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Stay on the Beach at Cinnamon Bay

December 12, 2022 6 Comments

The beach near some of my favorite eco-tents & bare sites at Cinnamon Bay

Did you know that you can stay just 40 steps from the beach for as little as $40 a night? It’s true! Camping may not be for everyone, but there is definitely a more affordable way to stay in St. John, and today I plan to tell you all about it. Camping really isn’t your thing? No problem! There are other options at Cinnamon Bay that are affordable and don’t require you to sleep in a tent. 🙂

Let’s start with the basics… Cinnamon Bay is the only campground in the Virgin Islands National Park on St. John. It’s located on St. John’s north shore, between Trunk Bay and Maho Bay. (Peter Bay is to its west, but that beach does not have public road access.) Cinnamon Bay is less than 20 minutes from Cruz Bay, and the taxis go there regularly.

Like all of St. John, Cinnamon Bay was heavily damaged when Hurricane Irma rolled through back in 2017. It stayed closed for several years as renovations occurred, and it finally reopened last January. And since the storms, Cinnamon Bay has been converted to a nonprofit, so all proceeds support St. John.

Cinnamon Bay has three types of accommodations: bare sites, eco tents and cottages.

Bare Sites

All bare sites include a wooden platform with a rain cover, a picnic table and a charcoal grill. You can opt to bring your own tent and gear, or you can choose to rent a bare site with a tent and linens. You can also choose to rent a cooking kit for an additional fee. The cost to rent a bare site starts between $40 and $50 a night, depending on the season. They are located in different areas within the campground. My favorite is number 13, which is about 40 steps from the beach.

Eco Tents

Want to kinda camp, but not really camp? Then an eco tent might be a good option for you! These are permanent tent structures that include a queen-sized bed, a fan, light, electrical outlet, linens and a cooking kit. The cost to rent an eco tent starts between $130 and $175 a night, depending on the season. Oceanside eco tents are priced a bit higher.

Check out this quick video I took of sites 12, 13 and 14, which are some of my absolutely favorites.

Cottages

Ok, now this is a great option for those of you who want to stay on the beach, prefer not to camp, and don’t want to break the bank at the same time. The cottages are solid concrete buildings that have windows on the front and back to allow the gentle breezes to roll through. Each cottage has a queen-sized bed, plus a day bed/sofa with a trundle. They also have a mini fridge and grill, and they come complete with linens and cooking kits. All of the cottages are located on the western side of Cinnamon Bay and are very close to the beach. The cost to rent a cottage is between $230 and $285 a night, depending on the season.

Check out this quick video I took to show you the location of the cottages at Cinnamon Bay:

As I mentioned, prices are based on season. Here is the breakdown:

Low season is July 16th through August 31st. Rates range from $40 to $230 a night.
Mid season is May 1st through July 15th and also November 1st through December 14th. Rates range from $45 to $250 a night.
High season is December 15th through April 30th. Rates range from $50 and $285 a night.

All rates are based on double occupancy. The Cinnamon Bay campground is closed in September and October.

Cinnamon Bay is a full service campground, and its amenities are offered to non-campers who are stopping bay to use the beach as well. It has a large restaurant that serves lunch and dinner near the entrance and parking lots areas. There is also a food truck near the beach that serves lunch. A new food truck is coming soon, so it’s food offerings will be expended later this season. I will keep you posted on that.

The restaurant at Cinnamon Bay serves breakfast and dinner. It is open to the public.

The food truck is located beside the beach at Cinnamon Bay.

There are restrooms available to everyone. There is also a spigot beside the main restroom building near the beach where you can rinse the sand off your feet. Showers are only available to campers.

Cinnamon Bay also has a well-stocked camp store that has drinks, snacks, t-shirts, hats, reef-safe sunscreen and more.

I know the world has gotten pricier in recent years, and St. John is no exception. So this is a nice, affordable option for many of us. If you are interested in learning more about the Cinnamon Bay campground, please check out its website at CinnamonBayVI.com.

(Quick note to my readers: This is not a paid placement story. I simply write about the places I enjoy & items I think you will care about. I like to promote cool places and great businesses on the island.)

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IslandTidbits.com: Use It to Plan Your St. John Vacation

December 9, 2022 0 Comments

Hello everyone, and happy Friday! Today I wanted to point out some features here on IslandTidbits.com that you may have missed since we launched back in September. There are lots of items here that will help you plan your St. John vacation.

Let’s start with how to get here. You will notice in the Important Links section in our sidebar a link that says “How to Get to St. John.” This link tells you everything you need to know from flying into St. Thomas to taxiing to one of the three ferry options (Red Hook, Crown Bar or Charlotte Amalie) and then the actual ferries or barges, which you will need to take to get to St. John. It even discusses the customs process at the airport. Click here to read How to Get to St. John. You can also find this information under our Info tab in the Island Tidbits menu.

