My most recent trip was this past summer (2004) when I visited the Virgin Islands. Mike
and I chose the islands as our vacation destination mostly because I wanted to go somewhere
in the Caribbean and he'd been there before and talked me into it (it wasn't too hard). I
was excited because it was the first time I would get to use my new passport! You don't need
a passport to get to the U.S. Virgin Islands but if you want to go to the British Virgin
Islands you will need something to prove American citizenship like a driver's license and a
birth certificate. All this can be too much to carry on vacation so I would recommend just
the passport. Also, having a passport also makes getting through the airport faster.
The majority of our vacation time was spent on the tiny island of St. John. The island is
the smallest of the three islands that make up the U.S. Virgin Islands. Two-thirds of the
island is property of the National Park Service and therefore, mostly undeveloped. The
main town on St. John is Cruz Bay. It's a very tiny, laid back island so you won't find too
much activity there. However, there are lots of shops and resturants to suit all tastes and
some small-scale nightlife in the form of some lively bars.
My favorite place for nightlife was
a little bar called Woody's(right).
During the day Woody's is a tiny
resturant serving a little bit of
everything. We ate there for lunch
one day and it was good; but I
really liked Woody's at night. The
people there were a mix of island
natives, tourists like us, and
ex-patriots who always had an
intriguing story of how they came
to live on the island. It was just
a very cool place to hang out.
Happy hour specials were great
(the drinking age is the islands
is you have to be taller than the
bar) and the staff was really fun.
As a bonus, our trip was in May
and in the middle of the Tampa Bay
Lightning's (my team) run to the
Stanley Cup; when I found a bar
where hockey was on the TV I was
a happy camper.
There are several places more upscale
than Woody's. One is Morgan's Mango.
We made reservations there twice but
never actually ate there. The story
goes that they actually turned away
Harrison Ford because he didn't have
a reservation. We did eat at the Lime
Inn (left) and it was fantastic. They
had fresh Caribbean lobster and it
was excellent! The inn itself was a
lot of fun; and with the steel-drum
band and lively crowd at the bar it
was actually fun waiting for a table.
Mike and I decided to take the economic approach and
decided to stay at Maho Bay. Maho Bay has four
different campsites around the island. We stayed at
Maho Bay Camps. Here we stayed in canvas tents on a
boardwalk up in the trees. There are also nicer
campsites on the other side of the island; or you
can set up your own tent right on Cinnamon Beach
(this is not recommended due to the bugs and wild
donkeys). A worker at Maho perfectly described
where we stayed as either the nicest campground
you've ever been to, or the worst hotel. I only have
two complaints: one, the bugs were horrible (in
their defense I'm always the tender white meat that
gets eaten first); and two, because it was communal
bathrooms, from our tent it was 83 stairs anytime you
wanted to go to the bathroom. However that was all
secondary because everything that surrounded you was
absolutly beautiful. The picture at right is the view
from our tent. Every morning when I raised my head
from my pillow that is what I saw; and every night I
fell asleep to the sound of waves hitting the
shoreline. It was truely paradise.
Maho Bay is an "eco-friendly" campsite, which means
the camp is trying to not hurt the environment by
being there, and even improving it. Everything is
from water conservation efforts to the biodegradable
dish soap they give you to wash dishes is an effort
to preserve the pristine beauty of the island.
Another part being eco-friendly is recycling. One
way they do that is by taking glass bottles recycled
by guests and crush them up for use in their
glass-blowing workshop. They bring in different
artists and in exchange for lodging and teaching
classes the artists practice their craft and exchange
ideas with other artists. Their work is sold in the
store with proceeds going back to the camp. At night
they have open work hours where visitors can sit and
watch them and ask questions. Guests can also pay to
take a glass-blowing class like I did (left) and you
can take a little piece of Maho artwork home with
you. I had never thought of blowing glass, much less
having the opportunity to learn!
