I love it when family comes for a visit. Daughter , Molly, has visited and even lived on St. John for a bit. But when they come visit and bring a friend that’s even better because they get to experience it all over again!!
So come along and be a “visitor” with us….
ARRIVAL: Molly brought her friend who also is her co-worker from the hospital they both work at, Whitney, and we got busy the minute they arrived. I invited my St. John resident friend, Trista and her out-of-town company, Bart, to meet us at the sunset wall overlooking Cruz Bay.
We watched the sunset while having drinks and appetizers we brought 🤗
Then we proceeded downhill to have dinner at Mongoose Junction, a unique shopping/dining area of Cruz Bay.
Mongoose Junction was built in the 70s and the developer incorporated local stone, brick and coral in its design and used tropical plants for landscaping. There are more than 30 specialty shops, restaurants and services amid the beautiful courtyards and 2nd and third levels of Mongoose.
Exhausted from their travel, we headed up to my little cottage, Lizard Hill and settled in for the night.
Day 2: Unfortunately, I had to work but Cortney, other daughter who lives on St John, was available to take Molly and Whitney to Maho Beach so Whitney could see the turtles!
Oh, and the donkeys along the way
After I got off work, we all met up at Shambles. One of the very few restaurants in the midsection area of St John called Gifft Hill. Shambles is known for its pulled pork barbecue and occasional out-of-town band venue. This night, Easy Riders, a band from Illinois was playing.
Day 3: This day we head out to Salt Pond in Coral Bay. We see our usual pigs, cows, goats and donkeys along the roadside making our way to the other side of the island. This is part of the reason you have to drive slowly because you never know what animal might be out on the street on the next blind curve.
Salt Pond has interesting topography. The south bay is calm and lovely.
Yet after taking a short hike past the ‘actual’ salt pond to get to the north side, it’s wild and coral filled.
We ended our day at Tap n Still, the best hamburger and fries place on island at the most reasonable price on island😍
Day 4: Local friend (and camera shy), Korena, comes along with us back to Coral Bay to grab lunch at Skinny Legs to beef up for our snorkeling we are about to do at Haulover! (and do a little shopping at Mumbo Jumbo, the eclectic tropical shop attached to the restaurant)
Skinny Legs has the best hamburgers on the east end of St. John and I love Mumbo Jumbo for its unique tropical attire and reasonably priced good quality t-shirts.
Once our bellies were full, we made our way over to Haulover for the BEST snorkeling on island (which you can see the underwater pictures on my previous blog)
Luckily , the girls had swim shoes and were able to get into the rocky and shallow water to see the underwater paradise!
When you snorkel Haulover, you can spend hours in the water because it’s so beautiful. Korena likes to go off in the deep in search of lobsters 🦞 She has a lobster snare!! But no catch today.
After all that swimming and snorkeling , we are hungry again so we take the drive back to Cruz Bay, get freshened up and have dinner at the Banana Deck in town. It’s one of Molly‘s favorites because they have good fettuccine Alfredo.
And a decent sunset view of Cruz Bay!
*** next weeks blog continues with Whitney and Molly‘s visit when we go to the British Virgin Islands to visit the Baths on Virgin Gorda🥰
Traveling Rose in St. John 