Family Getaway to St. John

We just got back from such a wonderful family getaway to St. John.

This was Luke and my second visit, you may remember we visited for our 10th wedding anniversary 12 years ago and we’ve wanted to bring our boys ever since. This trip was a super special one. It marks our last family vacation before John goes off to college in September.

We couldn’t think of a better place to get away from it all! We relaxed, we snorkeled and saw sea fans that were 7 ft wide, walked along-side wild donkeys and chickens that roam the streets, and hiked some of the 1000s of acres of national parks. Truly heaven on earth! I’m excited to share all with you. This post is LONG with lots of photos but hopefully lots of great information to plan your next family getaway to St. John.

A tiny island, in the middle of a big ocean, that feels like a dream.

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I saw the above quote on a mug at Cinnamon Bay and that truly describes St. John to a T.

What is St. John

St. John is one of the US Virgin Islands and it neighbors St. Thomas. It’s the smallest of the three US Virgin Islands. It is the only US territory that drives on the left side of the road.

Since 1956, approximately 60% off the island is protected by the Virgin Islands National Park, run by the United States Park Service.

History

A little about the history of the island – the Taino presence on St. John is from about 700 to the late 15th century. We got to visit the Petroglyphs on one of our walks and pottery and settlements were found at Cinnamon Bay.

Between 1671 and 1718 the island went back and forth between Danish and English settlements finally reverting to Danish in 1718. Sugar cane, cotton, and other crops were grown and there was a large plantation, The Annaberg Sugar Plantation built in 1731, became one of the largest sugar producers. These industries ran on slavery. By 1804 the slave population reached a peak of 2,604 (according to Wikipedia) Denmark emancipated the slaves in 1848 and by the 1850 many of the plantations were abandoned.

In 1917, during World War I, the US purchased the islands for $25 million from the Danish government to establish a military base. During the 20th century, private investors acquired properties and land on St. John. Vacation resorts were established, for example, Laurence Rockefeller’s development of Caneel Bay. According to the National Park Service, “Over the next four years, Mr. Rockefeller and the Jackson Hole Preserve, a non-profit conservation organization, purchased approximately 5,000 acres of the 12,500 acre island. Their deeds were then turned over to the federal government for the creation of the nation’s 29^th national park.”

Caneel Bay Resort was destroyed during Hurricane Irma (and the Caneel Bay Beach Club is open and so is ZosZos but they’re hoping to redevelop Caneel Bay back to the intimate resort it once was).

Getting to the Island

You will need to fly to St. Thomas, that’s the closest airport, and then get a ferry or private boat taxi to St. John. We did the Red Hook ferry upon arrival and we did Crown Bay ferry upon departure. The Crown Bay ferry was longer but closer to the airport.

From Boston, it’s pretty much a full day of travel. We had indirect flights both ways but the journey is so well worth it.

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Where to Stay

On our last visit we stayed at Caneel Bay which was wonderful. This time we booked a private home with a pool. We stayed at Elysium Villa on Fish Bay.

This gorgeous villa can sleep up to 6 people but it was just the 4 of us on this trip. The accommodation is privately owned but run through BookVI. BookVI was so wonderful to deal with they met us and led us to the house upon arrival and were there if we needed anything. They offer a full concierge service.

Fish Bay is quiet and the home was cliffside with lovely views of Fish Bay and the ocean in the distance. Our first morning we awoke to a full rainbow.

Everything was so well thought out at this home. A beautiful pool with coral stone patio. The layout was an upside down house. So the open plan kitchen / dining room / living room was on the first floor then downstairs on the same level as the patio was the two bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms. The bedrooms were not connected internally with upstairs which was fine for us but might be an issue if you have really little kids. The bottom floor had a washer dryer and a spare bunk room.

The home felt spacious and relaxed and was very, very clean. They had everything we needed to cook including a grill and large fridge / freezer. Blender was essential for making our own Painkillers at night. A Painkiller is a coconut based cocktail and I’ll share the recipe with you next week. It’s sooooo good and tastes even better on St. John.

The villa provided beach towels, three coolers, beach chairs, and beach toys. So when I say everything was thought of, it really was.

Oh, I have to show you the pool tiles. I love the color of them:

We loved using the pool after the beach and it looked so pretty at night.

In addition to private villas, there is the Westin and the Cinnamon Bay Campground.

