After five days on St Croix, Scott and I said goodbye to Ben and Maria and headed to St John for a few days. We arrived very early at the airport terminal, to ensure our bags would make it on the plane (see our previous blog about weight). While we waited for our flight, we walked along the boardwalk in Christiansted and enjoyed the views.
We flew back to St Thomas on Seaborne Air and we had a great view of St Croix and sail boats cruising along the way.
I was shocked when we came into Charlotte Amalie, as the plane did not fly directly into the bay. Instead, it flew OVER the CITY and then into the bay, it scared the living daylights out of me.
St John Ferry Terminal
Before we left St Thomas, we made arrangements with a taxi driver for a pickup upon our return. Interestingly, he drove along the shoreline to Red Hook, which was the first time we had ever gone that way. We’re still not sure why the navigation kept sending us up and over the island during our previous trips?
Scott and I didn’t know what to expect when we arrived at the ferry terminal. Would it be like the Washington State ferries, or more like a charter boat? Turns out it was pretty straight forward. Reminded me a little bit of a train terminal.
The St John Ferry Terminal is decently sized and you don’t need to make reservations in advance. Simply walk up to the ticket window and buy your one way ticket. You can buy them three days in advance, but we chose to buy our return on our departure day.
If you have a large suit case, you leave it on the dock and the staff will place it on the ferry at the stern. No, you don’t get any kind of claim ticket for it! We hopped on and Scott went to sit down inside and I said, “don’t you want to be upstairs and enjoy the ride?” He didn’t realize they had an outdoor upper deck.
I was surprised to see so many boats moored in the bay. With the ferries coming and going, it had to be a very rolly bay.
That was a quick trip!
The entire trip from Red Hook to Cruz Bay took only about 13 minutes. We were guessing we were traveling about 25 knots.
Arriving in Cruz Bay there were a lot of boats. Sadly, a few had seen better days. On our starboard side, we got a great view of the Gallows Point Resort, where we were staying.
Disembarking the ferry took about five minutes and our luggage was waiting for us on the dock. Outside the terminal, it was a bit hectic with taxis and lots of cars. We called the hotel for pickup and within 10 minutes we were checking in!
Just like the ferries, all of the hotels we stayed at in the USVI didn’t really have luggage storage. Since our room wasn’t ready, they simply left it at the end of this hall, next to the plant. That would never happen here on mainland!
Time to check out Cruz Bay
Our hotel was literally a 5 minute walk to “town”. Along the way are two cemeteries, one on either side of the road. Word of CAUTION: if you are susceptible to bug bites, be sure to slather yourself in bug spray. I got eaten alive from the minute we started walking and the entire time I was having lunch!
Scott and I walked into the first bar we saw and ironically it was called “The Beach Bar”. The food was great, including the Reuben Egg Rolls!
After lunch, we headed to the center of town where a farmer’s market was set up. We chatted with a couple of the locals and bought a few gift items. Everyone was so incredibly friendly and happy!
The streets were lined with lots of cute stores and we were told to find the Lime Inn bar and inside we would find a really cool gift shop called the Pink Papaya. It’s a definite must see when you are in St John.
Gallows Point Resort
Just a few minutes by foot to the center of town, Gallows Point Resort is the ideal location. Scott and I were pleasantly surprised when we checked in and saw what an awesome room we had. We were in 7A, on the bottom floor, right in the middle of the resort. Each building has four units- two upstairs and two downstairs.
From our room, we could walk right out onto the lawn, down the stairs to the beach and then over to the pool! Just watch out for large reptiles!
There were lots of small lizards and I loved them as they were really cute!
Our room was actually a condo owned by a couple in Michigan and they have owned it for the past fourteen years. It was nicely appointed and the a/c was nice and cold. It was definitely the best room we stayed in during our vacation! For a full tour, be sure to watch the YouTube episode below.
Off of the bedroom, was a sunroom with a sky light where you could relax and unwind.
The shower was huge AND it had this shelf (sitting area?) adorned with shells.
Another cool feature of the resort, was they had a water purification station. I never drink the water in the hotels we stay at, so this was comforting to see. In fact each condo had pitchers in the fridge for the water.
The weather was nice and hot the entire time we were in St John and we were glad to be near the pool. We managed to grab a chair every time, but not necessarily an umbrella. From our room, you can take the stairs down to the beach or you can walk out on the dock and go snorkeling (they call this the “outdoor pool”. Since we didn’t have snorkel gear, we didn’t get the chance to do that.
Our first night in St John
Traveling by plane, taxi and ferry Scott and I were exhausted by the end of the day. We enjoyed the sunset and then headed into Cruz Bay for dinner. We didn’t have reservations and we hoped we wouldn’t run into the same problem we had on St Croix.
Luckily we were able to get a table at the High Tide restaurant, which is themed around “Livin the Dream”.
The food was good, but unfortunately the service was super slow. We talked to a number of restaurants and they currently have a shortage of labor, due to the pandemic. Now that things are back in full swing, they just don’t have enough people.
After dinner, we made our way back to the hotel. The restaurants and bars were packed with people (nice to see, but we’re not quite used to that yet).
The following day we rented a dinghy and spent the day exploring around St John. Be sure to tune in next week and see what we discovered. As always, thank you for following our journey! Be sure to subscribe for future blogs and follow us on social @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney. Check out the latest episode below. Please also subscribe to our channel and leave any comments below.
Cheers, Ally & Scott
