Usually after initial return from a week away on St. John, I tend to start the villa search right away (it tends to help me with the let down of missing St. John). There was always one particular villa that had my attention for years. It was actually the first villa that I was going to book prior to finding Island Stone years ago. Since being renovated the price became a bit too far out of our reach. Luckily we had another couple that were interested in accompanying us this time so the splitting the cost would work out perfectly. The villa I went ahead and booked was Leeward Villa. https://leewardstjohn.com

This trip, making it our 18th time staying on St. John, we had newbies joining us, Mike and Dawn. Well technically Dawn wasn’t a newbie, due to the fact she visited the island several months before to check out her brother’s villa located in Chocolate Hole. However, her husband had never been. Regardless, we were excited to show them why we love returning to St. John each and every year (when feasible).

A couple weeks prior to our departure however, we had the unexpected happen. I received a call from a bank regarding if I had sent a check to a certain person since the checked looked suspicious. I went through my records and realized the check amount was the same as what I wrote for our monthly mortgage payment. When I called back the bank, she told me that I should go ahead and call both our mortgage company and our bank alerting them about the fraud. I was sick to my stomach. Usually I will make a payment over the phone, but the automated service wasn’t working at the time when I was going to make the payment, so I went ahead and mailed the check.

Long story short, our check was indeed “washed” and apparently it is becoming a problem with thieves using mobile deposits – making it harder for banks to detect the fake checks. We went ahead and closed our checking account and opened a new one. Thankfully this happened before we left in hindsight, so we were able to get everything straightened out. (And I also purchased special pens on Amazon to write checks out that are supposed to prevent thieves from altering the them.) After the entire ordeal, my husband and I were both ready to get away.

Saturday, October 25th – Arrival Day 

I had been keeping an eye on the storm system down in the Caribbean that was about to be named Melissa. I couldn’t believe that it was literally just sitting there for days. Luckily for us (not so much for poor Jamaica) the soon to be hurricane wasn’t on course for the Virgin Islands.

Our direct flight to St. Thomas on United was scheduled for 7:25AM – making it the earliest time we had ever flown to St. Thomas. Dawn and Mike don’t live too far from our house, so they agreed they would drive to our house and accompany us to the airport. I had our usual car service driver and friend pick us up at 4:10am.  After waking up just before 3:00AM and getting ready for our trip back to my other happy place, we met up with our friends outside just past 4:00AM. Not before long I saw our friend Jim pull up in front of our house. We said good bye to our kittie, Kobe hoping he would remember us when we returned home. (He tends to get scared when anyone new comes to the house to watch him. When we return, he forgets who we are – or is unsure. Usually after about 5-10 minutes of reassurance he snaps out of it. My husband calls it “Fifty First Dates” – referring to the movie.) 

We all piled into his truck and soon we were on our way to Newark Airport. Traffic was very minimal at that hour so we arrived at Terminal C just around 5:00AM. The TSA lines were also sparse so we all made it through within minutes. Since we were with our friends, we opted to grab a bite to eat at one of the restaurants in Terminal C instead of the United Club Lounge. 

We found our go-to place and sat down at the bar. My husband and I ordered a cup of coffee and perused the menu but it was too early for me to even think about eating. Our friends ventured off to find a Dunkin Donuts to pass the time. When they returned it was around that time to walk down to our gate. We were a little early, but I was glad that I motivated everyone because when I was walking down towards our gate, it wasn’t where I thought it was. So we had to back track and walk down to the correct gate. 

The sun was rising and it was a beautiful morning to fly.

Luckily our flight wasn’t affected with any issues regarding the government shutdown. Once everyone boarded the plane we heard the captain tell us that we were number 22 for take-off. Yikes it is going to be a while. At least we had onboard entertainment to pass the time. I think I got almost halfway through the movie I chose even before we took off.

It seemed like forever, but eventually it was our turn to take off. The flight overall was uneventful and it only took us about 3 and 1/2 hours. Just before landing, the captain announced over the intercom that the landing would be abrupt due to the size of the plane and the length of the runway. My husband and I are pretty used to that sort of landing ever since they added 737s to land in to Key West. I could see St. Thomas shortly there after come into view and the excitement of returning to my other happy place was becoming a reality. 

The landing as expected was quite forceful – so much that the overhead compartment next to us opened up. I think it woke everyone up that was on the plane. https://youtu.be/oN6ZrkChXPI?si=ZlFAf0j85RJkQV5X

We taxied to the arrival gate and grabbed our things. I always love walking out onto the stairs and feel the air of the islands. The sun was shining and I could feel it beating down on us. We quickly walked down the stairs and waited for our friends who were seated towards the back of the plane. While we were waiting for them, I checked my phone and saw a message from our on-site villa manager. He said in his text that they had the same day turnover and the earliest we could check in would be 3pm and that he would leave the keys on the kitchen island. After his message there was a pin drop for the villa location. Really? I couldn’t believe that first, he wasn’t going to be there when we arrived at the villa and second, we had to find it for ourselves. Thankfully I had a pretty good idea where Leeward was located. Several years ago we stayed at Caribbean Palm Villa in Point Rendezvous and I remember passing the Leeward Villa Sign. 

Once we were all together, we made the walk along the airport into the welcome entrance. As usual there were shots of Cruzan Rum lined up to welcome guests. 

Since our flight arrived around noon, I knew that it would be too much time to wait around for the 2:15pm Crown Bay Ferry. So I went ahead and reserved a private taxi to take us to Red Hook. We have had experiences in the past where we get put in a taxi along with other passengers staying all over St. Thomas, making are arrival to other side of the island a long ordeal. After a few searches I found Exclusive Limousine & Taxi Service. I contacted them a couple weeks before our trip and they got back to me right away. The booking was seamless and easy. They even provide beer and water for you and your guests. I highly recommend booking them. http://www.exclusivelimousinevi.com

Neither of us had checked bags so once we all made a quick pit stop and then we walked back out of the airport where I immediately spotted my name on display. The gentleman smiled as I introduced myself. He walked us over to where the large SUV was parked. 

We all hopped in and helped ourselves to a beverage that was provided in a cooler for all of us to share. Normally when we go through Charlotte Amalie, the traffic can be a bit of a challenge. However when our driver drove us, the traffic was next to nothing. We couldn’t believe it. There were no cruise ships in port so maybe that had something to do with it? 

Regardless, we made it to Red Hook for the 1pm ferry. My husband walked over to the ticket counter and purchased the tickets for the four of us along with 4 luggage tags. We still had time to spear to finish our beer from the private taxi.

Since we couldn’t check in until 3pm, my husband suggested that he would walk on up to Bougainvillea Leasing to pick up our jeep rental while the rest of us head on over to Cruz Bay Landing and wait for him to come back around to the square. When it was time to board the ferry, we all opted to sit up top so that we could take in the views. Once everyone was set, we were on our way to Cruz Bay.

I forgot how quick the ferry from Red Hook to Cruz Bay was. Lately we have been taking the Crown Bay Ferry the way our timing has worked out in the past. We arrived at Cruz Bay just before 1:30. 

After we grabbed our luggage we walked towards Cruz Bay Landing while my husband headed up the road to grab our jeep. I have been using Bougainvillea Leasing for years and always find their jeeps to be decent. I also like the fact they are not loaded with “yes I am a rental” vehicle sticks plastered on them. https://stjohnjeeps.com

The bar at Cruz Bay Landing wasn’t crowded at all so we were able to sit down all together. I immediately ordered a rum punch. I was craving one as soon as we landed in St. Thomas. Normally I don’t drink rum, but when in St. John…

After my drink was served I saw a text message from my husband letting us know he was on his way. Dawn stayed put at the bar while Mike helped me roll our luggage out to the road where the taxis are stationed waiting to take passengers to where they need to go after exiting the Cruz Bay Ferry. I was surprised to see the 4 door jeep wrangler when my husband pulled up was a grayish blue color. I thought for sure we were going to get a bright red version (that’s what the rental agreement had on it), which thankfully it wasn’t – I prefer not to have such a bright color.

We quickly loaded the luggage into the back of the jeep and my husband was off to park it at Slim Man’s parking lot in the Wharfside Village. When we all were back together at Cruz Bay Landing my husband also ordered a drink. The bartender mentioned that they were closing at 2pm but we could still order something from the kitchen if we wanted to. Dawn and Mike ordered a quesadilla to share, but I was too excited to think about eating anything at that point.  I then asked the bartender if they were open for dinner, but she said that they were still closed for dinner during the slow season. Speaking of slow season, I was surprised to see how empty Cruz Bay was. The same time last year it was packed with people. She even said that this year it was truly a “slow season”. Interesting I thought.

When everyone was ready to move to the next stop, we walked on over to High Tide. I always love showing High Tide to newbies. It is such a main staple in Cruz Bay that has survived the test of time. I think mostly because they don’t change a good thing – like the Beach Bar. It has that “St. John” be as you are sort of vibe. We walked in and again it wasn’t crowded so we were able to get 4 seats together. Keeping with the rum punch theme, I ordered another one. I was trying to compare between the two and did notice a little difference between the rum punch at Cruz Bay Landing and the one at High Tide. I wasn’t sure which one I preferred but they both tasted refreshing.

