TR: St. John, US Virgin Islands

[smmokan]

I spent the last week relaxing in the sun on St. John with the family, and wanted to share some pictures and information for anyone who's thinking about heading down there. St. John truly is an incredible vacation spot. With over 60% of the island designated National Park, development is at a minimum- and there are only 4k residents- so "crowded" is not a word used there. If you're looking for a beautiful island with amazing beaches, perfect weather, and great restaurants, look no further.

Favorite Beaches
- Hawksnest Bay: Perfect white sand combined with lots of great reef-snorkeling right off the beach. Hawksnest is a little "crowded" compared to some of the other spots, but there weren't more than 15 other families/groups on the beach with us.
- Francis Bay: Beautiful long white sand beach that's sheltered from any winds and waves. Snorkeling here was average, but it's the most relaxing beach on the island IMO. Beautiful.
- Waterlemon Bay: You have to walk about a mile to get to this isolated beach, but it's worth it. Snorkeling here is amazing- we saw turtles, rays (manta and sting), octopus, squid, and a 5-6' long reef shark along with all of the other typical tropical fish.
- Salt Pond Bay: This is on the other side of the island (near Coral bay), which means a 30-40 minute drive from town. No big deal. The beach is beautiful and sheltered from the winds, and the snorkeling on the west side of the bay is truly different and awesome. Rock ledges and mazes make for some fun swimming and snorkeling, plus we saw lots of turtles and rays here.

Restaurants: I highly recommend Morgan's Mango, The Lime Inn, and High Tide for amazing seafood and great drinks. On the east side of the island, make sure to go to Island Blues for some great "dive bar" food and drinks.

On to the pictures:























You can see more pictures on my website as well.

[BigDaddy]

Nice STJ stoke. Great shots. You are right... it is paradise. We go every April, so this has gotten me psyched.

Where did you rent? How come no underwater camera, either?... biz right-off! We love Francis Bay (as you say) for relaxing, Cinnamon Bay for rental boats, etc. and Asolare is another great restaurant. Zozo's (in Gallows Point) is also an awesome place for drinks at sunset.... Pretty hard to go wrong anywhere on the island, (but Caneel Bay's restaurants blow).

[Cono Este]

Very nice. How were the reefs? depth, distance from shore, soft polyp corals or hard? eels?

Some underwater pics would help.

Just kidding, looks beautiful

[polariso]

WOW thanks for sharing... I spent the day on the roof breaking up ice dams and shovelin snow

[smmokan]

BigDaddy- no underwater camera equipment due to cost... that shit is EXPENSIVE. Even to rent, it's like $400/week for my camera. Then there's flashes, etc. too. We stayed at the new Grande Bay condos this time- that big new monstrosity right above Cruz Bay. They're actually really nice, and for the location and the price of a 3-bdrm, it can't be beat. We've stayed in Gallows Point a few times, but for the cost of three one-bedroom condos there it would have cost us almost three times as much. Next time we might look into renting a house somewhere on the island, but I really like the convenience of being able to walk to the shops and restaurants in Cruz Bay.

Cono- the reefs differed from beach to beach, really. At Hawksnest Bay, the reefs (there are three main reefs) started about 10 feet from the beach and went from about a foot deep to about 15-20 feet deep. The reef was a combination of soft and hard corals, with a mix of several fans and elkhorn coral as well. We were snorkeling only, no diving, so we didn't venture super far out from the beach- maximum was about 400-500 feet offshore, I'd guess. At Waterlemon Bay, it was a little different with it being more of a rock/coral combo, but lots and lots of marine life around. It was really cool to see how different the underwater landscape is on different beaches on the same island.

[BigDaddy]

SM, I'm pretty sure you can get a half decent Olympus for about $200, but it's only good to 10'. I have the next model up that sells for about $400 that's good to 33'. Picture quality is not great, though. As a professional, I'm sure you'd be disappointed.

I think you're right, housings are the way to go, but I like the no worries aspect of the indestructible pos.

Was wondering if they'd ever finish those condos... glad you got a good deal and they're good.

[Crampedon]

me son, I practicly born St.thomas!

Pics bring me back, lived there in the Baaad old days...

Thanks for posting them! I still have an ex that lives on St.John, raised kids and all.


I was, without doubt, the very first person to ride a mountainbike on St. John.

The little cays off those beaches were.. gardened back then. Crazy huge barracuda and spotted eagle rays 10' across easy. What a place. We had windsurfing races from beach to beach, the run of the place, from 78-86 Nice sunset shot of Cruz bay with congo and mingo, lov-an-go cay in the back.

I should write a book... but it's kindy of hazy...and x-rated

1982-

[smmokan]

^^^ That's awesome. When we were driving around the island, I was thinking about how much fun it would be to ride a bike there... assuming none of those crazy drivers were allowed on the road at the same time. There have to be some hills that are pushing 20-25 degrees!

[bushman]

We used to fly into St. John' s from Roosevelt Roads Naval air station via Sea Stallion helicopter. Drop us off in the middle of the airfield a pickup greets us and bring us to the welcome booth for the first cocktails of the day, return trips not so clear. Nice beaches though.

[frito bandito]

Love, love, love St. John! We got married on the beach at Trunk Bay at sunset. Spent alot of time at Cinnamon Bay and Francis Bay. Great snorkeling everywhere. Cheap beer, cheap rum. Any topless action at Francis Bay?

[smmokan]

Not at Francis Bay, but there were some international coeds at Salt Pond Bay that were showing their racks all day long.

[iceman]

That does it. I'm gonna go there. Been thinking about it for years, but never wanted to take time out of ski season. April sounds good. Thanks.

Excellent pics too.

[Fuzz]

^^^ Excellent!

[The Duke of Hurl]

Wow. Memories. Spent a week there during college. "Tropical Ecology" Heh. Actually a great class. Stayed near the Lameshurs, in the park. Half time diving, the other half hiking around the place. My sister has a place in St. Thomas, finally heading there this spring. Looking forward to it.

[satori]

Stunning photos! Thanks for posting them. Like everybody else I'd love to go someday too.