My Sister and Brother-In-Law are sailing the BVI for a week the end of April with some friends and then spending 4 nights on St. John. My Wife and I can't make the sailing trip this time but are meeting up with them for their St. John section. They're staying at Estate Lindholm, overlooking Cruz Bay. There aren't rooms available so we're looking at other options (Gallows Point looks nice). It looks like there are options convenient for walking into Cruz Bay for Bar's Restaurants, but any suggestions on where to stay? Also, for 3 full days on the island, what should we consider doing? We like spending the day on a beach hanging out and swimming, are there any nice beaches that have restaurants/bars that may not be ridiculously crowded? Also, what suggestions for getting around the island to these sights (taxis, etc.)? We're very used to Tortola and the rest of the BVI, but have only spent one afternoon on St. John.

I can't help you with housing, except to say that some places have a minimum length of stay. I will say, that if you are accustomed to the BVI beach bar scene, you might not be happy on St. John. Because of the national park, most beaches are fairly pristine. Cruz Bay has beach bars and restaurants, and on a few beaches you can get a drink, but for the most part St.John is picnic and cooler territory- no glass. You should rent a car for at least part of your stay, public transportation won't take you to some places you might want to see.

Thanks, this is exactly the kind of info I was looking for! As far as beach bars go, we tend to go to the more secluded beaches in the BVI and bring our own cooler, or we're on a sailboat and simply dinghy a cooler on shore. It makes me laugh, and sad, to think about the BVI as having raucous beach bars. When we first started going there 15 years ago, most of the beach bars were very shack-like, and had just enough patronage to be fun. Now, with the cruise ships coming into Road Town and the day sailing 60 person catamarans out of St. Thomas, places like White Bay on Jost have been ruined for me.

I think strolling down to Cruz Bay in the evenings will satisfy our requirements for any livelier bars. I've found a couple of decent looking places around Cruz Bay, so will probably just stay at one of those. It looks like there really isn't much else for lodging around the island.

Thanks again!

There are actually a ton of places to stay, but they are mostly high end villas, as well as Caneel Bay and the Westin. If you are looking for lower key, there are some condos in Cruz Bay and the Cruz Bay Boutique Hotel (now called Hotel Cruz Bay) right in the thick of the action.

Two options in Cruz Bay we have used for short stays post charter (1-3 nights)

-The Inn at Tamarind Court
-The St. John Inn

Both are within walking distance of the ferry dock. Clean but not fancy.

Oh, and a little bird reminded me about Coconut Coast Villas. Thank you, birdie! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />

We've stayed at Gallows - it's beautiful and in a great location. Lavender Hill is next door to Gallows and I think it's a little more affordable.

If you like pristine, quiet beaches with great snorkeling, you'll love St. John! You can walk to Solomon and Honeymoon beaches from Cruz Bay. You can also rent a dinghy and do the north shore beaches (Maho, Francis, Leinster, Trunk, etc.). With a car, you can get even farther east to Coral Bay (great places for lunch and happy hour) and Salt Pond Bay, one of the best snorkel spots on the island.

Amy

Check out the Grande Bay 1BR units at vrbo.com. Some offer shorter term rentals. New, clean units with covered parking for your rental jeep to get you to the beaches, and very short walk to restaurants and markets.

Grand Bay is great stay there when we go, walk into Town at night great place!!!

I'm in Christmas Cove right now - are there any free mooring balls in St John? Need to calibrate my anchor rode before heading back to BVI

The mooring ball in the National Park are free during day use and $15 overnight.
You could easily pick one up in the morning and have many hours to measure/mark the rode.

Mooring balls in Caneel are not marked (some) does that mean they are free? Guy came around in a dingy reminding me to pay but wouldn't accept $$ - went to the floating barge thing and (seriously) couldn't figure out where to put payment so I put it in the top letterbox and someone apparently stole it! I'm such a dunce at times - went back and saw the little money slot - duh!

Here's a link to the NPS guide. All of the white moorings on the north shore are managed by the NPS. There is a box with a slot at the mooring station to drop your $15 per night payment. The person who came around is the park host, a person who stays free on a mooring for a month in exchange for greeting and explaining the program. There is a box on the mooring station that has extra pay envelopes. You need to write down your mooring number and boat name on the envelope.

http://www.nps.gov/viis/planyourvisit/upload/MooringGuide.pdf

Cheers, RickG

you can even use a credit card