rec's for st.thomas/st.john

[kylerules]

I am looking at going for a long weekend in March (4 nights). Any must sees? Thanks!

[tres3]

Trunk Bay on St. Johns.

[soozy87]

The national park on St. John was great!

[kylerules]

we will be staying on St. Thomas. I need to know if we should stick near the airport (Charlotte Amelia) or be closer to red hook?

[tacoflavoredkisses]

Jan 2, 2016 15:10:12 GMT -5 kylerules said:

we will be staying on St. Thomas. I need to know if we should stick near the airport (Charlotte Amelia) or be closer to red hook?

We stayed near red hook at sapphire beach and loved it. Red hook being so close gave us plenty of food options for dinners out.

[tacoflavoredkisses]

Also we loved cinnamon bay on St. John.

[kylerules]

Jan 2, 2016 15:13:31 GMT -5 tacoflavoredkisses said:

Jan 2, 2016 15:10:12 GMT -5 kylerules said:

we will be staying on St. Thomas. I need to know if we should stick near the airport (Charlotte Amelia) or be closer to red hook?

We stayed near red hook at sapphire beach and loved it. Red hook being so close gave us plenty of food options for dinners out.

Did you rent a car?

[tacoflavoredkisses]

Jan 2, 2016 17:29:55 GMT -5 kylerules said:

Jan 2, 2016 15:13:31 GMT -5 tacoflavoredkisses said:

We stayed near red hook at sapphire beach and loved it. Red hook being so close gave us plenty of food options for dinners out.

Did you rent a car?

Yes. We rented a small car and that helped, although there were enough taxis around (we used a taxi while on St. John).

[kylerules]

Jan 2, 2016 17:42:57 GMT -5 tacoflavoredkisses said:

Jan 2, 2016 17:29:55 GMT -5 kylerules said:

Did you rent a car?

Yes. We rented a small car and that helped, although there were enough taxis around (we used a taxi while on St. John).

What did you do on St. John? I have heard that taxis can get expensive and that it might be worth it to ship your rented car over?

[tacoflavoredkisses]

Jan 2, 2016 20:08:38 GMT -5 kylerules said:

Jan 2, 2016 17:42:57 GMT -5 tacoflavoredkisses said:

Yes. We rented a small car and that helped, although there were enough taxis around (we used a taxi while on St. John).

What did you do on St. John? I have heard that taxis can get expensive and that it might be worth it to ship your rented car over?

The company we rented from (which was one of the more reputable ones) did not allow us to take the rental over.

We did a one-day thing to St. John near the end of our 10 day trip to St. Thomas (and we sort of "lost" 2 days of the trip due to bad weather).  We took the ferry first thing in the morning from Red Hook to Cruz Bay.  We did a little hike nearby and then went back to the ferry terminal and grabbed a taxi to Cinnamon Bay.  We spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon swimming and lounging on the beach.  It was super quiet so we practically had the place to ourselves.  The day we went, the surf was quite rough so we couldn't rent snorkels because there was some kind of surf restriction that day and they were advising tourists not to snorkel.

Cinnamon Bay had a camping area above it that had showers, so we washed up and caught a taxi back to Cruz Bay.  We had an early dinner and visited shops in that area before heading back to Red Hook.  

[kylerules]

Jan 2, 2016 20:32:10 GMT -5 tacoflavoredkisses said:

Jan 2, 2016 20:08:38 GMT -5 kylerules said:

What did you do on St. John? I have heard that taxis can get expensive and that it might be worth it to ship your rented car over?

The company we rented from (which was one of the more reputable ones) did not allow us to take the rental over.

We did a one-day thing to St. John near the end of our 10 day trip to St. Thomas (and we sort of "lost" 2 days of the trip due to bad weather).  We took the ferry first thing in the morning from Red Hook to Cruz Bay.  We did a little hike nearby and then went back to the ferry terminal and grabbed a taxi to Cinnamon Bay.  We spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon swimming and lounging on the beach.  It was super quiet so we practically had the place to ourselves.  The day we went, the surf was quite rough so we couldn't rent snorkels because there was some kind of surf restriction that day and they were advising tourists not to snorkel.

Cinnamon Bay had a camping area above it that had showers, so we washed up and caught a taxi back to Cruz Bay.  We had an early dinner and visited shops in that area before heading back to Red Hook.  

Good info, Thanks! Did you spend most of your time on St. Thomas , if so what were some highlights?

