St. John VI restaurants

KennethT · March 11

19 minutes ago, liamsaunt said:

Yessterday we spent the day snorkeling again, this time on the opposite side of the island. We saw lots of coral and sea life, but no octopus. I have not checked those photos yet. The ones from the day before came out great.

They were both delicious but we got bombarded with flies. Not no see ums but actual flies. It was awful. They ended up moving our table but it did not help much. I asked them to hold our main courses until the sun went down to see if that would help. It did, but the experience was extremely irritating and put a big damper on the meal. One of the hazards of eating outside I guess.

When you take underwater photos, do you use lighting of any kind? I had wanted to get a light for when we go diving - the last time, a bunch of divers with us had lights and it really makes a big difference. You might not need it though since you're on the surface snorkeling.

I'm surprised the resort doesn't do something about the flies. We eat outside at all of teh resorts in SE Asia and haven't had an issue with flies. I imagine that the resorts spray for them when there's no one around and they also have these bug coils that make a smell the bugs don't like - although I find it very pleasant. The bug coil is lit and sits in a pretty container, and tucked underneath the table.

**Shelby** · March 11

24 minutes ago, liamsaunt said:

I believe it was roasted peppers and avocado. It was very tender.

Yessterday we spent the day snorkeling again, this time on the opposite side of the island. We saw lots of coral and sea life, but no octopus. I have not checked those photos yet. The ones from the day before came out great.

Dinner was at the fine dining area of the resort. Here’s the menu. Dinner specials

drinks

food

setting

Husband had the king crab and grits

and I had the scallops

They were both delicious but we got bombarded with flies. Not no see ums but actual flies. It was awful. They ended up moving our table but it did not help much. I asked them to hold our main courses until the sun went down to see if that would help. It did, but the experience was extremely irritating and put a big damper on the meal. One of the hazards of eating outside I guess.

After sunset they brought the main courses. Post sunset view

Husband had the mahi mahi special

And I had the catch of the day (yellowfin tuna) with the chorizo eliminated from the hash

We shared a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert

and were treated to the sight of a Space X launch! If they had not moved our table to a different area we would have missed it. No one else dining at the restaurant saw it but us. Our server saw me pointing up and taking pictures so came over and caught some of it but missed the rocket part.

Today is our last full day. We might go back over to St. John for dinner, we will see.

What an awesome picture of the launch!!! You could win an award!!

liamsaunt · March 11

7 hours ago, KennethT said:

When you take underwater photos, do you use lighting of any kind? I had wanted to get a light for when we go diving - the last time, a bunch of divers with us had lights and it really makes a big difference. You might not need it though since you're on the surface snorkeling.

I'm surprised the resort doesn't do something about the flies. We eat outside at all of teh resorts in SE Asia and haven't had an issue with flies. I imagine that the resorts spray for them when there's no one around and they also have these bug coils that make a smell the bugs don't like - although I find it very pleasant. The bug coil is lit and sits in a pretty container, and tucked underneath the table.

I keep flash off and just rely on natural light. I use an Olympus TG7 on the underwater setting, and run the photos I am keeping through photoshop to pull out any excess blue. You definitely need an external light for good dive photos.

7 hours ago, Shelby said:

What an awesome picture of the launch!!! You could win an award!!

It’s just an iPhone photo. Everyone who saw it basically got the exact same picture. Every time there is a launch all my St. John Facebook groups are filled with this same photo, and a couple of panicked inquiries from people who think we are under attack. 😀

blue_dolphin · March 11

44 minutes ago, liamsaunt said:

Every time there is a launch all my St. John Facebook groups are filled with this same photo, and a couple of panicked inquiries from people who think we are under attack. 😀

Space X also launched a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg last night. I was unaware until the boom shook the house and rattled the windows. First thing I do is check the Twitter feeds for the quake bots I follow in case it was an earthquake, then Google Vandenberg launch. Takes about 9 or 10 min for the sound to reach here so too late to run out and see but it was quite clear last night so lots of 🚀 photos on Facebook & Nextdoor.

liamsaunt · March 12

Yesterday after breakfast (yesterday’s frittata was feta, mushroom, spinach and roasted pepper, and that’s avocado toast in the back)

we had a pretty chill day just hanging out on the deck of our tent (that’s a mango tree next to our tent)

enjoying the view

We went back down to the beach for snorkeling and sea glass hunting (success on both fronts). Once again we had the beach to ourselves. I guess everyone else was on the other side of the island at the pool.