Before we knew it, it was just after 3pm. Time to get to the villa! So once we settled up with the bill we walked on over to Slim Man’s to pick up our jeep. While we were waiting, we saw a jeep drive by and it was a friend of ours Kelly. We shared a catamaran trip several years ago over to Jost Van Dyke with her husband, and a few other friends. She waved at us and said she would see us at Jost later on that week. (She reached out to me prior to our visit asking if we would be interested in sharing a catamaran to Jost for the day. Unfortunately nothing worked out, so plan B was to take the Inter Island Ferry over which runs Saturdays, Tuesdays and Thursdays now). Tuesday worked perfectly for us, so those were our tentative plans to meet up then.

We piled into the jeep and my husband began our drive to Leeward Villa. I pulled up the pin on my phone and it was pretty straightforward. We had to go up Jacob’s Ladder, past the Westin. Last year we were staying in the Virgin Grand Estates so this villa was a little further down the south side. After we pasted the road to the Virgin Grand Estates (and the direction to the Windmill Bar), it was a few more turns before I saw the sign for Leeward. It was an awkward right turn down into the driveway (it is located right off the main road). My husband successfully managed to park the jeep and we grabbed all of our things.

The front door was unlocked so we walked right in. I still found it odd that no one was going to show us around the place.

When we walked outside it was beautiful. 

The view of Rendezvous Bay and beyond was amazing. You could even make out St. Croix on the horizon. I walked around the kitchen and saw that all the boxes we had shipped ahead of time made it. Thank goodness because they contained all of our toiletries and important necessities like coffee. And it was our favorite coffee I shipped down from Cuban Coffee Queen in Key west.

Our friends then opened the refrigerator and it was fully stocked! And I mean fully stocked! Landlubbers once again came through. They are such a great service I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to use their services. https://landlubberlogistics.com/home

I also had several prepared foods from Sam and Jack’s Deli ordered so that we could spend our first night on St. John enjoying Leeward. https://samandjacksdeli.com/menu

I did see that there was a Block Party that evening in Cruz Bay that I initially wanted to go to (it’s been years since we went to the Save Second Base Block Party). I knew it would be a lot of fun, but after the day of travel and being up since 2:55am that notion was quickly fading.

I then went to check out the bedrooms. There were two practically identical bedrooms with private baths and king sized beds. Two additional bedrooms were located in the lower level down the stairs. I don’t think I ever made it down to the lower level now that I think about it.

My first thought was how high the bed was. There was even a small ladder to get into the bed. I quickly unpacked all our toiletries and my husband joined me to help. The first priority was to get out of our travel clothes and change into our swimsuits. I don’t think I ever unpacked so quickly, but our bedroom had a large closet with open shelving making it easy to put our clothes away. (I definitely over packed I thought to myself as I was unpacking my luggage.)

With our belongings stowed in their appropriate places, we headed back out to enjoy the views and the pool. It was a great feeling to be back to my other happy place and take it all in. We made it! I know we have been to St. John numerous times, but each and every time I think I appreciate it more.

We spent the rest of our arrival day, enjoying the pool, views and the meals provisioned from Sam and Jack’s Deli. I highly recommend ordering their assortment of sandwiches. They were both delicious and generous in size. 

As the sun sat (which was around 6:00pm) you could start to here the coqui frogs come to life, which always makes me smile. I thought to myself there is no way we are going to make it to the Block Party now, which I was perfectly fine with. I think everyone else was happy to stay put that night.

It was a long day and eventually we all retired to our rooms and enjoyed our first night in St. John.

Sunday, October 26th – Trunk Bay, Greengos, The Windmill Bar 

When I first woke up I could see the sun shining through the windows. It was going to be a beautiful day I thought to myself. After my husband and I freshened up, I made a pot of coffee using the Cuban Coffee Queen I had shipped down. Our friends were already enjoying the pool again along with the views. Since I wound indulging in more sandwiches then I should have the night before, I wasn’t exactly hungry, but I did have that quiche in the fridge that I ordered. I went ahead and put it in to the oven to heat up. 

While we were waiting for breakfast, we talked about what beach we should go to, for our first full day on St. John. Without hesitation I suggested Trunk Bay. Since both of our friends had never been to Trunk Bay, it was a no brainer. Plus this way we could take the road along the North Shore and make all the usual overlook stops so that our friends could see all the beautiful views. 

Once breakfast was complete, we went ahead and grabbed towels, sunscreen some snacks. The guys went to get the chairs from the lower level to put in the back of the jeep, along with the cooler filled with ice, bottled water and of course a mixture of beer and Truly hard seltzer. (As a side note, the ice machine at our villa was probably one of the best features of the place. You never had to worry about being without ice.)

My husband took the garbage bags so that we could throw them out along the way at a nearby dumpster. When we were all ready to go, I grabbed the key from the bowl on the island in the kitchen. Since I was the last to leave, I went to lock the door, or should I say I tried to lock the door. For some reason, I couldn’t turn the key to lock it. If it did go to the lock position, I couldn’t remove the key from the lock. Dawn came back down the stairs to help. Luckily she read in the welcome book for the villa about how to lock the door. You had to turn the handle up and that made it easier to lock the door. Well after attempting that several times, we eventually had success locking the door, but you would think they would either replace the locks or perhaps change over to a digital lock. 

Finally we were able to head out to Trunk Bay. When my husband drove the jeep to the end of the driveway, it was nearly impossible to see any vehicles coming from each direction. I was able to have a slightly better vantage point for checking out traffic from the right side, and Dawn sitting in the back was able to see if cars were approaching from the left. With both of us on the lookout, we were able to reassure my husband he could make the left turn onto the roadway. It was challenging, but we managed to leave the villa without any incident.

As we got closer to town, we found a dumpster where my husband could pull over for Mike to get out of the jeep and throw out the garbage. This was pretty much our routine each day throughout our stay. My husband drove through the circle in Cruz Bay, still to this day it confuses me how has the right away and which way to go, but my husband is a master at it. We made it past Mongoose Junction and soon we were on our way to the National Park Beaches. 

The first stop was the Cruz Bay overlook. We noticed there was a police officer parked at the overlook. Maybe he was on break of some sort. We quickly got out of the jeep and took a handful of pictures.

Our next stop of course, was the Caneel Bay overlook. It still gets me sad when I see it. As the years go by since its destruction from Hurricane Irma back in 2017, the more and more it feels like it is never going to be rebuilt. At least we have memories staying there and how beautiful it once was. 

Then it was at that point we were nearing the Trunk Bay overlook. I was hoping that the sun would stay out for our friends to capture some great pictures. Last year, we had mostly overcast weather throughout our stay and when we went to the overlook the sun never came out, making my photos look dark and not capturing those true brilliant blue hues of Trunk Bay.

When my husband parked the jeep, we all got out to take in the view and the sun was shining. It was the perfect opportunity to take as many photos of the infamous overlook as possible. I was so happy that this time I got some great shots of Trunk Bay.

Once we were set and had all the photos they needed, we made our way to Trunk Bay. I wasn’t sure if there would be any closures due to the Government Shutdown, but when we arrived everything appeared to be business as usual.

I remembered last time that to pay the admission fee, cash isn’t accepted – only credit / debit cards. So I made sure I had my credit card with me. We unloaded the jeep and grabbed our chairs, the cooler and towels. When we walked up to the lady at the window I handed her my card to pay for the 4 of us. 

Then we made the walk along the paved walkway towards the beach. Looking around, all of the concessions were open. As we neared the beach, the anticipation of stepping foot on one of the most beautiful beaches set in. I immediately took off my slides and walked quickly onto the sand. It was simply amazing. There weren’t too many people on the beach yet so finidng the perfect spot wasn’t too difficult. I looked over to my left and that is the direction we tend to gravitate to. Plus there were a lot less people then towards the right.

We walked down a little further and set up our chairs. I don’t think it took very long for all of us to get in the water. 

The sand was so soft and the water was so clear.

It was a little cool, but with the sun beating down it felt perfect. We saw some fish swim around us from time to time. I debated about bringing my snorkel gear, but I wanted to enjoy the water and just take it all in.

The weather was perfect for our first full day.

Eventually we pulled ourselves away since we wanted to catch some of the Giants game and grab a bite to eat. It was NFL football Sunday after all – plus our friends are Giant fans like us so we were all in the same mindset. As we exited Trunk Bay, more and more people were arriving. We always say it is best to get to the beaches as early as possible.

My husband drove us back to Mongoose Junction. I was thinking that there weren’t going to be any parking spots, due to the fact it was just after 1pm, but when we arrived, there were only a handful of parking spots taken. I couldn’t believe it. Usually we are stalking people walking towards their vehicles, hoping they were leaving. I guess like the bartender said at Cruz Bay Landing the day before, it really was slow season.

