Booked our Virgin Islands Trip, taking suggestions

[seminoledq]

We finally got it booked. This summer is our 10th Anniversary and we are going to the Virgin Islands. Taking the kids with us, 12 and 8. I am ready to hear what the board suggests for everything, boats, beaches, bars & ballads.

We are staying at the Marriott Frenchman's Reef on St. Thomas for a couple nights then off to Long Bay Resort on Tortola for 4 nights. Back to St. Thomas for a night and then....wait for it....Key West for a night. We get to Miami on Saturday morning and the kids think we are catching a connecting flight home but we are going to surprise them by renting a car and driving down to the Conch Republic for the last night. We've been a couple of times and they love KW as much as we do so they will be excited.

Anyways, we know the ins and outs of KW pretty well so let me know some fun recommendations in the VI's. I would like to do day trips to Jost Van Dyke and The Baths. Not really into golf or a lot of the hiking/biking trails but pretty much anything relatively kid friendly is an option. We would like to go to one really nice dinner as an anniversary celebration if you have an ideas. I look forward to hearing from you all.

DQ

[lilsalty]

Definitely get to Jost...Soggy Dollar & One Love are the BEST. Have a painkiller at Soggy and a Bushwhacker at One Love. On Tortola, be sure to head over to Cane Garden Bay & hit all the beach bars and do some swimming. Eat a cheeseburger and have a pina colada at Stanley's Welcome bar at Cane Garden Bay. Swim at Magen's Bay on St. Thomas. Oh, I'm very jealous...today I was actually researching the possibility of a Tortola/Key West trip! Enjoy!!

[Finsupinfla]

The best banana daiquiri you will ever have!!!

http://www.greathouse-mountaintop.com/daiquiri.htm

[Tarheel Tail-Gator]

St. Croix is probably too far out of the way for you. We just visited a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed the Gentle Virgin. If you do decide to go, Buck Island is definitely worth it and I can recommend several restaurants!

[flipflopgirl]

Definitely get to Jost...Soggy Dollar & One Love are the BEST. Have a painkiller at Soggy and a Bushwhacker at One Love. On Tortola, be sure to head over to Cane Garden Bay & hit all the beach bars and do some swimming. Eat a cheeseburger and have a pina colada at Stanley's Welcome bar at Cane Garden Bay. Swim at Magen's Bay on St. Thomas. Oh, I'm very jealous...today I was actually researching the possibility of a Tortola/Key West trip! Enjoy!!

Yes Cane Garden Bay and Magen's Bay are a MUST!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a great time!

[Afternoon Golfer]

Definitely get to Jost...Soggy Dollar & One Love are the BEST. Have a painkiller at Soggy and a Bushwhacker at One Love. On Tortola, be sure to head over to Cane Garden Bay & hit all the beach bars and do some swimming. Eat a cheeseburger and have a pina colada at Stanley's Welcome bar at Cane Garden Bay. Swim at Magen's Bay on St. Thomas. Oh, I'm very jealous...today I was actually researching the possibility of a Tortola/Key West trip! Enjoy!!

Ditto lilsalty. The snorkeling around St John is amazing (Honeymoon Beach).

[ContinentalDrifterIII]

Nice! I just booked my trip as well. First, upon arrival make sure to go directly to the duty free shop in the St Thomas airport for a rum tasting. Yes, thats right in the airport Magens Bay on St Thomas is awesome! On Tortola make sure to go to Bombas Shack and Callawoods Rum Distillery. (Bring a Heineken for the host to get extra friendly service). On Jost go to the Soggy Dollar Bar, Ivans Stress Free Bar, Foxys, Corsairs and my favorite Seddy's One Love Bar! Have fun!

[lilsalty]

Nice! I just booked my trip as well. First, upon arrival make sure to go directly to the duty free shop in the St Thomas airport for a rum tasting. Yes, thats right in the airport Magens Bay on St Thomas is awesome! On Tortola make sure to go to Bombas Shack and Callawoods Rum Distillery. (Bring a Heineken for the host to get extra friendly service). On Jost go to the Soggy Dollar Bar, Ivans Stress Free Bar, Foxys, Corsairs and my favorite Seddy's One Love Bar! Have fun!

Last time we made the mistake of going to Callwoods (a 3 minute walk from Cane Garden Bay) without some cold greenies (Heinekens). The rum taster looked most disappointed, so we'll be sure to bring beer for him this time! Also, check out the Columbus Sunset bar/convenience store. Yep, it's a regular convenience type store in which you can buy all sorts of odds & ends and it has a bar (and the bartender seems to enjoy watching the Maury Povich paternity testing episodes

[CTParrothead763]

Definitely recommend Magen's Bay. Beautiful beach.

Frenchman's also has it's own beach which is nice and obviously convenient. Only hotel guests can use it.

Our favorite restaurant at Frenchman's was the open air restaurant near the tennis courts on the walk to the beach. Don't remember the name. During the day, the beach walk usually features a bunch of iguanas sunning themselves.

Have a great time!

[catsway]

We have to add that Secret Harbour on St. Thomas has a wonderful restaurant called The Blue Moon. It's in the Red Hook Area. If you are looking for a very special dinner in an open air cafe overlooking some very serene water, we have to recommend it. There is also a beautiful beach there, that you can use. (all beaches in St. Thomas are public). Excellent snorkeling right off the beach plus the bar next to the Blue Moon is loads of fun and attracts quite a few locals.

http://www.bluemooncafevi.com/

Other fun places in the Red Hook area are Island Time Pub and Duffy's Love Shack. Enjoy!