Getting Around the Island

On our first visit, we pretty much stayed on Caneel Bay and only took a taxi to the Trunk Bay Beach. This trip we rented a Jeep and it meant we could see so much of the island. The roads are curvy and steep so know that before you go. They also drive on the left with left hand drive cars so it’s a little weird. I wouldn’t feel comfortable driving on the island but Luke did ALL the driving and he grew in Cornwall with very narrow steep lanes. I say if you can drive in Cornwall you can drive anywhere. Ha! Ha!

Favorite Beaches and Hikes

In the week we were there we tried to pack in as much as we could. Each day we visited a different beach and tried to do do a hike as well. One day Conor wasn’t feeling very well so we spent the day at the house with only a visit to Peace Hill. Read on for more.

Day 1 – Lind Point Trail and Honeymoon Bay Beach

We decided to start the trip with a stroll down memory lane. We wanted to the kids to see one of the original Caneel Bay Beaches – Honeymoon Bay Beach. We LOVED all the Caneel beaches on our last visit. So we parked the jeep in Cruz Bay for the day and took the Lind Point Trail to Honeymoon Beach.

The Lind Point Trail isn’t a hard trail and you’ll see crabs, cactus, termite mounds in the trees, giant air plants, and more.

The trail opens out onto Honeymoon Beach.

Honeymoon Beach is a lovely beach with the Caneel Bay Beach Club where you can order lunch, cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks. They have a small shop and bathroom facilities too.

We, of course, had to have a Painkiller on the beach!

We loved snorkeling at Honeymoon Beach – saw lots of brightly colored tropical fish and coral.

After spending the entire day on the beach, we walked back on the Lind Point Trail and shopped at Mongoose Junction and got some frozen treats at Irie Pops.

We highly recommend their homemade popsicles. Then it was an early dinner at High Tide. We loved this restaurant so much that we went back on our last night. Look at the views!

All the food was fantastic. Conor got a wrap sandwich:

I can never resist Coconut Shrimp. I had it with a salad. I got the Coconut Shrimp twice here!

Day 2 – Lameshur Bay Trail, Petroglyphs, and Lameshur Bay Beach

A friend recommended Lameshur as a more “hidden” beach which it kind of was. It was very, very quiet BUT you definitely need a Jeep for the this excursion. The road was bumpy and rutted and dirt for about 2 miles and thankfully we didn’t meet another Jeep coming the other way.

We started our day looking at the ruins by the beach which were amazing.

Then we hiked the Lameshur Bay Trail to the Petroglyphs.

Hiking shoes are a must for this hike. It started off very steep which meant beautiful ocean views.

Then the trail became more forest-like on the way to the Petroglyphs.

These date back to 900AD and were created by the Taino people. Quite an amazing site. If you don’t want to hike this route the National Parks Service runs a tour that is downhill and includes a boat cruise on the way back.

We headed back on the trail and encountered torrential rain. We were soaked BUT it cooled us off quite nicely.

It wasn’t too long and then the sun was out again!

After the hike we spent time on Lameshur Bay Beach. As I said, this beach was more secluded and had shady areas but we didn’t feel like there was much in the way of snorkeling.

We had a late lunch at the Windmill Bar and the views of Lovango were breathe-taking.

They also make a wonderful Mahi Mahi Bowl. So good:

Day 3 – Trunk Bay Beach

We decided to just “beach it” this day and Conor made us BLTs that were amazing.

Trunk Bay Beach is beautiful and has an underwater snorkel trail.

It was rated one of the Top 10 beaches in the world by Condé Nast. It really is gorgeous.

We got there early, around 8:30am, and it was quiet. As it got later in the day the beach filled up and there were a lot of influencers creating content – videos and selfies etc.

Day 4 – Maho Bay Beach

This beach doesn’t have much surf and is wonderful for little kids.

We found a shady spot to set up our chairs. Maho Bay Beach felt more relaxed than Trunk Bay. There were lots of families and people there to enjoy the snorkeling. There were bathrooms close to the beach and across the street was a shop, snack bar, rental stand, and a bar.

Maho is known for seeing sea turtles. We didn’t see any but the boys saw a stingray whilst snorkeling.

Day 5 – Peace Hill, Denis Beach

This was the day that Conor wasn’t feeling great so we spent the majority of the day at the house. John and I painted in the shade and Conor rested in the AC. We did go out on a small afternoon adventure.

Peace Hill is about a 10 minute drive from Cruz Bay and has a small parking lot. The trail is just 1/10 of a mile so thought it would be fine for Conor.