We walked through the shops and immediately my husband walked up towards the Tap Room. I honestly didn’t want to go in, because last time we went there, I was freezing cold wearing my wet swimsuit. So when we walked in, I felt a sense of relief when all of the seats at the bar were taken. Plan B – since Greengo’s was right around the other side, that’s where we went to next.

When we walked in, their bar was also filled bunch of the seats taken. Well there were a few open, but not 4 all together. We didn’t want to make anyone move, so we opted to be seated at a booth. We could still see the TV screens, but it was a little challenging because we sat a bit further away against the wall. At least it was an open air restaurant so it was pleasantly comfortable.

As we were looking over the menu, our server came over to take our drink order. I went ahead and ordered a Surfside tea since they were having some sort of special that afternnon. I was tempted to have a margarita, but we talked about going to the Windmill Bar later on that evening, so I didn’t want to have something to strong. My husband asked the server if she could turn on one of the TV’s to the Giants game since we didn’t see it airing on any of the TV screens. After she took our drink order, she did put the game on a couple of the screens, in hindsight I wish she hadn’t.

When our drinks were served, we all picked out something to eat. Both Dawn and I went with the glazed shrimp appetizer, while Mike went with one of their signature burritos and my husband chose the cheese quesadilla. To start we agreed to share the homemade chips with guacamole and assorted salsas. While we were enjoying the chips and salsa, my husband shouted “oh no his foot is facing the wrong way”. What? Yes and that’s when we all witnessed the NY Giant’s promising rookie running back, Skattebo’s injury. That just took the sails out of everyone. 

With a big sigh, our meals arrived. The shrimp were nice and crispy and very flavorful. Everyone else enjoyed what they ordered. If it wasn’t for all the chips and salsas I had, I probably would have ordered something more substantial for lunch, but it was plenty for me. Plus my appetite sort of dwindled after watching the game.

We made it back to Leeward after our lunch at Greengo’s. This time we faced the challenge of opening the front door. Again the key was being temper mental – not turning, then turning, Finally we were able to unlock the door. I couldn’t wait to get back in to the pool. We turned on the TV attempting to see the ending of the Giants and Eagles game. Eventually between Dawn, Mike and my husband they figured it out. 

As mentioned earlier, my husband and I wanted to show our friends the Windmill Bar that night, so we all freshened up after spending the remainder of the day in the pool. Once everyone was ready, it was time to battle the front door again. Thankfully it locked after the first try – it was a win win! 

Both Dawn and myself gave my husband the okay when we reached the end of the driveway before turning back onto the main road. 

We made it up to the Windmill bar and as expected, there were a handful of vehicles already parked. After paying the $5 parking fee, we walked up the hill. 

As we were walking I noticed how festive it looked for Halloween with all the pumpkins displayed throughout the place.

Last time we were at the Windmill Bar, they were working on the 2nd bar up top so when we walked in we noticed that it was now complete.

We grabbed a couple of seats after taking a couple of pictures.

Unfortunately the clouds rolled in so I knew that we wouldn’t see a good sunset, but the view was still breathtaking nevertheless.

Everyone ordered a drink and then I asked the bartender to take a photo of us. He obliged and asked us if we would like to try a Shot-ski. Why not?

I felt like I was back in my twenties (not that I ever had one before). 

After surviving the shot-ski, our friends ordered a bite to eat. My husband and I weren’t too hungry yet and I figured we had plenty provisions leftover at our villa.

Soon it was nearing 6pm and the sun began to set. There was no live entertainment that evening, but it was still pretty to see all the lights come on as the night time set in. I realized how once it got dark, the majority of everyone left.

We wound up staying for another drink and we were pretty much the last people in the place.

When we were all done, my husband drove us back to the villa. I forgot how dark the roads are at night. We made it back and there was that front door again. There was a slight struggle but with a deep breath, we managed to open it again.

At that point I was getting pretty hungry so after changing into some comfy clothes and throwing a load of laundry in the washer, I grabbed a bowl of the chick pea feta salad from Sam and Jack’s Deli. I forgot that I also ordered their pasta salad so I added that to the mix as well. 

We weren’t really in the mood for football so we just put on the Sunday night football game in the background and enjoyed playing a couple rounds of UNO. It was a nice way to end the day. I was excited to think about what beach should we go to the next day?

Monday, October 27th – Cinnamon Bay, the Beach Bar 

We woke up to more of a cloud covered morning. It was all good however, since the temperature was warm and pleasant. No one was really in too much of a rush, so I decided to whip an egg scramble with some American cheese along with a side of bacon. To prevent from making a mess I opted to cook the bacon in the oven instead of on the stove top. However, that proved to be a longer method. For some reason, the bacon didn’t want to crisp up. I wasn’t sure if the settings on the oven were or little off or what. 

While we were waiting for the bacon, I suggested to Dawn that we should go online and book our tickets for the ferry to take us over to Jost Van Dyke the following day. That way we didn’t have to worry about it when we arrived at the ferry dock. Plus they asked for your passport information as well. It was easier to do it on the phone then trying to fill out one of those forms there (which I am always afraid that I am going to fill it out wrong). 

Once our tickets were purchased and all the forms were filled out online – breakfast was ready.

After our leisurely breakfast everyone geared up for our next beach adventure. This time we planned on going to Cinnamon. Once again the guys pulled together the necessities for the cooler. Next came the dreaded ordeal of locking the front door. This time it appeared that the key did not want to turn at all. Somehow though, we were able to lock it. I can see in the not so distant future the key getting stuck in the lock or worse break. 

With the door finally locked, we hopped back into our jeep and my husband once again, drove us back through town and all the way to Cinnamon Bay. My husband warned our friends about the switchbacks that we were about to encounter as we neared Cinnamon. Mike gave me his phone so that I could film the drive since I was sitting in the copilot seat. No matter how many times we do the drive, it still makes me a bit apprehensive. And to my surprise, we saw two mongoose (separate times) along the way. We rarely ever see mongoose while we are on St. John after all the years we have visited. 

After a successful video shoot, we soon pulled into the Cinnamon Bay parking lot. There were only a handful of jeeps already parked when we arrived, so finding a parking spot close to the entrance wasn’t an issue. With all our gear in tow, we walked down towards the beach. The grounds crew were working on trimming a bunch of vegetation as we got closer. so we had to walk around and back onto the beach.

When we made it to the beach, the skies appeared to get darker. It will pass I thought to myself, it isn’t supposed to rain – the weather on the app said 35%. We kept on walking along the beach and passed a bunch of people who were already camped out in their spots. As we walked further down, there was no one on the beach. It was perfect! We walked almost all the way to the end near the rock formations. I love that end of the beach because it gives you the sense that you have the entire beach to yourself.

We set up our chairs and the guys immediately went in to the water. I stuck my feet in and went a little further in – maybe to my waist, but as I was about to put my head under the water I turned and looked up. There was a very dark cloud about to move right over us. I thought I better wait until it passes – just in case. Well I am glad I did, because within minutes the rain started. I was more concerned about our bags with our phones rather then getting wet. So Dawn and I grabbed the chairs and moved them up a bit on the beach and under a few sea grape trees.

Well sort of – there wasn’t a great cover since behind us, was a sheer cliff but we did get enough protection where we could protect our things. The rain eventually subsided and the sun began to break out a little. We went ahead and moved our chairs away from the covering and closer to the water.

I made it back into the water and while I was enjoying a break from the rain, I noticed something move by our things. It was another mongoose! He or she was probably attracted to a couple of the snacks we had in one of the bags. For some reason I had visions of him grabbing my small bag with my phone and scurrying away like a seagull. So I jumped out of the water and by the time I got to the chairs, the mongoose was long gone. 

I decided to take a seat and relax for a bit. It was so nice and tranquil. We would see the occasional snorkeler or a couple walking a long the beach, but all and all it was quiet. Then I noticed more black clouds and didn’t feel like getting drenched again. So we made the move to pack up our things and make the long walk back to the jeep. 

About three quarters down the beach it started to rain again. And it wound up being more intense then before. I was glad that we left when we did. When we made it to the jeep (a little soggy) I saw that there were more people arriving, which I was surprised. You would think the rain would deter some people. 

My husband navigated the switchback turns back down through the national park. We made it back to Cruz  Bay and the skies appeared to be brighter. I was craving a bushwhacker at the Beach Bar, so I suggested that maybe we could stop by there for lunch. So my husband parked the jeep at Slim Man’s. It was just after 1pm so it wasn’t full yet. When we walked through the Wharfside I could see the somewhat new Karma restaurant. I couldn’t believe how much it had taken over the area and spilling onto the beach. In order to get to the Beach bar, we had to walk through it. While the decor did look beautiful, to me the vibe didn’t go with St. John. It seemed out of place, but there were several people dining and enjoying their meals.

We made it through Karma and walked in to the Beach Bar. Talk about an entirely different feel (which I  prefer). It was fairly empty so we grabbed a couple of seats at the end of the bar. Of course I went ahead and ordered a bushwhacker and everyone else ordered a beverage of their choice. 

