Hello everyone, and welcome to the weekend! One of the biggest parts of planning a vacation (for me at least) revolves around where I’m going to eat. Well I am excited to tell you today that yet another great St. John restaurant has reopened, signaling that high season is just around the corner.
Our friends over at Extra Virgin Bistro reopened last night after being closed for off season for nearly three months. They plan to continue with their three-course tasting menu this season, which is delish! Guests get an appetizer, salad and entree for $100. Children under the age of five are able to order off of a kid’s menu for those of you with little ones like me.
Nearly all of our fine dining restaurants have reopened on St. John at this point with the exception of ZoZo’s. They plan to reopen at Caneel Bay in December. Numerous restaurants remain closed for off season, but are expected to reopen soon. Here’s the scoop:
Banana Deck – Reopening November 13th if all goes as planned
Cinnamon Bay’s Raintree Restaurant – Reopening November 1st (Food truck is currently open beside the beach for lunch.)
Drink – Reopening on Halloween
Island Breeze – Reopening mid-November
Kati Lago/Island Cork – Reopening TBD
Lovango Resort & Beach Club – Reopening December 19th
Pizza Pi – Reopening date TBD
Ronnie’s Pizza – Reopening in new location soon…
Skinny Legs – Reopening November 1st
ZoZo’s at Caneel Bay – Reopening in December
Want to know where all of our restaurants are located? Then please check out our restaurant map at www.explorestj.com/restaurantmap
Please don’t forget to enter our raffle. For just $25, you can enter to win a St. John vacation. Proceeds will support the Animal Care Center of St. John. Get the details and purchase tickets at www.explorestj.com/raffle.
Well folks, some tidbits are too good to wait to share! The Reef Bay hike is returning next month… how great is that??!!
For those of you who are not familiar with the Reef Bay hike, it’s a rather tough 2.2-mile hike down a rather steep hill from Centerline Road to Reef Bay beach. There are remnants of the longest running sugar plantation at the base of Reef Bay, as well as petroglyphs, which are reached from a quick .22-mile spur trail. The hike down isn’t too terrible; it’s the more than two mile hike back up that gets you. But that’s all about to change!
Beginning on Monday, November 21st, you will be able to hike down Reef Bay alongside a Virgin Islands National Park ranger, who will discuss a variety of items along the way, including the area’s rich history, the local flora and fauna, and much more. You will have the opportunity to visit the petroglyphs, as well, which are ancient rock carvings done by the pre-Colombian Taino. Once you get to the bottom of Reef Bay, you will hop aboard the Sadie Sea boat, which is now owned and operated by Wharfside Watersports.
Remnants of the Reef Bay plantation – Image credit: Sarah HansonSome of the petroglyphs carved by the Taino – Image credit: Sarah Hanson
The cost of this guided hike is $75, and trips run on Mondays and Tuesdays from 8:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. Trips will depart from the National Park Visitor Center at 8:45 a.m., and transportation will be provided to the Reef Bay trailhead. The hike down takes roughly three hours. The guided hike concludes with a picturesque 40-minute boat ride back to Cruz Bay… so no more hiking back up! Unless you want to, that is. 🙂
Please note: The only way to take advantage of the boat ride back to Cruz Bay is by buying a ticket for the guided hike in advance. If you hike Reef Bay on your own, a boat will not be waiting at the bottom to transport you back to town, nor will you be able to hop on the boat when it is there, unless you have a ticket.
And for those of you who have been paying attention to our weather lately, you have probably seen that the island has received a tremendous amount of rain this week. Rains like this create an beautiful waterfall at Reef Bay. I’d like to thank Sarah Hanson for sharing the following pics with us, which she took yesterday during a hike with her two adorable pups.
The waterfall was flowing yesterday! Image credit: Sarah HansonEven Kush & Milo love Reef Bay! Image credit: Sarah Hanson & these are her adorable dogs 🙂
Please don’t forget to enter our raffle. For just $25, you can enter to win a St. John vacation. Proceeds will support the Animal Care Center of St. John. Get the details and purchase tickets at www.explorestj.com/raffle.
People often ask me during my island tours if there is a beautiful beach they can walk to from Cruz Bay. The answer is yes, and it’s one of the best!
Honeymoon is one of the closest north shore beaches to Cruz Bay. It is very quiet and serene, as you can only access it currently by hiking in via the Lind Point trail or by boat. It’s a decent-sized beach, especially for St. John standards, and it has a nice reef, which is nestled between Honeymoon and Salomon beaches. The walk to Honeymoon via the lower Lind Point trail is roughly a mile, and it takes about 25 minutes or so depending on your pace.
