St. John

St. Thomas St. John San Juan

 

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Some say the best part of St. Thomas is St. John

St. John is a bit smaller than Manhattan and two-thirds of the island is part of the Virgin Islands National Park.  The rest is small towns, shops, homes and undeveloped territorial or private lands.  The park also includes much of the offshore waters.  Most of the park land was donated by Laurance Rockefeller.

 

Cruz Bay

On the western tip of St. John, Cruz Bay is a 20-minute ferry boat ride east of St. Thomas.  Cruz Bay was once the bustling center of cotton, sugar and rum trade through the mid-1800's.  It has a nice shopping area known as Mongoose Junction.

 

Trunk Bay

Trunk Bay has a snorkeling trail with underwater markers explaining what you see.

 

Trunk Bay

Because Trunk Bay is a mile-long beach, it often seems deserted.

Coral Bay

There are no stop lights on St. John because it's so small.  Coral Bay is the second largest "town" on the island.  It seems there were about nine houses in town.  We had lunch at a waterfront bar/grill.

Coral Bay Vista Point

Great little car for exploring the island.  However, we lost the car keys in the trunk when the key chain broke out here at a vista point overlooking Coral Bay (see last picture).  We had to rip out the lining behind the seats to reach the keys.  Oh yeah, it was 95 degrees and 90% humidity with no shade nearby.  It was the only thing that spoiled an otherwise perfect day in paradise.

 

Tortola

This is how close the United Kingdom is to the United States.  Tortola is the largest of the British Virgin Islands and a very popular day-trip from the U.S. Virgins.

 

Catching Rays

Jim enjoys the late afternoon sun near the Annaberg sugar mill ruins.

 

Cruising Back to Red Hook

No need to explain it.  Just enjoy it.

Parking at the Ferry in Red Hook

The only other thing that spoiled the perfect day in paradise was back in Red Hook.  When we returned to the ferry dock on St. Thomas, we found that our rental Jeep was completely surrounded by other cars in the parking lot.  It took about an hour-and-a-half for a tow truck to arrive and tow the red car away.  It would have been fun to see the look on the driver's face when they got off the ferry.

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