We had not planned to go back to St. John, but decided on a whim to head over for dinner. (The resort provides shuttle service as part of your stay). The concierge got us a reservation at one of our favorites, La Tapa. But first, we stopped in at Drink for, well, a drink. View

Husband’s margarita and my very exciting Diet Coke 😂

La Tapa setting

Menu

Drinks. Husband had a martini and I had sparkling water

we shared a scallop seveche special appetizer.

Then I had the tuna

And he chose the mahi. We skipped dessert.

Afterglow from La Tapa

Back to Lovango

We are flying home today, but will be back on St. John in May. We are hoping for smaller crowds and warmer water. We also made a pledge that we would only try new places to eat in May. Will we succeed? Only time will tell.

Thanks for following along, and see you on the dinner! thread starting tomorrow!

Edited March 12 by liamsaunt (log)

rotuts · March 12

@liamsaunt

thank you for the menus

and sharing your trip with us.

KennethT · March 12

1 hour ago, liamsaunt said:

Yesterday after breakfast (yesterday’s frittata was feta, mushroom, spinach and roasted pepper, and that’s avocado toast in the back)

we had a pretty chill day just hanging out on the deck of our tent (that’s a mango tree next to our tent)

enjoying the view

We went back down to the beach for snorkeling and sea glass hunting (success on both fronts). Once again we had the beach to ourselves. I guess everyone else was on the other side of the island at the pool.

We had not planned to go back to St. John, but decided on a whim to head over for dinner. (The resort provides shuttle service as part of your stay). The concierge got us a reservation at one of our favorites, La Tapa. But first, we stopped in at Drink for, well, a drink. View

Husband’s margarita and my very exciting Diet Coke 😂

La Tapa setting

Menu

Drinks. Husband had a martini and I had sparkling water

we shared a scallop seveche special appetizer.

Then I had the tuna

And he chose the mahi. We skipped dessert.

Afterglow from La Tapa

Back to Lovango

We are flying home today, but will be back on St. John in May. We are hoping for smaller crowds and warmer water. We also made a pledge that we would only try new places to eat in May. Will we succeed? Only time will tell.

Thanks for following along, and see you on the dinner! thread starting tomorrow!

Thanks for sharing!!! I always love your trips. Do you think you could post some of your underwater photos? Also I think the tree next to your deck was a papaya tree, not a mango tree. Mangoes come from the branches of the tree, not off the trunk like a papaya does.

**TdeV** · March 12

Great fun, thanks!

liamsaunt · March 13

On 3/12/2024 at 11:17 AM, KennethT said:

Thanks for sharing!!! I always love your trips. Do you think you could post some of your underwater photos? Also I think the tree next to your deck was a papaya tree, not a mango tree. Mangoes come from the branches of the tree, not off the trunk like a papaya does.

You are right! It is a papaya tree. Thank you for clarifying. They are in most of the places we have rented houses from, but we have never been able to get a ripe one. The fruit rats always get to them first (fun fact: fruit rats also love to eat shampoo and soap in the outdoor showers that people think are such glamorous additions to the villas).

Here are a few photos from underwater. I hope it's ok to share.

Grunts

Octopus swimming

Octopus clinging to rocks

Hiding in their den

Yellow trumpetfish

Coral garden

Blue tang

Reef squid

I'll update this thread again when we return in May.

rotuts · March 13

@liamsaunt

spectacular pictures.

loved the octopus .

KennethT · March 13

36 minutes ago, liamsaunt said:

You are right! It is a papaya tree. Thank you for clarifying. They are in most of the places we have rented houses from, but we have never been able to get a ripe one. The fruit rats always get to them first (fun fact: fruit rats also love to eat shampoo and soap in the outdoor showers that people think are such glamorous additions to the villas).

Here are a few photos from underwater. I hope it's ok to share.

Grunts

Octopus swimming

Octopus clinging to rocks

Hiding in their den

Yellow trumpetfish

Coral garden

Blue tang

Reef squid

I'll update this thread again when we return in May.

Thanks so much! I've only seen an octopus once - on our last trip, there was one hiding at the bottom of a giant barrel sponge.

If you're ever cooking a meal while on vacation, you can use an unripe papaya to make papaya salad. It's also pretty good snack with a dip made from salt/chilli/a little sugar. Not like a green mango, but pretty good.

**MaryIsobel** · March 13

Love following you on your trips. I particularly love the photos of the Octopi. Now I feel bad for eating them!

Senior Sea Kayaker · March 14

I'll add my thanks for taking us along.

