Sunday 24 Mar, USVI day 8, St.Thomas: Road trip around St. Thomas.
I get woken up at daybreak to the sound of large propellers thrashing underwater. A new gigantic cruise liner has docked. Its cargo awaking to a new town but with the same type of shops to raid and taxi drivers to barter with.
After breakfast we call around a few rental car places, of which there are plenty, but none have any cars available. Same story as St. John. Don’t they know there are yachties like us out there who need a car right when we need one? On the very last call we do manage to get a Jeep, which is available only for today. Perfect for us. But it comes with a staggering price tag- because it’s a fancy soft-top Jeep, it rents for $105! We never paid that much before, ever. But what the heck, we take it.
What we don’t think about is that even if we don’t drop the soft top, the side and rear panels remain open rendering the air-conditioner pretty useless. It also means there is zero security when we leave the car, so we have to carry everything to every beach and cove that we get out the car to explore.
As we set off in our bright red Jeep we also contemplate that of all Caribbean islands, St. Thomas is the least likely to actually need a sturdy 4WD vehicle. All the roads look excellent. Oh …. how wrong we were! We really did test that Jeep’s capabilities.
We decide to do the west end of the island first. Through Charlotte Amalie town and out passed the airport. First nice beach, in Brewers Bay, is in fact located directly after the airport and along with nice sand it has a great view of aircraft landings with the runway jutting out to sea right in front of the beach. But no planes landed while we were there.
Our aim from here is to reach the most western point of the island. But we are foiled by a security gate into The Preserve at Botany Bay, a private residential area which seems to cover all the land on this tip of the island. We tried to blag our way in and the security guard relented and said yes, then after a perfectly timed pause: “but not with the car”, to which she turned back into her office giggling! Well, thank you very much, but not on foot, it’s at least 3km to where we want to get to! Nice joke. Instead, we drive another road, which doesn’t get us to the end of the island but it does give us our first glimpse of the Spanish Virgin Islands and even, we think, Puerto Rico on the horizon.
Then we turn around and plot a course on Google maps to the first bay up the northern coast, Bordeaux Bay. Soon the road turns to dirt. Oh, so they do have dirt roads here. No problem, we are in a Jeep! But the road gets rougher and tougher and steeper and dustier and soon the Jeep is really earning its money. Even a donkey would think twice on this track!
On this NW corner of the island there is zero development, just dusty little tracks connecting very poor farmer’s shacks. And it suddenly feels just like any other Caribbean island. After being bumped and jolted from our seats (man, that suspension is HARD!) we arrive at the plotted cove. Which it’s actually a shear cliff down to a very rocky little bay far below us. Admittedly with very interesting rock formations. Oana is not amused though, given I’d painted the picture perfect secluded beach at the end of our rally ride!
So on we go. But after another mile the road suddenly stops. Looks like the bull-dozer driver, who made the road, had a disconnect with google maps. Not a new problem for us using this app. Google has lead us on many interesting trails during our explorations.
So it’s a U-turn and again more being thrown around the car and eventually back onto hard top road several miles later. We can almost hear the Jeep panting, and sighing with relief. Certainly we are.
We continue to explore the north coast driving along the Crown Mountain Road which must be at least 1000ft elevation, with cool air and suddenly very green and lush after the arid off road section which had a lot of cactus plants. The views down into the bays and over to Jost Van Dyke island are wonderful. Just a pity today is cloudy which takes away the colours and the scene somewhat. Down in Hull Bay we stop and admire a very nice beach with few people on and a small beach bar.
Then onto the best bay and beach on St. Thomas, Magens Bay. This is a deep NW-SE orientated bay which is very sheltered from both wind and swell. From our elevated position we can see the wonderful long white sand beach on its SE end, so we again drive down to get a first hand look.
But as we approach, we join a queue. A pay-station. Yes we have to pay to go on the beach! We say we will only be 1/2 hour but it falls on deaf ears: “$12 sir, and you get the whole day”. After struggling to find a parking space we venture to the beach.