Want to see what St. John looks like at this very moment? We have more than 20 live-streaming webcams over on our Webcams page. We’ve included webcams from Cruz Bay to Coral Bay and beyond. We even included the Soggy Dollar Bar’s webcam too. You can see all of our webcams at IslandTidbits.com/webcams.

Interested in watching some videos recently taken here on St. John? I’ve uploaded 10 videos so far. There are beach videos – Trunk Bay, Honeymoon Beach & Saltwell Bottom. There are also GoPro videos I have taken while driving around the island. Want to see exactly what it looks like to drive from Cruz Bay to Maho Bay? Well you can! Check out that and all of our videos at IslandTidbits.com/videos.

Now let’s talk Logistics. I’ve created two custom maps. One shows you exactly where our restaurants are located, and the other shows basic logistics like parking lots (paid & free), dumpsters (we drop our garbage off here), public restrooms and more. One thing to note: There is a Coco Jim’s marker incorrectly placed in Cruz Bay. That is on the public Google map, and I do not have the ability to change it, although I did notify Google. Coco Jim’s is correctly placed on my map (purple marker). It’s located on Route 10 beside Mid Way. We plan to add more categories to the Logistics map soon, including laundromats, ATMs, etc., so please check back often for updates.

In addition to all of this helpful information, I also post stories daily that will also help you plan your St. John vacation. I enjoy writing about hiking trails, history, restaurant openings, re-openings and more. There are so many great things happening here, and so many cool stories from the past, and I am excited to share it all with you.

So please bookmark this website – www.IslandTidbits.com. Follow us on social media. Click here for Facebook. Click here for Instagram. Want to see our videos as soon as they post? Click here to check out our YouTube channel.

If you’d like to get our stories emailed to you once or twice a week? Please click here to Subscribe. Prefer to receive our posts daily? Just click the email icon at the bottom of this post to sign up.

And lastly, if there is anything you are interested in learning more about, please email me at jenn@explorestj.com. I would love to hear from you.

That’s it for today. Thank you for reading Island Tidbits. I hope you find this site to be helpful when planning your St. John vacation.

Have a wonderful day!

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The Cannon at the Ferry Dock

December 8, 2022 2 Comments

Hello everyone! So I’ve been writing Islands Tidbits for just under three months now, and I see that I have so many more readers today than I did when I first started this blog back in September. (Thank you so much for reading!) So I figured I would re-share the following story, because I think it’s so interesting. And I think you’ll find it to be interesting too. Here is the story of the cannon at the ferry dock in Cruz Bay.

The bulk of people who visit St. John, or return to the island, do so via the Cruz Bay ferry dock. And as we do so, we pass an important element of our island’s history – a cannon that was previously located at Fortsberg in Coral Bay. The ruins of Fortsberg, an 18th century citadel fortress, are located on a hill above the eastern side of Coral Bay harbor. Fortsberg was the site of a successful slave rebellion in 1733.

This particular cannon was relocated from Fortsberg to Cruz Bay when the ferry dock was being built in 1838. At that time, it was placed with its muzzle facing downward and into the ground, a common practice during peacetime. The cannon was used as a hitching post for donkeys or horses. (The fort at Fortsberg was decommissioned in 1765.)

The cannon at the Cruz Bay ferry dock was originally placed muzzle down. *Image source: Library of Congress*

When the dock was remodeled in the 1990s, the cannon was placed pointing out to sea, which is culturally and historically inaccurate. The good news is that the ferry dock is set to be renovated once again, and local historians and residents are asking that the cannon be restored to its original position.

In 2013, three additional cannons were uncovered on the beach in Cruz Bay. It is believed that they, too, were originally located at Fortsberg. The three cannons were removed at the time, and moved to a “secure place” according to a 2013 St. John Source article. It turns out that the “secure place” is just behind a building, but let’s hope that changes soon.

Three cannons were found on Cruz Bay beach in 2013. *Image source: St. John Source*

So the next time you’re coming or going via the Cruz Bay ferry dock, please take a moment to check out this cannon. It’s such an important part of the island’s history.

Best Beaches to Visit When We Have Big Swells

December 7, 2022 3 Comments

Saltwell Bottom and Hansen bays are located within Round Bay on St. John’s East End.

Hello everyone, and welcome to the middle of the week! So as I told you earlier this week, we have a pretty large north swell happening right now. This means that swimming at the north shore beaches – Hawksnest, Trunk and Cinnamon especially – is not safe. There is currently a high risk of rip currents, a high surf advisory, a small craft advisory and dangerous swimming and surf conditions, according to the US National Weather Service out of San Juan. They’re currently forecasting seas up to eight feet with breaking waves up to 13 feet here in the USVI and also over in Puerto Rico. That’s pretty intense.

