Last Saturday night we returned from a wonderful week long stay in a private villa on St Thomas; and when I say we, that does not include Bryce. That's right... I left my baby boy for a whole week and we both survived. Though, he was a little mad at us when we picked him up!
In the Spring I began planning this vacation to celebrate my college graduation and our 10 year wedding anniversary (which will be in January). Since Nic and I prefer to travel with others, this trip from the get go was going to be an adults only trip with my two best friends (which one is also my sister) and their husbands.
I began the planning by choosing a few destinations and ranking them by the cost of the airfare to each destination, since ultimately that would be a bulk of the entire trip cost. Some of the destinations we considered were Playa Del Carmen, Cozumel, Dominican Republic, St Thomas, Aruba, Jamaica and Cabo San Lucas. We felt Mexico has been overdone on our part and found that for not much more we could fly to St Thomas instead. Plus from St Thomas we could easily visit other islands.
After looking at other lodging options we decided to book a private villa we found on www.vrbo.com. The villa had 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, and a private pool over looking St John and the British Virgin Islands. It wasn't on the beach but it was just a short drive to the beach. Overall, it was pretty amazing!
We didn't do everything we had hoped we could, including a trip to the British Virgin Islands, but we still managed to take in several sights and visit St John. Below I'll just list the highlights.
ST THOMAS
Linquist Beach/Smith Bay Park
This is the beach we can see from the villa. There is a $2 per person entry fee, and it is not very popular. So because there weren't too many other people there, we loved it!
Paradise Point
I have wanted to visit Paradise Point since our first cruise stop in St Thomas in November 2008. Just outside of Havensight Mall, where there is a cruise ship dock, and they have a ski lift that will take you 700' up to Paradise Point. When the caretaker of the villa picked us up from the airport she told us we should go on Wednesday nights, because that was local night and they had live music. So we loaded up in our rental car on Wednesday afternoon and planned to watch the sunset from Paradise Point. We arrived to the parking lot for the "Ride to Paradise Point" and it was closed. So we decided to just drive up to Paradise Point...and found it was closed. Apparently it was sold and that was the first night it was closed. JUST OUR LUCK! At least we were able to take in the amazing views!
Mountain Top
Mountain Top claims to have world famous banana daquiri's and an amazing view of Magen's Bay, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.
ST JOHN
Cruz Bay
This is the view as you come off the passenger ferry upon arrival in St John.
Hawsknest Bay
As for the beach, I'll let the photos do the story telling!
Cinnamon Bay
Trunk Bay
Maho Bay
We snorkeled at most of the beaches and but found that the best view of the sea critters at Maho Bay was from the beach where we saw...
A sting ray
A tarpon
And a lemon shark!
Barefoot Cowboy Lounge
Woody's
We had an amazing trip and I can't wait until I can go back, but next time we'll take Bryce with us!
ST THOMAS
Linquist Beach/Smith Bay Park
This is the beach we can see from the villa. There is a $2 per person entry fee, and it is not very popular. So because there weren't too many other people there, we loved it!
Paradise Point
I have wanted to visit Paradise Point since our first cruise stop in St Thomas in November 2008. Just outside of Havensight Mall, where there is a cruise ship dock, and they have a ski lift that will take you 700' up to Paradise Point. When the caretaker of the villa picked us up from the airport she told us we should go on Wednesday nights, because that was local night and they had live music. So we loaded up in our rental car on Wednesday afternoon and planned to watch the sunset from Paradise Point. We arrived to the parking lot for the "Ride to Paradise Point" and it was closed. So we decided to just drive up to Paradise Point...and found it was closed. Apparently it was sold and that was the first night it was closed. JUST OUR LUCK! At least we were able to take in the amazing views!
Mountain Top
Mountain Top claims to have world famous banana daquiri's and an amazing view of Magen's Bay, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.
ST JOHN
Cruz Bay
This is the view as you come off the passenger ferry upon arrival in St John.
Hawsknest Bay
As for the beach, I'll let the photos do the story telling!
Cinnamon Bay
Trunk Bay
Maho Bay
We snorkeled at most of the beaches and but found that the best view of the sea critters at Maho Bay was from the beach where we saw...
A sting ray
A tarpon
And a lemon shark!
Barefoot Cowboy Lounge
Woody's
We had an amazing trip and I can't wait until I can go back, but next time we'll take Bryce with us!
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