It really is quite a spectacle. But it’s also very crowded, it’s Sunday. Hundreds of sun beds scattered everywhere and hundreds more waiting to be added to the crowd. Maybe tomorrow it would be much quieter because for sure 90% of the people here are residents.
We walk along the beach which is very fine white sand and barely a ripple coming from the sea. We venture to the bar-restaurant in the middle but it is mobbed with people queuing for expensive fried comfort food, or heavy drinking (read: very loud and animated) around the bar. Not a place for us.
So we paid $12 to click few pictures and within 20 minutes we are driving out declaring that we have been spoilt for life, having experienced so many perfect and secluded beaches in other places: Barbuda, Anguilla, Anegada and St. John to name a few.
Further along the north coast we stop at Coki Beach and the Coral World theme park. Both look very over rated. Crowded, loud, and just next to them on the main road lots of rubbish dumped everywhere.
Next one along, Saint John Bay is home to a large complex and a small marina. So we briefly stop to check it out. The marina seems to be for local boats only as only small vessels are moored up. The Sapphire Village Condominiums which we first thought is a residence, turned out to be more of a hotel. Aged look on the buildings but otherwise well maintained. A large man-made beach in front of the buildings seems not to be used much, only few sun beds around. It looks very nice, with some palms and green bushes.
And at the other end we find a small natural beach where the crowds are. Lots of sun beds here and music blaring from speakers on the beach and from the beach bar. Which is very loud and crowded, making us think this hotel has good occupancy so must be doing well financially. Maybe time for a face lift on the buildings?
Then onto the east end of the island. Red Hook Bay gets a good write up in our pilot book, but to our eyes it’s a very messy little lagoon.
At the very eastern tip we find the St. Thomas Yacht Club. They are in regatta mode and it’s very lively. Seems to be a very down-to-earth family friendly club, the type I would certainly join if I lived here. The area around the club, while very extensively developed, seems to have nicer properties than elsewhere on the island.
Our final stop is at Secret Harbour Resort in Nazareth Bay. An old development but somehow with a very nice atmosphere. The complex although outdated in looks is very well kept and the beach is very nice: small, clean, and not busy. So it’s here that we sit for a drink and some snacky lunch, enticed by their good happy-hour deal. An enjoyable break during which we eavesdrop to the conversations around us, mostly lads chatting up pretty ladies.
By now we’d had enough of coastline exploration. Having to take all our stuff out the car each time we stopped did help wearing us out.
So we drive back into Charlotte Amalie and drive around a while seeking out the supermarkets and laundromats for tomorrow. And while at it we have a quick look at the Crown Bay Marina too. Good setup, but right next to the cargo ships dock. So the shipping containers over the fence are more obvious than the boats moored up in this otherwise nice marina.
All day we have been seeing rain storms out at sea and around us, but strangely very few drops fell on the car. But as soon as we get to the dinghy, the heavens open! By the time we get to Cloudy Bay, we are soaked to the skin and bags with water in them. We said before and say again, we are the ultimate rain forecast. If we hire a car, guaranteed it will rain that day!
Cloudy Bay is nicely settled and it’s good to relax the rest of the evening. But we do have to keep half an eye on a Dutch yacht which has anchored stupidly close to us. Fingers crossed he has the same length of chain out and we both swing at the same time. If we do happen to hit in the night, I’ll be over there wacking him with his own clogs! Or worse, I’ll set Oana onto him.
Our relaxing time is disturbed by some very loud music coming from ashore. Either the annoying tripper boat or a bar with the speakers pointing out towards the harbour. Awful music, we can hardly hear our thoughts. I point the powerful spotlight at them but no response (what a surprise…not).
Our next solution is to start a movie, but we can still hear that music over the sound of our boat speakers. Ok, that’s it! We close all hatches and windows, seal ourselves into the saloon and switch on all the fans. The music is now successfully muffed and we can actually hear the movie dialogues. Wonderful!