Bushwhackers tend to be filling for me – like an adult milkshake so I really wasn’t in the mood for something substantial to eat at that point. Our friends ordered a burger with fries and the chicken basket. My husband and I decided to share the Tuna Down Now – which I always enjoy.

When my bushwhacker was served, I was ready to take the first sip. Oh how I wish they were low in calories, but I was on vacation. It tasted as good as it looked. 

Soon our lunch arrived and everyone enjoyed what they ordered. More and more people were arriving as we were nearing the end of our meal. We wound up staying for another round before peeling ourselves away from the Beach Bar.

We walked back to Slim Man’s to pick up our jeep. We had to wait for a few minutes since there were people waiting to park their cars. Luckily we didn’t have to wait too long and soon we were back on our way to Leeward. When we arrived back to Leeward (after battling with unlocking the front door) the sun returned. So the next order of business was to take another dip in the pool. 

We still had a bunch of sandwiches and salads from Sam and Jack’s Deli to finish so it was perfect to have that evening. Plus I didn’t want to be out late since we had to get up early to catch the ferry over to Jost the next morning. 

It was another fun evening enjoying each other’s company and playing a few more rounds of UNO. Before we called it a night, I packed our bag to take with us to Jost, along with our passports (so we didn’t forget). 

Tuesday, October 28th – Cruz Bay Landing, Jost Van Dyke, Soggy Dollar Bar, Foxy’s, High Tide

I set the alarm on my phone to wake us up at 6:00am. Usually I prefer to sleep in more while on vacation, but getting up early to catch the ferry over to Jost Van Dyke – I had no probably doing. I think I woke up right before my alarmed went off. And it was a beautiful morning.

We planned on going in to town to have breakfast so we didn’t have to waste any time cleaning up. So after a couple cups of coffee, my husband drove us to Cruz Bay. Since it was still early in the morning we thought that maybe we would have a chance to score a parking spot near the National Park Dock. My husband drove down towards the parking area and there were no spots. Plan B was to check the parking lot next to the Customs Building, but like the other one, there were no spots. I saw that it was a little after 7:00am and Slim Man’s parking lot said it was open at that time, but whenwe drove by twice and no one was there. Another option would be to park up by Bougainvillea Leasing, but it isn’t exactly the easiest to get in and out of that location.

Then we remembered that there is that parking lot up by the Speakeasy Restaurant. It would be a bit of a walk to Cruz Bay Landing for breakfast, however we wouldn’t have to worry about leaving the jeep there all day. My husband pulled into a spot. When I got out of the jeep, I scanned the QR code and entered in our license plate information. There were only a couple of options – 2 hours, 4 hours or all day, so I had to select all day. $74 dollars later but it was really our only option.

Once our parking was set, we walked down to Cruz Bay Landing. Only a couple of people were at the bar so we were able to get 4 seats together. To start I ordered a Titos screwdriver and everyone else made the same decision. 

I didn’t want to order anything too extravagant like huervos rancheros (even though I do love them), I played it safe and ordered the regular two egg breakfast with a side of bacon and rye toast. While we were waiting for breakfast, we were telling Dawn and Mike what to expect for the day. For instance, we think that White Bay is one of the most beautiful beaches we have ever been too. I noticed though the winds were blowing a bit aggressively. The sun was shining so it was welcomed no doubt.

Soon our breakfast was served and it was the perfect start to the day. It was getting close to 8:00am, so as soon as we were done we quickly paid our bill. We made the short walk over to the National Park Dock. There were already people seated in the ferry that was taking us over. Were we late? I wasn’t sure, but I walked up to the window to check my husband and myself in. The lady behind the window told me to scan the QR code on the sign and fill out the form(s). Fill out the forms? I already did when I purchased the two tickets online? Well I am not sure why they made me do that ahead of time, because I had to do everything again on my phone. There were certain fields to fill out that I wasn’t sure of, but thankfully one of the ferry operators was standing next to me. He helped with the name of the vessel we were going on and whatnot, so that was a relief. Then Dawn had to check-in and do the same thing. It took us longer then expected and we were the last ones on the ferry. I felt bad, but I honestly thought we did all the prep work so that we didn’t have go through all of that.

Once we had everything filled out and submitted on our phones, we boarded the ferry. All of the seats up top were taken so we wound up sitting in the main level, which was fine because we were shielded from the sun. After the safety speech we were soon on our way to Jost Van Dyke.

It was such a pretty morning. As we passed the grounds of Caneel Bay I did get a little sense of sadness, which I always do. Soon I could see Jost coming closer in to view. We made it to Great Harbour just before 9:00am. 

When we all exited the ferry, we had to wait on line to go through Customs. When it was nearing our turn to check in, I noticed the gentlemen ahead of me, showed something on his phone. What is he showing? Oh it was most likely the email receipt from the forms we filled out before. I had my phone on airplane mode to avoid additional cell fees, but quickly turned it back on.

When it was my time to go to the window, sure enough the lady asked me for the receipt. I started to panic, but after a couple of minutes I was able to get my email receipt. After the fact, Dawn said that the lady at the ferry check-in window, told her while still on St. John, take a screen capture of the receipt before leaving. I wish someone told me that. All well. After check in, we walked over to the next window to pay the customs fee in cash (only). 

We walked out and found a taxi and driver. He asked us if we wanted to go to Foxy’s first, but I just felt like going to White Bay. He said he could pick us up at the Soggy Dollar Bar around 2pm and take us to Foxy’s after if we’d like. We thought that was a perfect plan and agreed to do that.

We waited for a couple other people to fill up the open air taxi with us. It took a few minutes, but then it was time for the driver to take us to White Bay.

Along the way he stopped at the overlook so that everyone could get pictures. Then it was a couple more turns and before even realizing where we were, we were at the Soggy Dollar Bar. We exited the taxi and he said he would meet us again at 2pm and no need to pay him until then.

We walked out towards the Soggy Dollar and the water looked amazing. The sand felt so soft as we were walking closer to a table to secure our own. Since we were early, we had practically the entire place to ourselves. There were only a couple of boats already docked at White Bay, but not nearly as crowded as the last time we were there. 

We found the perfect spot to hang out for the day. Then the next order of business was to order a round of painkillers (with Cruzan Rum – can’t stand Pusser’s). My husband volunteered and headed to the bar. He was the only one there so he returned quickly with our drinks. When I took the first sip it was delicious with the fresh shaved nutmeg on top.

While we were settling in, I saw a familiar face – Leon Miller! He walked on over to my husband and I and welcomed us back.

We chatted for a few before he had to get back to work. It is always great to see Leon. Then before I hopped in the water, I wanted to check out the store. I walked in and they had a lot to choose from. I managed to get a couple of shirts for my husband and a couple of things for myself. That’s another thing I like about taking the ferry, you don’t have to worry about swimming back to the boat with added souvenirs.

After my purchase, it was time to get in to that water. It was definitely a breezy day for sure, but it felt wonderful. When it was time for another painkiller, I headed back to our table. I then noticed our friend Kelly arrived. I walked on over to her to say hello. Unfortunately she told me her husband couldn’t make the trip due to a heart attack but thankfully he was on the mend. She introduced me to her sister who was with her. It was nice to see her again. She also mentioned that a bunch of the old Virgin Islands Online Forum people were getting together the following day at Maho. I told her we would definitely be there. 

The day started off somewhat quiet, but eventually more and more people arrived later on with the day trippers swimming off the boats. However it wasn’t as crazy as sometimes it has been, when we are at the Soggy Dollar Bar. We were thinking about walking over to check out Hendo’s Hideout but never made it over. After several Painkillers, it was time to change over to an ice cold Carib:

Before we knew it, it was 2pm and it was time to catch the taxi back to Great Harbour. 

We grabbed our things and our driver was already there waiting for us. The other party that joined us on the way to the Soggy Dollar Bar were there as well. We all climbed up in the back of the open air taxi. He took us to Foxy’s and we walked on over to show our friends the place. 

When we walked in, we saw Foxy himself. It had been quite some time since we have seen him.

My husband and I also wanted to see if Joanne, the owner of Sugar and Spice was still around. Sure enough when we walked in there she was. She would always whip up some sort of food for my husband whenever we would stop in. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to sample one of her empanadas, but at least we were able to say hello.

Then it was time for all of us to board the ferry to take us back to Cruz Bay. After a day in the sun and drinking painkillers I slept the entire way back. When we got back to Cruz Bay, we had to wait to go through customs once more. We were towards the beginning of the line so we didn’t have to wait too long.

Once we all made it through customs, I wanted to get some food to bring back to the villa for later on that evening like we usually do. Unfortunately Margarita Phil’s is no longer (that’s where we used to go to get our to-go food after a day trip to Jost). Then everyone opted for High Tide. When we walked in, we easily found 4 seats together. Again, it wasn’t crowded at all. Then everyone decided to order something to eat there. My husband ordered the fried calamari and I thought I would have a few and then get something to bring back. 