Great underwater photos.

liamsaunt · May 13

We are back on St. John. This trip is a rescheduled visit from last November--we had to cancel then because my husband was sick. The property management company, airline, and jeep rental all let us push our dates to now without any penalty, so it's kind of like a free trip. Except for all of the money we are about to spend on food haha. We arrived Saturday, and are staying in the same house as the past two times. We had to get up at 3:30 AM to make our flight, so we were both exhausted on arrival.

We had some time to kill before being able to head to the villa for check in, so went up to the Windmill Bar to take in some views

All that haze you see is Sahara dust. I don't think I have seen it in May before, it's usually more of a summer thing. The bad news with the dust is that it makes it hotter than normal (and it is indeed hot!), and it's also bad for allergies. The good news is that the dust suppresses development of tropical weather. If it's this hot and dusty now, I cannot imagine what it is going to be like when we come back in July.

Menu cover. I was so tired I forgot to take a picture of the rest of it. Sorry, @rotuts! It's a small menu--just a few kinds of tacos, taco bowls, and burgers/hot dogs.

The bar. It was around 2PM when we got there, and it doesn't start filling up until happy hour and live music starts at 3.

We just ordered a plate of shrimp tacos to split. Pretty basic but did the job.

After getting unpacked at the house, we headed out to find something for dinner. We were just really tired and neither of us felt like eating much. We ended up at Rum Hut. Menu

Husband's cocktail. I believe it was a ginger martini.

And our selections to share: the Cruz Bay roll and tuna tartare tacos

And dessert. Irie Pops of course!

Yesterday we spent the day at Cinnamon Bay. I did not take one picture of the beach! It was lovely. We went over to the food truck to get some cold water. They basically sell sandwiches, nachos, and ice cream

For dinner, we decided to try a new place, The Refinery. Menu

Cocktails. I ordered a no-jito and my husband ordered a Singapore Sling. The bartender came over to deliver the drinks and to confirm that he had made mine without alcohol. I thought that was nice.

We ordered a couple of appetizers: the peppered shrimp--this was spicy! I could have gone even hotter but my husband said it was at the upper level of what he enjoys for spice.

And the crab and corn fritters with pineapple salsa. The fritters were essentially a jumbo shrimp wrapped in crab fritter batter. They were delicious but I could only eat one.

I just ordered a salad with more shrimp on the side for dinner

And husband had the coconut poached wahoo with cassava cake.

I really wanted to get the Caribbean ice cream sandwich for dessert, but the heat is slaying my appetite and I could not even finish my dinner food. We brought home most of my dinner shrimp and half of the fritters to eat today.

And yes, we are eating lots of shrimp since we normally cannot have it at home because of my nephew's allergy. He's coming with us in July so we have to get all the crustaceans we want to eat into this visit. 🙂

Not sure where we are eating today, but our plan is to find as many new to us places as we can.

**Smithy** · May 13

It's so good to see you back on the islands again. I'll take all those crustaceans -- the more, the better -- but the tapas listed all sound delicious, even when they involve something other than seafood! I think I could spend more than a month simply exploring the flavor combinations listed on that menu.

The tacos you showed make me laugh at my own follies: I talked my DH into tacos for one night this week, but will they be hand-made tortillas friend until crisp? No indeed. They're store-bought, stand-up, fill-'em-yourself shells. Your photos show the real deal.

What are the crisp, roughly translucent slices atop your salad?

liamsaunt · May 14

23 hours ago, Smithy said:

What are the crisp, roughly translucent slices atop your salad?

Thinly shaved and fried yucca root. It was really tasty. I've been meaning to try and make yucca fries at home, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

Here is my exciting breakfast. If you ever wonder why I rarely post breakfast pictures, this is why.

Yesterday we went to one of our favorite beaches, Francis. The water was like glass. You can see how green the island is right now. They have been getting a lot of rain recently.

We encountered some curious deer at the entrance to the beach. They were not bothered by us at all. In fact, we had to wait for them to move out of the way.

The beach was quiet, which was nice. Trunk Bay was just voted the #1 most beautiful beach in the world on one of those annual polls, so I guess everyone was over there. Fine with me.

After beach we had to go to the grocery store to get stuff they were out of when we shopped Saturday. There hadn't been any deliveries yet, so they were still out of everything we needed. Island time. We'll try again today. The gelato store is in the same shopping plaza as the grocery store so we stopped in to see what they had. They make everything in small batches and the flavors change every day, so it's luck of the draw as to what (if anything) they have.

Did one of those make it back to our villa to share? You know it did.

