National Park AND beach: spring break on St Johns

Have questions?    Email Melanie Tucker, the head travel designer at Tough Love Travel!

I interviewed Bernie, a lifelong lover of national parks who recently found his perfect beach spot:   an island in the USVI (United States Virgin Islands) that's more than 7000 acres of parkland!

Bernie, you're an avid hiker! What's the trail situation like on St Johns?
"Some trails took us past sugar cane plantations that dated to the early 18th century (like the Josie Gut Trail).  The ruins are only about 1/2 mile from the trailhead but you can proceed further through pastoral lands that end up at the sea. 

Another trail offered petroglyphs that dated back to the earliest island inhabitants

And there's the famous Reef Bay Trail that's pretty steep, but- really - none of the trails were too arduous because you're not in Glacier National Park, after all.  These trails were pretty short.   The most important thing you need to remember is to take plenty of drinking water - the tropics get pretty hot!

For more details, click here. 

A special sunset hike is to Ram's Head.  You drive to Salt Pond beach and take the Ram's Head Trail out to the cliff. It's a little rocky but pretty flat, and only 1 mile long.  If you time your trip right, you can do this under a full moon and see the sun set in the west at the same time that the moon is rising in the east... very cool!"

2 GOOD TIPS: 

• Stop in the National Park office that's in Cruise Bay to pick up a map and "pick" the ranger's brain. 
• Bring a flashlight or headlamp!

So you can also hike on the beach?  Tell me more....
"Down by Water Lemon Caye - which is my favorite spot! - you can hike .8 miles around the bay and snorkel out to Water Lemon Island (or 'caye').  It's very scenic, with little sailboats bobbing in the bay, and the hike around the shore, though short, seems enough to deter many people.  The beach is a little rocky there too, but the snorkeling is the best.

Trump Bay is nice too, though very crowded.  Here you'll find the famous underwater trail.22"

An underwater trail?  How does that work?
In Trump Bay, buoys mark a swimming trail from the sandy beach out to a small offshore island (see small buoys on left of photo).  At each buoy, you'll find a small sign underwater, marking a certain plant or coral, as well as common fish that are likely to be swimming in the area." 
IMPORTANT NOTE: Get to Trunk Bay before 10am or the parking lot'll be full.

So how was the snorkeling overall?
"We saw parrot fish of all different colors, those little black and white striped jailbirds, and a small southern sting ray (the gray ones).  There were no sharks or octopus (that we saw) but, happily, no jellyfish either!"

So with all this national parkland, does St Johns still feel island-y?
"Sure!  Not only do you hear steel drums everywhere!  (from the airport to the ferry sidewalk, and spilling out of every bar)  

But here's the view from our house!" 

So what were some highlights of the week?
#1 was driving the 4-wheel jeep around the island's steep hills, on the left side of the road - what an adventure!  We learned pretty fast:  a Kia rental does NOT cut it on St Johns, losing traction on rough roads that we were trying to explore.

Bernie, how did you pick St Johns? 
"My wife found an incredible deal on flights through United - $235pp, roundtrip! So we jumped on it.
Also, the flight's less than 4 hours from NC, and no passport is required since it's a US territory"

And where did you stay? 
"At a house called Cocoa Reef that overlooks Fish Bay. 
It's really well laid-out for families - since it's built into the cliff, each or the 4 floors is small, creating different living spaces for different families or generations.
It was simple - no housekeeping or cook - but it's pool was a real treat, especially because we were off the beach!"

Final logistic:  how do you get to St Johns?
"Flights arrive into St Thomas, from where you taxi to Red Hook on the east side to catch a ferry (no reservations required) to boat over to St Johns. There's another ferry too, closer to the airport, but it's longer and more expensive." 
Ferry from Red Hook takes around 30 minutes and costs about $15pp.

Looking for a special vacation?  

I've got lots of unique ideas from places like St Johns and rare islands like Dominica, 

and even remote camps on common islands. 

Click here to schedule a complimentary phone call.