At the top of Peace Hill is the remains of a sugar mill ruin. It was used by the nearby Denis Bay Plantation. There’s a small trail that leads down to the beach from Peace Hill (which Luke and John explored).

There are beautiful views of Trunk Bay from the sugar mill ruin.

The views are just specatular.

Here’s a peek of Denis Beach:

We got to see some donkeys while we were waiting for Luke and John on the beach.

On the way back to the villa, we picked up pizza from Ronnie’s Pizza (our second time having it). Really great pizza and subs near the Westin on the way to Fish Bay.

Day 6 – America Hill Ruins, Cinnamon Bay Sugar Factory Ruins & Cinnamon Bay Beach

We absolutely LOVED this day. It felt extra special because this was our very last full day on the island. We started by parking at Cinnamon Bay (which is also a campground) and we hiked the America Hill Ruins Trail.

You will need sneakers or hiking shoes for this trail. It’s steep and rocky in some bits.

The nice thing about this trail is it was wooded and shaded. The woods smelled like cinnamon and jasmine here!

At the top was the ruins where we also spotted a deer.

The views are of Maho and Francis Bay.

After the hike back down the trail we did a small little walk about the Cinnamon Bay Sugar Factory Ruins.

It’s amazing how they used coral in the building materials.

Then it was onto Cinnamon Bay Beach which we absolutely loved. The beach is very long, 1/2 a mile of soft white sand beaches. We walked almost to the end of the beach and we had this area to ourselves.

A bit further along I found this sharing chair. How sweet is that?

We packed a lunch but there were food trucks, a bar, a general store. We got some Cinnamon Bay T-Shirts 🙂

We snorkeled twice. Once to the right of where we were sitting as we’d read there were remain of a plane but we couldn’t find it.

Then we went out a second time out to Cinnamon Quay – we found this area to be the best snorkeling with 7 ft. wide sea fans and loads of tropical fish. We stayed on the beach the WHOLE day trying to soak up all the St. John magic.

After the beach, we went back to the villa to freshen up and get ready for dinner. John loved High Tide so we went back for dinner.

I finally got to wear my new dress from Coastal Brahmin, which is now on sale for $30. I’m wearing a small and had to have the straps taken up (because I’m so short).

I couldn’t believe how grown up Conor looks!

Most of the vacation we went to bed at 8:30 / 9pm so it was fun to stay out a little bit later and stroll Cruz Bay. It has a fun night life vibe.

That concludes what we did on the island but wanted to share a few more things if you’re planning going to St. John.

Helpful Tips

• The roads are steep and bumpy. Cars are on the left-hand side of the road but are American cars. Make sure you’d be comfortable with this prior to renting a car.
• Jeeps are very popular due to the terrain of the island.
• Wear reef-safe sunscreen! We got burnt on the first day because we just couldn’t feel the sun. The sun is really strong. On top of that, when you snorkel you kind of float above the water because the water is so salty. The back of my legs got really burnt. Make sure it’s reef safe to protect the coral reefs.
• You can rent snorkel gear but we decided to bring our own. We got our snorkel gear on Amazon and we each had our own color.
• Parking can be difficult and expensive in Cruz Bay. We parked for a day and it was $70 for the full day.
• Food is expensive. I think it’s because everything is imported but a bag of tortilla chips was $10 so we decided to pass on snacks and tried to buy fresh veggies and fruits. We found Starfish Market in Cruz Bay to be slightly cheaper than Dolphin Market.
• Making cocktails at home might help you save some money too but Painkillers sure do taste nice on the beach.
• For nice jewelry we really liked Caravan Gallery in Mongoose Junction. John found some nice earrings and I got a St. John Hook Bracelet that’s handmade. See below for image.
• If you’re villa offers concierge service take advantage of that.

Why We Love St. John

Towards the end of a vacation I’m always ready to come home. This time I didn’t feel that way at all. I just wanted to stay on St. John with my guys. That’s how incredible this trip was!

• The Nature – it’s spectacular!!!!!
• We’ve never ever been somewhere like St. John – ALL the beaches we visited were amazing. ALL the trails were beautiful. This island is just so beautiful.
• People are so friendly! They love having visitors.
• It’s clean and safe.
• St. John has a really relaxed vibe. You will definately feel very relaxed on the island.

Well, I hope this post on our family getaway to St. John was helpful. Be sure to save the post for later in case you’re planning a trip in the future. Next time, we’d love to rent a boat and also go out to Lime Out to have tacos floating on the ocean.

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