My Caribbean Paradise Finally Found:

          St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

By:  Jennifer Milano, written February 2016, traveled April 2012

In October 2011, our friends asked us if we wanted to travel with them over the 2012 school April break.  "Someplace warm," they requested.  "Maybe a Caribbean island?"  Now tell me you want to go to Europe or Asia, and I can help you.  But I am the first to admit that I know very little about Caribbean islands.  I was in the Bahamas a few times.  That's about it.  Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of a white sand beach and clear turquoise water as much as every other normal human being.  But every time I researched a Caribbean island for a vacation, I failed to get excited.  I wanted the beach in most of my vacations, but I also wanted more - interesting culture, fantastic food, lots of natural beauty, connection with local people, an exotic feel, and preferably a foreign language.  I also do not like to vacation at large resorts with a lot of other Americans.  I picture gated resorts where guests are dropped off after landing at the airport, and don't leave until it's time to return home.  I envision crowded pools, mediocre service, and bland food. I imagine that in such a resort, I would have no connection to the island, its culture or people.  The resort would be interchangeable with any other nice resort on any other island.  I didn't know this to be true, but I never wanted to spend thousands of dollars and precious vacation days finding out. 

So for spring break 2012, I was faced with a challenge.  A Caribbean challenge.  In the back of my mind where I had tucked away tidbits about the Caribbean, I recalled the look of pure bliss on the face of my friend, Jen, when she had described her week long honeymoon on St. John.  "Most of the island is national park," she had explained.  "The beaches are secluded and beautiful."  Jen had stayed at an eco-resort, but for a group of nine, we decided to search for a villa rental.

After considering several options, we booked Vista Caribe villa through Catered To.  We secured flights from the east coast to St. Thomas for $400 per person (St. John has no airport), and hunkered down for the long winter that preceded our Caribbean escape.

April arrived.  Giddy with excitement, my kids packed their bathing suits and new snorkel gear, and we met our friends at the airport for the flight to St. Thomas.  Since we had an extra night before our villa rental began, we decided to stay on St. Thomas.  We rented jeeps at the St. Thomas airport, and checked into the nearby Best Western Emerald Beach Resort.  The hotel room was musty, and the bathroom had mosquitoes, both dead and alive.  The pool and beach at the hotel were crowded, and the restaurant's food was unexciting.  Venturing into town for dinner, we found most shops and restaurants to be closed, and the town had a deserted feel.  So far, my Caribbean predictions were not far off base.  We couldn't wait to leave the island the next morning and head to what we hoped would be our island paradise.

We drove our car onto the little ferry that leaves Red Hook, St. Thomas and sat on a sunny bench enjoying the breeze on the 20-minute ride to St. John.  Coming into view, St. John was hilly and green, with little villas dotting the mountainside.  We wondered which one was ours.  The Catered To representative met us, and showed us the way up the steep road from town to Vista Caribe.  We parked our jeep, and walked about a dozen tiled-steps down to our beautiful villa with a spectacular view of the sailboat-dotted Cruz Bay.  Adjacent to the villa was a private pool with a gazebo and lounge chairs, and a separate master bedroom suite in its own building.  The villa's kitchen and living room were lovely, and very clean.  The four bedrooms and bathrooms were spacious and updated.  Looked like paradise so far!  We finished exploring, and the grown-ups set to unpacking and grocery shopping while the kids ran around their new home for the week. 

The next morning, we woke up to sunshine and clear blue skies.  We loaded the complimentary beach chairs into our jeep rental, and headed to Sam & Jack's in town to pick up a picnic lunch to take to the beach.  We pulled the car onto the side of the road where other beachgoers had lined up their cars as overflow parking.  After encouraging the (reluctant) kids to carry their own snorkel gear from the car to the beach, we grabbed our remaining gear and shuffled across the road to the most perfect stretch of beach.  Long and narrow, with palms and jungle shading the sand, it was easy to find a secluded spot to drop our beach chairs, towels, sand toys, cooler bags and snorkel gear.  Stepping out from under the natural shade, it was just a few strides to the warm, aquamarine water that I dream about every February in New England.

This became our daily ritual - each day, a different beach.  The kids waded in the shallow sea and played in the sand, often discovering bright orange sea stars and shy hermit crabs along the water's edge.  The adults lounged on the beach, watching the calm, clear water intently.  When inevitably a snorkeler's head would pop up, his or her mouth announcing "turtle!", three of the four adults would head out with snorkeling gear in search of the beautiful creature.  (The remaining adult stayed on the beach to supervise the kids.) 