Well when the calamari arrived, it looked delicious and it was. I wound up eating a decent amount that I couldn’t even think about bringing anything back. My husband also ordered a burger too so I took care of the rest of the calamari.

When everyone was done, we walked back to the parking lot near the Speakeasy restaurant. Our jeep was still there safe and sound. We headed back to the villa for the evening. It was a long day and I think everyone was pretty exhausted. I wound up throwing a load of laundry in the washer machine before turning in for the evening. It was beautiful evening to end a fun day.

Wednesday, October 29th – Maho Bay, The Windmill Bar, Shambles

When I opened up my eyes, I saw the sun shining through the windows waking me up. I was so excited that it was going to be another beautiful day. Quickly I freshened up and made a pot of coffee. While everyone was enjoying a cup of coffee and the wonderful weather, I tried to figure out where we should go. However, I remember that our friend Kelly mentioned the previous day at White Bay that she and several other Virgin-Islands-On-line-Forum crew were meeting up at Maho. It was the perfect weather too for Maho.

Once everyone was ready to hit the road, I grabbed the key and held my breath once again and tried to lock the door. This time my husband jumped in and gave it a try, but no such luck. I took over again and then it finally it locked. I just hope the next guests that were staying there have better luck then us.

My husband drove through town and back up through the National Park. Along the way we were telling our friends how there are wild donkeys on St. John and usually when we head towards the direction of Francis Bay we tend to run into a few. 

We neared the overlook of Maho Bay and I wanted my husband to stop the jeep so I could get a few photos. I always love how the emerald green hills surround Maho Bay. 

A few snaps with the iPhone, later I hopped back in the jeep. As we turned the next corner there were two donkeys walking along the road. I was so excited for our friends to see them. We actually so a bunch of wildlife this trip – several mongoose, goats, deer and now donkeys. 

Soon we arrived at Maho. As expected, there were a bunch of people already camped out along the narrow beachfront, but somehow we found a great parking spot, just past all the food trucks and whatnot.

We grabbed our things and walked down a bit before finding an open area for us to set up for the day. I didn’t see Kelly or any of the others but I remember from previous trips, they tend to camp further down the beach then we were, but maybe we beat them to it and they’re set up near us when they get there.

Then it was time to take a dip in the water. It was so clear and calm. We even spotted a barracuda swimming near us. I made a joke that you don’t need any snorkel gear on, you can view everything while standing around in the water. 

We wound up running into Kelly and her sister as they cruised in their tubes along the beach. They were headed for a beverage at one of the food trucks. She mentioned that everyone was further down the beach. We planned on taking a walk later on and to say hello. I actually thought we would run into them while in the water, but we never did. 

Once everyone had their fill of Maho, we gathered our things and made the short walk to our jeep (unlike the long walk back on Cinnamon the other day). We were getting low on a few provisions, so prior to returning to Leeward Villa, we stopped at Starfish Market to get a few things. Luckily it wasn’t too cold when we walked around since my swimsuit had not dried all the way.

My husband once again successfully drove us back to the villa. We unpacked our groceries and made it back outside. It was a nice afternoon taking in the beautiful views while swimming in the pool. 

There were no real plans set in stone that evening (I don’t think I had any now that I think about it, besides going to Jost). I checked my phone and saw that Eva and Mark were playing at the Windmill Bar that night. Last year we had the opportunity to see them perform and thought they were really good.

My husband and I chatted about it and we thought about how maybe we could stop first at Shambles for a bite to eat and then head over to the Windmill Bar.

When everyone was ready to head back out for the evening after freshening up, I noticed it was getting to be the time the sun sets. So instead of going to Shambles first, we headed directly to the Windmill Bar. 

After paying the $5 parking fee, we walked up the hill and found a couple of seats at the somewhat new bar as last time. I think we wound up sitting in the same exact seats from last time. All the seats along the railing were already taken with people awaiting to catch athe sunset. I was still able to walk around and take in a few photos, but I remembered from last year, the sun sets more towards the left and ends up behind the hills. 

Eva and Mark were already performing and they sounded great. 

As we looked over the menu, I ordered a glass of red wine.

I went ahead and ordered a caesar salad with blackened mahi. My husband ordered a burger. Unfortunately the food isn’t exactly the best meal on the island, but it is adequate. My fish was delicious but very tiny on top of the salad. My husband had no complaints about his burger.

Once the sun sat, the entire place cleared out like the night before. We decided to stop in at Shambles and check it out. 

When we arrived, the place was almost empty.

The bartender took our drink order and told us that they were closing soon – which explained why it was so quiet. I wound up ordering a Surfside since I had the wine at the Windmill Bar. Out of curiosity I looked over the menu and everything sounded so good. I wish we had eaten there first. All well. Our friends were getting a hungry again. I thought about ordering pizza from Ronnie’s because I know they deliver. We did try ordering the other night, but for some reason at the villa, I couldn’t get through.

So I figured I would try from Shambles and it worked. I was able to place an order for delivery. Two 12” pizzas – one with pepperoni and the other with mushroom. Before leaving, I stopped in the gift shop to purchases a couple of shirts. I have so many High Tide Bar shirts so it was fun to get another shirt with a different name of a St. John establishment.

We hopped back in to the jeep and my husband made the drive back. I forgot how dark the roads got at night. As soon as we pulled into the driveway, Ronnie’s pizza delivery arrived. Talk about timing. He even recognized our last name from last year when I ordered a pizza for delivery. It was kind of funny.

I was pretty tired and wasn’t too hungry so I wound up turning in for the evening. 

Thursday, October 30th – Villa Gravity Day, Woody’s, The Blind Donkey, The Upstairs Bar

Once again we woke up to a picture perfect day. It had been a few years since my husband and I have had such great stretch of weather while on St. John and I was loving every second of it. I walked out leisurely to the kitchen and grabbed a cup of coffee from the coffee maker that my husband already started. I walked outside and the sun felt wonderful. Unfortunately during our stay there was construction going on, on Ditleff Point. It looked like it was a new villa being built. They were only clearing the grounds and starting on the foundation. It will most likely take a while to be complete. Luckily the sound wasn’t too loud, but you could definitely here it through the morning hours into the afternoon.

We were all moving kind of slow that morning and thought about staying put and enjoy the pool since the weather was perfect. Villa Gravity day I thought to myself. There was no objection and it was set, we were going to have a gravity day.

Our friends plugged in their JBL speaker. We settled while listening to music and swimming in the pool. I don’t know why having a day where you don’t leave the villa is one of my favorite things to do if given the opportunity. 

I wound up having some of the pizza from Ronnie’s that we ordered the night before. It heated up pretty well in the oven and hit the spot.

The day seemed to fly on by and by late afternoon it was about that time to freshen up and head back in to town. I wish I didn’t have the pizza earlier, because I really wanted to go to Lovango’s for dinner but I wasn’t in the mood for it. Maybe the next night we’ll go I thought. After everyone was ready, my husband took the reigns once again and drove us down to Cruz Bay. I wanted to show our friends Woody’s since in my opinion, it is such an iconic place in St. John. Even though our friend Dawn was in St. John several months earlier visiting her brother, he had never taken her to Woody’s.

So the most logical place to park was Slim Man’s. When we arrived at the parking lot, there were a few other vehicles waiting to park. Everyone parks at Slim Man’s now. We exited the jeep and made the not too far walk up to Woody’s. As we got closer, I looked at my watch and realized it was happy hour and thought how we weren’t going to get any seats outside, but when we arrived, the two tables in front were empty. Wow I couldn’t believe it. We had never seen the tables unoccupied when we have had a drink at Woody’s (during happy hour). It really was low season. I even peaked inside no one was sitting at the bar.  

So without hesitation, we all sat at the table right in front. Of course I ordered a rum punch. While we waited for our drinks a few people arrived and sat outside at the other vacant table. I looked across at the Tap and Still Restaurant and that place was quite busy.

After experiencing a drink at Woody’s while sitting two inches from the roadway watching the vehicles and people walk by, we decided to check out the somewhat new establishment that replaced the Quiet Mon Pub – The Blind Donkey.

We walked up and noticed the refreshed look of the place, but still had the same location of the bar . We sat down at the bar and looked over the menu. The bushwhacker caught my eye once agin, so that is what I ordered. I would compare it to the one at the Beach Bar.

When it arrived, it was served in a mason jar – which I love when places to that. I took a sip and it was tasty. It was a little different not in a bad way, but I think I prefer the Beach Bar bushwhacker. While we were sipping on our drinks, the hunger started to set in. 

Where were we going to eat? I wanted to eat at Cruz Bay Landing, but they weren’t open yet for dinner. I thought maybe Longboard, but I didn’t think our friends would like the menu. So when we walked out of the Blind Donkey and down the road, my husband noticed the Upstairs Bar. Perfect we both thought.

We walked in and up the stairs and I noticed a guy playing guitar. Nice I thought to myself (always enjoy live music whenever we are given the opportunity). There were several other people there at the bar, but there was enough room for us to all sit together on the corner. Since I had the rum punch and then the bushwhacker, I thought a safer bet to order would be a Surfside. 

