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As the Nonrev Networks trip report contest winner, I (along with my husband and another couple we invited to join us) spent a wonderful week at Private Homes for Private Vacations- Tesseract on St John USVI in July. Our main objectives for the week were to explore the island and beaches and to do lots of snorkeling.
Getting to St John from Atlanta was an all day deal. Even though we chose to travel mid-week (Wed to Wed), the direct Delta flight from Atlanta to St Thomas that looked open a couple of weeks out got pretty tight closer to our departure date. We ended up flying stand by on Delta from Atlanta to San Juan and then using ID90s on American from San Juan to St Thomas. Since we were stand by on both airlines, we had to claim our bags in San Juan and take them over to American departures to check in there. Security in San Juan was very tight. First they took our tickets from us. We were frisked, our carry-ons were searched extensively, and our shoes were taken to another area to be tested in some way. They were going through men’s wallets credit card by credit card. When I was told I was free to go, I had to ask for them to return my shoes. We finally made it to our departure gate to find that even though there were seats available, we weren’t able to board the plane because of weight restrictions. Not to worry, there was another flight in an hour that we boarded with no problem.
OK-now we arrive in St Thomas. We took a taxi to the Red Hook ferry. Here we waited about 45 minutes for the next ferry to St John. When we arrived on St John we were met at the Cruz Bay ferry dock by a Private Homes rep. He assisted us in getting our luggage to the rental car office. After we got our car-actually 4 wheel drive Vitara-the private homes rep led us up the steep curvy left-hand side roads to our home for the week-Tesseract.
After over 12 hours of travel-we were very glad to be there. We were glad we had taken advice we had been given and packed a 35-gallon cooler with food. We just popped some lasagna in the oven from the cooler that I had made ahead and frozen. And jumped into our bathing suits for cocktails by the pool. The home was awesome. All the rooms were beautiful and well furnished-including small details like lots of books on the shelves, board games, lots of music CD’s, fluffy beach towels, and all kinds of kitchen equipment including a heavy duty blender for those pool side cocktails. There were three separate bedroom/bathroom areas that were all comfortable and private with their own spectacular views. The pool was crystal clear and the pool deck had lots of comfortable deck furniture including a hammock and those big foam type floats to use in the pool. Everywhere you looked there was an awesome view. The grounds were full of lovely flowering plants and trees. We enjoyed watching the iguanas and various birds come to visit each day. I kinda felt like I would be happy just to stay there without leaving until it was time to make the next rental car/ ferry/taxi/airplane etc trip next Wednesday!
A good night sleep changed my mind. We were up early and ready to explore the island Thursday morning. We decided to head over to Salt Pond Bay. We winded our way across the island. The men were driving/navigating so we girls got to hang out in the back seat with no worries and just take in the amazing views. We liked the nice beach at Salt Pond Bay (although we found better snorkeling later in the week). We all enjoyed checking out the salt pond behind the beach (follow the brow sign) and Drunk Bay beyond the salt pond about a 10 minute walk. Here you get to see the rocky coastline and the waves really crashing-not suitable for swimming but beautiful to see.
We fell into a nice routine of spending the days at a beach-with a picnic packed in a cooler. Returning to the house for a swim and dinner and studying the many St. John guides at the house to pick out the next beautiful beach we wanted to explore the next day.
The whole island is really beach after beach waiting to be explored. Since we love to snorkel, we usually picked one that was known for the snorkeling. At Trunk Bay, there is actually an underwater “trail” with lots of signs where you can read about the coral and sea life. There is an admission fee here, and lifeguards were on duty the day we were there. We saw lots of nice coral and colorful fish here. Our most exciting sighting was a moray eel under a rock. Trunk Bay is also a beautiful beach just to lounge and people watch.
Hawksnest is the closest easy access beach to Cruz Bay-where the ferry docks are. The beach is also just steps from the parking lot so there is no hiking from the parking area to the actual beach like there is at a lot of the other beaches. This would be an ideal destination for cruisers at port for the day at St Thomas who wanted to take the ferry over to St. John and then catch a cab to the beach. We enjoyed the snorkeling here also. There was a lot of the big elk horn shape coral here. And once again Hawksnest is a beautiful beach. (Let me just stop repeating myself and say EVERY beach we visited on St John was BEAUTIFUL!)
