We went, we saw, we conquered, and if I had known the whole world was going to turn into a shit show overnight due to coronavirus concerns, I probably would not have….. But since we did go… I will say we had an extraordinary time in an absolutely beautiful, stunning, magnificent place. Peter Bay, St. John, USVI.
Travel report– There were no reported cases of the illness two weeks ago on the islands, but that has changed since. Sanitizing wipes handed out in airplanes, most people brought their own and were wiping down all surfaces in their seating area, many masks, gloves, some hazmat suits, no joke. On the islands the airport did the same. JFK looked like a chemical war zone but that’s ok, people were being responsible. I have never appreciated my elbows and feet so much when using a public bathroom, didn’t even want to breath in there but you gotta do what you gotta do.
The islands of St. Thomas ( where we fly in) and St. John are definitely still suffering from the 2 hurricanes a few years back. The effects are still very obvious, some businesses still shuttered, there are still some gutted homes, some ruined cars and boats on the sides of some roads. Just google Caneel Bay 2019 and you’ll see a once beautiful resort in ruins. It sits there exactly like that today due to litigation and an uncertainty of what precisely can be done there.
That being said, what a naturally beautiful place, St. John. A particular member of the Rockefeller family deserves much credit for that. Laurence S. Rockefeller, a wealthy philanthropist and conservationist who died in 2004 , with a small group of his friends is credited with preserving St. John’s natural resources by sowing the seeds for V.I. National Park.
St. John Administrator Julien Harley said that without Rockefeller’s foresight, St. John would look vastly different than it does today.
“If the land was private, we wouldn’t be able to walk on the trails.
Thanks to the national park’s presence, St. John has a healthy economy that lures more than a million visitors a year.”
We rented a beautiful Villa for the week, something we don’t do often and it was such a beautiful location, an experience of a life time. I am so grateful that I got to do this with my children and their significant others. The villa was located on Peter Bay in a private community just 10 minutes from Cruz bay, the main hub and only tourist town on St. John. We were right around the bend from the world famous Trunk Bay, one of the most photographed beaches in the world. We swam with turtles in Maho bay, snorkeled among beautiful tropical fish like tangs, wrasses, angels, puffer fish in Trunk Bay and a sand shark cruised by my legs while standing around oblivious until he was about five feet away. It’s one moment I was grateful to freeze in near panic. We rode horses on the beach, we ate fabulous food and drank fancy fruity drinks. We slathered a gallon of SPF 50 Reef Friendly lotion on our limbs and still came home tan because the sun is that strong, the water that reflective. There are actually free lotion stations at the beaches, I kid you not, like the hand sanitizer pumps at hospitals mounted on the walls.
The icing on the cake was.. my son’s best friend came with his GF for a few days and they got engaged at the beach!
I took a zillion pictures, hard to choose what to share here ….. maybe half a zillion would do?
Chef Lori came for two dinners and two breakfasts and she was the loveliest person! Delicious healthy food too –
My son on the right and his best bud since kindergarten days…
We had two iguana couples living among us – a pair by the pool and a pair in the trees next to the roofed patio… the males always kept a watchful eye on us. Those holes in the rocks are their cave.
Peter Bay beach is private, for use by Villa owners and renters only – such a gift to have a beach this pristine and not crowded with people. Often we were the only ones on the beach.
Donkeys live freely on the island – motorists are advised to drive slowly on the steep winding roads to avoid hitting them… and are asked not to feed them also.
Dana of Carolina Corral is one hardworking woman who takes in all the rescues on St. John, including the horses she uses to provide trail rides for tourists. Her farm has been hard hit by the hurricanes and she relies on tourism and donations to take care of the animals in her care and make the repairs still needed. If you’d like to make a donation in any amount, and I can guarantee you it would be for an excellent cause and a very decent, caring, hard working woman… hit the donate button on her website… it will be put to great use and is very much needed. The horses in the picture below wouldn’t be here on this earth without her intervening. Water is scarce and she often has to buy it to give the animals. There are donkeys, goats, pigs, chickens, sheep, dogs and cats in her care as well – many dumped or injured with her as the only island rescue. And she’s doing it all by herself.
horsesstjohn.com
The LOTION STATION… I wasn’t kidding!
… one of these guys is not like the others…
The newly engaged couple💕
Did I share with you in an earlier post my dear husband’s comments when I was trying on bathing suits to ask his opinion before our vacation? “That one’s good. It breaks it all up”…..
Believe you me, I wrung the hell out of that one with photos sent home…
“Breaking it all up here on Peter Bay”…..
So we’re back home, re-entered Coronazone… where the husband has had a cough for a week and I have allergy symptoms and it’s scaring the hell out of all of us… all of it, everywhere. I’ve been to the grocery store and dropped off groceries to mom, Dad is on lock down at the nursing home, and we are practicing hand washing to the Nth- degree and safe social distancing and hoping the allergy symptoms and cough aren’t the dreaded other dreaded C word. Seems a lot of people have a lot of symptoms they are monitoring, which is all we can do, besides being responsible and staying home when possible.
Stay healthy and sane, all – and WASH YOUR HANDS
Karen 
The Inn was magical, the depleted staff did a fantastic job with a difficult scenario.