Everyone placed their drink orders while we looked over the menu. Now the place is by no means high end or anything, but I was seriously hoping for a fish sandwich but all I saw was either a hamburger (I don’t eat red meat) or a chicken sandwich. All well, so I opted for the loaded fries. I knew it was the most unhealthiest thing to order but I was on vacation and starving at that point.

Then to start I thought about ordering the fried pickles – so I did. My husband ordered a burger and our friends also order some fries, chicken fingers and a chicken sandwich. We had to wait a little while for the fried pickles and when they arrived they were not what I was expecting. Instead of sliced fried pickles, it was the entire pickle sliced lengthwise. It wasn’t bad, but not what I prefer. Then my “oh so healthy” loaded fries arrived. I felt guilty eating them, but it was so good. It definitely hit the spot and filled me up. We chatted with the bartender for it a bit while also enjoying the live music. 

So all and all, we wound up having a fun evening without having any plans. Not wanting to stay out too late, we wound up heading back to Slim Man’s to retrieve our jeep. We made it back to the villa and had a night cap before turning in for the night.

Friday, October 31st – Halloween – Hawksnest, Cruz Bay Landing, Drink, High Tide

I may sound like a broken record, but when I woke up I couldn’t believe it was already our last full day on St. John. Did our entire week come to an end already? With that notion, I got out of bed and quickly freshened up. As usual I grabbed a cup of coffee and walked outside to take in the view once more. Again, it was a wonderful morning. Even though we could still hear the construction going on down below, it didn’t damper our moods.

We didn’t have anything set in stone for the day, so we figured that we would check out our friend Dawn’s brother’s villa which is located in Chocolate Hole. Then we would head to Hawksnest. It was also our last chance to see it since we were leaving the next day.

When we were all ready to go, my husband drove towards Chocolate Hole. Dawn remembered where it was located so we waited for her directions. We turned off onto Bovacap Rd. which reminded me that was same road we took to get to Wings Over Water. I used to love that villa but unfortunately it is now off the rental market. Apparently the owners wanted to keep it to themselves – but can you really blame them?

Then Dawn told my husband to make a right onto a gravel and dirt road. It didn’t look like much of a road, but it did take us to where the villa was located called Pond Bay. It was more or less in a condo type of place. When we parked we saw a few vehicles outside the back door. Dawn said that her brother mentioned that no one was staying there, but we didn’t want to intrude. She went inside to check it out and it was the staff getting the villa ready for guests arriving the following day. 

We were welcomed in and Dawn showed us around. It didn’t appear so spacious from the outside, but when you walked inside it was very well appointed with lovely furnishings. After the tour we headed back into the jeep. https://www.vrbo.com/2856124

The sun was shining and it was hot. I was definitely ready to hit the beach. We made the somewhat short drive to Hawknest. We were later then normal so I was concerned we wouldn’t be able to find a spot on the beach. Luckily when we parked, there were plenty of empty parking spots which was a good sign. We grabbed our chairs and bags, then walked down to the beach. There were quite a few people there, but we were still able to find a spot where we could set up camp for our last day.

Once we had everything set up, I immediately headed in to the water. It was a nice way to spend our last day. 

Eventually we had to pull ourselves away from Hawksnest and get back to the villa. I wanted to do a last load of laundry and pack up what we could so I didn’t have to deal with it in the morning.

We made it back to Leeward and I put our last load of laundry in the washer. I must say Leeward did have a great washer and dryer, besides the best ever ice maker. 

Eventually it was time to get ready for dinner. I wasn’t sure where we should go, but I was hoping that Cruz Bay Landing would be back open for dinner. I knew that they stopped their dinner service for the low season but being it was Halloween I was thinking it would be open. Another option would be Lovango Rum Bar, but I had a feeling it would be pretty crowded because they had a band playing that night for Halloween.

When everyone was ready, my husband once again, drove us to Cruz Bay. Knowing that town would be packed and parking would be a challenge, we opted to park back at the Lumberyard. I don’t know if many people know you can park there since it doesn’t look like much of a parking lot, but it is convenient. My husband found a spot and I took a photo with my phone of the QR code and paid for 4 hours, not knowing how long we would be.

We walked down the steel hill carefully and made our way towards the Cruz Bay Ferry dock. As we got closer, I looked over to my left and saw that Cruz Bay Landing was back open for dinner. Hooray I thought. So we walked to the restaurant and the bar had plenty of empty seats. 

We sat down and the bartender brought us over several menus while mentioning to us it was their first night being back open for dinner. I went ahead and ordered a rum punch. When the bartender came back over with our drink orders, she told us what the specials were for the evening. The one thing that stood out to me, was the crispy grouper. My husband was also on the same radar as me and ordered the grouper special as well. To start we shared the appetizer of crispy brussel sprouts. After having the loaded french fries the night before, I felt like something more on the healthier side if you will.

Our appetizer didn’t take long to come out and it looked interesting. I took a taste and it was tasty with the dried cranberries and what not. Would I order it again? Probably not but it was healthy – right? Shortly after that, our main meals arrived. The grouper looked delicious. I think this was the only meal we had the entire trip where it would be considered a sit down dinner type of meal. 

I took the first bite and it was delicious. My husband agreed as well. The only slight negative I would say was that I hoped it would be crispier, but it still hit the spot. 

When we were all done with dinner, we walked on over towards the Wharfside. To get to the Beach Bar, we had to walk again through the “doesn’t belong in St. John” Karma restaurant. I couldn’t believe how it overtakes most of the Wharfside. It was packed with people so I guess they do have good food and drink. I mean it is quite impressive what they did with the place, but the vibe just doesn’t work for me.

After we made it through Karma, we made it to the Beach Bar. There was a band playing and people were all dressed up for Halloween. I then remembered that they were having a Halloween Bash as well. Looking around, there was no place to sit or even stand. With that notion, we walked down towards Drink. When we arrived, it was also busy, but we were able to order a drink at the bar and grab a table. Again, people were all dressed up in their Halloween costumes. It was quite festive. I saw a group of people dressed up wearing the Savannah Banana uniforms and it reminded me back when we went to see Pearl Jam in Nashville in May and how we saw so many people wearing the Savannah Banana gear. I had no idea who they were and my husband told me about them.

The place was getting more and more packed, so we left and walked down the beach past the Beach Bar and Karma.

There was even some sort of fire performer on the beach in front of Karma. Are we in Hawaii or in St. John?

Our friends wanted to check out the casino and play a few rounds. So my husband and I walked up to High Tide while they went to the casino. We told them to meet us at High Tide when they were ready to head back. 

When we walked in to High Tide, it was pretty empty. All the action was down the other end. They had the World Series on the TVs and I thought perfect. We can order a drink and catch some of the game. (For some reason we were unsuccessful getting the game on our TV at the villa throughout the entire World Series.)

We met back up with our friends and then headed back to the Lumberyard. There were definitely more cars parked in the lot then earlier that evening. My husband made the last drive back to our villa. I had one more night cap before saying my last good night to St. John.

Saturday, November 1st – Leaving St. John and Heading Home (or so we thought)

For the first time during our entire stay, we woke up to rain and overcast skies. Normally our last day when we leave St. John it is picture perfect. What a change I thought to myself. Since our flight wasn’t until 4:28PM that afternoon, we decided to enjoy some coffee while we packed up the last of our things. Then head into town around 10:30am assuming check out was 11:00am. Since our flight was later on, it made the most sense to take the 1:15pm ferry to Crown Bay. This way we could also check out the newly opened La Marina restaurant that replaced an old time favorite, Tickles. I went ahead and booked tickets for the ferry on my phone as did our friends. 

The rain was subsiding and as I was cleaning up the kitchen and taking out the trash, there was a knock on the door. Who could that be I thought? It was almost 10:00am and I opened the door. It was a lady asking us when we were leaving. She was waiting to clean the house. I told her to give us 5 minutes and she gave me the nastiest look and mentioned that the owners were arriving that day. Then I reassured her we were on our way out. I should have also told her to tell them to replace the locks on the door.

So I told everyone that we had to leave asap and make sure all our belongings were accounted for. We loaded up the jeep, including several bags of trash and headed back to Cruz Bay. I wasn’t sure where the cleaning lady went, but I thought I saw a SUV waiting on the side road across from us leading to Caribbean Palm Villa (where we have stayed at several years ago).

We first stopped at the dumpster to throw out our trash. Then my husband suggested that he would drop us off near Cruz Bay Landing with our luggage and he would return the jeep (similar to when we arrived). So once he dropped us off, we rolled our luggage to Cruz Bay Landing and stowed it in the reserved area for luggage against the bar. There were 4 seats open at the bar so we sat down and ordered breakfast drinks. I decided to go with a Titos screwdriver. I had a feeling my husband would want the same thing, but I figured to wait until he came back from Bougainvillea Leasing not knowing how long he would be.