We spent one day mid-week hiking the Reef Bay Trail. There is a limited number of parking spaces at the beginning of the trail near the middle of the island (well marked with signs). This took several hours round trip and was quite steep in places (wear your tennis shoes). I’m glad we did it because we got to see a lot of cool trees, plants and animals-deer, mongooses, and all kinds of crabs. We even saw bats and bees in one of the sugar mill ruins. But if you aren’t the nature type, or you don’t have a lot of time on the island, I recommend staying on the beaches.
Now to my favorite day of the trip-Leinster Bay and Waterlemon Cay! We read in our trusty tour guides that this is where the best snorkeling on the island could be found. I wholehearted agree with this. We hiked along a path-maybe half a mile right along the beach. When we picked out our spot on the beach, we all stepped into the water about knee deep to cool off. While standing in knee deep water, we spotted a barracuda defending his turf, a stingray swimming lazily around and a flounder lying in the sand!
Before we could get out chairs/towels set up a snorkeler in the water had spotted a sea turtle. Well, I had been talking all week about wanting to see a sea turtle so I grabbed my mask and took off. My husband was sensible enough to get his flippers too, so he made it out to where the sea turtle was to keep and eye on it until I could swim out. Let me just say that swimming along with this beautiful wild creature was one of the most amazing travel experiences I’ve ever had! She (I call her a she but I don’t know) seemed to be enjoying the attention we were giving her. She stayed near the surface and swam very slow-I had no trouble keeping up even without flippers. Maybe she heard my heavy breathing from my 100-yard dash out to see her and she felt sorry for me.
All the other snorkelers move on to other sights, but I couldn’t get enough of this beautiful turtle. So my husband and I continued to swim along with her. I even put my hand on her shell as we swam along together. We were probably in about twenty feet of water and visibility was great. About ten feet below us, we spotted a big round jellyfish. The turtle made a quick U turn and dove down for a better look. After a couple of awkward attempts, she took a big bite out of the jelly. How cool was that! Well-as if this wasn’t enough excitement about fifty feet beyond the turtle eating the jellyfish, a SHARK wanders by. I snorkel speak to my husband, “Was that a…” He finishes my sentence “Yes!” Whoa…this shark was about three or four feet long, but I didn’t really freak out because by the time I realized that he (I call him a he but I don’t know) was a shark, he was swimming away.
So you may wonder if we swam frantically back to shore yelling shark-never to return a toe in the water. The answer is NO-although we did see some other people doing just that!
We did hit the beach for a little rest before putting our gear back on and heading out to the little island called Waterlemon Cay. This swim is across deep water with a somewhat strong current-but if you’re a strong swimmer, it is worth the effort! The schools of fish were so thick; we could hardly see the amazing fan type coral in all kinds of brilliant colors. All of a sudden, the thousands of fish scrammed-and it was my husband and me with a perfect view of the coral. Was something wrong with this picture? Well-if you call two more sharks wandering by-yes. This was a large guy-maybe five or six feet with a little shark two to three feet swimming along side him. Once again, because my husband was between the sharks and me, I didn’t see them until they were swimming away from us. But my husband got the view coming and going-he much preferred the going!
Overall this was a really relaxing, fun vacation. The island was small enough that even when we felt lost, we knew it was only a matter of time before we would get our bearings. The roads are definitely curvy and hilly, and they do drive on the left side of the road. But my husband enjoyed the adventure! And you don’t HAVE to pack a cooler with food. There are plenty of restaurants and places to get groceries. And also some neat shopping in Cruz Bay-but none of this compares to the natural beauty of the island.
I would highly recommend Private Homes for Private Vacations if your travels ever take you to St John! And if you love beautiful beaches-you MUST try to get there some day. Thanks again to Nonrev Network and Private Homes for Private Vacations for hosting the contest. I had a most excellent time!
[This message was edited by Suze on December 03, 2003 at 08:34 PM.]
[This message was edited by Suze on December 04, 2003 at 02:32 PM.]
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Thanks for the report. I was beginning to wonder about you - hoping for word on your trip. Any photos?
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Hi Suze
Excellent report. Hmmm, a 35 gallon cooler, I'm assuming it wasn't your carry-on. http://www.nonrev.net/infopop/emotic...on_biggrin.gif
BTW, your instinct to refer to the sea turtle as "she" and the shark as "he" is right on target. Sea turtles are always referred to as "she" because of the graceful way they glide through the water, while sharks are always referred to as "he" because they are always looking for something to eat; just another of those rules like "i" before "e". http://www.stopstart.freeserve.co.uk/smilie/roflmao.gif
Keep'em flying
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