For dinner we decided to try the Lime Inn. They had recently switched their menu over from a prix fixe multi course menu (we tried it a few years ago, and really disliked it), to an all taco menu. You cannot go wrong with tacos in my opinion. They have all the same tacos that you can get at the Lime Out floating taco boat I have posted about before, plus some additional options. Here's the menu. And yes, those prices are per taco. Food is pretty expensive here.

Our drinks. Husband got the harbor cooler and I had the dane juice.

We shared the grouper seveche to start. Very tasty!

My tacos. I chose the tuna matata and the g'day mate

Husband also had the g'day mate and the Mr. Worldwide

Restaurant

We split a dessert taco too. Why not, it's vacation. It was stuffed with frozen key lime filling. They had a chocolate one stuffed with salted caramel filling too, but we thought we could only manage one.

And now it's off to the beach for some snorkeling. If I see anything interesting I will share the photos.

liamsaunt · May 15

Another exciting breakfast! At home it is plain greek yogurt and multigrain bread with fruit, but you have to work with what you can get.

Yesterday we went to Maho to go snorkeling. This used to be one of the least busy, most peaceful beaches on the island. Someone developed the area across the street from it and put in a beach bar, kayak rentals and so on. Now it is always jam packed with day drinkers and cruise ship passengers visiting from St. Thomas and I rather hate it. However, the snorkeling is still good, and despite the crowds on the beach, relatively few people actually go in the water past their waists, and even fewer bother snorkeling, so we usually go and head straight into the water, then leave immediately after we are done. There were some pretty significant rain storms right before we arrived on Saturday, so the water was still stirred up. Here are a couple of pictures. French angelfish

Coral with christmas and feather duster worms

The bay always has lots of turtles because of the abundance of sea grass

After snorkeling we went over to Cinnamon to swim. I forgot to take a picture of the beach again, but I did take a picture of one of the fruit bearing trees that grow along the beach. The noni fruit

Also known as starvation fruit. It smells like rotten cheese when you cut into it. Generally not recommended to eat, it is sometimes used in bush remedies.

Then we went back to the house for a small snack and swimming in the pool

Dinner was at Morgan's Mango. The set menu never changes here, so I didn't take pictures this time. My husband's margarita

Cajun shrimp appetizer

And a special appetizer of tuna wrapped in nori and tempura fried

Husband had the Caribbean lobster

And I had the fish of the day, local whole snapper

Both entrees were terrific. We shared a piece of their famous key lime pie for dessert.

Today we are hanging at the house in the morning, then heading over to the other side of the island for more snorkeling this afternoon. Food for the day is TBD.

liamsaunt · May 16

We went to Haulover North to try and snorkel the sea fan garden that is offshore there. We encountered a yellow crested night heron on the walk to the beach

Sargassum along the shore, but we decided to try anyway.

Unfortunately the visibility was terrible. There was lots of decaying sargassum on the sea floor and the particles were breaking up into the water. We swam really far out but could not get a clear look. We are going to come back this summer when we have a boat captain for the family group. They can drop us further offshore than we can safely swim. We don't tend to hire captains when it's just the two of us.

We went over to Haulover South across the street, which was clear, but not as interesting. Baby squid

I usually spend my time snorkeling at this location looking at the various corals and encrusting sponges. I find their colors and patterns fascinating.

Back to pool beach for an Irie Pop.

Then into town for sunset and dinner. Neither of us wanted a big meal so we went to Longboard. Menu

Drinks. Husband had a frozen blood orange margarita and I had a mocktail made with hibiscus tea and orange

We shared the St. Thomas sushi wrap

and a couple of fish tacos

We went to St. John scoops for dessert. I had mint chocolate chip and he had toasted coconut in a waffle cone.

The sunset

Edited May 16 by liamsaunt
typo (log)

Senior Sea Kayaker · May 17

What is the wrapping on the 'St. John sushi wrap'?

liamsaunt · May 17

1 hour ago, Senior Sea Kayaker said:

What is the wrapping on the 'St. John sushi wrap'?

It's a pink soy paper wrap.

Yesterday we went back to Cinnamon Bay, and i actually remembered to take a picture of the beach!

We did not snorkel, just floated around.

Here's another fruit tree on the beach. This is a lime berry. You can eat this one in drinks and desserts.

We had to go back and get cleaned up for dinner, but first some pool time with Irie Pops. Today's flavor was chocolate sea salt.

