With no required COVID testing to get back home, there has been a lot of interest and several threads about St. John recently. I’m currently in Coral Bay and fly back home tomorrow so I figured I would share some of my experience. I’ll break it down into Jeep rental, boat charter, beaches, restaurants, and grocery stores.

Flying into STT and disembarking the plane the National Guard(?) was there to take your temperature, check your ID, and scan your green QR code. The process was quick and efficient, but we were the only plane that just landed at the time. The island is hopping right now and if you aren’t at the most popular beaches fairly early there is a very good chance you won’t have a spot to park.

Jeep Rental: I rented from Aqua Blu, frankly because they were the only place on St. John that had a Jeep available for my time-frame. I’ve talked to a couple of folks here that had to rent on St. Thomas and ride the car ferry since nothing was available on St. John. The process was easy, they had great communication, and they picked me up at the ferry dock. Left hand driving isn’t bad at all. Once you get into the National Park watch out for deer. Also, be aware of the goats and donkeys, more so in coral Bay Area than other places.

Boat Charter: We went with captain Steve of Rockhoppin Charters. I’d seen a high recommendation from a poster here. We opted for the full day charter (9:00-5:00) which included a trip to Lime-Out. Rockhoppin’s website lists a lot of activities for this trip (I won’t list them all here), but we only went to lime out and stopped at 4 snorkel spots, all on the southern side of the island (Lameshur, Salt Pond, Chocolate Hole, and one other spot.) There was no instruction given on how to snorkel, what to look for, or where to go at these spots. Nothing was pointed out along the way, no history given, very little talking. We asked a ton of questions about different areas, features, island life, etc… and only got succinct answers in return. We then returned back to the dock at 3:15 (an hour and 45 minutes before we were supposed to). I’m hoping he was having an off day, but I can not recommend going with this charter.

Grocery Stores: We shopped at 4 different markets/grocery stores. Groceries are expensive here, so prepare thy anus. Starfish Market in Cruz Bay and Midway Grocery store/deli on centerline road had the best selections and pricing. Starfish had excellent pastries (we enjoyed the butter rum muffins the most.). Midway Grocery is very clean, good selection, and pricing seemed as good or better than Starfish. Love City Market in Coral Bay was expensive, cluttered, and dirty. Calabash Market was small and expensive, but had fresh meats and seafood. We never stopped at Dolphin Market in Coral Bay or Cruz Bay.

Restaurants:
Coral Bay: Skinny Legs is a must. We ended up eating here three times since other restaurants in the Coral Bay Area close at random times. Skinny legs was the only restaurant here open on Thursday at lunch. The food is good and priced right. Lime Out is a cool floating taco bar located in Coral Bay. The only way to get to it is by boat. Aside from the novelty of it, the tacos were very good. Wok on The Beach is okay. It won’t blow you away, but it gets the job done. I had high hopes for Salty Mongoose, but it didn’t deliver. The pizza is expensive, but it’s just so-so. We got two pizzas and both were overcooked. I’d give the same review for Pizza-bar in paradise. Expensive, so-so pizzas that were overcooked. Colombo’s smoothies were average, but their sandwiches looked great. Rhumb Lines was shut down by the health department (per our waiter at skinny legs) while we were here. I’d planned to eat at ekaete pink corner on Thursday lunch, but it was closed, and we never could catch Miss Lucy’s open. Note: bring plenty of cash. Several places in Coral Bay are cash only.
Cruz Bay: We didn’t spend much time here. There are a lot of people in town now so we avoided the area. Greengos (Mexican) was very good. The enchiladas were excellent. My party also had tacos and quesadillas and really liked them. Morgan’s Mango was very good, but everyone knows that already. I’m allergic to seafood unfortunately so I got the pork tenderloin and it was great. The Roti King was a neat little spot located in the lumberyard. The lumberyard is a paid parking lot. I got a beef patty (similar to a natchitoches meat pie) which was great and a goat Roti. The goat Roti was curried goat and had a good flavor, but beware of bones…. Other meals were sandwiches on the go.

Beaches: There are a TON of great beaches here. I’ll list all of the ones I hit, then give a few details about them. The only south shore beaches we saw were when we went on the boat charter, but we never actually stepped foot on them. We hit: Honeymoon, Hawksnest, Gibney/Oppenheimer, Mermaid’s chair (some consider this a beach), Denis Bay, Jumbie, Trunk Bay, Cinnamon, Maho, Francis, Waterlemon, Haulover, and Hansen. I guess Haulover and Hansen are technically south shore beaches. My top three would have to be Denis Bay (very few people hit this beach and we had it completely to ourselves some of the time), Gibney/Oppenheimer (parking is extremely limited so this keeps the crowds at bay), and Francis (crowds not as bad as the more popular beaches, extremely calm water, and good snorkeling with lots of turtles). Honorable mention goes to Maho, but only if you go after 5:00 when the crowds have thinned. This is a great spot to watch the sunset and there were always plenty of turtles around at that time. Trunk, Cinnamon, and Hawksnest are all great beaches, but man can they get crowed. If you can’t tell, I prefer a less crowded beach.

We did very little hiking, but I would suggest anyone check out Peace Hill. The short, uphill trail leads to some ruins of a windmill and has a great overlook of Caneel bay and Hawksnest bay. This is a good place to go after dark as well for stargazing and to see all of the lights on St. Thomas. The Annaberg Ruins are also worth checking out.

This board was very helpful when planning my trip and I hope this helps someone out. I’m sure I’ve forgotten more than I put down.

ETA: women here aren’t afraid to wear thong bikini bottoms.

This post was edited on 7/16/21 at 10:27 pm