***St. John - Must Do-s***

Any of you TTOL-ers care to share some of your insights about St. John (summer months) with respect to favorite overnight stops and favorite onshore rest/bars/sites?

I overnight-ed in Mahoe Bay many years ago and it was very nice, especially when we learned about the dinghy beach/roadside drop-off area...for cab pick-up/drop-off.

We missed 'woody's' that trip, but plan to make it there if we ever go back.

Has anyone rented a car?

You'll either need to go into Cruz Bay or Coral Bay for restaurant/bar action. My wife and I go to St John every summer (land based) so I can't comment on the overnight stops, other than to say that I think Francis Bay would be a wonderful tranquil overnight. We always see lots of turtles in the seagrass there. Same with Maho Bay.

Driving around St John is easier than Tortola. The roads are better and there are great overlooks. Easy access to the north shore beaches as well. You'd have to pick up your jeep in Cruz Bay, but I'd highly recommend exploring the island to see the ruins.

The National Park has kept the beaches on the North Shore mostly pristine, but that means dining options are few. There's a restaurant at Cinnamon Bay, but you'll want to call for summer hours - (340) 776-6330. Trunk Bay has a snack bar. Caneel Bay and Cruz Bay are accessible from the rolly Caneel Bay anchorage (ferry wakes). Caneel has multiple restaurants, but they usually shutdown at the end of August - 855-226-3358. Caneel may ask you to put out a stern anchor on your dinghy. Cruz Bay has a ton of options, but you pretty much need to grab a mooring at Caneel Bay and dinghy over.

I've gotten a bit bitchy about overnighting at Caneel with the ferry wakes starting before dawn. Cruz Bay is a great night out.

Chocolate Hole is open for anchoring, last I checked. No amenities. It's possible to dinghy around to the Westin on Great Cruz Bay.

Other fun spots are the moorings at Little Lameshure and Salt Pond on the south side. No amenities, unless you're in the mood for a hike. Coral Bay has some good options that are open in the summer. Someone else will have to speak to anchoring in Coral Bay.

Another spot we love is Hansen Bay on East End, just outside of the National Park ending at Haulover Bay. Vie's may be open for a bit - 340-693-5033.

Marine radio is not generally monitored by STJ establishments. Maybe by the Caneel Bay dock.

Renting a car on STJ is straight forward in Cruz Bay. We've rented from Conrad Sutton for 10+ years - (340) 776-6479. St. John Car Rentals and Courtesy are other options. I'd ask about dropoff/pickup for Maho Bay.

Cheers, RickG

We stopped at coral bay today and had no problems anchoring. If it's crowded it may be a problem but we found room and the holding was good.

We ended up walking around to see what was there before having lunch at skinny legs and heading back to the boat.

Overnight spots? Waterlemon cay area - great snorkeling and calm - reasonable breeze as wel

Matt, Salt Pond has an excellent dive/snorkel reef at the entrance. We love the south side.

Did St. John get moved to the BVI?? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />

Woody's is now owned by someone else and the Cruz Bay Landing is now owned by one of the Woody brothers. As you know, the Maho Campground is gone <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" /> which was one of our favorite places to go to dinner from the boat.

One thing to watch for is that many of the places close late August through September. Last September we spent a lot of time at Morgan's Mango, because they stayed open for the duration. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />

Nope, St. John is now where it belongs, in the USVI. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />

As you know, the Maho Campground is gone which was one of our favorite places to go to dinner from the boat.
<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cloud.gif" alt="" />

Miss that place a lot

Ya, I miss Maho a lot - great breakfast and occasionally Inner Visions under the moon.

Here's Ruth from STJ Spice's summer restaurant closing list:

http://stjohnspice.com/stjohnrestaurants.htm

Cheers, RickG

Sorry for posting in BVI...

Thanks for all the input. If Maho Campground is gone, is there anything remaining there? (Also, what happened to it?)

We'd likely be visiting in June 2015, so it looks like many of the restaurants would still be open.

The Maho Campground lease was year to year and the land was purchased. Nothing left but the shells of the cabins and demolition left overs. The old glass kiln operation is in a container. Part of the old glass kiln team is now on Cane Garden Bay as part of Green VI.

June is quite busy on St. John. The weeks leading up to July 4 has the Carnival events. It's worth fitting some of that in. We were there for the Food Fair and it was quite the party.

Cheers, RickG

We'll have to try that next time. We did see the dive mooring. It was a great spot to overnight.

anybody done the Reef Bay Trail hike up and down? 6 miles doesn't sound bad, but the grade my be tough. My group doesn't want to do it, so I may go by myself when they are resting one afternoon.

It's not 3 miles up, if that helps. The trail is pretty relaxed well past the Petroglyphs. The top third is a pretty steep hike up to Centerline Road, but its a hike and not a climb. We've done that hike from Little Lameshur and back and the section between Europa Bay and Reef Bay trail was exposed and very hot. If I had three liters of water I would have drunk it all.

NPS has maintained two day use mooring in Reef Bay. Dinghy landing can be a challenge if there is any swell, but not so hard to swim it.

Cheers, RickG

Rick's comment about the exposed areas is important. Last time we did it, we drank almost all the water we had in our packs, at least three liters for the adults and two for the kiddo. This was on a day that was cool by STJ standards.

I remember the steepest part of the trail being at the top at the Centerline trailhead. If you are coming up from the bottom, you aren't missing anything by skipping that section.