Dinner was at Zozo's at Caneel Bay. This restaurant is closing for the season June 14th, but I think it might be closing permanently at this location. The National Park has (finally!!!) won the lawsuit to take control of the Caneel Bay property from the investment banking group that has been holding the grounds in limbo since the hurricanes of 2017. The ruling is being appealed by the investment group, but the National Park has already been doing improvements and access work. My understanding is that part of the beach grounds will be opening to the public in just a few weeks, including the beach directly in front of Zozos. People that live down here are ecstatic--they've been basically banned from the grounds for decades (five of the seven beaches on the property were reserved for the exclusive use of resort guests).

My understanding is that part of the property will still be a private upscale resort run by a vendor of the National Park's choosing, but at least part of the grounds area and more of the beaches will be public now. Speaking as a prior frequent Caneel Bay resort guest, I think this is a good balance. There were definitely people who wanted the entire resort area turned into unspoiled National Park land, but that was never going to happen. The resort is too much of a money maker, and just as importantly, was also one of the largest employers on the island when it was open.

Anyway. Restaurant setting

Menu for the evening

Drinks. Husband had a martini and I had the hydrate mocktail

I started with the burrata appetizer (meat donated to my husband haha)

And he had the steak tartare

For entrees, my husband ordered the osso bucco but swapped in the tenderloin and added a lobster tail (you can always swap tenderloin for the osso bucco and add also can local lobster to all the entrees here). The owner came out and said that the tenderloins did not look as good as they should, and suggested he order something else. He got the porchetta instead

I had the scallops. I was reluctant to order them since i can get them so easily at home (a lady in my town even owns a scallop fishing boat and does door to door deliveries!) They were the best thing I have eaten on this trip! I finished my whole plate, which is unusual for me.

We watched the sun setting with dinner. I could not decide which picture I liked better so you get two

The owner brought over a comped dessert to apologize for the tenderloin not being available. It was a molten chocolate thing with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. It's not something we every would have chosen on our own, but my goodness was it delicious. We managed to finish most of it.

Another great meal at Zozos.

liamsaunt · May 19

Friday we did not have diner because I ended up having to go to the hospital equivalent on island. I'm fine now.

Saturday was our day to transfer from the house we were renting over to Lovango Cay. This time, we rented a "treehouse" instead of a glamping tent. The treehouses have air conditioning of a sort. It can only work so well because the slots in the floor are open slats. Here are some pictures.

We hung out by the pool while waiting for our cabin to be ready. They upgraded us to a pool cabana and comped a bottle of some sparkling wine that my husband had a glass of.

Dinner was at the Sandpit. There's live music and various other entertainment, but we were pretty tired, so just had dinner and were shortly asleep. Menu

Tuna nicoise (I really liked the pickled okra)

Lobster pizza

KennethT · May 19

@liamsaunt I hope you're feeling better. I certainly know what it's like to feel ill while traveling, but (knock on wood) never got to the point where I went to a hospital of some kind (even though there may have been a time when I should have).

Oddly enough, back in 2007, we visited my wife's cousin and her husband at their vacation home in St. Thomas located right next door to the Ritz Carlton hotel (on the dry side of the island). One evening we went out on the Lady Lynsey for a sunset cruise... I wonder if the boat in your last photo is the same one? It looks just like it!

**TdeV** · May 19

Thank you @liamsaunt for the entertaining and delicious journey!

liamsaunt · May 20

23 hours ago, KennethT said:

@liamsaunt I hope you're feeling better. I certainly know what it's like to feel ill while traveling, but (knock on wood) never got to the point where I went to a hospital of some kind (even though there may have been a time when I should have).

Oddly enough, back in 2007, we visited my wife's cousin and her husband at their vacation home in St. Thomas located right next door to the Ritz Carlton hotel (on the dry side of the island). One evening we went out on the Lady Lynsey for a sunset cruise... I wonder if the boat in your last photo is the same one? It looks just like it!

I went in an ambulance, so no choice. I have an exciting medical life haha. I seem to be fine now and will follow up with my care team once I am home.

And yes, that is the Lady Lynsey out of the Ritz Carlton on St. Thomas! Lovango is a pleasant sailing distance from where the Ritz is located on St. Thomas. They do sailing excursions to St. John for dinner as well, though I am not sure if that is a coordinated thing with a particular restaurant or just a shuttle service to get people over to the town.

We spent the day snorkeling at the two swimming areas on Lovango. The front of the island doesn't have a beach per se, you get into the water from a dock. The back of the island has a rocky beach. We spent today at the rocky beach, called Crescent. Here are some pictures.

It's pretty rare that anyone else from the resort comes by when we are there. Once you are finished, you text them and they come get you in a golf cart. You can walk back up too, if you want to....but why? Here are some underwater sights.

Trio of permits