The Lind Point trail starts just behind the National Park’s visitor center in Cruz Bay. If you are not familiar with that building, it is the large yellow building that is located next to the creek and across the street and down a little from Mongoose Junction. Walk behind the visitor center, and you will see a set of stairs. That is where the hike begins.
(If you have a vehicle and plan to park and hike, you have to go into the visitor center to obtain a parking pass. There is not a fee associated with this pass.)
The trail begins behind the National Park’s visitor center in Cruz Bay.Walk up these stairs, take a left and then a right to begin the Lind Point trail.
To start the hike to Honeymoon, you will walk up these stairs and then take left at the top. You will see the Caneel Bay apartments to your right and beautiful views of Cruz Bay to your left. You will walk up a small hill, and will quickly see the trail going into the woods on your right.
Take a right and walk up the stone stairs to start the Lind Point trail to Honeymoon beach.
There is a small incline at the begin of the trail as you walk up the rocky steps and onto the main path. This slight climb lasts only for a few minutes before the trail levels out.
Within just a few minutes of walking, you will come to an intersection with a large rock in the middle. The trail to your right takes you to the upper Lind Point Trail. This trail also leads you to Honeymoon beach, but today we’re sticking to the lower Lind Point trail. So you will want to take a left at this intersection.
When you arrive at this intersection, take a left to stay on the lower Lind Point trail.
As you can see in the photos below, there are some rocky areas along this trail. There are also some spots that are very sunny, and others that are rather overgrown. This trail is definitely doable in flip flops, but it’s a lot easier in sneakers or sandals with straps like Tevas or something similar to that.
The lower Lind Point trail is rocky at times.There are some spots that are in full sun, so sunscreen is recommended.The trail is a bit overgrown at times due to the recent rain.
After roughly 15 minutes of walking, you will come the trail that leads down to Salomon beach. As you continue walking, you will see another trail that leads slightly uphill on your right. This connects to the upper Lind Point trail. Skip both of those trails and continue forward if you’d like to visit Honeymoon beach.
Stay straight and follow the lower Lind Point trail signs.The skinny trail on the left leads to Salomon. Stay on the main trail (slight right) to go to Honeymoon.
You will come to yet another intersection about five minutes further. This is a larger intersection where the trails are wider. If you follow the trail straight and up to your right, you would eventually come up to North Shore Road, or Route 20 on the map. Take the more narrow trail downhill to get to Honeymoon beach.
This is your final intersection. Take a left to go to Honeymoon.Honeymoon is at the end of this path.
And then you come to this…
Pretty gorgeous right??!! Check out a few more pics:
So as I mentioned, I absolutely love Honeymoon beach. The views are gorgeous, as you can see, but it’s also a great place to snorkel. And there are so many fish! If you are interested in snorkeling and seeing numerous species of fish, including blue tang, parrotfish, sergeant major and more, simply access the water at the far end of the beach to your left if you are looking at the water. That’s where the reef is located. Be cautious though, because there is usually a small current that pulls you to your left.
Want to walk to Honeymoon from the ferry dock? The map below shows you how to do so.
This map has you walking along the road to the trail. You can also cut through a small parking lot to walk to the trailhead.
Hello everyone! This post is going to be short, sweet and to the point. St. John taxi rates increased this week. Here’s the scoop…
Taxi rates have remained the same since October 2005, so they are long overdue for a rate increase. After several months of discussion, the official rate increase began earlier this week. (Rates increased on St. Thomas as well.) Here is a sampling of the new fares from Cruz Bay:
Cruz Bay to Hawksnest Beach: The cost is now $9 for a single rider and $8 each for two or more traveling together.
Cruz Bay to Trunk Bay: The cost is now $12 for a single rider and $9 each for two or more traveling together.
Cruz Bay to Cinnamon Bay: The cost is now $14 for a single rider and $11 each for two or more traveling together.
Cruz Bay to Maho Bay: The cost is now $17 for a single rider and $12 each for two or more traveling together.
Cruz Bay to the Westin: The cost is now $9 for a single rider and $7 each for two or more traveling together.
Here is the complete list of fares originating from and going to Cruz Bay courtesy of vinow.com:
Image source: vinow.com
There are additional fares originating from and going to the following spots on island:
Coral Bay
Gallows Point
Caneel Bay
Westin Resort
Neptune’s Landing/Windmill Bar
If a spot is not listed on the tariff sheet, the rate will be determined based on the two nearest points. You can see the full rate sheet in its entirety on vinow.com.
Please don’t forget to enter our raffle. For just $25, you can enter to win a St. John vacation. Proceeds will support the Animal Care Center of St. John. Get the details and purchase tickets at www.explorestj.com/raffle.
