First trip to St John

[Jim A]

Hi all. First time going to St John next week. 7 of us staying in a villa on the north shore. Any recommendations for restos, beaches, anything else would be much appreciated. Renting jeeps and probably doing a mix of eat in and go out. Doing a half day fishing charter one day. Considering a trip to another island but with the fishing charter already taking up a day we aren’t sure.

 

[TJH]

Our favorite restaurants in no particular order: Zozo's, Morgan's Mango, Lime Inn, Longboard, LaTapa, The Terrace, Extra Virgin Bistro, 1864, Miss Lucy's, Skinny Legs. Cruz Bay Landing or Beach Bar are fun when there's live music. Our favorite beach is Francis, but also love Salt Pond (do the Ram Head hike!), Cinnamon, Trunk, Waterlemon (hike to Murphy Great House), Jumbie, and Trunk later in the afternoon. There are concessions at Maho, Trunk and Cinnamon, otherwise bring your own lunch/beverages/snacks. North Shore Deli and Sam & Jack's have great to-go lunch items. Bring or rent snorkel equipment (Low Key or Beach Bum) because the snorkeling from shore is fantastic (add North and South Haulover among others for snorkeling). If you like to hike, I'd also add the Reef Bay trail, all downhill on the way in that leads you through several ruins, some petroglyphs, and a sugar mill at the bottom. Pebbly beach at the end, so you can take a dip before the hike back up (which seems twice as long!). The National Park Service runs a guided tour down with a knowledgeable park ranger, and provides a boat ride back to Cruz Bay (book ahead). I could go on and on....lol. We haven't been to SBH in a while but have been going to St John at least once a year for the last seven. Happy to answer any questions.

 

[steelpe]

Jim A, please keep this thread updated with your experience.

I am actually roughing out a trip to St John for January 2024. Nothing is booked yet, but I have done a ton of research and just haven't pulled the trigger on anything yet (though I probably missed the boat a bit on some good rentals). One thing that I am a bit nervous about would be the parking situation.... seems like there just isn't much anywhere that is desirable to be on the island... which is a bit unfortunate. Would be interested on how you make out on that end... but I imagine January and July are two completely different times of the year.

 

[TJH]

Jim A, please keep this thread updated with your experience.

I am actually roughing out a trip to St John for January 2024. Nothing is booked yet, but I have done a ton of research and just haven't pulled the trigger on anything yet (though I probably missed the boat a bit on some good rentals). One thing that I am a bit nervous about would be the parking situation.... seems like there just isn't much anywhere that is desirable to be on the island... which is a bit unfortunate. Would be interested on how you make out on that end... but I imagine January and July are two completely different times of the year.

We go to St John over the Christmas/NYs weeks and haven't had a problem parking. Depending on where you rent your jeep, you can park in their lot (free) when you go into Cruz Bay. Otherwise, there are pay lots next to Tap and Still and where the Lumberyard used to be. It can be a challenge for sure but we've never not been able to park (just allow some time for walking if you've got a reservation somewhere).

 

[Jeanette]

St. John is the Garden of Eden - truly beautiful. You will love it.

 

[Jim A]

Just got back yesterday. loved it. Villa Lantano was beautiful and loved the location in upper peters bay near the north shore beaches. The 5 BRs and 6 baths and large kitchen and fully a/c were perfect for us. Plus a covered outdoor area near the pool and hot tub with fans for my 86 yo mother Was the key as she only went to the beach a couple times. Blue tooth speakers by the pool were great also. Downside was needing the maintenance guy 4 times in 7 days and all for different reasons.

We went out to beaches early and rented snorkeling equipment at the beach each day instead of weekly so we mostly hit the bigger, touristy beaches: Trunk Bay twice, Cinnamon Bay and Maho (To see the turtles of course). Half day Fishing charter through Local Flavor was really good.

We had two jeeps but I was the only one comfortable driving at night on the island (well prepared after my many trips to St Barth of course) so we took a cab twice for dinner. Driver was Malcolm and I have his number if anyone has a party too large for a regular cab and wants it. He dropped us off and was there both nights within 2 minutes to pick us up after dinner, so I think he just hung out in town. I also saw him at the airport on our way home and he recognized me and yelled out to me. great guy. We also had an early dinner one night with the whole group for a third dinner and then just one jeep full to dinner a 4th night. The night of the fishing charter we grilled up our tasty catches. The first night on island we had takeout from the Beach Bar and one night we had a catered dinner from Sam & Jacks.

