usvi-on-line
First part of a trip report -31 Aug to 10 Sept
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David- n Hampton, VA
- Posts: 137
- Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 8:30 am
First part of a trip report -31 Aug to 10 Sept
As an editorial note...I am not the humorist that Chrisn was back in Jun-Jul; nor the split personality of Bob and Anita; nor the wild and crazy "real time" reporting of nakedness drinking and other debauchery that Jorge was able to relate. Sadly, it is a tame short story....but I promised so here goes.
Before the trip starts way back in 13 months early, I did a great deal of research for a place to stay. Key search criteria, in order...
1. Air conditioning throughout
2. View
3. Pool
4. Outdoor Shower (my wife...loves to take outside showers....maybe a bit of exhibitionist in her, who knows?!)
With only two or three choices, and having stayed at one of the others (Time Out) we chose Sea Stone. I will say a bit about that here and then give a more thorough report in the Villa Review section later.
Then trip insurance. So far, going down to St. John has been like treading the needle with respect to hurricanes. I live in a marina on the Chesapeake Bay Here in Hampton VA. Hurricane Isabel hit three days before my first trip to St. John and while we had only minor damage from the storm proper we did not have electricity while we were finalizing our packing. (We also had the best barbeques no one had power and most of us had to cook all their frozen meats out on their grills and we had a great send off!) Then on the next trip, we flew around one Hurricane as it came up the gulf and slammed into Florida, and were sitting in Time Out Villa for two days while a different storm became a hurricane right on top of us almost.
So, here we were looking at Ernesto. Didn't seem like it was a problem...so decision made....here we come!
Aug 31- Wake up at 5:00 AM after a fitful short night of sleep. (Why one might ask?) Because my lovely and talented wife of 30 years spent most of the last three days packing and repacking three huge suitcases. We have everything in there. Seriously.....if I were to ask for a shoe horn so I could get my sandal on and off easier…I am sure she has one. Or, perhaps some or some gauze tape to wrap up a nasty wound (more on this later), I am sure she has it. In addition to all the changes of beach clothing...(three or four pair of swim attire for each, multiple cover-ups for her, multiple sandals (just in case) we packed our own snorkel gear (and backups in case something was damaged and didn't work up to specification.) She is aware that each traveler can carry two checked pieces weighing up to 50 pounds each….and she likes to make sure she squeaks by under the limit. No joke….I literally weigh each piece and occasionally she has to re-do packing. This would seem to be easy, but one has to understand my wife's logic. She packs so that if a bag doesn't make it we can still function. So everything is cross loaded carefully. When something has to be removed from one it invariably impacts the location of something else. By the way….while for me this is a time consuming and ugly process... but, it is so nice to have what I want when I want it at the vacation sites.
Our ride arrives (my dad). Load everything, which includes three big bags and one carry on. (I asked my wife were her purse was and she curtly replied she planned on buying one there to reduce the amount of carry on's we had!)
On our US Air flight I wasn't allowed to claim my "preferred" status for some reason. Maybe because I made the trip arrangements with my wife listed as well and she doesn't have any affiliation. What I can tell you is this....parents should be slapped silly for letting their two children scream and yell through out a flight. Thankfully it was the first leg which was only 45 minutes versus the longer flight from Charlotte NC. I keep looking around for an Air Marshall to come over and demand they take care of their kids. That flight by itself wore my wife and I out. We had very little time between flights (and I noted that the horrible family who were heading for the Bahamas missed their flight) as ours landed 20 minutes late, so we got there as it was loading and settled in for a pleasant flight to STT.
First things first….rum punch welcome and a toast to a great vacation between my wife and I. Next find a taxi. Then called Viva Vacations and was pleased to hear they were prepared for our arrival and would meet us at the dock at 5:30. We loaded up with 20 or 30 young people into a van (okay, really it was 8 others, but it felt like 20 or 30 by the time we all got loaded) and were whisked away toward Red Hook by the driver who refused all conversation instead turning his radio on tuned to a political talk radio channel where I heard all the stuff I wanted to get away from! Whatever....soon we will be out and on the ferry.
Our timing was tight but we made the 5:00 PM ferry "just" barely. The entire vehicle wanted their bags first…so after a bit of wrangling luggage we all streamed for the ferry. Called Viva again (as instructed) but this time got voice mail. Hopped aboard and started trying to get my island time feeling working. Boat landed after a very nice trip across. As promised I was standing there on the dock waving at the Web cam when Ruth (of St John Spice fame) came out and said "Hey are you David!" I was pleasantly surprised and pleased when she said…hold on right there and I will get the web cam to take you and your wife's picture. We did and I think some of you may have seen my ugly mug along with my brides pretty face.
It was hot…..no Viva agent in sight. I told my wife to stay there I would walk over to Conrad Sutton's to get the jeep Liberty we had arranged for. (As I have said a bit about my experience with Conrad Sutton on a post by FlaGeorge I will merely mention here, that I wouldn't use Conrad again.) After the paperwork I drove back to the dock. My wife informed me that Kylan from Viva was there and he had just gone and gotten her a bottle of water so she could cool off a bit. Making myself a promise to get back and meet with Ruth the following day, we decided to head out to the villa.
Kylan turned out to be a very nice and enthusiastic young man and in his vehicle, led us out to Sea Stone villa then walked us through the villa explaining everything we needed to know. The villa was very nice but the view was absolutely glorious. Can't be beat.
After unloading the car, we went to see what there was to drink and then to eat in that order. I had paid Katilady (catering service on the island) to deliver several of their packages including a prepared dinner. The fridge was very well stocked and had everything I had requested (including things that are not routinely on the "menu" they offer. As an example, I had asked them if they could pick up a good steak and a good lamb chop for us to cook on the grill. Both were there and were great pieces of meat. So expectations met, my wife spent that night chilling out....spent a bit of time in the pool, then retired for the night, happy to be STJ.
As a note, one should assume a lot of drinking happening through this story. Rather then mentioning it every day. It happened. I liked it.
This story is running longer then I imagined it would so I am making this installment one... (of probably three)
Before the trip starts way back in 13 months early, I did a great deal of research for a place to stay. Key search criteria, in order...
1. Air conditioning throughout
2. View
3. Pool
4. Outdoor Shower (my wife...loves to take outside showers....maybe a bit of exhibitionist in her, who knows?!)
With only two or three choices, and having stayed at one of the others (Time Out) we chose Sea Stone. I will say a bit about that here and then give a more thorough report in the Villa Review section later.
Then trip insurance. So far, going down to St. John has been like treading the needle with respect to hurricanes. I live in a marina on the Chesapeake Bay Here in Hampton VA. Hurricane Isabel hit three days before my first trip to St. John and while we had only minor damage from the storm proper we did not have electricity while we were finalizing our packing. (We also had the best barbeques no one had power and most of us had to cook all their frozen meats out on their grills and we had a great send off!) Then on the next trip, we flew around one Hurricane as it came up the gulf and slammed into Florida, and were sitting in Time Out Villa for two days while a different storm became a hurricane right on top of us almost.
So, here we were looking at Ernesto. Didn't seem like it was a problem...so decision made....here we come!
Aug 31- Wake up at 5:00 AM after a fitful short night of sleep. (Why one might ask?) Because my lovely and talented wife of 30 years spent most of the last three days packing and repacking three huge suitcases. We have everything in there. Seriously.....if I were to ask for a shoe horn so I could get my sandal on and off easier…I am sure she has one. Or, perhaps some or some gauze tape to wrap up a nasty wound (more on this later), I am sure she has it. In addition to all the changes of beach clothing...(three or four pair of swim attire for each, multiple cover-ups for her, multiple sandals (just in case) we packed our own snorkel gear (and backups in case something was damaged and didn't work up to specification.) She is aware that each traveler can carry two checked pieces weighing up to 50 pounds each….and she likes to make sure she squeaks by under the limit. No joke….I literally weigh each piece and occasionally she has to re-do packing. This would seem to be easy, but one has to understand my wife's logic. She packs so that if a bag doesn't make it we can still function. So everything is cross loaded carefully. When something has to be removed from one it invariably impacts the location of something else. By the way….while for me this is a time consuming and ugly process... but, it is so nice to have what I want when I want it at the vacation sites.
Our ride arrives (my dad). Load everything, which includes three big bags and one carry on. (I asked my wife were her purse was and she curtly replied she planned on buying one there to reduce the amount of carry on's we had!)
On our US Air flight I wasn't allowed to claim my "preferred" status for some reason. Maybe because I made the trip arrangements with my wife listed as well and she doesn't have any affiliation. What I can tell you is this....parents should be slapped silly for letting their two children scream and yell through out a flight. Thankfully it was the first leg which was only 45 minutes versus the longer flight from Charlotte NC. I keep looking around for an Air Marshall to come over and demand they take care of their kids. That flight by itself wore my wife and I out. We had very little time between flights (and I noted that the horrible family who were heading for the Bahamas missed their flight) as ours landed 20 minutes late, so we got there as it was loading and settled in for a pleasant flight to STT.
First things first….rum punch welcome and a toast to a great vacation between my wife and I. Next find a taxi. Then called Viva Vacations and was pleased to hear they were prepared for our arrival and would meet us at the dock at 5:30. We loaded up with 20 or 30 young people into a van (okay, really it was 8 others, but it felt like 20 or 30 by the time we all got loaded) and were whisked away toward Red Hook by the driver who refused all conversation instead turning his radio on tuned to a political talk radio channel where I heard all the stuff I wanted to get away from! Whatever....soon we will be out and on the ferry.