Hi all! I am super excited to tell you all that STJ To Go is launching tonight! They say that all good businesses start in a bar, right?? Well STJ To Go is one of them! 🙂
I was sitting at The Tap Room last month with my friend Dan Frenette, and we were talking about the lack of restaurant delivery services here on island. We don’t have Uber Eats, Door Dash or any of those fancy companies you all have stateside. Many people have talked about offering this type of service over the years, but logistically it’s tough. As many of you know, Centerline Road is only 12.8 miles long, but the ride takes about 50 minutes. That’s a problem. The fact that we don’t have widely-known street addresses is tough too, although there is a current initaitive working to change that. So in order to pull this off, you really need to know this island well and know the location of several villas. Luckily for us, I drive these roads daily giving my island tours, and Dan cleans villa pools. So together, we feel confident that we can successfully offer this service to all of you. We pulled in Mike Hedy, who happens to be my other half, and together we are launching STJ To Go. Did I mention how excited I am??!!
We are doing a soft opening tonight, and then will launch officially on Tuesday, January 19th. We have to start small because we want to do this right. Therefore we are only delivering four restaurants at the get go. They are 1864, Banana Deck, Extra Virgin and The Tap Room. Our delivery zone initially is Cruz Bay to Gifft Hill and everywhere in between. We plan to expand both the number of restaurants and delivery zone in the near future.
The delivery/service charge is a flat $30 fee. That pays the driver and covers operating expenses. Unlike Uber Eats and the like, we are not charging the restaurants to provide this service. They have had one heck of a year, and we want to help them. Restaurants are at 50 percent capacity due to Covid, so essentially their businesses have been cut in half. We are hoping to help them with that.
We are planning to offer STJ To Go Tuesday through Saturday from 3 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. You can order the day of or up to 14 days in advance. We are limited in the number of nightly orders, so we suggest ordering in advance if possible.
Please take a few minutes to check it out at www.STJToGo.com
Hello everyone and happy Sunday! I am so sorry that I’ve been absent for a bit, but we’ve been dealing with some stuff over here at the Explore STJ household. I’ve always been brutally honest with you all, so here’s what’s been happening.
On December 22nd, I flew up to Connecticut to spend the holidays with my family. My son and his father were already up in Connecticut. (We have a small house there.) Less than 36 hours after landing, I learned that the woman who was babysitting Dalton was exposed to Covid and tested positive. (I tested negative upon landing that Tuesday.) She never told us she was exposed, and she never told us she felt the need to get tested. She watched Dalton for three more days while awaiting her test results. Pretty infuriating.
About six hours after she notified us that she was positive, Dalton started showing signs of Covid. Within hours, he struggled to breathe. When we should have been eagerly awaiting Santa’s arrival, we watched Dalton gasp for air. He tested positive the next day.
Dalton on Christmas Eve in CT
Dalton’s father and I started showing symptoms that weekend as well. Covid is a strange thing, I’ve learned, because the symptoms can vary so drastically. Dalton and his father both had coughs and had issues breathing at times. Dalton had a high fever as well. I’ve been lucky in that my breathing has remained fine. Instead, I’ve had some pretty intense stomach pain and zero appetite.
Dalton’s father tested positive the same day Dalton did. I tested positive a few days later. Since then, both Dalton’s father and I have lost our sense of smell and our taste has been affected too. As of today, Sunday, January 3rd, all three of us feel great.
So we’ve essentially been living the quarantine life up here in Connecticut since Christmas. Instacart is a pretty amazing thing, I’ve learned! 🙂 We were supposed to fly home yesterday, but had to postpone that until we are cleared to travel by the CT Department of Health. Dalton’s last day of quarantine is today; Mike and I have two more days to go. The bright side: Connecticut is expecting a few inches of snow today, so that should be fun to see.
I am so excited to return to the island with my family, and I am excited to resume my island tours. I am also excited to announce that Mike and I, along with our good friend Dan, are launching a new restaurant delivery service upon our return called STJ To Go. It will be very similar to Uber Eats in that you can order your meal and beverages online through STJToGo.com and we will deliver it right to your doorstep. I am super, super excited about this! We launched a Facebook page, so please go over and give us a like. You can find it at www.Facebook.com/STJToGo
Well, that’s all I have to share today. If you feel safe coming to the island in the near future, I would love to show you around! And if you are waiting for the vaccine to travel or simply waiting for things to feel a little more normal, I totally get it. We will be waiting for you when you decide the time is right for you. Happy New Year everyone. xoxo
Please don’t forget to enter our raffle. For just $25, you can enter to win a St. John vacation. Proceeds will support the Animal Care Center of St. John. Get the details and purchase tickets at www.explorestj.com/raffle.
