Blogs from Saint John, US Virgin Islands, Central America Caribbean - page 2

We spent a week in gorgeous St. John. This was our first trip to the Caribbean. The water has indescribable beauty and warmth. It is spectacular in so many ways. We were blessed with great opportunity to photograph a friends wedding and stay with all the family for our week stay on the island. We lived a life style that most dream of. Our accommodations were sprawling gigantic villas with sweeping views overlooking blue lagoon bays and on out to the British Virgin Islands. The weather was pretty hot and humid which I think is normal for the time of year (mid July). The best time spent was cooling off and chillin' in the water. The bugs are abundant and like to eat you alive, but you don’t realize it until your home getting ready for ... read more

The island of St. John is very different than the other USVI in that it is a National Park. Roughly two thirds of the island is protected and therefore pristine. There are no houses, hotels, shops, or restaurants within the park boundary. The anchorages are tucked into natural bays, in the shadow of the lush mountainside with beautiful beaches and deep aquamarine water- absolutely gorgeous. The National Park was expanded in 2001 to include the surrounding reefs and seabeds. In fact the park service provides mooring balls for boaters to use which help alleviate the damage from anchoring. Thus the snorkeling in St. John is great and fish and turtles swim right up to the boat- how awesome. We really loved our time here. The first place we visited in St. John was Lameshur Bay, on ... read more

So we woke up early and made it back to St. John with very few problems other than late taxis and delayed ferries. We went back to this place called Shela's Pot for lunch and some local flavor. It was recommended to us by our fellow group siters back at Cinnamon Bay after we'd complained we hadn't had a real Caribbean meal, and it did not disappoint. It's basically a small stand on the main square in Cruz Bay, a stone's throw from the ferry dock, with a little woman in a white cap behind it serving unbelievable home-made food. The first time we had lobster stew, the second time conch stew - always served heaping with all kinds of fixings. One lunch (stew, potato salad, seasoned rice, mac and cheese, veggies) costs $12 - we ... read more

We had one whirlwind day on St. John. Really we're cutting things way too short on this beautiful island, but 10 days is all we had allocated for the Caribbean, and we can't change the dates on our first US leg per rules of the around-the-world ticket. The four of us began the day with an early trip to Trunk Bay and leftover baked goods from Havensight Bakery. Trunk Bay, along with Magen's on St. Thomas are routinely rated in the top 10 beaches in the world. Most of St. John is a national park, donated about 50 years ago by Rockefeller, who owned nearly the whole island at one time. We arrived at Trunk just before 9AM, when the park ranger arrives and begins charging for entry. Aside from two people swimming, the entire beach ... read more