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I have been back from STT & STJ since Sunday and thought long and hard before deciding to post this. Although the weather wasn't what I would have preferred and the water still seemed not quite like it was last trip, maybe still the plume, I don't know, we still had a great time because, after all, it is still paradise.
My only concern is the aggressiveness of the locals and a few bad attitudes. We witnessed a wreck in front of the open market in STT, that in my opinion could have been prevented by a local tow truck driver. The car he hit was in the wrong lane, which could have been us because we did it a few times ourselves not knowing our way around. The tow truck driver could have put on his brakes and avoided hitting him because he started blowing his horn long before contact, but in my opinion, smashed him up on the curb on purpose. It was where we were standing and scared me to death. Then he preceded to get out and give him what for and all the vendors were yelling out the car was in the wrong. Well, yes maybe, but why have the wreck if he could have stopped, and he could have!! And there were a couple other places we went that the employees were either having a bad day or just had bad attitudes in general. Sorry, if I have seemed like a complainer, but this has just bothered me.
All in all, we had a wonderful trip, ate a lot of wonderful food and drinks and met a lot of great people.
So where did you stay and what did you do??
We stayed on STJ at Gallows Point, which was very pretty and the people there were wonderful. Went to all the beaches. Salt Pond and Watermelon were great for snorkeling. Went to several different restaurants. My favorite was ZOZO's and the Equator at Caneel.
We took the excursion to the BVI's on Bad Kitty and the day was perfect. My favorite bar to hang out was Waterfront Bistro. Met the owners one night and they bought us several drinks. They were great.
I hope I didn't come off rude, but we've been down 3 times and I guess this time disappointed me a little with a couple of incidences. I know different cities in the states can have the same things happen, but I just would like a place where tourists come to be a little more tolerable with our lack of knowledge about the area and cut us some slack. But this comes from someone who lives in a small town with minimum traffic and no tourists.
Doesn't mean I won't be back.
Thanks
I understand what you're saying about poor attitudes toward visitors. We haven't had too many incidents while we've been on STJ but have had some encounters with some rather rude people on St. Thomas. They do get more tourist traffic on STT and I think if I had to deal with all the cruise ship tourists that they do I'd be a bit short tempered as well.
Don't let the turkey's get you down:-).
That is one of the downsides of going to the islands late in season
Folks are tired
Usually by mid august through september they take a major break
maybe go home to the states and remember why they moved there to begin with
this not an excuse but just something I noticed after 25 years of visiting the island.
I do understand that they have to deal with a lot of personalities and attitudes from tourists also, but should wait to see if they get attitude first before delivering theirs. Just needed to get if off my chest. I had mentioned the wreck to someone that has a place down there that I met and has been going for 25 years or more to the USVI. They said the police and locals would side against the tourists everytime. Don't know how true that is, but it makes it very discouraging to want to come back.
Paradise is no different than home in many ways. Even in paradise everyone has a bad day now and then. It takes all kinds of people. Even in paradise there bad apples.
There is some truth in what TomB says about attutudes late in the season. Please don't let a bad apple (or two) sour you on St. John. It really is a gem even though it's getting way too many people for my taste. We were there in February and prefer the less crowded time in May and June.
Tiger1, I missed you!
Ok, now I want to know. Had you stayed in STJ before? If so, same spot? Did you like STJ better than your STT stay last year? Fill me in! Any reason for not picking a villa? Sorry, just being nosey!!!!! 😀
Hey Sherri,
This was our first time to stay in STJ, but went over for a day last year and really liked it because it was a little slower than STT. As far as not staying in a villa, we wanted to be within walking distance to restaurants, bars and shopping. And I didn't like it better than staying in a villa, I just liked the location a little better. When I vacation, I like it to be stress free and the driving takes away from that a little bit.
The people we met and hung out with far out weigh the people we encountered with the attitudes. I think the whole wreck thing just stressed and upset me because it was so close.
I should have called you while we were there and had dinner at that restaurant in STT you were talking about on an earlier thread. Next time we come I will go through you to do my booking and get tips on how to cope, ha,ha. We ate at Herve's, which was excellent when we came over. We took the passenger ferry instead of bringing the car since we would be back to STJ late. It was so funny when we got over to STT we took a cab to Herve's and didn't know it was right up the hill. We laughed about that.
Thanks for asking about our trip.