After about 5 minutes are so, my husband appeared with something wrapped in his hand. I opened it and it was one of the beautiful works that Bougainvillea sells of the petroglyph symbol. It is near and dear to my heart. (After all it was incorporated into Caneel Bay’s logo.) I thanked him as he sat down and ordered, yes a Titos screwdriver.

The bartender took our breakfast order and I decided to go with the salmon eggs benedict. I figured since I wasn’t going to be back in a swimsuit anytime soon. Soon our breakfast was served and I was so glad I ordered what I did. It definitely hit the spot. We still had time to order another drink before making the walk on over to the Crown Bay Ferry.

I definitely prefer an earlier flight, but at the same time it was nice not to feel so rushed. When it was nearing the time to catch the 1:15pm ferry, we rolled our luggage back out onto the road. We got to the ferry dock and there were a lot of people already there waiting. It turned out it there was a group of people from a cruise ship. I wasn’t exactly sure where they were going, but that was the reason for the large amount of people.

Soon it was time for the ferry operator to make his usual speech about having a great time in St. John and if we are sad to leave. Of course we’re all sad. After the safety speech we loaded into the ferry. Since it was still a bit overcast we opted to sit inside. 

The ride over was a little choppy but we have experienced rougher seas in the past. It was about a 30 minute ride over to Crown Bay. It is a bit long, but knowing you don’t have to take a taxi all the way across St. Thomas is a relief in itself. 

When we arrived at Crown Bay, it was just about 2pm. I thought we still had time to check out the La Marina restaurant. We walked on over once we had our luggage. When we walked in, you would not recognize it at all. 

Besides the bar being in the same location, the inside of the place was completely redone. It was a very upscale feel with white walls and even the floors were white and glossy (a bit slippery so you had to watch your step). The place was buzzing, but we were able to get 4 seats at the bar. The bartender came over and welcomed us to the restaurant. While I appreciated his enthusiasm, he took forever to make our drinks. I was starting to get a little antsy – should we have just gone to the airport. Then I reassured myself, it is literally a 5 minute taxi ride to the airport.

Finally our drinks were served and I immediately asked for the tab to avoid any further delays. When we headed back out, luckily there was a taxi already waiting at the Crown Bay ferry. It was a quick ride over to the airport and we headed to US Customs. I love it how you no longer have to fill out the forms. There were only a few people ahead of us so we didn’t have to wait long. 

It was our turn and went up to the customs agent. I don’t know why it always feels like you did something wrong when they ask you all the usual questions. We answered all the questions and then headed to TSA. We all had carry-on, but we did have to go through security near where you drop off the checked bags. This is new I thought. We made it through the “first” security check and then had to go through the usual line.

The line took a while, but it wasn’t because it was long, for some reason the random wiping of the shoes alert kept going off, practically to every other person. Then when it was our turn, all 4 of us had to have our shoes wiped. Even the one TSA agent thought how it was odd.

Regardless we all made it through besides that and still had time before our flight. We walked on over to the restaurant near the United gate and I had never seen it so empty. Usually we have to find other means to pass the time. I sat down at a table and watched our luggage while everyone else grabbed something to eat. I was still quite full from the eggs benedict earlier.

In a way we timed it perfectly. We only had about an hour before we were scheduled to board. I couldn’t believe how it all worked out. Soon it was time to go on line to board. We were in Group 1 so we went in line to wait. Our friends were in Group 4 so they stayed at the table until their group was called.

The United Flight had landed which I believe came from Chicago. As I watched all the people exit the plane, a sense of jealously came to me. Look how happy they all look? That’s the ebbs and flows of traveling I guess. Soon it was announced that we were boarding shortly. I noticed there were quite a few people in wheelchairs that needed assistance waiting to board. I don’t know why the flights back to Newark, NJ always have so many handicapped people. Then when we land in Newark, the same people walk off the plane on their own. Interesting. 

We were all set to start boarding when all of a sudden, the exit door was shut closed and then it was announced that they were delaying the boarding process. I began to worry a little, but then thought maybe they weren’t ready to board due to cleaning the plane.

However, after about 20 minutes or so standing in line, the pilot from the United flight came inside and announced that the copilot’s window became loose on the flight from Chicago. He explained further that he would fly the plane as is, but they need to get approval first to see if the plane was safe to fly. Plus in order to fix it, they would need a special part that isn’t available. 

So we wound up sitting back down at the table with our friends. Another half hour or so goes by and then the pilot returned and said that due to the icing in the air close to Newark airport, it was deemed too risky to fly the plane. They were going to see about flying in another plane from Puerto Rico. Then we waited and waited…. finally we saw on the display that our flight was canceled. Now what? My husband walked up to the counter and was told that we would need to go out through the door and around to where you would check in for your flight at the United counter. So we took our luggage and (along with everyone else on the flight) exited the airport and walked back around to the ticket counter. Thankfully we had first class tickets so we were able to wait in the priority line. We somehow managed to get first in line but there were several passengers that needed extra assistance (in wheelchairs). There were only a couple of people being helped, but waiting was agonizing. It took forever for each passenger. When we turned behind us, our friends were almost dead last in line. Who knew how long it would be for them to get to the counter. 

What felt like an eternity, we were called up to the counter by the ticket agent. My husband told the young lady how we have friends with us, but they didn’t have first class tickets. She was so understanding that she said that they could come up to the counter as well. So we waved them up to the counter. I asked about our flight for the next day and she said that later on we would be getting an email with our new flight information and that we didn’t have to do anything.

She then booked us a king size room at the Emerald Beach Resort which I knew was right near the airport (since we pass by it every time we leave the airport). Then she printed out our transportation vouchers and food vouchers. That’s what took so long. Each voucher had to be printed for each person. They had the transportation vouchers for both getting to the hotel and returning to the airport the next day. As far as the food vouchers, they were $15 per person if you had coach and $25 per person for first. It wasn’t exactly money to dine at a high end restaurant but at least it was something. As far as the hotel stay, that was taken care of by United.

When we had all our vouchers, our friends were next to be helped. They were able to book them in the same hotel as us. So when they were done, we all walked to the curb to get into a taxi. There were a few other people from our flight that were sitting in the taxi. Plus another couple that just arrived to St. Thomas. (That’s why I always prefer paying the extra with a private ride to the ferry – otherwise you wind up waiting for the taxi to be full and most of the time no one is going to the same place.)

With the taxi full, the driver drove to our hotel or which I thought it was. The first stop was to Lindbergh Bay Hotel. It was dark out so it was hard to tell how nice it was. It didn’t look that great and I was glad we weren’t staying there. (Apparently United puts guests up in several different places near the airport – not just one hotel.)

The next stop was the Emerald Beach Resort. It looked nicer then the previous stop. We gathered our things and there were two young ladies waiting to check us in. I guess they were given the heads up that they were getting a bunch of guests from our United Flight.

We quickly checked in and walked up to the 3rd floor to our room. Our friends were on the 2nd floor. We agreed to freshen up and meet back up at the hotel bar. We all needed a drink at that point. When I opened the door to our room, it was quite nice. I was pleasantly surprised. And it had a nice view from the balcony of the beach.

After dropping off our luggage and putting a quick splash of water on our faces, we walked down to the main level. We saw the signs to both the restaurant and bar and followed the arrows. When we sat down at the bar, there was another passenger from our flight. We talked about what are the odds of a loose / broken windshield on a plane. 

Our friends soon joined us and we all ordered a much needed drink. I wasn’t really that hungry but knew I had to order something. I opted for the spinach and artichoke dip, but they were out of it. My next choice was a plate of wings, while my husband ordered the fried calamari. 

As we waited for the food, I kept checking my phone to see if our flight information was updated on the United App. It still said “flight canceled” on it and I started to panic. My husband kept reassuring me how they mentioned it would take a while for them to update it. I just thought about how when our flight was canceled in Key West we had to get a flight ourselves and a place to stay. At least this time, United did put us up in hotel and was taking care of the rebooking of the flight.

Our food arrived and it was okay. At least we were able to put something in our stomachs after the entire ordeal. My husband and I ordered another couple of drinks while our friends headed in for the night. I looked up above us and saw there were TVs hanging. It was game 7 of the World Series and I asked the bartender about turning on the TVs. She said that they are all smart TVs and that she could try working them. She made a few attempts, but no such luck. 

While we were getting ready to pay the bill, I looked at my phone one last time and I saw the message come through from United that our flight has been rebooked for the next day. However, it was even later then our original flight – 5:25pm and arriving into Newark at 8:58pm. 

As a side note, that night was Daylight Savings and in the Virgin Islands they are on Atlantic Standard Time and do not observe Daylight Savings.

When I got back to our room, I texted our friends to see if they received the rebooked flight information. I assumed they probably were already asleep since I didn’t hear back. Luckily the TV in our room worked, so we were able to catch some college football. For some reason we couldn’t find the World Series Game. I remembered how in the past while we stayed on St. John, we always had a hard time trying to find the World Series broadcast.

I still felt wide awake, but eventually was able to fall asleep. 

