Stay Left {Touring St John USVI newlywed style}

Disclaimer.  This post is heavy on the photos and light on the commentary.  While we were on our honeymoon in St. Thomas we took two day trips over to St. John.  Everything shown here is from the first trip.  The tour and stops themselves were actually planned out for us by a super sweet couple that we sat with while we were boating around to different islands on our snorkel tour.  They are awesome, we owe them many beers.

Just tell me beach front bars aren’t idyllic, that’s right, you can’t.


I highly recommend renting a Jeep for the day.  It’s about $100, I know, a bit steep but you can’t put a price on your independence.  Personally, we like to match our rides whenever possible.


Take advantage of the overlooks throughout the island. I’m convinced this particular over look was to entice travelers to ogle the Westin and all of it’s perfection.  Let’s not talk about years of saving that would take to stay at.


Get yourself some snorkel gear and flipper around the snorkel trail at Trunk Bay.  Heads up on the manta rays and jelly fish…



Once you’re tired of swimming and wiggling your toes in the sand, hop your salty bum back into your car and remember…STAY LEFT.  If you’re a pretty straight laced person but looking for the thrill of doing something naughty, driving on the left hand side of the road is it!  Now you know my secret.


Whatever you do, make sure you find yourself here at some point!


Sure the parking is a little tight…


And yes, they do ask you to consume a chilly beverage named after a filthy orangutan and then sport a badge that publicly announces you did so…


You may even be inclined to stuff your face with some of this…


or, heaven forbid, this…


but whatever you do, make sure you don’t sit here


or, if you do, blind your eyes from this.


If you take it upon yourself to ignore my warnings you may start confusing yourself with one of the gods.  Then again, this probably had something to do with that problem too.


Don’t worry, there’s no shame if this happens.


After all,  you’re only trying to avoid the atrocity that surrounds you…


That’s it.  This place has magical powers.  It probably has something to do with all of these drab colors.


Geez.  Who do they think they are, all knocking our socks off and ish.  Once you find yourself sockless, you should probably make your way here.

Francis Bay

I guarantee, nobody likes secluded beaches. 


I definitely didn’t snorkel in water that was 2’ deep to look at coral and rocks…that would be lame.


Since our fun meter was registering off that charts at this point we decided to tone things down and trot through the old Sugar Factory. 


Thirsty again, you say? 


Don’t even think about reminiscing over your mediocre day here then.  This establishment is much to small.


And in case you’re wondering, that says parties…not panties. 


Okay, okay, all joking aside this was probably our favorite day of the entire trip.  For those who may actually be reading this for island and trip information, here’s a quick run down of our day and some suggestions.

As I already mentioned, we actually stayed on St Thomas and made St John a day trip…twice.  Yes, we LOVED it that much!  I highly recommend waking up early to catch a ferry over to St John from Red Hook.  The ride between islands is about 15 minutes and was pretty cheap.  I highly recommend getting a Jeep for the day.  The town around Cruz bay has oodles of car rental places.  We actually had a guy approach us asking if we were looking for a car rental.  I know it sounds a bit weird but it happens a lot, just proceed with caution, like we did.  Another heads up, there is only one gas station on the island which is not far from Cruz bay.  Be mindful of that when you’re looking to turning your car in so you don’t get hit with a fee.

Our first stop was Trunk Bay.  This particular beach is part of a national park that you have to pay to get into.  If I remember right it was about $4 total for the two of us.  Keep your receipt, it’s good for the whole day.  If you’re at all interested in snorkeling, I highly recommend purchasing your own gear or bring it with you.  You’re able to rent some at this park but not anywhere else.  In addition to the rental fee there is also a deposit that you get back once you turn in your rentals.  The rentals are a little pricey.  This is also the only beach that we went to that had a lifeguard on duty and a snack shop.  We made our way through the snorkel trail a couple of times before we left for lunch.  Just a a random snorkel tip – take your eyes off of everything below you from time to time and look up in front of you.  On our second day trip we almost swam into jelly fish…literally.  You’re never ready for that jelly!

For lunch we made our way to Chateau Bordeaux.  Sit on the balcony and drink many Dirty Monkeys!  They're rum, they’re chocolaty and they’re delicious and let’s be honest, getting a pin is fun too!  Another favorite of mine was the Virgin Islands Tropical Mango Pale Ale.  It’s my new favorite beer and I’m seriously devastated that I can’t find it anywhere close to home! Grrr.

After lunch we made our way to Francis Bay.  I’m not kidding way I say this place was deserted.  We had this beach to ourselves for probably an hour.  I’m the weirdo that likes to hunt for cool rocks or pieces of coral in shallow water but we also heard this is a great  place to snorkel.  Whatever floats your boat right?

I also recommend Cinnamon Bay.  We went here on our second day trip and had a lot of fun snorkeling.  There are more people at this beach but it also has bathrooms, I think it may have had water fountains too.

Before we left the beaches, turned in our car and had dinner we headed back to Trunk Bay for showers.  Hence the reason I told you to keep your receipt.  The showers close at 4:30.
We ended the first day trip with drinks and dinner at Woody’s Seafood Saloon.  I honestly, can’t remember what the quality of the food was like.  We ended up making friends with another couple on vacation and beer became the priority. Sorry.  This place is known for a good time and they delivered.

Our second trip we did a little shopping around town and got drinks and appetizers at High Tide.  They had a live steel drum band the night we were there and a game on TV.  Both of us were happy.