St. Thomas

2 weeks ago I spent 3 nights in St. Thomas, USVI.

Despite hurricane damage still littering certain spots on the island, the beaches and mountainous scenery are beautiful. The vibe is casual and laid-back, you’re truly on island time. Expect to take taxis everywhere as the landscape makes it impossible to walk anywhere. The meals far exceeded my expectations. Day tripping over to St. John is a MUST.

Overall, I would go back, probably with more cash next time. Taxis only accept cash and the island of St. John hardly accepts cards.

Accommodations– Bolongo Bay Beach Resort

• Beds were comfortable, room was clean, shower took 10 minutes to warm up but stayed warm thereafter, decent sized mini fridge in room, doors on either side of the room so you can walk out to the beach or out to a taxi
• Only 1 restaurant and this is where we discovered we were “on island time” as the service was slow but the fish tacos, conch fritters, and wings were worth the wait
• A la carte breakfast items are extremely limited but there’s also a buffet option, we ordered omelets every morning with home fries and toast x2 for ~$23
• The room itself was expensive in my opinion >$300 per night but the food & drinks at the hotel restaurant were cheap- $7 frozen drinks & $9 fish tacos
• The hotel has their own catamaran but unfortunately it didn’t go out the day that we were looking to do an excursion…we heard so many good things about this day trip though, next time we’ll definitely plan that one out beforehand

Transportation– Taxis to/from anywhere and everywhere.

They charge per person, roughly $6-$10 each trip so ~$20 per couple, per ride. An alternative is renting a car but besides the fact that they drive on the other side of the road, the terrain makes driving nearly impossible in some areas.

Restaurants– French Quarter Bistro was our favorite. We started with escargot, crab cakes, and the chicken and andouille gumbo…all were outstanding. Per the waiters recommendation I ordered the Fettuccini with Shrimp and combined the two sauce options. They ran out of the homemade fettuccini so I was given ziti which I actually prefer. Kevin’s favorite meal of the trip was the whole fish that he got here. We ended the meal with Beignets which is basically fried dough with powdered sugar on top. Best food combined with the best service. The owner was also present and very friendly to us.

Second favorite was Mafolie. We started with an amazing chowder and I got a shrimp dish as my main meal. Kevin got a whole fish again here but liked the other one better. The view here is amazing as it sits on the side of a hill. The whole restaurant is open, it felt like we were in a European sea-side town.

The last dinner restaurant that we ate at was Prime at Paradise Point. This was primarily a steakhouse so everyone got steaks and venison while I opted for the chicken dish. I really liked my meal and we cleared every plate but it was by far the most expensive and not the groups’ overall favorite taste-wise. The view was the best view we saw from St. Thomas. The restaurant sits at the top of where the skyride brings you.

Things to do– Day trip via Ferry to St John, Coki Beach for snorkeling, swimming with Sea Lions at Coral World, and jewelry shopping downtown. Try to plan around when the cruise ships are in port, one day there were 3 so the island was packed.

What to pack– CASH, casual clothing, bathing suits, waterproof phone case/baggie, flip flops, sunglasses, passport if you want to check out BVIs, portable phone charger. I always wear sneakers on the way down/back home but could have gone without them on this trip.

Airport– So it’s one room and i’m pretty sure it was only 8 gates, extremely tiny. We were advised to arrive 3 hours early and it only took maybe 45 minutes or so to get through security, I wouldn’t show up that early again. No wi-fi or plugs to charge devices and only 1 place to get hot food from (which closed at 5:30 PM). The bar serving the whole airport had no more than 10 barstools and budlights were priced at $7 or so. Don’t show up hungry, thirsty, or with dead electronics.