Best resto was Morgan’s Mango. everything about is was fantastic: service, ambience, pretty much every single first and main course and desserts. All delicious. We purposely went on lobster night (Tuesday or Saturday). Highlights I remember were the lobster of course, the mussels, the salmon special appetizer, the ceviche and the tuna tartare. Also went to banana deck. I had the lobster tail and shrimp in a scampi butter sauce which was great. Also the grouper and shrimp special was great. Their special dessert was really good. Quite large and good for sharing. Our other dinners were the tap room and sun dog cafe. The seared tuna at sun dog cafe was incredible and I had the tuna tacos at the tap room which were good as well. Service was great everywhere although a little flaky at sun dog - more funny flaky, not bad flaky. Sam &Jacks catered a taco night with a ground beef, pulled pork and mahi choices. Was really good and they set up and cleaned up after. We had a breakfast at High Tide the first morning and good burgers at skinny legs one day. We hit the starfish market almost daily and holy crap were the prices ridiculously high. $12 for a bag of chips? Dolphin market was a little cheaper but not as big or convenient.

we took a private transfer including a water taxi on the way there because we were arriving a little late and figured it would be easier. Thank goodness we did because our flight was delayed like 4 hours and it really helped out to have everything set up for us. We took the regular ferry and then a cab on the way home. We arrived in St Thomas early on the way home and had a late breakfast at Tarpons Table right on the water which was good and they let us hang out as long as we wanted because we were so early. We rented jeeps with Courtesy rental. We loved the snorkeling (we are all kind of beginners).

Parking was definitely an issue @steelpe. Many of the car rental places will allow you to use their lot if you rent from them. A decent amount of parking at Mongoose Junction if going there. Lumberyard had plenty of parking but expensive. There was a small lot between High Tide and Beach bar near the wharf landing that was pretty cheap. We were at the beaches early so no issue for us there but as we were leaving people were sitting around waiting for spots. plenty of parking at markets and in coral bay the couple of times I was over there.

We all really loved the island And hope to go back. Let me know if any questions I can answer but I’m far from an expert.

 

[cec1]

Love your enthusiastic review! Question, however . . . how do you fit a return visit into your world of also loving St. Barths?

 

[TJH]

@Jim A - Funny, I think I may have commented on a post from you on the TripAdvisor Forum for St. John?
(with my morning coffee, I love going over both forums and dreaming of the beach and my next trip...)

Nice report - happy to hear you loved it. We're hooked. Thanks for sharing your Sam&Jack's taco night info - we get sandwiches there often and have talked about doing a catering order but have never done it. I love the idea of taco night - I'll have to put that on my "to do" list for our December trip with our group of seven!

 

[Jim A]

Love your enthusiastic review! Question, however . . . how do you fit a return visit into your world of also loving St. Barths?

Hi Dennis. Now that is a problem that makes me smile trying to solve

 

[Jim A]

@Jim A - Funny, I think I may have commented on a post from you on the TripAdvisor Forum for St. John?
(with my morning coffee, I love going over both forums and dreaming of the beach and my next trip...)

Nice report - happy to hear you loved it. We're hooked. Thanks for sharing your Sam&Jack's taco night info - we get sandwiches there often and have talked about doing a catering order but have never done it. I love the idea of taco night - I'll have to put that on my "to do" list for our December trip with our group of seven!

Thanks for that. The help we received over there was great (both in response to my questions and the "search function". Some TA forums are not very helpful. That one was incredibly helpful for us

 

[cec1]

Hi Dennis. Now that is a problem that makes me smile trying to solve

Going to both places sounds like the answer!

 

[steelpe]

How do the grocery prices compare to the online Starfish Market website (trying to guage if the website is accurate or not)?

Home | Starfish Market

starfishmarket.com

Also, did you rent your jeeps in St Thomas or on St John? Or better yet, where did you rent from (you may have mentioned this but I have read soooo much stuff I probably forgot... and I don't want to re read the above information)?

