STJ August 3-10,2021


Ok, the plan this morning was to wake everyone much earlier and try for parking at Trunk. I've developed a poor sleeping pattern the last couple of years, doesn't matter when I go to sleep, but I often wake at 0330, but on this trip I was able to sleep through the night until 0530-0600, which was nice! We departed the villa just before 0800 and decided to see if Northshore Deli was open, YES they were!! We ordered delicious breakfast sandwiches and also lunch sandwiches, and an extra 12 pack of beer juuuuust incase!!






We were out of there in less than 20 minutes and in our parking space at 0845!! It was so early that the NPS booth hadn't even opened yet. There were maybe 3 other groups of early birds in the left/middle of the beach, shortest distance to the cay. We went far right and found a premium spot under a Seagrape tree/bush canopy. This would be perfect since we would spend the next 5 hours just chill'in!













The bay right in front of us had a large fish ball of minnows moving in and out, this was the feeding ground for large tarpon and pelicans. We could sit and watch that aerial show all day! It wasn't unusual to be wading and have a pelican dive bomb within feet of us, rising to the surface to siphon out the water and enjoy its catch, cool!















The bath houses and shops etc. look the same. We enjoyed a couple cold drinks from the bar such as Lime In Da Coconut and my favorite a Rum and Root Beer! however, one noticeable and very important thing missing at Trunk is the beach vegetation and palm trees, this is true at all of the beaches we visited. A few tall palms did miraculously survive though! unfortunately, we didn't see any of the low sweeping variety. All in all, no place more beautiful in the world!









We took advantage of the nice showers and called an end to a great beach day! Headed back to the villa to get cleaned up for shopping and dinner at the Lime Inn. We lucked out and found an open FREE parking space near the Post Office. From what I saw the daily parking is around $25.


First stop was Mongoose Junction, the shops offer relatively the same merchandise as they always have, but the Bajo el Sol Gallery has changed things up a bit, Art Bar Rum Room, pretty cool!












Of course the ladies ended up at their favorite jewelry shops RI Patton, Freebird and Vibe...purchases of course were made. It's always active in the center of town, and I did notice the improvements where the restaurants/bars sit, such as Cruz Bay Landing, cool looking place.










I received a text from Lime Inn while shopping to confirm our reservation we made 2 weeks prior. I simply walked over to confirm and had a beer at the bar. It seemed different not being greeted by now retired Rich, but his daughter Chelsea is filling his shoes nicely and the way she made us feel at home was certainly a trait she inherited from her mom and dad. Soon the gang joined me for one amazing dinner! We are not huge "by volume" eaters so we chose the 4 course option over the 6 course. For the foodies...Choice of appetizer I had Proscuitto wrapped buffalo mozzarella with tomato, Bubu salad that included watermelon and cashews was awesome, large rack of fall off the bones Rum Ribs on roasted garlic mashed potatoes and last but not least Coconut Dream Tembleque which was crazy good! I didn't take food pics, but my daughter took pics of her filet and Bubu salad! Not knowing they were closing for season the next day we felt fortunate for this memorable dining experience! You may have noticed that I do not like a lot of change, we ate here when we got engaged, we ate here on our honeymoon, we eat there every time we visit, some things that are perfect should never change ! FYI, they plan to reopen October 4th, maybe we'll plan around that? https://thelimeinn.com/















To be continued, Cheers!!...........

Trunk is just Soooooooooooooo Beautiful.

Back in the 70s no one swim on that side of the little island because as the story went there was a very aggressive large barracuda.

I remember snorkeling around the island not long after JAWS came out and I heard the music the whole way. Of course this was long before water proof ear buds.

Absolutely love reading your reports and looking at your beautiful pictures! I am reliving our time on STJ which was so enjoyable. We too arrived at Trunk Bay on the 2 days we went at 8;30/8:45 and secured the best spots on a deserted beach! We tried for dinner reservations at the Lime Out but was unsuccessful as was the case with a lot of the other places. We ate at 1864 in Mongoose which was good but it was the only "fine dining reservation" we were able to get. Next time reservations are made way in advance! Can't wait for your next installment!

Tom, I didn't even put fins on all week! But at trunk I swam with my mask when the guys told me about the tarpon, they were everywhere. The guys snorkeled a lot and said the cay was not so good, but the far right side was great and full of various marine life. Funny to listen to people walk/snorkel by saying did you see those sharks!! Tarpon so active their fins were constantly seen above water and even jumping out of the water.

Daisy304, knowing it was closing night a couple from our villa complex called Lime Inn lucked into a table. I walked into the new restaurant Shaibu and made a reservation 2 days in advance, times were of course limited. Until worldwide travel picks up, I think it's best to make reservations on STJ weeks in advance. 18*64* looks nice, how was the food/service?

Totally agree with you on making reservations weeks in advance and you are right about limited times. We were able to get an 8:00 reservation at Extra Virgin Bistro but ended up cancelling after we had dinner at 18.64. I guess it's the same owners. We really liked 18.64. The service was excellent as was the food. We should have kept our EV reservations but 8:00 dinner was just too late for me! Next time we will approach it a little differently. We are STJ newbies so we definitely learned from our first trip. I will say we thought that SXM has so many more dining options. We haven't been in 4 years but had been going for about 20 years prior to Irma.... JoAnne

St John has/had some great "fine dining" restaurants, but with the amount of current visitor's it's so limited. I'm so out of the referral loop, but RickG was nice enough to post a pinned map with many choices, most are not "fine dining" locations, but certainly authentic and great I suspect.. We didn't eat at Morgan's Mango this trip, but my guess is that they are still excellent. ZOZO's was closed at Caneel, but when they were at Gallows Point they were excellent. I went into Shaibu's looks amazing! Does anyone know if the chef of Sweet Plantains opened up another restaurant? My regret on this trip is that we didn't have any true West Indies influence meals. We've only been to SXM once, perhaps our best dining experience was at Dreams.

“…….. I do not like a lot of change, we ate here when we got engaged, we ate here on our honeymoon, we eat there every time we visit, some things that are perfect should never change”

I recognize myself in the above!

I am enjoying all your posts. We drifted over to VG for the past couple of trips and your reports are making me miss STJ and almost regret my recent deposit on a VG villa for Feb.

$25 parking in Cruz Bay is blowing my mind.

Cleobeach, Cool Breeze said we were welcome to park there after 6:30pm, IF a spot was available, used it once. We like St John Car Rental also because of parking and location. Twice we lucked out and found a free spot in lot across from the Post Office. We never had to pay the $25!! No regrets, we like VG also!!

IF there is a spot indeed….we have used ST John Car Renal since 2005 and even pre-CoVId crowd times we struck out.

Never miss a visit to Freebird when I in St John!!!