Post Irmaria Trip Report
Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 4:59 pm
]We booked this trip in July -we planned to spend two weeks on St John with 2 different families from 12/26 - 1/9. The villa we booked for the 7 of us for week 1 was destroyed during the hurricane. The condo we had booked for week 2 was fine. We were fortunate to receive a full refund from the villa and asked Seaside Properties at Grande Bay if they could accommodate us for weeks 1 and 2. After numerous phone calls with Tracy, who has to be one of the nicest people I've never met, we booked a total of 19 nights for my family, with my SIL and her "kids" joining us for the first 7.
It was a bit of an emotional roller coaster ride, with all of us vacillating between "it's too soon to go" and "how can we not go" and "how can we take housing from people who may need it". As the time grew closer, it became apparent that going was the right choice. Thanks to Kenny Chesney's Love for Love City, the Bloomberg Foundation, BBC Electric FEMA, the NPS, and some amazing residents, the island was ready by Christmas week.
Unfortunately the airlines hadn't come to the same realization so we took a red eye flight Christmas night, had a layover at 6 am in SJU and arrived on STT at about 9:30 AM December 26th. St Thomas - or the parts we saw on our ride to Red Hook, looked better than expected, with fewer blue tarps than anticipated. A stop at a marina, however,told the story, with boats and masts akimbo,askew, etc.
Cruz Bay was looking great - even with the few remaining boats on the beach at Wharfside. A nice lunch at Cruz Bay Landing (limited menu) we dropped our bags at the condo and Mr. H ran over to Bougainvillea to pick up our Jeep for the next 2 weeks. We drove the North Shore Road, surprised by the new view of the water from the road. After following the Tripadvisor forum and Facebook Groups, we were prepared for the damage we saw. We'd been up for 28 hours at this point and decided to settle at Maho, which did sustain the most significant damage. In my sleep deprived state I had not packed sunscreen, bug spray beach towels or an umbrella, so our visit was brief.
The rest of the tribe arrived at 3:30 and back to CBL for drinks and apps. Dinner was at the Lime Inn. I miss the old menu. That doesn't mean the new one isn't good - it just wasn't what we'd been waiting for. Early to bed and after 36 hours with no sleep I slept like a baby and awoke in the same spot I'd fallen asleep.
It was a bit of an emotional roller coaster ride, with all of us vacillating between "it's too soon to go" and "how can we not go" and "how can we take housing from people who may need it". As the time grew closer, it became apparent that going was the right choice. Thanks to Kenny Chesney's Love for Love City, the Bloomberg Foundation, BBC Electric FEMA, the NPS, and some amazing residents, the island was ready by Christmas week.
Unfortunately the airlines hadn't come to the same realization so we took a red eye flight Christmas night, had a layover at 6 am in SJU and arrived on STT at about 9:30 AM December 26th. St Thomas - or the parts we saw on our ride to Red Hook, looked better than expected, with fewer blue tarps than anticipated. A stop at a marina, however,told the story, with boats and masts akimbo,askew, etc.
Cruz Bay was looking great - even with the few remaining boats on the beach at Wharfside. A nice lunch at Cruz Bay Landing (limited menu) we dropped our bags at the condo and Mr. H ran over to Bougainvillea to pick up our Jeep for the next 2 weeks. We drove the North Shore Road, surprised by the new view of the water from the road. After following the Tripadvisor forum and Facebook Groups, we were prepared for the damage we saw. We'd been up for 28 hours at this point and decided to settle at Maho, which did sustain the most significant damage. In my sleep deprived state I had not packed sunscreen, bug spray beach towels or an umbrella, so our visit was brief.
The rest of the tribe arrived at 3:30 and back to CBL for drinks and apps. Dinner was at the Lime Inn. I miss the old menu. That doesn't mean the new one isn't good - it just wasn't what we'd been waiting for. Early to bed and after 36 hours with no sleep I slept like a baby and awoke in the same spot I'd fallen asleep.