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I read most of these posts but I chose to contribute on rare occasions. My family and I are preparing for our 12 trip to St Thomas. The trips have come in several different forms. The first three were on cruise ships in the mid 90's. Our daughter was born in 96 and we returned to STT in 98. We were recently looking at pictures of her, less than two years old, eating (wearing) a chocolate fudge sicle on a beach towel at Rockworks, a private villa on the north side. We fell madly in love with Rockworks and the people who took care of us during our first full week at St Thomas.
Over the next few years we always returned to Rockworks. In every photo album we have there are pictures of our daughter enjoying our vacations on the island. Some of our first pictures show most of the roofs not red but blue, blue from the FEMA tarps. The roofs gradually turned back to the all so familiar and beautiful red roofs. In 2000 while staying once again at Rockworks we purchased a timeshare at Bluebeard's castle. (That's a story all in itself) In 2001 we began vacationing at Bluebeards but we always made time to stay in touch with our Friends Jeff and Sherri from Rockworks. On one of many trips back to the island our daughter lost her front baby teeth at Rockworks. It seems like many of the milestones of our daughter growing up happened on STT.
We missed a year in 03 to take our daughter to Disney World. We stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort and the first thing our daughter saw in our room was a picture of Charlotte Amaile. She can probably tell you more about STT than she can about our own town in Minnesota.
We have brought guests with us to the island on 4 separate occasions. We believe they have discovered why we love the island so much. In 2005 we decided to go to another island, maybe just for comparison sakes. We rented a villa on St Martin with a couple who had visited STT with us. We enjoyed ourselves but agreed STT remains our preferred island. On two of our trips we have been fortunate enough to have two weeks on the island. We love STT and will be back there in a little more than 4 weeks.
I felt compelled to write this letter after recently reading many posts on this website regarding crime, gangs, murder, National Geographics ratings and so on. We have witnessed and experienced so much improvement in just the few short years we have been traveling to STT. For all of the things that may be wrong when put under a microscope there are ten more things that are so right about STT. We have never felt threatened when on the island. We try to show respect to the people who live on STT, we do not try to pry into their privacy or act as though "we are tourist therefore you work for me". We have attended some of the most beautiful catholic Churches I have ever seen while on STT. My wife has been to Europe but I have not.
To all who are contributing to the improvement of STT please be encouraged and continue to take the small steps that make your island a beautiful paradise.
Rusty
Secret Harbour is my favorite beach on STT. I love to snorkel and the snorkeling there is very good right off the beach. The set up is beach front condos and then condos higher up on the hillside. The condos are privately owned and rented out by the management. Each one is decorated in the owner's style, whatever that may be. The Resort itself has units available as well for year round renting by the week. It is not cheap! The beachfront units are some that allow direct walk-out to the beach and some that have terraces that face the beach. There is an excellent restaurant associated with the Resort, The Blue Moon Cafe, breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as a beach bar with table service as well. The each is quite deep and has many palm trees and other foliage to protect you from the sun's rays as well as hammocks interspersed along the beach. There are plenty of lounge chairs and sand chairs and also plenty of area for sunning without shade. There is a dive shop onsite for equipment rental and excursions. I would be sure to have a passport if you plan on taking any trips to the BVI's. Google Secret Harbour and take a look at the photos and the packages they offer. I don't know where they set up for weddings.
debbie403,
You may want to consider starting a new thread on the subject! Might not be as many viewers cking out this thread....different subject!
Try: www.weddingstheislandway.com
I did a wedding there and it was a lovely place to have one! Another new spot being used is Lindquist Beach. Pretty! PM me if I can help you in any way!
Congratulations!
