St. John (USVI) at Thanksgiving

How old are the kids? Their ages can change some of my recommendations.

OK, do you have passports and are you interested in visiting the BVI? If not, I'd look to snorkel at Turtle Cove and have lunch on the water at Lime Out. It's a floating taco bar and it's fun plus they have adult beverages.

If you go to the BVI I'd hit White Bay, the Monkeys or the Aquarium for snorkeling and maybe lunch on Norman Island at Pirate's Bight. If you eat at White Bay I'd go to One Love for lobster quesadilla (they are huge do not get one per person) or if you want something a little more fancy Hendos Hideout. Hendos is right next to Soggy Dollar Bar.

On St. John lunch at Skinny Legs is a must. For dinners Extra Virgin, the bar at Ocean 362 for the sunset. Morgan's Mango is good but very touristy. St. John Brewery might have the best root beer float I've ever had. There are other really good restaurants as well and I'm sure some people will chime in. I use Rockhoppin' Adventures for boat charters but I do know of a poster that didn't have the best experience with them. Others have reported back they had a great time. I think that you need to tell the captain your expectations before the trip.

Feel free to ask questions.

The Indians is also a great snorkeling spot.

Do the BVI day trip. Our kids loved the first one we took when they were 12. Do not over plan. Pick a beach for the morning, pack some food and some drinks and hang out til 1:30-2pm. Go back and take a nap, sit in the pool, and then clean up for dinner. Come back to house and have a few more drinks. Do all over the next day. Pay the money and have your rental provisioned. Showing up that first evening to a fresh lasagna and salad to go in the oven , fully stocked fridge/snacks and even gallons of painkiller and planter’s punch is priceless on vacation. Do your research on restaurants and bars. Some are awesome places and some are tourists traps. As our esteemed expert VABuckeye says, go to Skinny’s at least once. We typically go twice.

Snorkeling at Maho Bay is a must for me. Will undoubtedly see sea turtles and other marine life. Hawksnest Bay and Trunk Bay are also must dos IMO. Greengos is a good Mexican restaurant in Mongoose Junction. 18 64 is also a great, more upscale restaurant. Great drinks and food. I second Skinny Legs for lunch as a must. Colombo's is good for a quick breakfast sandwich, smoothie, or coffee. It's in a storage container on the side of the road so it can be easy to miss but very good. You really cannot go wrong with anything you do on St. John. One of my favorite places to go. Y'all enjoy!

A quick write-up I did for a friend going in a few months. I left off some of the beaches we hit and a few other things.


St. John/USVI National Park

Fly into St. Thomas. Catch a cab to Red Hook ferry terminal (cab ride is $20/person and will be in a van shared with other passengers.). The ride to red hook is around 40 minutes. To catch a cab walk out of the doors at baggage claim. There will be someone there asking if you want a cab, asking you where you want to go, and then tell you which van to get in. You can check and see if the ferry at Charlotte Amalie fits your schedule. It’s a closer ride from the airport, but a longer ferry ride. This ferry doesn’t run as often so chances are the timing won’t work great. If you get car sick at all try to sit in the front of the van or the seats closest to the front. The AC in the vans I’ve been in aren’t great an the roads are curvy. You can buy your ferry tickets online ahead of time or once you get to the terminal. I think they are $8 or so one way and you will also have to pay per suitcase as well. I tip the guys that load our bags $1/bag. The ferry crossing can sometimes be rough, so again if you get motion sick it is best to sit upstairs in the open air. While I’m thinking about it, some places on St. John are cash only, be sure to take plenty of cash. American Express and Discover credit cards are also not accepted at a lot of places.
Arriving at the ferry terminal in Cruz Bay, St. John: if you have rented a Jeep they should have told you where to pick this up. Most rental places will meet you at the dock and take you to their place to finish up paperwork. Some Jeep places are within walking distance of the dock. We always grab our Jeep, get some groceries while we are in Cruz Bay (drinks, snacks, breakfast items, etc…) and then head to our villa to unload everything. We like both Starfish market and Dolphin Market in Cruz Bay. Dolphin Market is at the roundabout and starfish market is in a little shopping center. Starfish has great muffins and we usually buy several of those for our breakfasts. Prepare thy anus, groceries are expensive.

Villas: We have booked our villas on VRBO, but there are some property management places on the island that you could book through if you’d rather do that. A decent amount of villas won’t have air conditioning, so if that’s important to you (and it should be), make sure it has AC. Most villas will come with beach chairs, snorkeling equipment, a cooler, and beach towels. If it is not advertised, be sure to ask about this. We stay near Coral Bay in the Carolina/Upper Carolina area. We spend most of our time on the North Shore beaches and we can get to them within 10 minutes from here. Coral Bay is about 30 minutes or so from Cruz Bay. A lot of people will stay in or near Cruz bay. There are several villas around there, Gallows Point Resort, the Westin, wharf side, Estate Lindholm, and maybe some other hotels. The majority of the restaurants on St. John are in Cruz Bay and Cruz Bay is where most of the shopping is. If you find a place you like and have a question or want to know my thoughts about the general area, just let me know.

Jeep Rentals: If you stay outside of Cruz Bay you will want to rent a Jeep for the entire trip. They will be around $500 for the week. There are only 2 or 3 gas stations on St. John and you will need to fill up before returning the Jeep. We usually only have to fill up once, and that’s the morning we return the Jeep. Mid-way gas and grocery on centerline road is convenient if coming from Coral Bay, but it is full serve and more expensive than the place in Cruz Bay. We rent from Aqua Blue, but that’s only because that was who I found a Jeep from the first time. They pick you up at the ferry dock when you arrive and will take you back to the ferry dock when you leave. There are several places you can rent from. Most places will let you park in their lot for free when you are in Cruz Bay (very little free parking in Cruz Bay). There is paid parking in Cruz Bay (we usually park at the Lumber Yard for paid parking) or if you are shopping/dining at mongoose junction they offer free parking. Aqua blue is not close to the shops and restaurants in Cruz Bay, but is walkable if you really wanted to. I would only rent on St. Thomas and do the car ferry as a very last resort.

Beaches: This is the big draw of St. John. Almost every beach has a reef that you can snorkel to. We hit all of the northshore beaches, but our favorites are:
-Denis bay (a 10 minute hike, very secluded and often times we were the only ones on this beach. A good reef to see fish on. Not as protected as some of the others so the water may be a little rougher).
-Maho (this one can get crowded during the day so we go here for the last couple of hours of daylight. Love to watch the sunset here and there are ALWAYS turtles in the water in the grassy area not far off of the beach). There are some concessions on this beach if that is important to you, but we’ve never used them.)
-Francis (probably our favorite. Often see deer walking up and down the beach early in the morning. Good snorkeling where you will see sting rays and turtles. Some reef on the far end of the beach. Calm waters, not real crowded.)
-Oppenheimer/Gibney. Most people don’t get to see this beach as there are only 3-4 parking spots for it and there is some private land around it. Hardly anyone ever on this beach due to the parking situation. Good snorkeling. Right around the corner is Hawksnest beach, but it can get crowded as there is a lot of parking there. It’s a beautiful beach too, but more people than I want to deal with. Keep in mind when I say crowded the beaches are no-where near as crowded as the gulf coast beaches.
-Cinnamon beach is probably the most crowded one we visited. Some concessions here, great snorkeling at the cay offshore. I always see tarpon on the backside of the cay. Beautiful beach.
-Trunk bay. Can also get crowded, but has good snorkeling at the cay offshore.
-Jumbie is right by the road, but only a few parking spots and you feel secluded here.
-Waterlemon (not watermelon) requires you to hike about a mile. The draw here is the snorkeling. Not much sand on this beach, but snorkeling around waterlemon cay you will see turtles, starfish, rays (we saw a spotted eagle ray near the deep water on the back side of the cay) and all kinds of other fish.
-Haulover is a rocky/coral beach. There is very good snorkeling here.
-Salt Pond beach is nice. It is on the way to Ram Head (which is a great hike and one you should do). You can stop on the way to ram head or on the way back ad swim. I really liked the blue cobblestone beach for a swim on the way back from Ram head too.
-Honeymoon/Salomon beach requires a mile or two hike from Cruz bay. They are great beaches, but probably not worth the hike since so many other good beaches are more easily accessible.
This is not an all inclusive list of beaches, but some of the ones we like. I’m sure I’m forgetting some too.

This island is becoming the new TD favorite

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There is a little place on centerline road right next to midway grocery that sells lobster rolls. They are supposed to be excellent, but I cant eat them so we didn’t even go.

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The infamous CoCo Jim’s.
So we tried this place back in July. Read the hype on TripAdvisor/yelp. This was the worst food I have eaten in a significant time period, not just on vacation, but ever. It was all bad including the worst painkillers. All of it was bad: the chicken, the lobster roll, the sample of soup he gave us, even the chili dog. Don’t waste your time or a vacation meal stopping at this place. There are significantly better yet mediocre places I would recommend over CoCo Jim’s.

Sorry for the rant, but I don’t anyone else having the experience we did there.

VA what's the climate/temperature like at that time of the year down there?

ALso, is ZOZOs back open yet? Best meal we had there back in April 2021.

Agree with most of the recs above. The Windmill Bar is a great place to have a drink, listen to live music and watch the sun set. If you are going to do a boat day, The Sweet Pea with Captain Pat is a great experience.