Vacation on My Mind: Reminiscing Over The Virgin Islands

Who else has vacation on their mind?! This girl right here is ready to start planning our yearly summer vacation! February is usually around the time when we start planning and throwing in ideas of where we would like to go. Looking back at our time in The Virgin Islands this past summer sure makes us want to go back. If you have not had a chance to visit The Virgin Islands and you love the beach then you MUST add this to your travel list! There are so many beautiful beaches you can’t go wrong with any of them!

We flew into St. Thomas and stayed at The Sea Worthy Condo in Sapphire Beach. About a mile away from the condo is Red Hook, where you can find restaurants, bars, shops, groceries and the ferry. Since we knew we wanted to explore and not rely on taxis we rented a jeep. Paradise Rental Car picked us up from the airport, filled out paperwork and we were off on our adventure. Quick fact: they drive on the left side of the road! Some car rentals do not allow you to take the vehicle out of St. Thomas, so if you plan to explore St. John that may be something to consider when looking for a car rental. Sapphire Beach is a beautiful beach with a small bar/restaurant where you can grab a quick lunch or dinner. They also have waitresses walking around the beach taking orders. Once we were settled in our condo we headed out to The Tap & Still in Red Hook where we had a yummy burger and drinks.On our second day we had an island hopping day trip planned to the British Virgin Islands, you will need your passport so don’t forget it! We used Stormy Petrel and Pirates Penny, they had great reviews, offered a smaller group charter and left out of Red Hook so it was perfect. We decided on The Baths / Jost Van Dyke trip–we knew we wanted to see the gigantic boulders and sip on painkillers and relax by the beach at the world famous Soggy Dollar Bar. We departed Red Hook and enjoyed the view with guided commentary from our boat captains. They pointed out several islands, beaches, and told us a little about them..we even got to see Kenny Chesney’s home in St. John from our boat!

We arrived at The Baths, BVI about 1.5 hours later and WOW what an amazing view! We waded to shore and walked through the boulder passage ways, climbed and explored.

We then made our way to Jost Van Dyke, BVI for lunch and more beach time. We swam to shore and had lunch at Hendo’s Hidout then walked over to Soggy Dollar Bar for a delicious painkiller–or two! We hung out, had painkillers, enjoyed the view, met a few people, bought Soggy Dollar shirts then the rain came. We waited it out then it was time to say good bye to Jost.

On day three we decided to explore St. Thomas. We found a local place where they have breakfast and lattes called Picaso’s Coffee Bar. This is a spot where the locals stop by in the morning to grab coffee and breakfast. We went there twice and I think we were the only tourist there. It’s not your usual coffee shop place but the location was convenient and lattes and croissant sandwiches were good! After we grabbed breakfast we headed up to Mountain Top, the highest point of St. Thomas and a very touristy spot. When we arrived it was early enough that there were not many people. They have a giant shop where you can buy souvenirs and bottles of liquor duty-free. The also have a bar where we ordered their “World Famous Banana Daiquiri”–it was just ok. Now, the main reason we went to Mountain Top was their amazing panoramic views of the islands from their observation deck. We took in the breathtaking view, hung out and took a few pictures. We then headed back to our condo and spent the rest of the day relaxing at Sapphire Beach.

On day four we decided to hop on the car ferry to St. John. We arrived at the Red Hook car ferry terminal about 30 minutes before the 7am departure, got in line and waited to load. Travel time from Red Hook to St. John is about 25 minutes. We had a filling breakfast at Jake’s Restaurant and began our adventure in St. John. Most of St. John is part of the Virgin Islands National Park, with trails and signs guiding you through the road. St. John was by far one of my favorite islands on this trip. When we return this is where I want to stay. We had so much fun driving our jeep around the island and exploring! We tried to visit as many beaches as time allowed, since we had to be back a the ferry terminal with enough time to make it back to St. Thomas or else we would have to spend the night in St. John and wait for the ferry the next morning! When driving through the National Park roads, there are plenty of overlooks where you can quickly park on the side of the road and admire the beauty. We stopped at Hawksnest Beach, Trunk Bay (my favorite beach ever!), Little Cinnamon Bay Beach (another gorgeous beach) and Maho Bay. We spent most of our time at Trunk Bay and Little Cinnamon Bay Beach. In Trunk Bay we snorkeled and saw some pretty cool fish. We did not do the underwater trail but it would have been cool. As we continued to explore St. John, we stopped for a view of Leinster Bay and on our way back to our jeep we found the Annaberg Historic Trail sign and decided to explore. We followed the trail and went up what seemed like a millions stairs in the island heat! The trail led us to Annaberg Sugar Mill which was pretty cool to check out. We also came across a pretty cool view “Across the Narrows” that looks north toward the British Virgin Islands.

On our last full day we explored more of St. Thomas. We visited Magens Bay Beach one of St. Thomas’ most famous beaches. We lucked out at Magens Bay Beach because there were no cruise ships that day so we pretty much had the beach to ourselves. I laid out and my husband snorkeled and saw a turtle! After Magens Bay we went to Lindquist (or Smith Bay) Beach and laid out and relaxed for the afternoon. At the end of the day we headed back to our condo, got ready and went for dinner and drinks at Duffy’s Love Shack. We visited several times during our trip and had some of their fun drinks.

We definitely enjoyed our time in The Virgin Islands, there is so much beauty–we look forward to returning some day. Later in the summer they were affected by two hurricanes and we were so sad to see these beautiful islands so devastated. They are slowly rebuilding and returning to normal. VI you have our hearts!