And this, the snorkeling, is probably the best thing about St. John.  Instead of paying for an expensive, long boat journey to a snorkeling spot, you can sit on a picture-perfect beach with natural shade and snorkel just off shore.  You can snorkel for ten minutes, or for hours.  In addition to the amazing sea turtles, you will see rays, urchins, and lots of fish.  For children too young to snorkel, they can stand in knee-deep water and spot fish and the occasional turtle head popping up out of the water.  At St. John's most popular beach, Trunk Bay, there is an underwater snorkeling "trail", complete with signs identifying types of coral along the way.  But we preferred the uncrowded, long Maho Bay beach, our favorite of the trip.  Francis Bay beach had lots of wildlife to delight the kids, including huge iguanas and wild roosters.  (See below for beach recommendations.) 

After spending the morning at the beach and eating our picnic lunch, we would pack up around 2:00 pm to head back to the villa.  One of the adults would mix up margaritas in the kitchen, and the kids would hop into the pool for an afternoon swim.  We relaxed, and never tired of the expansive view of Cruz Bay.  After our outdoor showers, we headed into town for dinner or picked up take out to eat at the villa (we cooked the first night, and then decided it was too much work for a vacation!).  We followed this pleasant routine everyday except for the last, when we skipped our morning beach time for a half-day excursion on the Scubadu, a a 50-foot catamaran owned by Captain Joe.  Our group of nine had the gorgeous boat to ourselves.  Captain Joe's first-mate entertained the kids and brought us drinks, while we lounged on the bow in between secluded snorkeling stops fantasizing about owning our own catamaran in the Caribbean.  Wondering how much this fantasy would cost, my husband googled the cost of a 50-foot catamaran.  "The problem is that the fantasy includes a captain and crew," I pointed out.  We abandoned the dream and just enjoyed our four hours in paradise, lying in the warm sun, relishing the ocean breeze on our faces, and looking up through white sails at blue sky.

How to Get to and around St. John:

There are no commercial flights to St. John.  Most travelers take a flight to St. Thomas, and either rent a car or take a shuttle service to Red Hook on the opposite side of the island where the ferry departs for St. John.  Only about a 20-minute ride with no reservations required, the ferry is a pleasant way to arrive on an island that is nearly two-thirds national park.  We liked having a rental car so that we could explore the beaches independently from our rented villa.  Car rentals are also available on St. John, but are more expensive especially considering you need to add on the cost of a shuttle on St. Thomas.  For parking in Cruz Bay, there is a lot near the car barges by the tennis courts that seemed to always have space, and is located about five minutes’ walk to the center of town.  Or, you can call a taxi and avoid driving and parking.

Where to Stay:

There are two upscale large resorts on St. John, the The Westin St. John Resort and Caneel Bay Resort.  While friends have stayed at the Westin and enjoyed it, our group of four adults and five children chose to share a villa for the week, as most visitors to St. John tend to do.  Our four-bedroom, four-bathroom villa, Vista Caribe, was private, gorgeous, and boasted a spectacular view of Cruz Bay.  We were only a ten-minute drive from town, and about 20 minutes to the north shore beaches.  The kids loved having their own pool in which to splash around after a day at the beach.  We would rent this villa again, and used Catered To for booking.  Catered To was responsive and accommodating.  For example, when we reported that some of the beach chairs were broken, they dropped off nine brand new beach chairs within a couple of hours.  We also spent our first night in St. Thomas at the Best Western Emerald Beach Resort, to break up the long trip from New York to St. John.  This was a mistake.  The resort was not nice, the beach was not great and we did not like the commercial, yet deserted vibe on St. Thomas.  If we return to St. John, we will travel straight through to the island. 

