Our First Visit to St. John

Until we bought a car last month, Bob has had only a rent car to drive while he's been here. And rental policies don't allow cars to be taken on the auto barge between St. Thomas and St. John. So, the first weekend we could, we took ourselves to St. John. We were doing "reconnaissance" before our friends from McKinney arrived, so we drove a bit around the town of Cruz Bay then checked out the beaches and drove through parts of the Virgin Islands National Park.

For those who don't know about St. John, it is about a 20 minute ferry ride from St. Thomas. St. John doesn't have an airport, so the only way to get there is by boat. There are 2 types of ferries: auto barges and passenger ferries. The west end of the island where the ferries arrive is the town of Cruz Bay, and the town of Coral Bay is at the east end. And that's about all the development there is on the island, because 2/3 of the island is the Virgin Islands National Park. There are numerous hiking trails and more than a few beaches, both ones with amenities & entrance fees and ones you can just park along the road & walk onto.

The first stage of our trip was interesting: unlike some ferries, the auto barges here only have one ramp. So, in order to speed the off-loading, the cars are backed onto the barges. Cars are lined up along the sides, and construction and commercial trucks wait to load last, backing up into the middle of the barges. Once your car is in place, you're free to get out (assuming you can get the door open) and watch the scenery. This is the St. Thomas marina as we left:

And this is St. John as we arrived there:

We drove along the west & north shores, stopping at all the scenic overlooks to take pictures:

Cruz Bay

Caneel Bay

Sugar Mill Ruins at Caneel Bay

Trunk Bay

Cinnamon Bay

Maho Bay

Coral Bay

St. John is beautiful! We foresee many future trips on the auto barge to figure out which beach is our favorite ...