Hi folks!

After reading countless trip reports and learning so much from them, I figure it’s now my turn to contribute. This was our third trip in two years. We bought a time-share at the Westin a couple of years ago, and like so many of you, fell in love with the St John. Not necessarily in that order. Here goes….

6/3 – Arrived a little later than expected (6PM vs 3PM) due to problems with one of the US Air flights. Normally, I wouldn’t mind, but really wanted to get to Cruz Bay earlier since I’d read that Panarama was on Saturday and really wanted to see that. By the time we got settled and back to town we were both very hungry (hadn’t eaten since breakfast) so went to our favorite restaurant – RhumbLines. Great meal, as expected! Caught only about the last hour of Panarama. The Love City Pan Dragons were playing. They’re a youth group of probably 25 or so very excellent musicians. They even took requests! You have to be pretty confident and know lots of songs in order to do that. (Who was that guy that wanted to hear “Dancing Queen” anyway? Now I can’t get it out of my head!)

6/4 – We weren’t going to get our rental car until Monday, so just kind of hung out, did some food shopping, went to Cruz Bay and checked out the stores, signed up for the Reef Bay Trail hike. Hung out at one of the villa pools at the Westin with a big pitcher of Margaritas – like many have pointed out, the beach at the Westin isn’t very good.

6/5 – Rented a Liberty from Courtesy Car Rental based on some feedback I’d seen here. After dealing with the grumpy people at O’Connor’s the last two years I was ready for a change. Well, Courtesy couldn’t have been nicer to deal with and the car was in great shape. Went first to Gibney Beach, then after lunch, went to Hawksnest. Very few people there, so had no problem parking and no problem finding a nice spot in the shade.

Overall, it seemed like the island wasn’t as crowded as it was last year at this time. For instance, we never had trouble finding a parking spot in Cruz Bay or any of the beaches. And even though we could park in the Courtesy Car lot in Cruz Bay, we never had to.

6/6 – Off to Leinster for some snorkeling! Saw hundreds of starfish, a couple of sting rays, a spotted eagle ray, and a couple of sea turtles! And of course lots of coral, countless fish and one friendly yellow Jack that stayed with us and seemed to lead us around Waterlemon Cay. Back on shore got scolded by a donkey, and entertained by a mongoose and a soldier crab. I was amazed at how many people had made the hike in. There were more people there than on Hawksnest the day before.

On the way back we encountered a red light! They’re doing some construction on one side of the road after the one way road going back, and instead of posting people to stop cars/direct traffic, there’s a temporary set of lights on each end of the construction area. But you can’t see the construction from where you stop so you don’t know that. I kept waiting for Candid Camera to jump out of the bushes, as we sat there at a red light all alone on a road with no traffic in either direction.

The only downside to the day was that the fins I rented didn’t fit right and they wore a cut into each big toe right where the skin meets the toenail, as well as a good blister on one. This eventually caused us to cancel the Reef Bay hike. Next year, we’ll do it for sure.

6/7 – Went to Solomon Beach for the day. What a nice little spot! Lots of places to find shade and only about 5 or 6 people. We’d tried Honeymoon Beach last year and someone said we should also try Solomon since it’s real closeby. We’d heard stories about how people will occasionally sunbathe nude there, but didn’t see anyone. Well, not until mid afternoon anyway. There was a guy who was there the whole day in a spot not too far from us. We’d spoken to him and he’d been in and out of the water several times, so I know he had a suit on. About 3, he got up to go into the water, and so did I. My wife decided to put on some more sunscreen so stayed on shore doing that for a few minutes. She had her back to the water. Then just before she turned around to come out into the water, off came his bathing suit, apparently so he could wring it out before he left. I suppose he didn’t want to get any sand in it. Sometimes timing is everything and I could see what was going to happen. Just as he emerged from the water, carrying his bathing suit in his hand, my wife turned around. She just froze for a second with a look that was part surprise, and part…“Where am I supposed to look now?” Well, she made it to the water and gave me heck for not warning her. What was I supposed to do, yell “Hey, watch out, there’s a naked guy over here!” Anyway, we had a few good laughs about it as we’ve retold the story.

Back to RhumbLines for another fine meal!

6/8 – There were no cruise ships in STT, so took the opportunity to go to Trunk Bay for the day without the crowds. Got there early and got a prime spot for shade. Slept, read, swam, worked on my tan. Pretty boring stuff, but today I could tell I was finally on island time. Totally relaxed. My goal for next year is to get to this point earlier in the week.

6/9 – Off to STT for shopping. Well, my wife went shopping, I went along for the ride and looking for sympathy from the shop owners. Didn’t get much. Didn’t expect any. Stopped by the Information Booth on the off chance that Marty might be working there that day. Got Bo instead. Said he didn’t know any Marty.

6/10 – Back to rainy NH and another ‘adventure’ flying US Air.

So what did I learn on this trip? Definitely hike more trails (something we hadn’t done before). Go to some of the out of the way beaches, like Leinster. And definitely remember to say Good Morning, Good Afternoon, and Good Evening. You’d be surprised how it brings a smile to a person’s face when you observe their custom instead of trying to get them to react to whatever your custom is.

I hope you all enjoy the anticipation of your next trip…and enjoy your trip even more!

WW