BernK, headed your way, recommendations????

[Gina O]

BernK-

I will be headed to the USVI's this June and would love to hear your recommendations for places to eat and things to do. I will be traveling with my 13 y/o niece (I take each of my sister's kids on a trip when they are 13) and possibly my SO depending upon his work schedule. I will be mainly staying in my dad's condo on St. Croix but will have a great deal of flexibility to travel to nearby islands as my dad has an airplane down there that he uses to fly between St. Thomas and St. Croix, but is always willing to go elsewhere!

While he and his wife have favorite spots, I was hoping for some new ideas and would appreciate any ideas you might have. Thanks, Gina

[BernK]

Hi Gina
I don't know too much about St. Croix, it's been a long time since I was there. St. Thomas has some great restaurants. My favorites are The Banana Tree Grill which overlooks town and Randys which is in the center of the island - no view or anything but great food. For a great beachside restaurant try Blue Moon Cafe at Secret harbour which is on the East End. It is also the best beach on St. Thomas for snorkeling. You could also go to Coki Beach for snorkeling but that gets very crowded and there is no coral worth talking about there, it is all fish which are used to being hand fed. I prefer to see them in their natural life myself. For those that don't like to snorkel or dive there is Coral World, it's basically an aquarium with various tanks set up as different environments. It's great for children. There is a nice petting pool with starfish and other stuff in there to pick up and touch. Magens Bay is a beautiful beach but try to go there in the early morning or at sunset, basically when all the cruise ship passengers are gone. The shopping is not as good as it used to be but jewellery and cosmetics are good buys. Cosmetics are 20% below stateside prices and there is no sales tax. St. John is gorgeous, it's mostly Natl. Park, great beaches and good hiking trails. Nothing too strenous but not bad either. Trunk Bay is the most famous beach but again like Magens the best time is early morning or later in the afternoon. Hawksnest and Cinammon are better. Annaberg Sugar Mill is interesting and the Reef Bay Trail is fun. The shops in Cruz Bay are great, in particular at Mongoose Junction. They don't have the cheap souvenir shops that are all over St. Thomas.
The BVI's are worth a visit too. You will need a passport or proof of citizenship with a phot ID. A voters registration card work with a drivers licence. The best place to go there is Virgin Gorda to an area called The Baths. It's an area with huge boulders to climb around and nice little coves to swim in. It's not worth snorkelling though. There are a few day charters that go from St. Thomas down there for the day. The price is about $115 - $125. Some include lunch others don't.
There is plenty to do if you want or you can just chill out on the beaches. The beaches all have public access so there are plenty to choose from. There are lots of nice places to go to to watch sunsets. It's very easy to get to the BVI's and St. John from St. Thomas, there are lots of ferrys. Tortola has an aiport you can fly into from St. Croix. If you go to Tortola you have to vist the Cane Garden Bay Rum Factory. I use the word factory lightly. It's an old sugar mill. They bottle the rum in any old thing. I have bought it in Listerine bottles. Try to have a good few people otherwise they may not open the doors for you. They have to decide whether it is worth there while. It is strong rum, you wouln't drink too much of it. Speaking of rum you should go to the Cruzian Rum Factory in St. Croix. That's my favorite and they have there own bottles. It's also dirt cheap, a half gallonis about $6.
If you want to e-mail me your address at kreiselvi@yahoo.com I will send you some books. There is so much to see here. Unfortunatly I won't be here when you come down, we are moving back to the real world next month. It is beautiful but it is expensive to live here. I hope you enjoy it.
Bernadette

[MrsReber]

Ooooh, I spent my honeymoon on St. Thomas! We stayed on Sapphire Beach (quite literally). Hope you don't mind me adding some comments- We had a couple of outstanding meals. One of those meals was at the Agave Terrace. We went there on our last night. If we had been there earlier, we probably would've gone back again. Really pretty place, great service and good food. We tried to go to Sib's at Mountain Top, but they were closed for lunch since it was the off season. We had been told to go there for the key lime pie. Supposedly they have the best? Mountain Top was neat, too. What a view from up there!

St. John is beautiful. We went there one day and liked the little shops nearby. We stopped and had lunch there, too.

Gina, hope you have a great time!! It brings back good memories for me.

[Gina O]

Thanks to you both for all the suggestions. Bernadette, I will email you later today, thanks in advance for all the information. Gina