Back to Nature in the USVI

I didn't go to the USVI for a duty-free Rolex or a time-share. I went for the nature! (and some bonding time with my 17 year old son... more on that later)

Snorkeling on St Johns was the most pristine I've enjoyed in years. The coral is (mostly) untouched, and the visibility is terrific! We swam with Angels whose lovely dark gray or turquoise pancake-shaped bodies paddled gracefully between the rocks -- Damsels with their petite royal blue bodies dotted in florescent specs -- skinny Trumpet fish swimming on their noses - Parrot fish in their rainbow suits, munching on coral so loudly you hear them beneath the water (and thanks to our knowledgable guide, I finally learned what those red and gray ones are...the females!)

There were schools of tiny fish so numerous they made you actually dizzy to swim through them (you know, the ones that swim-as-one but scatter and swirl when you swim into them?) and giant 5' tarpon lurking nearby waiting to take them for a snack!

We even had the luck to see the perfect specimen of a spotted Eagle Ray just before we climbed back into the boat.

We were out on the Pepper, a lil 21' locally build sloop with a thick, wooden mast and a big empty cockpit sort of like the catboats back on the Jersey coast.

But you don't need a boat. Many snorkel spots are an easy drive and hike, and a favorite- where you'll find loads of starfish! - is Watermelon Cay at the end of Leinster Bay.

Another? Chocolate Hole Bay, where harmless nurse sharks are the big attraction.

And over on St Thomas, just a 15 minutes sail (on Heavenly Days catamaran)

takes you offshore to Buck Island's Turtle Cove for... yes... turtles! They thrive in the sea grass.

Here they are on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYj73-0i2zQ

Land-based nature lovers, check out this hiking trail!

It's called the Johnny Horn, and while it's only 1.8 miles long and only to elevation of 400', it makes for a challenging morning! Running from Leinster Bay on the northshore, over the forest ridge to Coral Bay, it goes past ruins of guardhouses, built in the 1840s to catch escaping slaves (the BVI, just across the short but treacherous channel, promised freedom to enslaved people), along beaches (like Watermelon Cay, above, and its starfish), through a forest thick with ferns and birds, and down to Coral Bay where you can refuel at either the Donkey Diner ("kickass food"... their slogan, not mine) or the famous Skinny Legs tiki bar.

There are also easier trails to explore the Annaberg Sugar Plantation or the enticingly remote Salt Pond beach.

You can even get lodging in nature on St Johns! We stayed at Maho Bay camps -a clutch of 20-or-so tent cabins, wedged onto this rainforest-y cliff, where a series of boardwalks connects your cabin to the bathhouse (yes, your tent cabin comes with a bed with fresh linens, some cooking facilities, and your own private deck! but you have to share a bathhouse),

to the activities desk (where you can sign up for sails or guided hikes),

and to the dining pavilion which is impressively perched up on the ridge-- so your hike to dinner is rewarded with a killer sunset view!

Maho Bay surprised me with a glass-blowing studio where you can watch the experts and even make a "flower" yourself! There's also a yoga studio (4am, 8am, 4pm) which my 17-year-old did not enjoy, and a camp store whose BenNJerry's he did enjoy.

It took me a couple of days to get into the pace of this outdoor island life- days filled with outdoor activities, quiet time around 5 to read, write and enjoy twilight as it settles in....
Dinner around 6:30 or 7, early enough to feel awake and conversational...
A walk back to your tent in that complete blackout, void of all sight but alive with chirpers (remember your flashlight)....
And still alert enough to sit and read for almost 2 hours in that complete
silence that only wilderness can bring to you.

It quieted my mind in the most beautiful way.

The pace of outdoor island life, I learned from this giant iguana who lived in the branches
outside my tent. He's about as big around as a large PVC drainpipe, not
counting those olive green spikes that run down his back (he's so puffy he
looks like he's been WAY overinflated!)
I don't have any idea where he hides from the tropical rainstorms, but at all other
times, he hangs out in the open, weighing down the jungle branches as he
surveys the boats and sea, hour after hour after hour.

I think he's got a good life!

If I lived like this all the time, i think I'd be so much more peaceful. And surely get a lot
more books inside me! I wonder, though, if my 17-year-old would like to share that with me? Maybe until the BnJ's ran out!