 

[Jim A]

I don’t remember the exact prices. Things like chips all seemed to be higher than on the website. They were also out of a lot of items constantly. Things like booze and wine were fairly priced I thought

we rented our cars on St John. We used Courtesy. One of the reasons was they allow their jeeps to go everywhere, like the Lameshurs. But of course we never even went there so it probably didn’t matter. I’m no expert but the one thing I will say is it is helpful If you use a place that allows you to use their lot when in Cruz Bay. We were very happy with Courtesy but I don’t have anything to compare it to. Also pay attention to who offers insurance if you want it. It was a little confusing but I don’t think Courtesy did. They asked us to bring copies of our insurance from home. I get insurance through my credit card so it wasn’t a big issue for me.

 

[jant]

Our favorite restaurants in no particular order: Zozo's, Morgan's Mango, Lime Inn, Longboard, LaTapa, The Terrace, Extra Virgin Bistro, 1864, Miss Lucy's, Skinny Legs. Cruz Bay Landing or Beach Bar are fun when there's live music. Our favorite beach is Francis, but also love Salt Pond (do the Ram Head hike!), Cinnamon, Trunk, Waterlemon (hike to Murphy Great House), Jumbie, and Trunk later in the afternoon. There are concessions at Maho, Trunk and Cinnamon, otherwise bring your own lunch/beverages/snacks. North Shore Deli and Sam & Jack's have great to-go lunch items. Bring or rent snorkel equipment (Low Key or Beach Bum) because the snorkeling from shore is fantastic (add North and South Haulover among others for snorkeling). If you like to hike, I'd also add the Reef Bay trail, all downhill on the way in that leads you through several ruins, some petroglyphs, and a sugar mill at the bottom. Pebbly beach at the end, so you can take a dip before the hike back up (which seems twice as long!). The National Park Service runs a guided tour down with a knowledgeable park ranger, and provides a boat ride back to Cruz Bay (book ahead). I could go on and on....lol. We haven't been to SBH in a while but have been going to St John at least once a year for the last seven. Happy to answer any questions.

Your St. John favorites list is impressive! I have a boat tour next month in hawaii..would be considering st, john for my next trip

 

[steelpe]

So we just got back from our week in St John last night.

Our flight was delayed going down, se we arrived late in the afternoon. We grabbed our bags and took a private taxi to Red Hook and just made the 5:00 ferry with 10 minutes to spare.

We rented through Courtesy as well and used their parking option whenever we could. I did find getting lectured by them at the beginning about being charged for "excessive sand" in the car rental to be a bit much (I get it, but we are at the beach.... so what do you expect). What's next, getting charged for the sunscreen you get on their doors?

Went to Cinnamon Bay, Trunk Bay, Hawksnest, Maho Bay and Francis Bay on St John. Got to see rays and turtles at Maho. My daugther said she saw an Eagle Ray at Maho. I thought the best snorkeling was the area between Maho and Francis where we saw a tons of fish and rock structures.

We did a day trip to the BVI through Calypso on Bad Kitty to the Baths and Jost Van Dyke. It was a fun excursion, but it seemed a bit rushed.... and that might have had to do with the extremely slow check in process at Virgin Gorda.... and the large line at the baths (not their fault). We were supposed to go to Norman Island for snorkeling but that was changed by the captain to snorkeling off the east side of Jost (a bit disappointing). We were told it had to do with the weather..... I thought it has something to do with falling behind schedule (thanks BVI) but then I read that there was a shark attack at Norman Island that exact day we were there (https://www.instagram.com/vi_outlet/p/C2QLAhCLnq2/).... so maybe it was for the better. In the end, if we decide to go to St John again, we will probably skip this excursion (mostly because we have done it already).

We had dinner at Longboard, High Tide, 1864, Lime Inn, Morgan Mango and La Tapa. I thought my meal at 1864 was the best with Lime Inn/Longboard/La Tapa not far behind. I thought MM was a bit overrated (although their tuna tempura appetizer was quite good and the overall setting of the restaurant was fantastic). I also loved the tuna tartare at La Tapa.... but no one restaurant could bring everything together the way some of them can on St Barts.

We also managed to hit up The Windmill and Skinny Legs for lunch. Skinny Legs has some good burgers. Hit North Shore Deli a few times too (good sandwiches there....).

We did a quick hike to Windy Hill Great House Ruins near Watermelon Cay.... and I did some quick hikes (walks) around the Francis Bay areas

There are a few things I would have like to have done but we just didn't have the time (Salt Pond, Rams Head, Reef Bay Sugar Mill Hike, Cinnamon Bay Trail, Hansen Bay... etc).

In all it was a good trip, and it was good to see the differences between St John and St Barts.