Where to Eat:

After grocery shopping and cooking the first night, we decided it was much easier and more economical to let the local restaurants do the work.  We loved getting take-out from Uncle Joe’s Barbecue.  The barbecue sauce is stellar.  We had a pretty good meal at Spyglass, which is kid-friendly and right on the water in downtown Cruz Bay.  We also really liked Rhumblines for dinner.  The setting is a bit strange – you enter through a convenience store, into a garden lit by tiki torches.  But the food was good, and the vibe was kind of cool.  I missed a few meals because our youngest had a 48-hour virus with 104 fever (note:  the 24-hour doctor’s office in Cruz Bay was closed at 2:00 pm on a Wednesday afternoon and the voice mailbox was full).  Our friends enjoyed Morgan’s Mango.  They also liked Skinny Legs, a dive in Coral Bay where you can eat burgers while the feral donkeys roam around nearby.  For excellent take-out, try Sam & Jack’s, which is on the third floor of the shopping complex where Starfish Market is located in Cruz Bay.  Sam & Jack’s also makes fresh lemonade and smoothies.  We wanted to try Taqueria, in the same complex, but it was always closed.  We heard from friends that Jake’s was good for breakfast and I read an article recommending La Tapa, but we did not have the chance to try either one.

The little coffee/smoothie stand at the junction of the roads out to Maho and Francis Bays is not a good value.  They do not use fresh fruit, and it is overpriced.  For good coffee and espresso, try the shop inside the bookstore at the Starfish Market complex.  The ice cream shop next to Morgan’s Mango and Mongoose Junction is not good.  If we had time for more ice cream, I would have tried ISCREAM, near Spyglass.

What to Do:

Beaches:  Try to arrive by 9:30-10:00 am for parking spots and shady areas to set up camp for the day.  If you arrive later, no one seems to mind if you get creative with parking spots.

• Maho Bay was our favorite.  There is no sign announcing the beach, but Maho is in between Cinnamon Bay and Francis Bay, closer to Francis.  The beach is narrow and long.  The end of the beach away from the facilities and closer to Francis is the better part of the beach because the water is shallow, and there are rocks and coral to attract fish.  Snorkeling off of Maho is fantastic, and we saw several sea turtles.  The huge, orange-red sea stars on the beach are beautiful.  Maho is perfect for kids (scroll down to the bottom of the page for an eight-year-old's review of Maho).

• Trunk Bay was probably our second-favorite beach.  Trunk is the most popular beach on the island, boasting an underwater snorkeling trail complete with signs telling swimmers what type of coral or plant they are seeing.  The beach itself is absolutely breathtaking.  We were lucky that the beach happened to be uncrowded that day.  Ask your villa or hotel concierge which days the cruise ships are ferrying passengers to Trunk Bay and avoid those days.

• Francis Bay was spectacular for the wildlife.  We saw lots of turtles, rays, an iguana, a hermit crab and wild roosters.  The water is not as aquamarine in color as at other beaches.  There is a hiking trail at this beach, but no facilities except a porta-john.

• Cinnamon Bay is a large beach that is a long walk from the parking area.  There are restroom facilities and a snack bar.  For me, the only reason to visit Cinnamon Bay is watersports.  We rented a kayak and a paddleboard here, which was a lot of fun.  The water is so clear that you can spot marine life from your vessel.

• Solomon Beach is a beautiful and secluded beach that you can access by a 15-minute hike.  The kids thought it was worth hiking in the heat to find a deserted beach littered with coconuts they could try to bang open.  There are no facilities. 

Boating:  A highlight of our trip was our half-day sail on the catamaran Scubadu, by Captain Joe.  We had originally planned on following our friends’ advice and taking a full day sail to the British Virgin Islands, and visiting Jost Van Dyke (you need your passports for this trip).  But, our friends we were traveling with did not have passports and Captain Joe talked me out of it, saying that Jost Van Dyke is not for little kids.  The friends who recommended it took their kids there - it is basically a British Virgin Island with a beautiful beach and a famous beach bar called the Soggy Dollar.  I think you actually swim to the island from the boat.  Our friends also recommended “The Willy Cheese” which is a bar/restaurant on a barge, and Foxy’s restaurant and beach on the other side of Jost Van Dyke.  There are other boat excursions from St. John - the Baths at Virgin Gorda look really cool.  But we loved our half-day sail and are so glad that we chose the Scubadu.  Captain Joe does charters only, so we had the huge boat to ourselves (we had a large group so it was affordable - at the time, his minimum was $700) and Joe took us to an amazing snorkeling spot called Mary Point where we were the only snorkelers.  The fish and coral species were varied and beautiful.  We also did some sailing and swimming off the boat by Hawksnest Beach, another really pretty spot.  Joe’s first mate entertained the kids and made us drinks.  It was a really relaxing four hours for four tired parents, and I highly recommend an excursion on the Scubadu.