When we have a north or northeasterly swell (happening right now), it’s best to spend your time at the beaches located on the south side of the island. So until this north swell goes away – it’s forecasted to last through the end of the work week – you will want to swim and snorkel at the following beaches:

Salt Pond Bay

Salt Pond is located about four miles past Coral Bay. To get there, take Route 10 (Centerline Road) out to the main Coral Bay intersection. Take a right there (if traveling from Cruz Bay), and drive about 10-15 minutes until you se the Salt Pond parking lot on your left. The walk down to Salt Pond is about five minutes. It’s a downhill walk to get there, which means an uphill walk back to your vehicle. There are not a ton of trees at Salt Pond, so be sure to bring sun protection. There is some nice snorkeling at Salt Pond, and the bay will be nice and calm.

Little Lameshur Bay

A building at the Little Lameshur plantation

It’s a bit of a journey to get to Little Lameshur, but it’s a pretty beach, one which will also be calm during these swells. To get to Little Lameshur, you will also take Route 10 to Coral Bay. Take a right (again if you’re coming from Cruz Bay), and drive until the pavement ends, which is about 4-5 miles, I believe. Once the pavement ends, there is a mostly dirt road that leads you to Little Lameshur. It is almost a full mile to get out there. You will first past Great Lameshur, which is a rocky beach. Continue a bit further to get to Lameshur, which is sandy. When you’re out there, walk to the end of the road and check out the remnants of the sugar plantation. Not all rental companies allow their vehicles to go out there due to road conditions, so you will want to check that first.

Hansen Bay

Hansen Bay is located on the East End, about 12 miles from Cruz Bay. It’s pretty easy to get to this beach, as long as you don’t mind driving up and down some pretty big hills. To get here, you will just drive straight down Route 10 until you get there. You will pass through the main intersection of Coral Bay. You will then pass Skinny Legs and Hurricane Hole. After you pass Princess Bay (part of Hurricane Hole), the road will start to get steep. Go up and down a few hills, and eventually you will get to Hansen on your right. It’s a beautiful sandy beach. The owners of the land (they own up to the high tide water line) charge a donation to park on their land. One of the owners, Thalia, is pictured above. Please tell her I sent you. 🙂

Saltwell Bottom Bay

Ash and his family own Saltwell Bottom. (This is an older photo taken when Lime Out was located out there. It’s now located in Coral Bay.)

Saltwell Bottom is located just around the corner from Hansen. So follow those directions, but drive past Hansen. You will drive an additional minute or two and then you will be at Saltwell. This, too, is a donation to park beach. It’s a bit more pebbly, but it’s one of my favorites on island. If you head out here, tell the owners Ash and Yola, that Jenn sent you. They’re great people. This beach has great access to Pelican Rock too, which has amazing corals and a lot of fish.

Haulover South

Haulover south is located at the bottom of one of the steep hills before you get to Hansen and Saltwell Bottom. It will be very calm during these swells, but it is a very rocky beach. I know not everyone loves that, but there is good snorkeling there if you don’t mind the rocks.

Maho, typically a nice and calm beach, has even had waves this week.

Waves at Maho this past Monday. They will continue through the the end of the week.

There are other beaches that will be pretty calm this week, but the ones listed above are the easiest to get to and have a decent amount of parking.

I hope this helps! Be safe out there, and always use a noodle or life vest when you’re snorkeling, even if you’re snorkeling in calm water. Better safe than sorry is my motto. And please, do not attempt to snorkel on the north shore until this swell is gone. The water is unsafe and so churned up that you probably won’t see much anyway.

Have a wonderful day!

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Sweater Party Date Change & Party Update!

December 6, 2022 0 Comments

You might recognize this festive guy from EVB. (Pic from the 2018 sweater party)

Hello everyone, this is going to be a super fast, but informative post. 🙂

The Tap Room’s Sweater Party is now being held on Tuesday, December 13th from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. This party is super fun, so if you are going to be on island next Tuesday, you definitely want to check it out. The Tap Room is located on the second floor of Mongoose Junction, right next door to Caravan Gallery. You’re invited to wear your favorite Christmas sweater (or any sort of holiday outfit). Not the festive type? Bah humbug! Just kidding! You can party in regular clothes too.

The Tap Room will also hold a Best Cookie/Holiday Treat contest during next Tuesday’s sweater party. You’re invited to bring a pie, fudge, fruit cake, Christmas loaf, etc., which will be judged that evening. Prizes will be awarded to the winner.

The sweater party is open to people of all ages.

Fun stuff is happening on island these days! Come visit us!

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Surf’s Up!

December 5, 2022 0 Comments

As I mentioned in this morning’s post, there are some pretty bigs swells happening on island right now, and they’re expected to continue for a few more days. I put together a little video to share with all of you. Enjoy!

Did you miss this morning’s Island Update? Please click here to read it.

Want to see more St. John videos? Please check out our video page at IslandTidbits.com/videos.

Tag: Waves on St John

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