St. Thomas vacation-any tips?

[Cyanne]

My family is taking a spring break trip to St. Thomas in the next week or so. We are staying at a VRBO house and have a rental car. Does anyone have any good tips on inexpensive things to do or see? Hubby and son have a scuba day planned but we have no other activities set.

We are planning on eating most meals at the condo but are definitely open to eating out a couple of times. Any good restaurant recommendations? How about a recommendation on where to get groceries.

We are staying on the North side of the island if that makes a difference. I also want to avoid cruise ship crowds when possible.

Thanks!

[fmzip]

Take the ferry to St John and never come back!

St John is the island to see, you can hike there, take a open cab ride around the island for next to nothing, go to Trunk Bay best beach on this planet and snorkel.

Really, St John is unbelievable, I say everyone should visit here before they die. 2/3 of the island is national park, untouched pristine absolutely breathtaking.

Rent a jeep for the day and just drive around, it's something special to see, no comparison to St Thomas.

Here's some pics of our first trip.

http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/virgin-islands/viewtopic.php?p=226303

We then got married there a few years ago.  The link to the above forum is great for getting the inside scoop on both islands. Trust me on this, GO TO ST. JOHN for the whole day, St Thomas pales by a country mile in comparison :)

[geekette]

I would also root for St. John.  Beautiful.

A friend who had family there (St. John) always packed a good bit of food in a cooler, especially meats and cheeses.  It's not like you need much in the way of clothes, so he'd use that baggage for something useful, like the Christmas ham.

[fmzip]

I would also root for St. John.  Beautiful.

A friend who had family there (St. John) always packed a good bit of food in a cooler, especially meats and cheeses.  It's not like you need much in the way of clothes, so he'd use that baggage for something useful, like the Christmas ham.

Ditto on the cooler! We bought a Polar cooler and brought some nice steaks from Sam's Club. Prices are STEEP on the islands. Pack FOOD, not clothes!

[Cyanne]

Since it's an island I expect the food to be pricey. Is it similar to Hawaii pricing ($6-$8 for milk, $5 for eggs, $6 for a box of cereal)? That is kind of what I'm prepared to deal with.

I am planning on bringing a small cooler to take snacks or lunch out with us.

I'm glad to hear that St. John is worth the trip. I will definitely spend at least one day there.

Has anyone gone over to the British Virgin Islands for a day? Was it worth it?

fmzip-the photos are amazing!

[fmzip]

Thanks for the compliments on the photos. Yes, those are the type of prices you can expect to pay for groceries. Seriously, pack as much food as you can,

Here's a few more from our non pre-mustacian honeymoon in St John.

No matter how mustacian we become, we will always splurge and go back to St John!

First pic is a hike up to Ram Head, do it early in the day as it gets hot, the photo with the two palm trees is Maho bay, the other pristine beach is Trunk Bay. The home was our VRBO castle rental in the sky :)

[Cromacster]

Love St. Johns.  Nice pictures, I've also hiked Rams Head trail, awesome time.

Re: The British Virgin Islands

I did a day trip to a few Islands.  We chose to go with a group charter I guess you could call it.

http://www.calypsovi.com/baths.html

Stopped in Virgin Gorda, a few other islands, and topped it off with Jost Van Dyke.  All in all a very fun trip.  The next time I go I will probably choose to just spend the day at Jost Van Dyke.  White Bay is amazing!  But I've heard there are other interesting places on Jost that I am looking to explore.

[KingCoin]

Yeah, I'll echo the preference for St John, especially if you prefer things on the less developed side. Rent a motorized dinghy at Noah's Little Arks for the day for ~$120 and beach hop on the North Shore of the island.

In St Thomas, the sunset from Flag Hill is quite nice. You can take a ridiculously overpriced cable car (like $20pp) or just walk/drive up the road. It's a tranquil place to enjoy an expensive frozen drink.

For fun drinks and dancing in St. Thomas, I enjoyed Duffy's Love Shack which is something of a local institution (looks sketchy form the outside, but don't be deterred).

[Cyanne]

Thanks for all of the tips so far. I appreciate all of the input. We will definitely go to St. John for a day. We are staying away from the busy sides of St. Thomas. I live in a fairly rural spot and didn't think I could handle being amongst the crowds and cruise ship masses.