[CrznDnUS1]

Definitely get to Jost...Soggy Dollar & One Love are the BEST. Have a painkiller at Soggy and a Bushwhacker at One Love. On Tortola, be sure to head over to Cane Garden Bay & hit all the beach bars and do some swimming. Eat a cheeseburger and have a pina colada at Stanley's Welcome bar at Cane Garden Bay. Swim at Magen's Bay on St. Thomas. Oh, I'm very jealous...today I was actually researching the possibility of a Tortola/Key West trip! Enjoy!!

Ditto lilsalty. The snorkeling around St John is amazing (Honeymoon Beach).

totally agree, snorkeling at any beach on St John. Just pick a beach, I mean any beach (outside of town) and you and the kids will have a great time. Yes we are very jealous!

[Cane Garden Bay]

I don't know if it was mentioned, but be sure to see Ruben Chinnery perform. He usually plays at Jost Van Dyke, but he also plays at Bananakeet by Cane Garden Bay in Tortola. He is an amazing performer. Get a copy of the Limin' Times and you can see where & when he is playing.
Also, Kapeye is also a fun performer to see. He plays the Happy Hour at Myett's at Cane Garden Bay.

PS That's me & Ruben in my post at the Soggy Dollar Bar.

Have fun!!!!!

[pair8head]

I spent a couple of days at the Frenchman's Reef a ton of years ago when I was in the Navy. (It was a Hollidy Inn then) Great private beach with good body surfing waves.

[seminoledq]

Thanks for all the suggestions and keep 'em coming. I will be sure to research them all. As for Jost, there are a lot of places being brought up and that we would like to see but chances are we will just be doing a day trip over there. Is everything walkable or does it depend where on the island the ferry drops us off at?

Sounds like Magen's Bay on St. Thomas and Cane Garden Bay on Tortola are recommended by all.

Where do you get Heineken's for the guy at the rum distillery and can kids go on those rum tours?

DQ

[Cane Garden Bay]

We did a day trip to Jost from Tortola and we got to see everything we wanted. We got there at 9:30am and got the last ferry which was at 5:30pm. We visited all the bars on our list: Foxy's, Corsairs, Seddy's One Love, Soggy Dollar, Ivan's. Everything is walking distace and you can always take a cab if need be. We had the best taxi ride back from Seddy's. He was a tough local and didn't talk much, but when we got in his truck he was playing Jimmy Buffett live in Anguilla DVD. Volcano just started and my wife & I sang out loud. we sang the whole song to the ferry. Our cab driver was so happy that we knew the verses and sang along with us.

At Cane Garden Bay you can go to Bobby's Market and get the Heinekens for the Callwoods Rum Tour. We brought the necessary 'greenies' and were treated great!! Free tastings! and yes, kids can go on the rum tour. Our guide was a 14 year old. It really is just a very old shack with a distillery but the rum is very tasty.

[ContinentalDrifterIII]

I would say that kids are no different than adults in the BVI. One of my favorite stories: I was at the Soggy Dollar Bar ordering my 7th or 8th Painkiller. The bartender (who shall remain nameless) but looked liked he was right out of a Disney Pirates of the Caribbean movie was serving. A guy with his son (maybe 11 or 12) bellies up to the bar. The kid asks "how old do you have to be to drink here?" Without hesitation the bartender pours a shot of Pussers Rum and says, "10, drink it!" The boy looks at his father and the father nods yes. The kid drinks the shot and hair immediatly shot out of his chest. Thats the BVI.

[lilsalty]

I can confirm CDIII's story--I was standing right there! You should definitely do a day trip to Jost. It's an easy ferry ride over, and it's one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

[Frank4]

I would say that kids are no different than adults in the BVI. One of my favorite stories: I was at the Soggy Dollar Bar ordering my 7th or 8th Painkiller. The bartender (who shall remain nameless) but looked liked he was right out of a Disney Pirates of the Caribbean movie was serving. A guy with his son (maybe 11 or 12) bellies up to the bar. The kid asks "how old do you have to be to drink here?" Without hesitation the bartender pours a shot of Pussers Rum and says, "10, drink it!" The boy looks at his father and the father nods yes. The kid drinks the shot and hair immediatly shot out of his chest. Thats the BVI.

That's a fabulous story....I am have tears rolling down my face right now...

[seminoledq]

During our time in Tortola we are looking at taking a day trip to Jost and a half day sail to the Baths. Would you recommend an actual day sail trip (or half day as the case may be) or simply taking a water ferry to each and exploring them ourselves?

My initial thought is to take a ferry to Jost so we can hit all the local bars and beaches at our leisure but to take something more structured to the Baths. Anyone have any suggestions either way? Or sail/ferry companies you used that you would recommend?

DQ

[lilsalty]

We haven't gone to the Baths, but we have done the day trip to Jost on the ferry. I would say that if you want ample time to hit the beach bars and relax on the beach at White Bay, I'd take the earliest Tortola ferry there and the last one home. Even a day on Jost isn't enough, we've found...so last time (and next time) we spent (will spend) 3 nights there...it is the best!