions of what we ate (it's all in my journal though haha). Of the two, I prefer Oceans 362.Pickle wrote: What is your overall impression of Ocean 362 and Terrace? We usually pick a couple of fine dining spots per trip. Since ZoZo's is our favorite, it doesn't leave much room for other spots and we haven't gotten around to trying Ocean 362 or Terrace.
And yes, the whole crew is coming this summer
We had reservations for dinner every night, and if we had not had them I don't know if we would have been seated. I saw the hostesses turning people away at Extra Virgin and La Tapa the nights we ate there. Zozos and Oceans 362 were completely full as well. The second time we went to Shipwreck for lunch, we were some of the only people when we arrived, but by the time we left there was not a seat to be had! That said, we were there during spring break week. The crowds might be lighter in April.jmq wrote: Did you guys make reservations for any of the other places you went to?
1. La Tapajmq wrote:La Tapa, Terrace, and Extra Virgin for dinner since we haven't been to those. We will have to check those menus to see what floats our boat, but what order of preference would you rank them?
Thanks
2. Extra Virgin Bistro
3. Terrace
We have done that a couple of times. If I had it my way, we would always include Coral Bay on our split stay trips. I am not the CEO of our vacation planning though.54b wrote:I love how you guys split time at 2 spots. It's like two vacations in one. If I were to do it, I think I'd spend one week near Coral Bay and one near Cruz.
Thanks for the nice comments everyone!
It's like looking in your soup and finding a whole different alphabet.
Re: 10 more days in paradise--the full report
Thanks again for a wonderful trip report. Nothing wrong with just relaxing and enjoying fantastic looking food! Looking forward to your next installment this summer