Sunday, November 2nd – Going Home Take Two

When I woke up, at first I thought I was on St. John, but then realized we were on St. Thomas. I opened the curtains and the view was beautiful. I was curious what it looked like in the daylight. 

While I was waiting for my husband to freshen up, I saw that our friend Dawn texted me saying that they were rebooked, but they were on the 2:15pm flight. What? An earlier flight? I couldn’t believe they were on a different flight then us and it was also direct. Why didn’t we get that flight? I thought maybe because it didn’t have first class seats available? When I looked at the United App, I saw that my husband and I were still in first, but we were not seated together.

Well that put a curve into everything. Our friends were already at the restaurant finishing up breakfast. Once, I was all freshened up, we walked down the stairs over to the restaurant. We ran in to our friends and they said how they waited over an hour for their breakfast. Forget that we both thought. Since we had time to spare, we thought about going into Charlotte Amalie for a bite to eat.

Our friends were heading back to their room and were going to change into their swimsuits and check out the pool for a bit. We told them that we were going to take a taxi to town and catch up with them before they left.

We walked out to the taxi area and there was one driver waiting to take passengers to town. My husband asked him, if he could recommend a breakfast place. I can’t remember what he said but we thought we would check it out. We hopped into the taxi van and waited for more hotel guests to pile in. 

When the taxi was full, another staff of the hotel got in the passenger side. We headed out of the hotel and towards Charlotte Amalie, but first we stopped at a liquor store. The gentleman that was seated in the passenger seat, got out and walked into the store. We sat there for a few minutes wondering what in the world was going on. Well he exited the store with a beer and got back in to the taxi. Only in St. Thomas I thought to myself.

Before arriving into town, we headed back to the Crown Bay Ferry dock. A few guests were getting off there, assuming to get catch a boat. As we neared Crown Bay, my husband and I both looked at each other and thought, why don’t we just have breakfast at La Marina? It isn’t exactly in town, but the place is nice and the location is convenient to get back to the hotel.

So when the taxi stopped, we got out as well. We paid the driver and walked into the restaurant. When we walked in, we noticed it was the same bartender from the day before. We wound up sitting in the same seats. He remembered us and I thought to myself, please don’t take hours for our drink orders. I ordered a screwdriver and so did my husband. Again it took a while and I couldn’t understand why. The place wasn’t really crowded but when the bartender returned he said that they were out of orange juice. 

After changing our drink orders, I went ahead and ordered a couple of scrambled eggs with bacon and my husband ordered an omelet. We didn’t have to wait as long for our food like our drinks. When our food was served, it looked pretty good and it tasted just as good as it looked. My husband enjoyed his omelet as well. So all and all our experience was a pleasant one.

The day before, the taxi driver who took us to the airport gave a card to my husband. So when we were done with our breakfast, my husband gave him a call.

It only took him about 5 minutes and there he was. We hopped back into the nice air conditioned van and headed back to the Emerald Beach Resort.

Since check out was at 11am, we went back to our room and grabbed our luggage. The hotel had a room where we could store our luggage until we were ready to leave.

We walked back to the bar area and it was quite busy. Our friends were already there and we grabbed a couple of seats next to them. They wound up getting a hold of Dawn’s brother to come pick them up since their car was parked at our house. I still couldn’t understand how they got on a different flight – the earlier one mind you. Then we saw the same person from our flight from the night before and he too was on the earlier flight. We couldn’t change it and just had to be glad we were on a flight back home.

Soon it was time for our friends to head to the airport. We said our goodbyes and they were on their way. My husband looked around and realized a lot of the people at the bar weren’t even staying at the hotel. We realized that the beach was open to the public, hence the high traffic coming in and out of the bar/ restaurant.

Finally it was nearing the time to take a taxi to the airport. I didn’t know how crowded it would be on a Sunday later in the afternoon. When we got to the airport it was so quiet. I don’t think I have ever seen it that quiet. After my husband paid the driver we walked back in through customs. We didn’t even have to wait at all before we were called to an open window. The Customs agent asked us maybe one question before excusing us to TSA.

We walked up to the TSA line and the other line wasn’t set up like the day before. I think there were perhaps a handful of people ahead of us and it was a breeze through security. We walked to the United Gate and only saw a few people in the waiting area.

We walked into the restaurant and headed over to the bar. I went ahead and ordered a rum punch for one last time.

It wasn’t too long before hearing the announcement that our flight was getting ready to board. I sure hope so I thought. 

And yes we did board on time. When we got to our seats, my husband had seat 4B and I had 1A, my husband asked the young lady next to him if she would mind switching with me. She explained how her husband got upgraded and gave her his seat so he was sitting in the back and would gladly swap seats with mine. I thought that was so nice of her. (She was getting a great window seat with extra leg room mind you.)

The flight itself was uneventful. Soon I could see the lights of the city down below and I even spotted Metlife Stadium. (The NY Giants played earlier that day and lost again.)

Once we landed a sense of relief came over me. We finally made it back home. I did wind up taking the following day off from work just to get everything back in order. 

Our car driver and friend was waiting for us, as soon as we exited Terminal A. We got into his truck arrived back home around 10:30pm. We were both so exhausted. Our kittie Kobe once again wasn’t sure who we were at first and ran away (hence why we use the 50 First Dates reference), but after letting him smell my hand from under the furniture and giving him a few minutes he snapped back out of it and welcomed us back. 

The island of St. John remains one of my happiest places to visit. Its beaches are breathtaking, and there’s a magic to the island that I appreciate more every time I return. 

Thanks again for taking the time to read my blog. I truly appreciate it …. until next time! 

You can read my full review of Leeward here:

Leeward Villa – the good, bad and ugly

Leeward is a well appointed 4 bedroom villa located on the south side of St. John in Rendezvous Bay. The villa overlooks both Klein and Monte Bay with views of Ditleff Point and beyond. On a clear day you can see St. Croix on the horizon in the distance. It takes about a 10 minute drive from Cruz Bay to Leeward. Unfortunately the way the driveway is designed, turning into the place is a bit challenging and the same goes for leaving the villa. 

Leeward has four equal bedrooms all with king beds. Two bedrooms are located on the main level while the other two are on the lower level, all inside (no outside entrance). I found the mattress very comfortable in the master suite, but the bed itself sits up quite high. There was even a step stool to get into the bed (on my husband’s side – I had to jump in on my side). AC is throughout the villa which feels wonderful after a day outside whether visiting one of St. John’s infamous beaches or taking a dip in the lovely infinity edge pool.  The AC in the bedroom overall was very cold at night and we could not figure out how to change the thermostat even after replacing the batteries. 

One of the best features the villa had was believe or not, the ice maker located in the laundry room. I have never been in a villa where there was a ice maker of that magnitude. You would never have to worry about not having enough ice, no doubt. The pool was the perfect size to swim around and/or just lean over the edge and watch the waves below which you could hear.

There is a partial covered outdoor seating area which helps to protect against the sun or the random rain shower. Next to the outdoor seating area, there is a working outdoor sink and a compartment containing snorkel gear but it looked like it had seen better days so we didn’t use any of the snorkel equipment. Speaking of seeing their better days, the outdoor furniture itself could use an update. I found it to be worn and honestly not that appealing. For the price we paid for Leeward, you would expect it to have better furniture.

We also had a terrible time trying to lock the front door before leaving the villa. After multiple times, and holding the door handle it would eventually lock. Also when we would return from a day out and about, we ran into the same problem trying to open the door. New locks are definitely recommended. 

Another drawback was dealing with the villa manager David Yellan initially. After I submitted the balance of our payment a few weeks prior to the due date, I was emailed for another payment. I insisted that I paid the balance and even had the amount on my credit card statement. Eventually he found my payment but never apologized.

In addition, they do offer an 8 passenger Toyota Highlander to rent, but due to the fact  that it was just my husband and I and another couple we felt that it wasn’t necessary, plus I don’t think my husband would want to maneuver the roads in such a big vehicle – could you imagine a Toyota Highlander around those switchback roads?  So when I reached out several days before our arrival to David regarding who is going to meet us at the ferry dock, he said that they don’t take guests who are not renting their vehicle to the villa. I found that to be absurd. He then gave me the contact person who would meet us there if he was on island. That person immediately responded with a message stating he wasn’t going to be on island until Nov. 1. I emailed again David asking who is going to meet us then. After a while, I eventually get an email back from him and all he writes is the name of the guy who manages the villa on St. John. It was literally like pulling teeth to get any information from this guy. Normally when we rent villas from a real management company, they email me who the person will be meeting us at the ferry dock and their contact information.

So when we landed on St. Thomas, I did get a text message from the property manager telling us that he left the keys on the kitchen island and dropped a pin to find the villa ourselves. (I already kind of knew where it was, so that wasn’t a huge deal, but really no one could take us to the villa?) Also being that no one was there to show us around, we had to figure out how certain things worked – like the TV, sound system, AC in our bedroom for example. I still thought the entire experience renting this particular villa was very off putting.

While the villa itself was beautiful, dealing with the manager alone makes it not worth renting Leeward Villa ever again.