Our timing was tight but we made the 5:00 PM ferry "just" barely. The entire vehicle wanted their bags first…so after a bit of wrangling luggage we all streamed for the ferry. Called Viva again (as instructed) but this time got voice mail. Hopped aboard and started trying to get my island time feeling working. Boat landed after a very nice trip across. As promised I was standing there on the dock waving at the Web cam when Ruth (of St John Spice fame) came out and said "Hey are you David!" I was pleasantly surprised and pleased when she said…hold on right there and I will get the web cam to take you and your wife's picture. We did and I think some of you may have seen my ugly mug along with my brides pretty face.
It was hot…..no Viva agent in sight. I told my wife to stay there I would walk over to Conrad Sutton's to get the jeep Liberty we had arranged for. (As I have said a bit about my experience with Conrad Sutton on a post by FlaGeorge I will merely mention here, that I wouldn't use Conrad again.) After the paperwork I drove back to the dock. My wife informed me that Kylan from Viva was there and he had just gone and gotten her a bottle of water so she could cool off a bit. Making myself a promise to get back and meet with Ruth the following day, we decided to head out to the villa.
Kylan turned out to be a very nice and enthusiastic young man and in his vehicle, led us out to Sea Stone villa then walked us through the villa explaining everything we needed to know. The villa was very nice but the view was absolutely glorious. Can't be beat.
After unloading the car, we went to see what there was to drink and then to eat in that order. I had paid Katilady (catering service on the island) to deliver several of their packages including a prepared dinner. The fridge was very well stocked and had everything I had requested (including things that are not routinely on the "menu" they offer. As an example, I had asked them if they could pick up a good steak and a good lamb chop for us to cook on the grill. Both were there and were great pieces of meat. So expectations met, my wife spent that night chilling out....spent a bit of time in the pool, then retired for the night, happy to be STJ.
As a note, one should assume a lot of drinking happening through this story. Rather then mentioning it every day. It happened. I liked it.
This story is running longer then I imagined it would so I am making this installment one... (of probably three)
Oh, it DOES sound like you hurt yourself while on vacation! Bummer. I thought maybe it was an old injury. I'm accident prone, so I can sympathize.
Great start, and I am looking forward to the rest. I'm especially interested in hearing more about your villa. We've 'almost' picked Sea Stone for two of our four trips.
Great start, and I am looking forward to the rest. I'm especially interested in hearing more about your villa. We've 'almost' picked Sea Stone for two of our four trips.
It's like looking in your soup and finding a whole different alphabet.
Another Cross Packer!
Like your wife, I am a cross-packer. I speak from experience, it makes a lost bag a lot easier to stomach. I also make sure we all have one change of clothes and a bathing suit in the carry-ons. (I admit to have packing lists for checked and carry-on baggage)
While I am not quite as bad as it relates to quantity, the wife side of our travelling friends is and while we tease, her stash of creature comforts has come in handy.
I can't wait to hear about the villa. It looks great on the website. I am considering a different rental through Viva. I get the impression so far that you were pleased with their service?
While I am not quite as bad as it relates to quantity, the wife side of our travelling friends is and while we tease, her stash of creature comforts has come in handy.
I can't wait to hear about the villa. It looks great on the website. I am considering a different rental through Viva. I get the impression so far that you were pleased with their service?
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David- n Hampton, VA
- Posts: 137
- Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 8:30 am
To Pa Girl About VIVA
Absolutely, would recommend them to anyone, and will certainly use them next time.
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Jan&MikeVa
- Posts: 1084
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 5:32 pm
- Location: The Chesapeake Bay
Enjoying your report so far.....anxiously awaiting more! 
You got out of town just in time, hope your boat faired okay with Ernesto. We live in Seaford and we flooded about 2/3 the way up the backyard. With Isabel we completely flooded. But the wind seemed worse this time.
Am sorry to hear that this injury happened on vacation, hope you're doing better.
Jan (aka Charlie)
You got out of town just in time, hope your boat faired okay with Ernesto. We live in Seaford and we flooded about 2/3 the way up the backyard. With Isabel we completely flooded. But the wind seemed worse this time.
Am sorry to hear that this injury happened on vacation, hope you're doing better.
Jan (aka Charlie)
I do a knapsack and share half of a snorkel bag. I manage to get my daughters to pack the same way. Easier to pack, less to worry about!Coden wrote:Hmmm, I plan on packing all of my clothes, my fins and my snorkel mask & snorkel in my backpack - I guess I am an under packer?
Love your report thus far and can't wait to hear more!!
If we still have restriction in November I may bring one piece of checkable luggage for our gang.
Quick, gotta read the next installment.
Cheers, RickG