"ST JOHN - US Virgin Islands" U. S. Virgin Islands by erics75218

St John is, without a doubt, one of the most amazing and beautiful places I have ever had the opportunity to visit. The entire island is a national park and because of that the island is still, more or less, as it was meant to be. There are really only 2 “towns” on the island, Cruz Bay and Coral Bay, Cruz Bay being the larger of the 2. Connecting them are just a few tiny roads that wind up through the hillside alarmingly close to the edge of the cliff. To get around on the island everyone drives little Suzuki samurai 4x4s. You drive on the left side of the road, but you still sit on the left side of the car. That gives you the best view of the edge of the road, and the fall below should you not stay focused. If you don’t have a car, you could hitch-hike anywhere on the island. Once we were aware of this fact, we found a middle aged woman walking on the side of the road and decided to pick her up. About 3 minutes into the ride she was demanding that we take her to a store and buy her a sandwich. We promptly let her out of the car, and that was the last hitch-hiker adventure we took on.

This photograph was taken from a restaurant overlooking Caneel Bay on the Northwest side of the island. The restaurant was part of an eco tent/cabin style resort. It wasn’t so much a restaurant as it was a buffet for everyone staying at the resort. Situated on a huge deck that jutted out over the hillside, and it provided the perfect spot from which to watch the sunset. The food tasted great but then again, what food wouldn’t taste good with that view for a backdrop.

On the water

The US Virgin islands are home to a number of sail boat races and we were lucky enough to charter the sailboat owned by the winner of a few of those races. His boat was nothing special to look at, and he was doing charters to raise money to restore it its original condition. He was an amazing guide, who let us sail his boat for quite some time while he was down below looking for some beer for us to drink. The guide who suggested him to us said he was just like a real live Popeye, and he was correct. He couldn’t have cared about anything in the world other than being on the water. I’ve never been at the helm of such a large sailboat, or any boat for that matter, and the ease at which the wind would tilt the sides of this very large sailboat toward the water was awe inspiring. It was just him and the 2 of us, and it was an amazing time I will never forget.

• Pros:Unblemished Nature
• Cons:none
• In a nutshell:The most amazing place I've ever been