STJ August 3-10, 2021 (PART 2)


So, in part one I painted a bad start to our trip, I must say that CateredTo did work hard to find us a replacement villa and my wife said the rep was very nice and professional during multiple calls. The island is hopping because of travel restrictions elsewhere, so I am just thankful that they found what turned out to be a beautiful villa at Sunset Ridge Villas, see link... https://cimmaronstjohn.com/sunset-ridge-villa-A/


The villas are timeshare and we were able to meet a few owners, nice folks! We were in Villa A which is furthest in. The property was very quiet at all times of the day and we actually had the pool area to ourselves most nights. Only we swam, usually 2-4 others simply brought a drink and watched the glorious sunsets from the beautiful travertine pool deck. The main house had a large vaulted loft A/C bedroom with 2 queens and private bath. Lower level had a galley kitchen with everything we needed, nice living/dining area. The large A/C Master is in a separate pod with vaulted ceiling. Nice stone work accents always a plus! New washer/dryer came in handy a couple times, carry on people!! Nice new Weber on the very private patio to grill our Ahi Tuna on! All very nice, check out their website link!














We are cooler people, so we arrived with a Polar Bear cooler of filet mignon, Ahi tuna, home ground chuck/brisket burgers, sausages, marinated chicken and of course lots of BACON! We transferred the still frozen meat to the freezer when we arrived. We shopped at Starfish and Dolphin and both were well stocked. Also stopped at Pine Peace Mini Mart for nostalgic reasons! The meat and seafood selection at Starfish is very nice, wish I took a pic including pricing. I did notice we paid $4 less a case on our beer at Starfish, we went through several! We didn't stop at the new Midway gas and Grocery up Centerline road, but it looked nice and large, any one with info on Midway please advise!


After bacon and eggs at the villa we loaded the Polar Bear and headed for Cinnamon Bay for our first beach day. Passing the overlooks on Northshore provided the views of the mostly sunny puffy cloud kinda day we'd have, perfect! We noticed at 10am all of the beach parking was full at Hawksnest, Trunk, Gibney etc. The main Cinnamon parking lots were full at 10am, but found a side spot near the taxi stand, perfect! At first glance I could see the destruction that Irma caused here, but saw that the large Kapok where the restaurant used to be was a little battered but standing tall!! There is construction fencing everywhere, no amenities currently, but work is getting done!


















From the looks of the current construction I know they will bring this place back! My biggest disappointment was the loss of the archeology museum, one wall remains and I hope they rebuild it. It housed great Taino and Carib artifacts dating back to 400BC, I have to believe those artifacts were secured safely somewhere? This next pic was from 2006 to give perspective and the current window shot is my favorite showing that even in destruction you can find something beautiful...










Around 2pm we packed up and headed to Maho. We were amazed as we rounded the corner and saw a sea of cars, people and taxi's. I envisioned Maho Crossroads as a small food area near the new parking lot on the far end, but it's relatively big right as you enter. in my "back in the day" opinion it's a mediocre attempt at having a funky beach vibe, including Tiki Bar, comfortable sitting areas, corn hole, predictable sign post and Grateful Dead playing and tie dye colors. I told the gang what I thought, saying you know 30-40 years ago..!!! My daughter replied she's now allowed to say you know 15-20 years ago..!! She also made me realize things do change and visitor's without previous knowledge will probably say "Wow, that place was cool!" I enjoyed a $12 hot dog and the ladies had a nice salad with spiced chicken, I think it was $18. After lunch we decided to avoid the beach crowd and kept our fingers crossed that Francis would be quieter......




















As we passed the mangroves near Francis the air reminded us that sargassum was around, yuck! Found few cars here, nice and quiet and no sargassum or odor!!! Hopefully sprawl and crawl will not find this beach for a while, absolutely perfect!










Nearing sunset we didn't want to leave the relaxing calm waters, but it was time to enjoy Sunset Ridge!









To be continued, Cheers!!