STRANGE CREATURE WARNING: There are
some strange creatures running
around the islands. In addition to
the tropical birds and fish you
expect to see, there are probably a
few new animals that come as a
surprise. One is a mongoose (the
brown thing in the middle of the
picture). They were brought to the
islands in the 1800s to control the
snake and rat population, now they're
everywhere. A second animal is the
iguana. I'm not talking about the
ones people keep as pets; the ones in
the islands are huge! The shortest
one I saw was about three feet long.
A species that's not unusual
(especially to a Floridian like me)
is mosquitoes. It's worth mentioning
because I was not prepared for them
and was eaten alive.
Bug spray is a must!
One of the really neat features of
the island is all the history on it.
A short hike from Maho Bay (or from
almost anywhere on the tiny island)
are the ruins of an old sugar mill
that was used when the islands were
the center of the sugar and rum
trade. The ruins are very much intact
and the signs help fill in any gaps
that might exist. It's easy to
imagine how the system would have
worked. There's also a lady in the
old cooking house who makes bread
and cookies to give out to the
visitors.
No trip to the islands would be complete without
visiting the most-photograpehd beach there.
Trunk Bay is a beautiful beach with pure,
white sand, clear water and the famous
underwater snorkeling trail. The trail is a
series of underwater markers that you follow as
you snorkel and they tell you about the sealife
you are likely to encounter. I recommend going
to Trunk after 4 o'clock. If you go before that
you will run into all the tourists from the
cruise ships. We were there at 3 and the beach
was packed; but at 4 all the tourists left and
we had the beach to ourselves. All the fish
along the snorkeling trail that had gone away
to avoid the choas had returned. It was our own
little slice of paradise.
While there are lots of fun things to do on
St. John and you could probably spend an entire
week just exploring that island we wanted to go
and some of the other islands too. In order to
do this we took a day cruise to the British
Virgin Islands. Our cruise consisted on two
snorkeling stops, lunch, and a tour of the
Baths.The Baths are huge rock formations that
formed with the island. It's hard to accurately
convey how enormous these formations are until
you actually stand there and next to them. The
picture on the left is Mike and me at just one
of the many formations that tower above human
heads. Our guide was really cool. He'd been
there many times and knew his way around so we
got to go climbing on the rocks, down below them
into the pools and all around. The picture on
the top of this page is me at the Baths climbing
into one of the rocks. It was truly spectacular
and my favorite part of the trip. If you do go
to the islands you must stop here. Also on our
day cruise were two more snorkeling stops and
a stop for lunch on Cooper Island. Cooper Island
is 8 square miles and home to the 12 people who
run the small hotel, the only building on the island.
Another island besides St. John where we
spent some times was St. Thomas. The
airport is on St. Thomas so we left St.
John a day early and spent our last night
on St. Thomas. The main town of Charlotte
Amalie is famous for its shopping. For
people who like to shop till they drop
this is the place to be. Shops selling
everything from tacky souvenirs to
Rolexes seemed to go on forever. We choose
to stay at Hotel 1829 (right) which was a
good decision. It was close to all the
shopping and not too far from the airport.
The hotel itself was very charming with
much of the same decor in place as when it
was built in 1829. It was also next door
to Herve Restaurant. We had dinner there
and, while very expensive, was the best
dinner I've had in a long time, possibly
in my entire life. The little bar inside
the hotel offered a very relaxed atmosphere
that was more like that of St. John than
the hustle and bustle of St. Thomas.
After seven days of pure paradise we had to leave. The trip had been the perfect mix of
action and relaxation. Of all the places I've visted this one fits me and my style the
best and is my favorite. I would highly recomend it as a vacation spot for couples or for
someone looking a good deal of rest and relaxation. Links from some of the places I
mentioned are available on my "Travel Reflections" page.
Dining
Lodging
Fun Stuff
Need more travel advice? Want more info? Questions? Comments? Travel
stories you want to share? E-mail me.
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