Responding to the ubiquitous Minnesota winter lament – “Get
Me Outta Here” – Cyndi and I flew off to the little island of St. John in the
U. S. Virgin Islands shortly after New Year’s Day, 2015. We left below-zero temperatures and piles of
snow to land in “America’s Caribbean” for a full week of sand and sun.
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| Flowers by roadside |
We knew nothing of St. John. Well, not exactly nothing, we knew
it would be a lot more pleasant that what we were leaving. But we learned a
lot. St. John and its neighboring islands of St. Thomas and St. Croix were acquired
by the U.S.A. in a good, old-fashioned and conservative way: we bought them
from Denmark in 1917. Denmark had acquired them also in the good old-fashioned
way, stolen from the original occupants a few hundred years before. The Danes
used them as plantations to grow sugar with slave labor. At one point there
were some 1200 people on St. John of which some 100 were Danish colonists and
the rest slaves. Becoming just a wee bit nervous about this, the Danes freed
the slaves a few years before our civil war and then essentially abandoned the
place. They sold it to the U. S. A. because the Danes were losing money running
it and also because we didn’t want German U-boats using the wonderful harbor in
Charlotte Amelie (St. Thomas) during World War 1.
St. John then pretty much reverted to mountainous jungle for
decades until being “discovered” again after World War 2 by persons such as
Laurence Rockefeller, sailing around the area. He bought much of the island and
later donated it to the nation. This land is now Virgin Islands National Park,
covering well over a half of the entire island. Thus this island retains much
of its beauty and wildness. There are a couple very small towns, primarily Cruz
Bay where the ferry stops, and a few thousand inhabitants serving the gentry
who have vacation homes and who visit.
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| Entering Cruz Bay |
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What we did on St. John is easy to describe – we went to
beaches, snorkeled, and hiked the trails in the park. Several of the most
beautiful beaches in the world are here. The most famous is Trunk Bay, which
regularly appears on lists of the top ten beaches anywhere. It certainly
qualifies by our opinions. But several other beaches rival Trunk Bay, and are
perhaps even nicer. If you want a relaxed tropical paradise look no further
than St. John.
Without further ado, here are some photos:
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| Trunk Bay Beach |
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| Snowman, St. John style! |
You get here by flying to St. Thomas, van to the dock, then
take a 20-minute ferry ride across the straight to St. John and disembark at
Cruz Bay. Here's what you see on the way:
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| Leaving Red Hook Harbor |
We were met by the friendly representative from our booking agency.
He waited while we got our jeep (you do want a jeep, not a car) and led us
carefully to our rented home. Carefully is right – driving is on the left here,
so it is an odd experience at first. Every time we drove anywhere, we repeated
our mantra “on the left, Rick” over and over until it became familiar. Roads
are narrow, often very steep and quite twisty. Here, by the way, was the view
from our porch:
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| Looking SW - that's St. Thomas out there |
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| Same view, at full moon |
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| Entry driveway to our home for the week |
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| Our trusty Jeep buggy |
Quite the pleasant way to enjoy the sunset and the full
moon! Big cruise ships came and went every day to Charlotte Amelie in St.
Thomas. Some of the passengers would ferry over to St. John for the day, then
hurry back to the ship before departure. Small boats plied across the channels
between and among the islands. The British Virgin Islands are nearby – you see
them all along the north coast –
easily reached by sailboat from here. The
place is a sailor’s dream come true.
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| Looking across to Tortola, B.V.I. |
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| Cruz Bay harbor |
Life on St. John is laid-back. Warm trade winds blow
constantly, so no air-conditioning is used, or even needed. Water is different
here too, there is no natural source so all water is captured rain. Each house
has gutters which direct water to a cistern for collection and use. Water
trucks will come in to re-fill if you get short, at significant cost, of
course. We were warned not to use the toilets in case of a power outage, as
they work via an electric pump instead of gravity. Showers are short – get wet,
stop the flow, soap up, then water on again to quickly rinse off. It’s OK since the
showers are all open to the air and breeze!
I bought a GoPro camera and used it once to tape a snorkel
run at Trunk Bay. Here is one of them:
All too soon the week ended and we had to fly back home. But
our next trip looms: we depart for the Galapagos Islands and Ecuador soon. Tom
and deb, also Lisa and Ross, will accompany us for a true family vacation. Keep
checking, posting for that trip will come in a few weeks. But as for St. John,
we will return soon.
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| Cactus, flowers near trail |
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| Iguana on the beach |
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| Honeycombs in old building |
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| Termite nest in tree |
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| Pelican |
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| Saw these, hard to photo real ones |
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| Boobies |
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| Feral donkeys live in the jungles |
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| Caterpillar! |
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| Bar/restaurant in Cruz Bay |
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| Round a corner and see . . . |
UPDATE: We enjoyed St. John so much that we have returned several times, in 2016 (with Tom, Deb, Lisa & Ross), 2021 and recently in 2022. The two hurricanes which demolished much of the Caribbean in 2017 both hit the Virgin Islands very hard. Many buildings were destroyed, or heavily damaged. Among these were the places we stayed in 2015 and 2016. Vegetation was stripped all over the island. Sadly, the reefs and corals were also badly damaged. As of our 2022 visit, much has been repaired. The island is again very green; villas have been restored, and the corals are growing a bit. We stayed again at Tre Scalini in 2021 - a highlight was seeing as many as 13 iguanas at one time from our porch! But many signs of the damage remain visible. The views and warm waters still beckon.