[tacoflavoredkisses]

Jan 2, 2016 20:46:14 GMT -5 kylerules said:

Jan 2, 2016 20:32:10 GMT -5 tacoflavoredkisses said:

The company we rented from (which was one of the more reputable ones) did not allow us to take the rental over.

We did a one-day thing to St. John near the end of our 10 day trip to St. Thomas (and we sort of "lost" 2 days of the trip due to bad weather).  We took the ferry first thing in the morning from Red Hook to Cruz Bay.  We did a little hike nearby and then went back to the ferry terminal and grabbed a taxi to Cinnamon Bay.  We spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon swimming and lounging on the beach.  It was super quiet so we practically had the place to ourselves.  The day we went, the surf was quite rough so we couldn't rent snorkels because there was some kind of surf restriction that day and they were advising tourists not to snorkel.

Cinnamon Bay had a camping area above it that had showers, so we washed up and caught a taxi back to Cruz Bay.  We had an early dinner and visited shops in that area before heading back to Red Hook.  

Good info, Thanks! Did you spend most of your time on St. Thomas , if so what were some highlights?

We did.  We stayed on Sapphire Beach.  I highly recommend visiting there if not staying there, because the beach was really pretty and the snorkeling was great.  Such clear water!  We went out about 50 yards from the shore and swam around a few sea turtles.  We rented a condo through VRBO and it worked out well for us. We went to Coral World one day, which was a bust other than we did do an encounter with sea turtles that was neat. We did a day of shopping in Charlotte Amalie.  I admittedly didn't love that, because I got overwhelmed by all of the shop employees who stood outside hollering at us trying to get us to come in. We also did a day at Magen Bay, which was nice, and we picked up milkshakes at a little dairy farm near there.  As I mentioned earlier, we had 2 crummy weather days, so we stayed inside and chilled/watched movies.

My H proposed during that trip, so we also did a chartered a sailboat cruise at sunset, which was fantastic and included dinner and drinks.

[kylerules]

thanks for the recs, I actually contacted a person on VRBO a few days ago about a place on sapphire beach, so that helps! I am going with my sister for a 4 nights in March- I didn't even think about the chance of bad weather, so hopefully we get lucky.

[tacoflavoredkisses]

Jan 2, 2016 22:09:15 GMT -5 kylerules said:

thanks for the recs, I actually contacted a person on VRBO a few days ago about a place on sapphire beach, so that helps! I am going with my sister for a 4 nights in March- I didn't even think about the chance of bad weather, so hopefully we get lucky.

We went at the end of October into early November, so we were prepared for some rain.

[seabitch]

Red Hook and Charolette Amalie both have ferries to St John. Red Hook is farther from the airport across St Thomas over winding curvy hills. Both areas have great restaurants. We pass through St Thomas each time we go to the British Virgin Islands.

St John seems less busy than St Thomas. If you go, you can hike to Honeymoon and Solomon Beaches very easily from Cruz Bay. You can also taxi to Any of the other beaches. Trunk Bay is the most popular and most photographed. If you go to one off the beaten path, be sure to arrange return travel with the taxi. Cruz Bay has fun shopping (without the pressures of Charolette Amalie shopkeepers) and several fun beach bars. We like one to the right just off the ferry called the Beach Bar.

Highly recommend a day or sunset sail for your trip. It will get you out on the water and give you another view of these beautiful islands. Two other places to get good info for planning are traveltalkonline and virginislandsonline. Enjoy your planning and your stay!

[kylerules]

Jan 3, 2016 17:22:17 GMT -5 seabitch said:

Red Hook and Charolette Amalie both have ferries to St John. Red Hook is farther from the airport across St Thomas over winding curvy hills. Both areas have great restaurants. We pass through St Thomas each time we go to the British Virgin Islands.

St John seems less busy than St Thomas. If you go, you can hike to Honeymoon and Solomon Beaches very easily from Cruz Bay. You can also taxi to Any of the other beaches. Trunk Bay is the most popular and most photographed. If you go to one off the beaten path, be sure to arrange return travel with the taxi. Cruz Bay has fun shopping (without the pressures of Charolette Amalie shopkeepers) and several fun beach bars. We like one to the right just off the ferry called the Beach Bar.

Highly recommend a day or sunset sail for your trip. It will get you out on the water and give you another view of these beautiful islands. Two other places to get good info for planning are traveltalkonline and virginislandsonline. Enjoy your planning and your stay!

Thanks so much!