BoSoxFan45

St. John is worth FAR more than a day. It was FAR more to our liking than STT. It can be more expensive as there are only 3 hotels, (a nice Westin, a former Rock resort that is now run by rosewood (name escapes me right now), and one other.


If you want secluded Carribean at its best, St. John is for you, by a long shot. Don't just go for a day and only to Trunk Bay, which is lovely. Go for several days... it is one of the best places on earth. FAR, FAR, FAR less crowded and more civil than STT, which I found crowded, and frankly rather stressful. My advice is to get out of STT ASAP and head to St. John.

cactuspete

BoSoxFan45, I would agree that St. John deserves more than one day and is far less hectic than St. Thomas (although the East End of STT is nothing like Charlotte Amalie). St. John has been described to me as what St. Thomas was 25 years ago; similarly, Virgin Gorda is what St. John was 25 years ago.
I read your trip reports here re the Westin, and had hoped to get over to take a look at that property. Maybe next time. By the way, I believe that the Rosewood property on St. John is Caneel Bay, which I understand is quite nice but a bit pricey. Rosewood also operates one of the resorts on Virgin Gorda, Little Dix Bay.

hauteboy

Yeah, the g/f and fiancee are the same person. We actually didn't buy the ring till we got back to Austin, we had looked at rings in Charlotte Amalie, but wasnt't serious looking, but it must have triggered something, as the proposal was spontaneous. It was on a sailboat at sunset, just seemed like a good time. Oh, and it was on Friday the 13th.

VicOsaki

You should watch your wallet in St. Thomas. The local merchants specialize in fleecing tourists, most noteably cruise pax. Probably the most reputable seller, Little Switzerland, sells Rolex watches for about what you pay in the US. Remember, the duty free thing is a fraud. There are basically no duties in the US. On large items Customs snitches to your state sales tax collector. It's hard to win.

Goldlust

Nice report!

Sounds like you had a blast. I still cannot understand how my great country ever got the idea of sellings these superb islands to the US...

cactuspete

hauteboy, congratulations. Remember, don't set the bar too high!

VicOsaki, no doubt a fair comment. As I mentioned, you need to do your homework before shopping. We were able to get a bargain on a few items, including a digital camera.

Thanks, goldlust. As I understand it, the U.S. negotiated with Denmark on several occasions to buy the islands, and finally consummated the deal near the beginning of WWI for fear that the Germans might try to take over the islands in order to control shipping through the Panama Canal. The sales price was US$25 million, which apparently was a tidy sum in those days for caribbean island property.

naxos

I have made more than a dozen trips to Virgin Gorda and spent long stretches in summers and in the winter. But I have not been there in 8 years and your report has remnded me how much I miss the beautiful beaches- certainly of the most beautiful in the world.
Next tip a sailing one a la Letiole- now that the Transdermscop patch is available, I cn finally considera sail through th BVI.

cactuspete

How very fortunate for you! I wonder how much has changed since your last visit?

naxos

Cactuspete\
It has changed quite a bit from what I hear. We began to visit in 1978 and since that time there has been much development including the expansion of Bitter End and Biras Creek, the development of Leverick Bay, and Valley Trunk Bay homes- all a while back. More recently, the Nail Bay development and the Maho bay development as well as the area near the Baths and the renovation of Little Dix Bay as well as the changing of airlines and openings and closing of the Virgin Gorda Airport. The biggest change is the development of shorefront property and the devastating impact on the reefs. Also the inclusion of VG on the small cruise ship itins has increased travel to many of the previously deserted beaches. Nevertheless- we have travelled many places and none offers the stunning vistas and easy accessibility of Virgin Gorda. When we first visited, we met a couple who had been revisiting for many years and they had searched for a more beautiful and restful place in the Caribbean and assured us ther was none else. In all our travels, we have yet to find one.

Virgin Gorda is up there with Wengen as an all time favorite. And yes, we feel very fortunate.

onedog

Great trip report.

Sounds like a good usage of 120K DL miles.

cactuspete

naxos, I am curious if you know any of the history surrounding Nail Bay. They have a lot of promotional materials hawking residential lots, but there is very little development (although there is some new construction activity) and the place has all the markings of a real estate development that went under. The dirt road is still very rough, but we were told that there were plans to pave it late this past summer.

naxos

Cacuspete

A while back, the resort was called Turtle Bay- lots for sale and some vacation homes were built. The raod has beem unpaved since 1978 and before.And the local promise has been that it will be paved shortly. We had many interesting rides on the rough road in our jeep since Long Bay, at the end of the road and then some, had been a deserted and pristine snorkeling site. The quality of the road depends a lot on the amount of rain- the more rain during the rainy season, the more ruts in the road- some human sized. Turtle Bay development failed, I think, but I dont know baout the current developers. The condition of the road has always been a deterrent I would think. BTW, in 1978, the mountain road to North Sound was still being completed and we had to bring most of out food for our extended stay. Except for the Bakery at the marina- fresh food and veggies only once a week by boat and the Wednesday lines for these commodities was tiem consuming. And dining at the Bath and Turtle or Little Dix for a month was not really an option.

cactuspete

Yes, but a deterrent to development might not necessarily be a bad thing.

By the way, there are quite a few restaurants now, as well as at least two fairly well-stocked grocery stores.