Hello everyone, and happy Thursday! I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas! We definitely did over here in the Manes/Hedy household! We are up in Connecticut for a few days, and Dalton was able to see snow on Christmas Eve! He was beyond excited, which made me so happy! You would have thought this child won the lottery! 🙂 Santa was great to him, and it was time very well-spent with family. That’s the most important thing in life, right?
Well now that the holiday has passed, Mike is sadly en route back to the island due to work, Dalton is in YMCA camp up here on Connecticut today, and yours truly is also back to work! That being said, want to hear about a new beach shuttle?
Parking at the beaches has gotten crazy over the past few years. There are more people than parking spots at the beach, which leads to some crazy parking efforts on that roadways that clog up the streets. Well the folks at the Virgin Islands National Park have taken notice, and are trying to alleviate some of the parking issues that we see during the busier winter months.
People visiting the popular North Shore beaches – Hawksnest, Trunk, Cinnamon and Maho – can now park at Caneel Bay for free and take a regular taxi to the beach from there. This is a new “park and ride” option, according to Tonia Lovejoy, Executive Director of Friends of Virgin Islands National Park.
Here’s how I see this working…
Say you have a family of four with bags, coolers, noodles and chairs. You don’t feel like dragging the kids out of the house at 8:30 a.m., which is pretty much the time you need to leave in the winter to ensure parking at your favorite beach. With this new park and ride option, you can leave whenever you’d like, drop your family and beach gear at your beach of choice, then one family member parks the car at Caneel and meets the family back at the beach. Is this the ideal way to visit the beach? No. But it’s not a terrible option. It also allows you to visit whatever beach you’d like, whenever you’d like.
Taxis go up and down the North Shore every day, all day. They are consistently driving this route between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. – prime beach time. Certain taxis will stop at Caneel daily at 9 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. to pick up passengers using the park and ride option. If you choose to park in the lot at different times, you can always walk out to the road and catch a passing taxi. Taxi prices range from $6 to $12 from Caneel to the North Shore beaches. Please remember that the taxis are cash only.
This new park and ride option will continue through May 30th. The hope is that it not only helps with parking issue, but that it also helps the environment. When people look for alternative parking at the beaches, they often park on tree roots, eroding surfaces, and on smaller plants. If this park and ride option works, we may see additional options in the future. I’ll keep you all posted.
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Learn more here –> www.explorestj.com/tour
See the island of St. John with a resident. See the nooks and crannies that many visitors miss. Explore the beaches, historical sites, perhaps a tiki bar or two, and much more. Full & half days available. Rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor.