Caribbean Trip - St John, VI

After a long day of travel, we got home at 2:00AM.

A few notes about the trip.

The weather forecasts were always totally wrong.  There was never a day that was a washout.  Everything was lush and verdant, so it has to rain sometimes.  Power was elusive. There is obviously a power problem on the island, but like everything, it just gets taken in stride.  All in all, it was a little on the pricey side, but since everything has to be shipped in, it’s not surprising.

Verdant 

We were very surprised that we had to go through customs on the way home, since it is the United States Virgin Islands.  It took about two hours of standing in line to get through.  

St John was hit hard by Hurricane Irma in 2017.  There are still remnants of the storm everywhere, and rebuilding is extremely slow.  However, there are some new places with nice shops and restaurants: Wharfside Landing and Mongoose Junction that we enjoyed. The only hotel on the island is the Westin.

The  Sunset Cruise was a real highlight of the trip, it was well done and very enjoyable.  The cruise was on a 55’ sailing catamaran and lasted about 2 hours.

Although there are lots of taxi’s (really, an open air jitney), we found that a jeep rental was pretty much a necessity. Parking is a huge problem, however.  There are a few paid lots in town, but they are expensive, and fill up quickly.  There is parking at all the beaches, but they fill up in the mornings.

We developed a pretty good routine.  We headed out for a beach or a hike by 9:00 and always found a parking spot. We came back to Cruz Bay for lunch, where parking was a challenge.  We went back to the VRBO for our afternoon siesta and a game or two of dominos before heading back to Cruz Bay for dinner.

Our VRBO, Bliss, was wonderful.  Extremely well equipped, everything we could ask for, with awesome views.  Would we go back…probably not.  It was a great trip, but since we are not big beach goers, we got to see everything we wanted to see and do everything we wanted to do.  But then again, never say never!